Room Occupancy

[Nancyg56]

I wouldn't think that people show up with more people than are on their reservation very often at Disney. Just because Disney is a very expensive vacation and most people cant drop everything to go with another last minute and have the funds to do so. Im sure it happens but I wouldn't think it happens very often so maybe that is why you aren't getting responses on that. Glad you were able to get a room booked that can accommodate your group. Sorry it took so much of your time to do it.

I think it is more that we just don't know. If you show up with more people than the room you booked can hold, the resort will help make a change if possible, but no one can say what that will entail.

Does it mean your reservation is changed and you get charged rack rate in the new room?

Do you just get moved and get charged the additional person fee?

If you had booked a discount and it's not available any longer what then?

If there are no accommodations available?

Too many unknowns to try to give accurate information. This is way different than showing up at a restaurant with additional people.

 

[lanejudy]

Good to know. Many Hotels are flexible, didn't know that Disney is not. ...

In my experience, other hotels will only be "flexible" if they can accommodate the larger party. The majority of hotel rooms in the U.S. have 2 beds and sleep up to 4 guests, though yes some have different bed configurations and occupancy limits. The challenge in your situation is that your reservation was for a room with a lower occupancy; if your original reservation was a room with 2 queens which allows occupancy for 4 guests, WDW would not have a problem adding the extra 2 guests to your reservation at check-in. I would never expect to show up at any hotel where I have booked a room with occupancy limit of 2 and expect the hotel to be "flexible" in finding accommodations for 3 or 4 as that would require a different room. All hotels in the U.S. are bound by fire codes, and it is usually fire codes which dictate maximum room occupancy for any given room as well as the hotel as a whole. No hotel will intentionally allow more guests per room than legally noted for occupancy without risking consequences.

... In this event the Deposit is forfeited, correct?

As to whether the deposit is forfeited, that likely depends on the final outcome.
1) If a room sleeping 4 is available on arrival, the deposit likely would remain and you'd just be charged any additional if it's a higher room rate (preferred location, different view, rack rate when original was a discount, etc.).
2) If the only room available was another king room that sleeps 2, and the 2 additional guests accepted that room at whatever rate is offered, your deposit would remain intact as your reservation is not impacted.
3) If the resort is full, and all 4 of you opt to go elsewhere, then I would expect the equivalent of one-night room rate to be forfeited.
Now... to add complexity, it sounds like your initial reservation was a package which has a different deposit and cancellation terms than a room-only reservation. You might lose everything, not just the deposit.


But I'm glad you were able to change your reservation to include your additional guests. I hope you all have an enjoyable vacation!

 

[figment74]

FWIW I have read posts here where a family/group was removed from a resort room against their will (not physically; CMs/security stood outside the door) when they were over the occupancy limit. The post I can recall most clearly included extenuating circumstances: they were loud and disrupting the neighbors.

I doubt anyone would bother to rat out their neighbor for being over occupancy, unless they were pretty loud in middle of the night.

I know that Disney wouldn't let me Sneak extra bodies into my room, never even considered that. I wouldn't risk the Family vaca just to save a few bucks.

Not a technical issue. It's logistics. Clearly there were no quad-occupancy rooms available for these six consecutive nights at CBR with a room-only AP discount.

It was a Technical issue. The Pirate Room is available for the Dates that I need, the problem was the system kept throwing an error. This took 2 hours and 2 different Techs to resolve. Ultimately it was resolved. Just shouldn't have taken 2 hours. I'm a software admin, and I know that stuff happens to data in software all the time. The issue I have is the amount of Time I was involved in getting the fix. IMHO I would have expected the CM to get my contact info after the first failed attempt, and call me back once it had been fixed

Now that you have a Pirate room this is an entirely different question you are asking from earlier The question now is do you have the dining plan, because that is a package and comes with rules for you to add them in advance. What you can do is add them at check in but they would not have the dining plan. They would add them to the reservation and give them MagicBands. If you do not have the dining plan, and it's room only, then you can call and have them added.

Yes I have the QS DDP, not that I want it. I'm going to call back later this month and attempt to remove it. It's interesting that you can't add DDP to a reservation at Check-in. It's been over 10 years, but we did that one time. Staying at Boardwalk, and decided to get TS DDP at Check-in. Just had to pay for the DDP up front.

I wouldn't think that people show up with more people than are on their reservation very often at Disney. Just because Disney is a very expensive vacation and most people cant drop everything to go with another last minute and have the funds to do so. Im sure it happens but I wouldn't think it happens very often so maybe that is why you aren't getting responses on that. Glad you were able to get a room booked that can accommodate your group. Sorry it took so much of your time to do it.

Thanks, I agree that most of the time you can't drop everything and go last min. Guess I figured it was a more common problem that I thought. Oh well.

I think it is more that we just don't know. If you show up with more people than the room you booked can hold, the resort will help make a change if possible, but no one can say what that will entail.

Does it mean your reservation is changed and you get charged rack rate in the new room?

Do you just get moved and get charged the additional person fee?

If you had booked a discount and it's not available any longer what then?

If there are no accommodations available?

Too many unknowns to try to give accurate information. This is way different than showing up at a restaurant with additional people.

Fair point. I wasn't sure what I was going to do till I saw the Pirate room.

In my experience, other hotels will only be "flexible" if they can accommodate the larger party. The majority of hotel rooms in the U.S. have 2 beds and sleep up to 4 guests, though yes some have different bed configurations and occupancy limits. The challenge in your situation is that your reservation was for a room with a lower occupancy; if your original reservation was a room with 2 queens which allows occupancy for 4 guests, WDW would not have a problem adding the extra 2 guests to your reservation at check-in. I would never expect to show up at any hotel where I have booked a room with occupancy limit of 2 and expect the hotel to be "flexible" in finding accommodations for 3 or 4 as that would require a different room. All hotels in the U.S. are bound by fire codes, and it is usually fire codes which dictate maximum room occupancy for any given room as well as the hotel as a whole. No hotel will intentionally allow more guests per room than legally noted for occupancy without risking consequences.

Agreed, however in many of the hotels that I have stayed in The 2 Q vs the 1 K are interchangeable, and making a change from 1k to 2q is easy the reverse is not. What I was really asking is has anyone ever tried this, and what happened?

As to whether the deposit is forfeited, that likely depends on the final outcome.
1) If a room sleeping 4 is available on arrival, the deposit likely would remain and you'd just be charged any additional if it's a higher room rate (preferred location, different view, rack rate when original was a discount, etc.).
2) If the only room available was another king room that sleeps 2, and the 2 additional guests accepted that room at whatever rate is offered, your deposit would remain intact as your reservation is not impacted.
3) If the resort is full, and all 4 of you opt to go elsewhere, then I would expect the equivalent of one-night room rate to be forfeited.
Now... to add complexity, it sounds like your initial reservation was a package which has a different deposit and cancellation terms than a room-only reservation. You might lose everything, not just the deposit.


But I'm glad you were able to change your reservation to include your additional guests. I hope you all have an enjoyable vacation!

Even if that new resort was still on Property and a Disney Owned resort, say the Poly or POR? Just curious.