Should fee be charged for not cancelling ADR's?

[Conservative Hippie]

I can see why this is so frustrating for Disney. Nothing they do will ever please everyone. And no matter what changes are made, there is bound to be something to complain about.

Exactly.

Most restaurants in the "real world" do not require a CC to hold a reservation--high-end places do, special events (like NYE) do--so there is nothing wrong with Disney following the rest of the restaurant industry. I know people expect Disney to go above and beyond the rest of the world, but there is only so much they can do. They are trying to run a business, run restaurants, just like everyone else.

 

[eeyore_is#1]

Ok. Someone rents the Grand Villa which sleeps up to 12. So you would be ok with 12 people in the same group making 12 different ADRs? How would that free up any space?

12 guests = 12 butts. Therefore, they should be able to book 12 seats. They would be able to book 12 seats in one restaurant, 6 seats in two different restaurants, all the way down to 1 seat in twelve different restaurants, if they so choose.

How does that save space? Currently, you have groups of 4,5,6 and higher booking 8, 10, 12 seats and more. Space that by definition will go unused, because there are more seats reserved than butts to fill them.

What if they are inviting guests to dine with them that live in the area?

That's what walk ups are for.

It would not be difficult to allow the occasional special request such as that, when you've eliminated the massive double booking that currently goes on.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

That's what walk ups are for.

So locals, who would not be staying in a resort, should not be able to make ADRs? We should have to take walk-ups?

 

[clemsondisneyfan]

I am mad that we could not get dinner ressies at LeCellier for our upcoming trip. We have called at least 10 times over the last 4 months and finally just gave up. I am sure there will be no-shows at the restaurant, but I am not going to drag my sons and hubby over there "just in case" there is an opening.

I only have 1 ADR per day and we would certainly call to cancel if we need to...our mothers taught us good manners.

We were running late to a dinner there in January....called dining and asked if we could get there 20 minutes late and they said no problem. But, they could have just as easily said no - if they were booked. We would have accepted it and gone elsewhere to eat. It was our fault for running late.

We go 2 times a year, and there are always empty tables (during our entire meal!) at restaurants...where I am sure they are holding tables for no-shows. It is just plain rude. People haven't been taught good manners - most can't even respond to an RSVP anymore, or they cut in lines, or talk loud on cell phones in public, etc. etc. You know the ones....the ones who are waaaaay more important and deserving than the rest of us, right?!

We can't change rude people....too bad...otherwise we might be looking forward to a really nice meal at Le Cellier next month.

I am all for limiting ADRs and using cc to reserve tables. We already do that for some places anyway. No big deal.

 

[mcdee1980]

Okay . . . lets just for a minute think about the logistics of running a restaurant. This thread started with a question about empty tables.
It frequently happens in the Service Industry that someone stayed out a little too late the night before, or got sick, or walked out in the middle of a shift. That happens in both the front and back of the house. Really interesting things happen when those middle of shift disappearences happen. In most places either the wait staff working gets thrown to the wolves or all of a sudden a bartender or hostess is suddenly doing a different job. I'm a bartender in a hotel. In the past week I've done my job, waited a few tables, and pulled a 1/2 shift in room service. If they had needed me to, I would have thrown on an apron and been plating salads. If the management has time and half a brain they start closing sections.
In addition, the restaurant in question flat out may not have enough staff to open up all the tables for seating. Welcome to post-Katrina New Orleans, where there aren't enough warm, experienced bodies to fill positions. I know that getting a job with Disney is not the easiest thing to do--it has to be the same as my company: personality profile, interviews, background check, drug test. Also, the people who work in the World Showcase restaurants tend to be from the country in question. Maybe there aren't enough Canadians applying who are qualified to fill those positions.
I realize that the poster stated that there were 6 people standing around the podium. How long were they there? Waitstaff do take five minute breaks in between greating guests and running food--the host stand is a pretty good place to escape for a minute. I do it when I've got everything else under control.
Okay I'm done.

 

[fla4fun]

I don't think an extra fee is the correct response to this problem. I think it would give guests and Disney more headaches than it's worth. I still think the best suggestion so far has been to limit how long your ADR is valid. If you have an ADR for 1pm and you haven't shown up by 1:15, the next walk-in should be allowed to have a table (prioritized behind the other ADR guests who have already checked in at the podium). Since you are supposed to show up 15 minutes BEFORE your ADR, you would technically have a 30 minute window in which to arrive at the restaurant. This would be a win-win on both sides. Disney wouldn't have any tables just sitting, because there would be a procedure in place to fill them. People complaining about the lack of walk-in tables would have a better chance at getting one. And last, but not least, guests with ADR's who didn't make it wouldn't be spending hours on the phone disputing no show penalties.

