Review the advice on the boards - Pre/Post Packages are troublesome

[MKMK]

ABD is awesome ... but our first experience with pre/post packages was less than magical. We are frequent ABD/APs guests and have always felt we have been fairly treated by Disney until now. We added an additional person to an existing pre one night package and were charged $1K (no additional room or explanation as to why). Talked to the supervisor who could not explain the extra added cost..other than he said that is how the industry works? Excited about the trip, but this a definite downer - less about the money and more about the way we were treated. Lesson learned - think twice before you add a pre or post trip.

 

[carpenta]

I don't understand why ABD charges so much for pre or post days. Often you can book on your own for 1/3 to 1/2 the price. Other companies offer free pre or post days to it's return guests. I can't figure it out why ABD feels the costs are "in line" with accepted norms.

 

[White Rose]

We are doing ABD Germany this sept, and booked our own pre-night. Disney wanted to charge us more then the nightly rate. We are staying on points....saved us a nice amount.

So you added a person only to the prenight, what are they doing during the trip?

 

[Cousin Orville]

Cancel the prenight and book the room on your own.

What's the trip, and what was the prenight price before and after adding an additional guest?

 

[MKMK]

We booked the trip a few weeks ago and added a pre-night in Hong Kong. The pre-night was $600ish per room, which was higher than if we booked it on our own, but we decided to do it so we wouldn't have to change rooms at the hotel once the adventure started. Two weeks after we booked our trip, an additional family member decided to join us. When ABD added them, they said they had to confirm with the hotel to ensure it was ok for them to be added to our pre night. ABD charged us for the additional family member (without the pre night) and we were good. ABD came back a few days later and said we owed an additional $1000 for the one person to stay the pre-night (in the existing room we had booked at $600 a night). I said it is not logical to charge us $600 for a room and now charge us an additional $1000 to add one person to that room. That is when they sent me to the supervisor who said that is how the industry works. I asked if they upgraded us to a bigger room, he said no, it is the same room. I asked what the $1000 was for, he wouldn't answer. I tried to discuss options with him (cancel the pre night etc), but the whole conversation was disturbing as he couldn't defend the situation in any way so I said I needed to think about it.

 

[MKMK]

I should add that DH's opinion is that they underpriced the additional family member's reservation/airfare when they added it. His opinion is the additional $1000 has nothing to do with the pre-night. That would make sense as to why the supervisor would not tell me what the $1000 was for, if they admitted they had made a mistake, I should not have to pay for it.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

This sounds really weird! I would definitely call and cancel the pre-night (after booking a room on your own).

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Doesn't surprise me in the least. Disney's customer service when it comes to ABD has gone completely down hill lately. When we complained to them about a major issue on our last ABD, their attitude was "Too bad, so sad, you'll just have to suck it up and buy noise cancelling headphones for future noise issues." Why we don't travel with them anymore

 

[Cousin Orville]

I checked a random date in Sept for the HKDL hotel. $515 for a standard room regardless whether booked for 2, 3, or 4 guests.

There seems like there would be more to the story here. As you suggested, it doesn't quite make sense, but regardless I'd just cancel the pre-nights and book it on your own. You may be able to email the hotel and request the same room for the reservation booked on your own and the ABD. Probably a long shot with Disney, but I have done that successfully for at least one ABD.

The China ABD is incredible. Don't let it spoil anything for you.

 

[acndis]

I have booked my own pre-days twice and been able to keep the same room. I just contacted the hotel directly and they were great. We have had problems with our pre/post day packages, as well when our transport did not come to get us at Disneyland Paris. Problems with pre/post have been my only issues with ABD. I just don't book them any more and gave feedback on my comments.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Cancel the pre-night with ABD and book it on your own. Even though you will have to pay for breakfast and the transfer to the hotel you will still end up saving money. You won't have an issue getting from the airport to the hotel. Just make sure you have the address of the hotel in Cantonese on your iPhone to show the taxi driver. Or book a transfer online in advance and the driver will meet you outside of customs. Or take public transit -- it's very easy to navigate in HK.

 

[Rapunzellover]

You can book your own room, and as long as it's a pre-night at the same ABD hotel, you don't lose your transfer. Post night are a different story.

 

[DisneyKevin]

ABD pre and post nights are often overpriced (in my opinion), but the prices do include all taxes and usually breakfast.

Backstage Magic is one exception that comes to mind.

Depending on location, it's not unusual for the included hotel buffet to be in the 75 euro range per person.

On one Adventure, the breakfast in Venice was 105 euros per person.

That pricing is figured into the cost of the room.

 

[planningjollyholiday]

I agree with the pp who say to book it on your own, and figure out your own way from the airport. Hong Kong airport is well organized in regards to options leaving the airport. It will be easy to find someone to speak English to you if you need help. Have a great trip, Hong Kong is a fun city to be in!

Edit to add: if it were me I would be tempted to add another day at disneyland and stay at the new disney Explorer's lodge hotel instead. I bet the cost of the Disney hotel, park passes, and paying for your own transfers would be cheaper than the $1000 disney wants you to pay for the extra night at the Peninsula hong kong hotel.

