Super Cheap to Free Hotel At DisneyLand

[rebster]

First, Mods...please delete this if I am not supposed to post it.

To make a long story short, we can't go to DisneyLand when we were planning because of a mess up with active duty orders.

We now cannot go to Disneyland from May 28th to June 1st of 2011. We have a non-refundable hotel room at the Best Western right across from Harbor BLVD. The room holds 6 people. They are willing to allow us to put someone else's name on the reservation instead though. We spent 598 bucks for the 4 nights.

So, does anyone want this reservation? You can have it for free and if you feel like it you can send us some money through paypal. We have no way of recouping our money, so we thought it would be nice to at least let someone else use it for very cheap or for free.

Do ya'll have any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Reb

 

[sonnyjane]

Wow, that is quite generous of you!

You say that you cannot make the trip because of a change in active duty orders? Before you give up hope, I would contact BWPPI and tell them what happened and that it had to do with a military change. I have had trips booked that had to be changed at the last minute because of my husband's military orders. In those cases, I was shocked to find that the company was willing to break from their "no-changes-or-refunds" policy in order to do us a solid because of my husband's military service. For example, I bought non-refundable-non-transferable show tickets in Las Vegas that cost $250 for the two of us. My husband's deployment got extended so we couldn't go. I called them explaining the situation and they were great, allowing me to have a credit for later. This was NOT what their online terms & conditions stated, so it's worth calling and asking.

I hope you can recoup your money!

 

[tdashgirl]

This was NOT what their online terms & conditions stated, so it's worth calling and asking.

ITA. Best of luck!!!

 

[brookies_mommy]

I agree with the above on calling to see if there's anything you can do I sent you a PM too.

 

[rebster]

Ok! They said that I need to call back and speak with the General Manager and they may be able to set aside the money we spent for a vacation in the future or we can definitely transfer the trip to someone else. This would be better than nothing. So, I will call back tomorrow and see if they have some compassion on us. I will post an update tomorrow! Thanks for all your help!

 

[brookies_mommy]

Ok! They said that I need to call back and speak with the General Manager and they may be able to set aside the money we spent for a vacation in the future or we can definitely transfer the trip to someone else. This would be better than nothing. So, I will call back tomorrow and see if they have some compassion on us. I will post an update tomorrow! Thanks for all your help!

YAY! Thats good news!!

 

[Peace.love.mickey]

Good news...if they don't do something, they are pieholes!!!!!

 

[tzeitel]

Good luck! It would look very bad for them to not make an effort to work with you

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Fingers crossed for you. BTW can't hurt to say that the idea came from the DIS boards. Alot of the businesses around DLR know that if you are on a message board whatever they do or don't do will be shall we say "shared" with the others on the board. Don't be threatening just something like I know your policy but a friend on the DIS message board suggested I call and see if there was anything that could be done and I decided it couldnt hurt to make a phone call.

 

[coaches24]

If they don't help you then let them know you are posting about it online and that word of them not helping a vet will get around very quickly.

Well thats what i would do. I know if they don't at the very least hold your payment for a later vacation that I will never consider staying there.

 

[Lorinda]

If they don't help you, since they are a good neighbor hotel I would call Disneyland and let them know they are not such a good neighbor.

 

[sonnyjane]

If they don't help you then let them know you are posting about it online and that word of them not helping a vet will get around very quickly.

Well thats what i would do. I know if they don't at the very least hold your payment for a later vacation that I will never consider staying there.

If they don't help you, since they are a good neighbor hotel I would call Disneyland and let them know they are not such a good neighbor.

I understand the power of this forum, but the truth is, if their policy is that the heavily discounted rates offer no refunds if cancelled, I don't know that I would go around threatening them off the bat. The truth is, while my husband is in the military, I don't expect special treatment, I merely mention the situation and take what we get. Being in the military is his job, and cancelling a reservation because his job calls him away is no different than the family that has to cancel their vacation because their lawyer father is bogged down with a case, etc. I guess I just feel like a good attitude can go far, and whenever I have approached a situation like the OP's, I try to start with "I know your policy, I was just wondering if there is ANY way possible you MIGHT be able to help just a little... etc."

Will threatening to bad-mouth them make them bend the rules? Who knows, it might, but I don't see that as necessarily fair when the policy on the website is clear. When a company goes out of their way to help us because we a military family, I do post positive things online and spread the word to my friends, but I have never bashed a company for following a policy to which I have agreed to honor in advance.

 

[Susie63]

I understand the power of this forum, but the truth is, if their policy is that the heavily discounted rates offer no refunds if cancelled, I don't know that I would go around threatening them off the bat. The truth is, while my husband is in the military, I don't expect special treatment, I merely mention the situation and take what we get. Being in the military is his job, and cancelling a reservation because his job calls him away is no different than the family that has to cancel their vacation because their lawyer father is bogged down with a case, etc. I guess I just feel like a good attitude can go far, and whenever I have approached a situation like the OP's, I try to start with "I know your policy, I was just wondering if there is ANY way possible you MIGHT be able to help just a little... etc."