I can also see merit in the suggestion that multiple ADR's be allowed only up to the capacity of the room (i.e. four adults can book one meal for 4, two meals for 2, or four meals for 1). The only problem with this scenario is that there are so many ways around it. You can call and give your resort reservation number when you make the ADR, or you can use your home phone, cell phone, business phone . . . I have access to five different phone numbers, and I have a resort reservation, so technically, I could be making six ADR's at the same time, without any alert appearing in the Disney computer system. Until they have a more standardized way to identify the guest whether they are staying on property or not, it's going to be very difficult to limit ADR's.

 

[boomhauer]

This is a tough one. On one hand, it's rude to make ADR's and not show up. Not to the reataurant, as they can always take walk ins, but for other guests denied ADR's.

As someone else said, on vacation, plans can and do change. I've been guilty of not showing up for ADR's before. If I know before I leave home that we're not going to show up, I'll cancel. If we're ever not going to make an ADR while we're there, I also try to call and cancel. There are times when plans change at the very last minute. It happens.

Another thing that has to be taken into consideration - Hold times at CRO. I imagine many people try to call and cancel ADR's, but are put on hold for so long, they just hang up. Granted, while in Disney, you can go to any guest relations to cancel, but alot of people aren't aware of that.

 

[aubriee]

Tia, if you've been following this thread from the start I'm not the only one talking about being courteous or considerate. Your example of the ride being stuck but still showing up albeit late for an ADR should not be charged a fee. But those who cancel their trip and don't cancel ADR's or those who make more than one a day for a certain mealtime then don't cancel the one they don't use, should have to pay something. Sorry but to me that would be the right thing to do.

Some of you may remember when this subject got brought up last year. There was a lady who posted that when she made ADRS she would call four times in one day, in order to make four different sets of ADRs for each day. She used a different phone number (house, her cell, her husband's cell, and daughter's cell) and made four sets of ADRs for each day, because they didn't know which park they would be in, on any given day and she wanted her family to have 'dining options'. She said she did this every trip, so they would have somewhere to eat no matter what park they went to that day. She saw absolutely nothing wrong with it, called it being prepared, and her argument was that everyone had the opportunity to do the same thing she was doing. She said she would book four ADRs for each day of their trip with each being under a different phone number and name, so they couldn't be traced as belonging to the same family. I believe she said that if she was asked what resort she was staying at she'd just say they were staying off site. She had been doing this for several years and saw nothing wrong with it. When people called her selfish and rude, she acted like she had no idea why people were upset with her. Her thinking was that she was doing walk ups a favor, because the three ADRs she didn't use would then have a table available for a walk up.

Personally I would have no problem with WDW requiring a CC guarantee for ADRs. Being late is one thing, but a total no show is something else. At the end of the day anyone who didn't show up or called to cancel would be charged a penalty.

I also like the idea that if someone is 15 minutes late they give the ADR away. There may be some legitimate reasons to be late sometimes, but let's face it, most people that are late to an ADR are probably the same people that are ALWAYS late to everything else in their lives. I have a D-I-L I love dearly, but she drives us all crazy, because she can't get anywhere (and I mean anywhere) on time. She is late for everything in her life. A couple of years ago I took her and my son to WDW and warned her repeatedly before we left that we had to be at certain restaurants at certain times and if they weren't there, the rest of us would not wait even one minute. They missed four ADRS out of seven and the other three my son was literally dragging her as they ran up. We kept our word and ate without them. If they had been totally on their own I guarantee you they would have missed every single ADR, for no other reason than my D-I-L is ALWAYS late. And before anyone calls us mean for not waiting for them, let me tell you I made them a separate, laminated, typed list of all our ADRs and purposely wrote the times as 15 minutes earlier than they actually were in an effort to get her there on time.

 

[grandfloridian]

Some of you may remember when this subject got brought up last year. There was a lady who posted that when she made ADRS she would call four times in one day, in order to make four different sets of ADRs for each day. She used a different phone number (house, her cell, her husband's cell, and daughter's cell) and made four sets of ADRs for each day, because they didn't know which park they would be in, on any given day and she wanted her family to have 'dining options'. She said she did this every trip, so they would have somewhere to eat no matter what park they went to that day. She saw absolutely nothing wrong with it, called it being prepared, and her argument was that everyone had the opportunity to do the same thing she was doing. She said she would book four ADRs for each day of their trip with each being under a different phone number and name, so they couldn't be traced as belonging to the same family. I believe she said that if she was asked what resort she was staying at she'd just say they were staying off site. She had been doing this for several years and saw nothing wrong with it. When people called her selfish and rude, she acted like she had no idea why people were upset with her. Her thinking was that she was doing walk ups a favor, because the three ADRs she didn't use would then have a table available for a walk up.

