So...what exactly happens when a Disney hotel sells out?

[KalamityJane]

Do they actually sell out or are there always a few rooms kept behind just in case? I am guessing upgrades are not going to happen even if you wanted to pay? Never thought about a hotel selling out, so I am just curious what exactly happens.

 

[mjmouseketeer]

I work as a receptionist at a hotel in CA. I can say that we are rarely ever booked to the point where there are absolutely no rooms left. If we are getting down to the last 5 rooms or so, we hold about 3 of them just in case if something were to happen with an in-house guest or incoming reservation. At some time at night, around 6-8pm, we usually release the held rooms.
I'm not sure if this holds true with the Disney hotels...

 

[Disney Dreams]

Just like the house manager at a theatre usually has a couple of seats set aside "just in case" they need them for whatever reason, a hotel generally keeps a few rooms for them to be able to shuffle "just in case."

Pipes burst. Heating / AC systems have issues. And so on.

Now, as for upgrades in such a situation. That depends upon how the hotel likes their "emergency supply" of rooms. Of course your chances are lower than when a hotel is not sold out, but if you are willing to pay for it --- and the room is available --- I'd be surprised if a hotel would turn away additional funds.

Of course, every hotel's system varies,
Dreams

 

[yoyo93]

I'm not sure how they do it there, but I work in a hotel in NV and if they're the same at all, a few rooms are held 'just in case.' However we only hold them anywhere from midnight to 3 a.m, then allow people to check into them. Sometimes (if you're really desperate) we can upgrade but you usually do have a to pay the price difference, and it's usually a pretty big difference. But that's just how ours is run, it could be totally different in CA.

 

[jlima]

The hotels I have worked for will usually over book high demand days by 2 - 3 percent about 3 weeks out; then stop taking reservations. As people cancel, the numbers go down and if everything goes as planned, your property is, hopefully, at 100% occupancy. But, there are always no shows. The Disneyland hotel has about 1,000 rooms and if there's a 1% no show rate, then that's 9 - 10 vacant rooms per night and voilà - there's your "extra" rooms.

 

[KalamityJane]

Thanks! I was wondering how it worked out!

 

[Malcon10t]

I'm not sure about the "no shows" at Disneyland hotels since you pay for a night in advance. They have to keep the room open in case you show up. And they have you cancel 5 days ahead, so "no shows" sound slim.

I have been "walked" at hotels before. They overbook the rooms, then they have to send you somewhere else. I am not sure how Disneyland hotels handle it, but when I was walked form a Hilton, I was sent to a Marriott, and they placed me in a suite. Other places have just walked me to an equal quality hotel.

 

[CalvaryMike]

I worked in the hotel industry in So. Cal for over 20 years (7 at DL). They do and don't hold rooms. On busy nights, they'll sell every single possible room. However, there are always rooms out of service for one reason or another. On those busy nights, they'll scramble to put those rooms back in order even if they're not completely up to par. There are always available rooms showing up the next day, so those people in the sub par rooms can be moved the following day. The last thing you want to do is to walk a guest, but there are times when you just can't avoid it.

 

[hootey]

Couple years ago during a christmas visit to the parks, the in-laws called to ask if we would check with the front desk about a room for them for christmas eve/day. They had decided to join us at the disney hotel for the holiday, they had called to get a room and were told none were available. The father-n-law travels a lot and thought if we walked up to the front desk we would be able to secure a room for them. Cause he said the nicer hotels always keep a couple rooms avilable for last minute customers. We inquired at the front desk about a room for the in-laws, we were politely told that no rooms were available. Christmas at the DLR is a very nice place to spend the holidays but, you do want to obtain reservations....

 

[Astylla]

I cannot speak for all hotels , but as a front desk agent for a full service hotel in the bay area of California I can say that we do not hold rooms back "just in case". We sell every room , even oversell the hotel every day. The reason is because our intent is to sell out and even at full capacity we often get those last minute cancellatons. Other times everyone does show up and that's a whole other story lol.

My moral is don't count on every hotel saving rooms. Some might , some might not.

 

[KalamityJane]

I cannot speak for all hotels , but as a front desk agent for a full service hotel in the bay area of California I can say that we do not hold rooms back "just in case". We sell every room , even oversell the hotel every day. The reason is because our intent is to sell out and even at full capacity we often get those last minute cancellatons. Other times everyone does show up and that's a whole other story lol.

My moral is don't count on every hotel saving rooms. Some might , some might not.

Yikes, so what do you do if you oversell and everyone shows up?

 

[Astylla]

Yikes, so what do you do if you oversell and everyone shows up?

We have to find hotel rooms for the overbooked guests and pay for their room and tax fees for one night. It is a process called being "walked" that not only our hotel does , and understandably it confuses and surprises people but at the end of the day the point of the hotel is to sell out.

Last Monday we had 8 people we had to find rooms for because our sales and reservations department completely overbooked us and nothing in the bay area was even available. We had to send people 45 minutes away which is a very worst case scenario , but yeah it can happen. it's one of the reasons I am trying to get out of the industry.

 

[jlima]

Yikes, so what do you do if you oversell and everyone shows up?

At the hotels I have worked at, I've been in situations where I've had to call 8 - 10 hotels to find availability to take a walk of 30 - 40 rooms. If you work in revenue management, channel management, whatever it's called, you are expected to have contacts for this purpose. Sometimes you can get 15 rooms at one property and 20 rooms at another property to get to where you need to be; and it can be frustrating because the other hotels charge whatever they want and your boss will tell you to keep calling to find a better rate for the walk!!! But the hotel executives just LOVE it because the OTHER properties are taking your walk and there they are, sitting at 100%, while the front desk clerks and managers deal with the guests. Oy. Now I'm having flashbacks. Sometimes I miss the hotel world, but most of the time I don't.

 

[CalvaryMike]

Most hotels in busy areas already have 'walk' agreements in place with other neighboring hotels.