 

[MKMK]

So the saga continues... I did not pay the extra $1000 they wanted to add the person to an existing pre night hotel stay. So... they canceled my entire pre-night for all 3 people and are not refunding the $600 I originally paid for the pre-night (when the reservation was for 2 people). As I mentioned in my initial post, this is first time I have felt like Disney is doing something shady. Trying to take Cousin Orville's advice and suck up the $600 I lost as a lesson learned ... "don't book pre/post nights thru ABD"

I was able to book directly with the Peninsula for the one night, so we have 2 people with a pre-night and 3 booked directly with the hotel.

We would love to stay the extra night in Shanghai too. I worry our kids, who are pretty good travelers, will probably be exhausted and it will be time to come home.. but may change my mind...

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

So the saga continues... I did not pay the extra $1000 they wanted to add the person to an existing pre night hotel stay. So... they canceled my entire pre-night for all 3 people and are not refunding the $600 I originally paid for the pre-night (when the reservation was for 2 people). As I mentioned in my initial post, this is first time I have felt like Disney is doing something shady. Trying to take Cousin Orville's advice and suck up the $600 I lost as a lesson learned ... "don't book pre/post nights thru ABD"

I was able to book directly with the Peninsula for the one night, so we have 2 people with a pre-night and 3 booked directly with the hotel.

We would love to stay the extra night in Shanghai too. I worry our kids, who are pretty good travelers, will probably be exhausted and it will be time to come home.. but may change my mind...

I exhibit no surprise. This is Disney's new attitude these days where they basically tell the customer to "suck it up and deal with it". That's what they told us when we complained about a major issue caused by the guides on our last ABD. We were basically told by ABD management "too bad, so sad, suck it up and deal with it". They took no responsibility for the actions of their employees.

 

[Bobo912]

So the saga continues... I did not pay the extra $1000 they wanted to add the person to an existing pre night hotel stay. So... they canceled my entire pre-night for all 3 people and are not refunding the $600 I originally paid for the pre-night (when the reservation was for 2 people). As I mentioned in my initial post, this is first time I have felt like Disney is doing something shady. Trying to take Cousin Orville's advice and suck up the $600 I lost as a lesson learned ... "don't book pre/post nights thru ABD"

I was able to book directly with the Peninsula for the one night, so we have 2 people with a pre-night and 3 booked directly with the hotel.

We would love to stay the extra night in Shanghai too. I worry our kids, who are pretty good travelers, will probably be exhausted and it will be time to come home.. but may change my mind...

Are you within 45 days of the start of the tour? ABD's website states that the cancellation fees for pre/post nights is the same as for the tour, so they should only charge you 100% if you're within 45 days. Even that seems ridiculous since hotels tend to have much more lenient cancellation policies.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

So the saga continues... I did not pay the extra $1000 they wanted to add the person to an existing pre night hotel stay. So... they canceled my entire pre-night for all 3 people and are not refunding the $600 I originally paid for the pre-night (when the reservation was for 2 people). As I mentioned in my initial post, this is first time I have felt like Disney is doing something shady. Trying to take Cousin Orville's advice and suck up the $600 I lost as a lesson learned ... "don't book pre/post nights thru ABD"

I was able to book directly with the Peninsula for the one night, so we have 2 people with a pre-night and 3 booked directly with the hotel.

We would love to stay the extra night in Shanghai too. I worry our kids, who are pretty good travelers, will probably be exhausted and it will be time to come home.. but may change my mind...

Sorry, I am confused here. Are there 5 people in your party? And 2 have a pre-night with ABD and the other 3 are booked directly with the hotel? I just wanted to clarify.

Did you book with a TA? If so, they need to go to bat for you to get that $600.00 back ASAP.

If not then you need to speak to a supervisor at ABD pronto. I would not be okay with losing $600.00. That is a lot of money. When they say they can't transfer you to a supervisor, stay on the phone until they find someone who can. Be polite but firm.

I had an unpleasant experience on my China ABD and I eventually spoke to some kind of senior manager. They apologized profusely and dealt with the situation in a way that I felt was fair. I felt it could be used as a learning experience for them.

Good luck and I hope you get that money back.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I also want to add that I stayed at the Peninsula HK on my ABD last year. In the room I shared with my dd there is no way a third person could have fit. There were two single beds and enough room to move between them. No room for another bed of any kind.

I suspect the supervisor maybe wasn't aware that you were moved to a larger room. It could even be that they added another room (meaning 3 in total for your party of 5) because they didn't have any rooms left in inventory that would accommodate 3 people. The double rooms in the HK Peninsula were small in comparison to the other hotels we stayed in on that trip.

To be sure I would call ABD during daytime hours and speak to someone with knowledge of the trip and the hotel capacity. And also get that money back. I cancelled 3 pre-nights with ABD on my Central Europe trip (we stayed at the Augustine instead). We were within the 45 days and they were giving me some push back about not refunding the money. I was insistent and ended up getting my money refunded. So I would continue to pursue if I were in your shoes (but I am a very tenacious person that hates losing my hard-earned money).

 

[Woodview]

ABD pre and post nights are often overpriced (in my opinion), but the prices do include all taxes and usually breakfast.

Backstage Magic is one exception that comes to mind.

Depending on location, it's not unusual for the included hotel buffet to be in the 75 euro range per person.

On one Adventure, the breakfast in Venice was 105 euros per person.

That pricing is figured into the cost of the room.

What !!! 75 Euro for Breakfast & 105 Euro per person in Venice ..That really is Way way over the top.

No ordinary European in their right mind would pay that kind of money..... There would be a " Riot "