Personally I would have no problem with WDW requiring a CC guarantee for ADRs. Being late is one thing, but a total no show is something else. At the end of the day anyone who didn't show up or called to cancel would be charged a penalty.

I also like the idea that if someone is 15 minutes late they give the ADR away. There may be some legitimate reasons to be late sometimes, but let's face it, most people that are late to an ADR are probably the same people that are ALWAYS late to everything else in their lives. I have a D-I-L I love dearly, but she drives us all crazy, because she can't get anywhere (and I mean anywhere) on time. She is late for everything in her life. A couple of years ago I took her and my son to WDW and warned her repeatedly before we left that we had to be at certain restaurants at certain times and if they weren't there, the rest of us would not wait even one minute. They missed four ADRS out of seven and the other three my son was literally dragging her as they ran up. We kept our word and ate without them. If they had been totally on their own I guarantee you they would have missed every single ADR, for no other reason than my D-I-L is ALWAYS late. And before anyone calls us mean for not waiting for them, let me tell you I made them a separate, laminated, typed list of all our ADRs and purposely wrote the times as 15 minutes earlier than they actually were in an effort to get her there on time.

I say good for her! This is what the DDP has forced vacationers at WDW to resort to! I never had to make reservations 180 days in advance, and would decide during my trip when and where to go. You could even ....should I dare say it....walk up to an Epcot restaurant and actually be seated!!! WDW doesn't really care since they get the $$ in advance with DDP. The DDP has been a game changer for Disney Dining reservations!

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Well hypothetically, if Disney started taking CC numbers and charging for no shows, then they should change the ADR concept to actual reservations, with no wait time. You get there on time and your table is ready for immediate seating.

 

[Karnak]

Opinions please, should Disney charge a fee for those who don't cancel an ADR? ... the entire time we are eating their were 6-8 tables that were empty at all times, apparently because people that had cancelled trips hadn't cancelled their ADR.

Good post ... let me just say this about that ...
Perhaps when there are tables not filled in any resturant it's because some of the workers failed to show up, and management needed to leave empty tables wherever possible. I dunno, just a thought. Simply the presence of tables do not make for ability to serve everyone in a timely manner.

I agree that a charge should be made for those who make reservations and then fail to show up. I've said so on several previous posts on here. I think that a charge of about $20. per person for each chair reserved charged to those who fail to cancel within a month or so would be fair.

Karnak

 

[Lewisc]

Well hypothetically, if Disney started taking CC numbers and charging for no shows, then they should change the ADR concept to actual reservations, with no wait time. You get there on time and your table is ready for immediate seating.

BINGO. ADRs aren't reservations and, based on projected "no shows" Disney overbooks.

The OP had a specific example. Either the restaurant had enough ADRs for the night, and didn't want to seat a walk up if they had enough ADRs for the rest of the night, was short of staff or didn't want to give a couple of tables for walk ups only to have a riot on their hands when one lucky table was seated.

 

[dreamergirl78]

Well hypothetically, if Disney started taking CC numbers and charging for no shows, then they should change the ADR concept to actual reservations, with no wait time. You get there on time and your table is ready for immediate seating.

I can see how that could work.

Or what if they selected more "signature" dining experiences and charged for those. Could it work if they were to limit the number of places you can actually make an ADR? I would imagine these would include character meals, dinner shows, and the 2table service places. Expand the 2 TS restaurants to include popular places like Le Cellier.

I think the real issue is finding a way for Disney to crack down on people who make loads of ADRs they never even intend to use. People seem to get around the system by using multiple telephone numbers. What if they were assigned a pin number that was attached to the reservation number. Maybe that could help track all of these crazy ADR situations. Florida residents and AP holders would not have to use the pin system. They would be free to make their ADRs how they see fit. The only thing that would not work for are people who stay offsite. Just some thoughts.

 

[gina2000]

Well, we criticize people who don't make ADRs. We criticize people who make multiple ADRs for the same day. We criticize people who don't cancel ADRs. What's next? Criticizing people who take too long to eat? People who order an appetizer even if it's not included on the DDP?

Give it a break. WDW knows its business and knows it well enough that people are being turned away in restaurants. If they thought they were losing significant revenue, they'd change things. Believe me, they hop on every other revenue producing idea; they won't ignore a layup if there was one to be had.

 

[Tricia1972]

Tia, if you've been following this thread from the start I'm not the only one talking about being courteous or considerate. Your example of the ride being stuck but still showing up albeit late for an ADR should not be charged a fee. But those who cancel their trip and don't cancel ADR's or those who make more than one a day for a certain mealtime then don't cancel the one they don't use, should have to pay something. Sorry but to me that would be the right thing to do.

Like I said previously, Disney should give each traveling group 1 ADR noncancellation without penalty per trip, then any after that should have to pay if an ADR is not cancelled.