Will threatening to bad-mouth them make them bend the rules? Who knows, it might, but I don't see that as necessarily fair when the policy on the website is clear. When a company goes out of their way to help us because we a military family, I do post positive things online and spread the word to my friends, but I have never bashed a company for following a policy to which I have agreed to honor in advance.

Sorry...but I have to disagree with you. Military personnel and their families should be treated differently and no ...I do not work in the military and I am not married to anyone in the military.
Yes, we have lots of heroes who put their lives on the line everyday for our sake, but most do not go away for extended periods of time from their families. Certain allowances should be made for them.
But that is just my opinion.....but I am humbled by the sacrifice that military personnel and their families make for the rest of us,on both sides of the border.

 

[sonnyjane]

Sorry...but I have to disagree with you. Military personnel and their families should be treated differently and no ...I do not work in the military and I am not married to anyone in the military.
Yes, we have lots of heroes who put their lives on the line everyday for our sake, but most do not go away for extended periods of time from their families. Certain allowances should be made for them.

I appreciate your appreciation I guess all I'm saying is that you can catch more flies with honey. I find that if you are nice, most places are willing to bend their rules when you explain that the changes are being made because of a military affiliation, but if no refunds are their policy, that's their policy and I can't fault them if they don't break it. For that reason, I know that I probably should never make non-refundable travel arrangements because I never know if something will come up and my husband won't be able to make it.

Again, I think the OP should definitely play the military card and hope for the best. I'm staying at BWPPI next month so it would be great to hear if they are understanding of military issues!

 

[Susie63]

I agree. Bossy never gets you anywhere. Good luck to the OP.I hope they make an exception for your family.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I understand the power of this forum, but the truth is, if their policy is that the heavily discounted rates offer no refunds if cancelled, I don't know that I would go around threatening them off the bat. The truth is, while my husband is in the military, I don't expect special treatment, I merely mention the situation and take what we get. Being in the military is his job, and cancelling a reservation because his job calls him away is no different than the family that has to cancel their vacation because their lawyer father is bogged down with a case, etc. I guess I just feel like a good attitude can go far, and whenever I have approached a situation like the OP's, I try to start with "I know your policy, I was just wondering if there is ANY way possible you MIGHT be able to help just a little... etc."

Will threatening to bad-mouth them make them bend the rules? Who knows, it might, but I don't see that as necessarily fair when the policy on the website is clear. When a company goes out of their way to help us because we a military family, I do post positive things online and spread the word to my friends, but I have never bashed a company for following a policy to which I have agreed to honor in advance.

This is a great post. Many thanks to your whole family for the sacrifices you all make every day.

I think it is excellent when a company is flexible for military families, especially since military families do operate under different rules regarding when they can take vacations. But I don't think it is fair to threaten a company who has clearly posted policies - it is just an extra helping of pixie dust when a manager has the leeway to honor those who are serving and help them work it out so they can take a vacation when the military member is available.

My dad was a career Navy man, and I was always proud when people thanked him for his service. But he would have never expected special treatment or complained if he didn't get it.

Hope it all works out for you, OP! It is definitely worth a call.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Fingers crossed for you. BTW can't hurt to say that the idea came from the DIS boards. Alot of the businesses around DLR know that if you are on a message board whatever they do or don't do will be shall we say "shared" with the others on the board. Don't be threatening just something like I know your policy but a friend on the DIS message board suggested I call and see if there was anything that could be done and I decided it couldnt hurt to make a phone call.

I know you were not directly quoting my post but notice I said to "mention" the message board not to threaten with the message board.

The lawyers job is not the same as the military man's job. Military personnel are doing a job that keeps us all safe. Military families give up a lot that we all take for granted like living where they want to, being near family, leaving friends behind, kids moving schools and loads of forced seperations. My father and father in law were military my husband was military and my brother, brother in law and sister are current military. When you are in the military you essentailly give up many of the freedoms that all of us enjoy every day so that every one of us can enjoy those same things. so what is a little preferred treatment compared to that and POLICIES are just that policies not unbendable rules.

 

[rebster]

Thanks for all the advice! I am about to call now since I am done at the hospital. I would just like to say I am not going to threaten them. They have the option to do me a favor, and if they choose not to, then we will have the opportunity to bless someone else. That is how we are looking at it!

 

[rebster]

Not that a blow by blow account of everything is required, but I called and left a message with the General Manager, and hopefully she calls back soon! I understand if she cannot refund our money. I actually thought we could get a refund up to 21 days in advance and Best Western did not charge our credit card until the day I called to cancel which was weird (because on our it said your card will be charged immediately). The whole situation is weird, but I can't let it get me down. We have choices when it comes to situations like this and I mine is too have as much grace as I can (We shall see if I succeed in doing that).

 

[JadeDarkstar]

good luck an thank you for you an your familys serivic

21years dad in airforce i defnitly sympthyse