I'm sorry if I appear to be making it personal, but that's not my intent. I do appreciate others opinions, because this is an open forum and I enjoy reading others thoughts on this issue.

You certainly don't seem to be enjoying it. You seem to be jumping down the throats of anyone who dares to disagree with you or offer a different point of view.

That being said, I think that Disney should NOT charge for no-shows. I think a better answer for everyone would be a shorter time frame for making ADR's. It's ridiculous to make your ADR's at 180 days out, it's too hard to know where you're going to be and when that far out. My mom was SHOCKED that I was worrying about dinner - every night we were there - at 8 months out.

YES you should cancel your ADR's when your plans change. Yes, yes and yes - it's courtesy. BUT life happens. The restaurants are overbooked and if you can't show up for a valid reason your table is not being held for you. It's not a true dining reservation, it's more of a que (think fastpass) You are entered into the dining que for the night for a specific time. There are too many people registered for the que and one person with an emergency (even 6 people with emergencies) is not going to affect the overall picture.

 

[highoctane]

So locals, who would not be staying in a resort, should not be able to make ADRs? We should have to take walk-ups?

Thanks for opening my eyes Hippie, I wasn't even thinking of FL residents, that brings in a big kink because they would not have a hotel stay and could use multiple phone numbers (home, cell, DS cell, etc.) to book multiples for the same meal time. So in a sense there is no way to control any of this other than requesting a cc or maybe a room number and advise the person either a fee will be charged or a TS credit will be removed. if they no show without canceling, and a question to everybody how many hotels can you book in advance without a guarantee, the answer is no majors and only a hand full of privately owned ones. If you are worried about credit card fraud, get a preloaded debit card for such occasions.

Someone made a point about getting refunds on credit cards, Disney can just hold the card number until the date of the reservation then run through the system to see who actually showed and charge the ones who didn't

 

[Skylarr29]

No, I don't think they should charge a fee (although they do at a few places like California Grill). It is an ADR not an actual reservation. ADR means that you will be seated at the next available table for your party size before a walk up. They are not actually holding a specific table for you. I have had to wait a long time when I have had an ADR. If there were 6-8 tables empty the entire night then they were not managing things well or perhaps they didn't have the staff to handle the tables?? Le Cellier is wildly popular so I don't think Disney is losing revenue... I think they are just mismanaging things.

 

[Lewisc]

EXACTLY, The OP followed up and said cc are required to hold ADRs on NYE. Disney already knows when to have guests pre-pay, when to require a credit card guarantee and when to just take ADRs and overbook.

Well, we criticize people who don't make ADRs. We criticize people who make multiple ADRs for the same day. We criticize people who don't cancel ADRs. What's next? Criticizing people who take too long to eat? People who order an appetizer even if it's not included on the DDP?

Give it a break. WDW knows its business and knows it well enough that people are being turned away in restaurants. If they thought they were losing significant revenue, they'd change things. Believe me, they hop on every other revenue producing idea; they won't ignore a layup if there was one to be had.

 

[Tiffer]

I disagree with charging a fee for not cancelling. If the restaurant has patrons walking up that can fill those cancellations then no revenue has been lost.

I agree. If people are more than 15 or 20 minutes late for their ADR, just give them to the walk-ups.

 

[marivaid]

If Disney starts charging a fee for ADRs then they need to make ADRs actual RESERVATIONS. ie : my reservation is at 8.30, I show up at 8.30 and my table is ready.

ADRs are enough of a pain as it is. First you have to make some of them 6 months in advance, then your party also has to MATCH the available table(s).
And you never know how much you're going to have to wait.

I was just discussing, on another thread, the difficulty we had to make ADRs for 2 for certain places. And how the person on the phone had hinted that there were available tables for the date & time I was requesting,but only for larger parties. What the heck??? I'm calling for a reservation 4 1/2 months in advance, there are tables, but I can't get one because we're 2 instead of 3 ?? That is both unfair and dumb. Especially since most of the time we end up being seated at a table for 4 anyway.
But, no, we have to make do with whatever's available for 2.

Hence we have an ADR for Chef Mickey's in December at 9PM that I'm about 90% sure we won't go to. Yes I will call and cancel if we decide not to go, but it won't be until a couple hours before the reservation time. I've also been told by a CM that sometimes if you call only a few hours before your ADR time, they don't bother deleting the ADR from the system, it's easier to just let the table sit empty.

If we could get a more convenient time for our reservation (which shouldn't be so difficult when you call 4 1/2 months in advance!) then the risk of us not showing up would be greatly reduced.

The entire ADR system needs a makeover. If requiring a CC# gets me a normal reservation time, and guarantees that the table will be ready when we arrive, fine, go for it.
If it's just one more annoyance to add to the list, then we'll go dine somewhere else.