The credit card guarantee must really be working (preventing double-booking) . . .

[Music City Mama]

This may have already been brought up, but evidently the credit card guarantee is really having the desired effect and preventing people from making multiple ADRS because I just noticed something.

The May 2012 and June 2012 ADR Cancellation threads barely have any posts on them. I did a search for last year's threads and . . .

1. On this date last year (5/11/11), the May cancellation thread had 405 posts compared to the 60 posts today.

2. On this date last year (5/11/11), the June cancellation thread had 134 posts compared to the 26 posts today.

I guess this is attributed to the credit card guarantee. What do you think?

 

[cm8]

This may have already been brought up, but evidently the credit card guarantee is really having the desired effect and preventing people from making multiple ADRS because I just noticed something.

The May 2012 and June 2012 ADR Cancellation threads barely have any posts on them. I did a search for last year's threads and . . .

1. On this date last year (5/11/11), the May cancellation thread had 405 posts compared to the 60 posts today.

2. On this date last year (5/11/11), the June cancellation thread had 134 posts compared to the 26 posts today.

I guess this is attributed to the credit card guarantee. What do you think?

, but some will also disagree and use their own logic as to why reservations are now available, most notable may be that people are forgoing eating and making sure they don't miss their FP times


Thanks for posting

 

[Koz]

Does the Gtee apply to all restaurants?

 

[clanmcculloch]

I thought the inability to book two ADRs using the same email address and phone numbers went into effect early-mid last year. I would think THAT would be the biggest contributor to people not double booking. If people were planning to cancel one anyway some time before their trips (that's what people posting on the cancellation threads are doing after all; they're cancelling well before they'd have to worry about the cancellation fee) then I don't see why the credit card guarantee would dissuade them.

I don't recall anybody saying that they thought the CCG was intended to prevent people from double booking. I've always heard that it was to prevent no-shows. Again, no shows are unrelated to cancellation threads because if people cancel then they're not no-shows.

 

[Cafeen]

Does the Gtee apply to all restaurants?

No. The CC guarantee only applies to selected restaurants, mostly Character and Signature (along with the prepay events like CRT, HDDR, etc). The majority of restaurants do not have any sort of guarantee.

I thought the inability to book two ADRs using the same email address and phone numbers went into effect early-mid last year. I would think THAT would be the biggest contributor to people not double booking. If people were planning to cancel one anyway some time before their trips (that's what people posting on the cancellation threads are doing after all; they're cancelling well before they'd have to worry about the cancellation fee) then I don't see why the credit card guarantee would dissuade them.

I don't recall anybody saying that they thought the CCG was intended to prevent people from double booking. I've always heard that it was to prevent no-shows. Again, no shows are unrelated to cancellation threads because if people cancel then they're not no-shows.

I'd guess it's a bit of both.

The CC Guarantee was intended to prevent no-shows, which have a subset of those who would double-book (e.g. I book CP, Akershus, H&V, and Tusker House because I don't know where I want to be that day). (Of course, being charged $10 pp to avoid H&V may not be such a bad deal . Let's pretend I said Cape May instead of H&V there....)

The auto-ask to cancel helps enforce a 1 meal per timeframe thing as well as remind people to cancel their old meals that they may otherwise have forgotten to do. There's still a possibility of double-booking, but you have to go straight through the dining line CMs to do that (or, use other methods that are a bit more troublesome that it's worth for a number of folks).

So, I'm guessing that these are both big factors in freeing up availability. (And, while the posted policy stays in place regarding the CC holds, I'll admit I was wrong on that part , man that was a heated discussion!) The raise in prices may have some effect too, fewer people able to (or willing to) pay for more TS and/or a dining plan means more availability at restaurants, but I'm just going on a tangent of speculation now.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Just to be clear, I wasn't commenting on whether I like the CCG or not or even whether I think the CCG is making a difference in availability. I was commenting on the OP's assertion that the drop in posts in the cancellation thread was impacted by the CCG (I would actually think it would go up with the CCG since people don't want to get hit by the charge). I guess I don't see the CCG even stopping the remaining double bookers since I figure that if people are going to go to the trouble to get around the system to book the second or third ADR then they'll also know when to cancel in order to avoid the CCG so there's really nothing stopping them, though at least they'll free up ADRs for same day ADRs or walk-ups, something people didn't necessarily do before. I just don't see it being a factor in this particular scenario that was pointed out by OP.

 

[mcd2745]

Just to be clear, I wasn't commenting on whether I like the CCG or not or even whether I think the CCG is making a difference in availability. I was commenting on the OP's assertion that the drop in posts in the cancellation thread was impacted by the CCG (I would actually think it would go up with the CCG since people don't want to get hit by the charge). I guess I don't see the CCG even stopping the remaining double bookers since I figure that if people are going to go to the trouble to get around the system to book the second or third ADR then they'll also know when to cancel in order to avoid the CCG so there's really nothing stopping them, though at least they'll free up ADRs for same day ADRs or walk-ups, something people didn't necessarily do before. I just don't see it being a factor in this particular scenario that was pointed out by OP.

I disagree and am with the OP. I think the CC guarantee has had a very big impact on availability. As for the other measure of the system not allowing you to double-book, as previously mentioned, there were ways around it but they didn't involve putting any money on the line. Now, you have to risk losing money. Yes, one can still go through all the trouble and also cancel on time to avoid the fees, but I'm sure there are only a VERY small number of people willing to do all that.

I think the other significant factor is the steady increases and therefore, loss of value of the dining plan. It's just not as attractive an option anymore. So less people on the plan will certainly result in less demand for ADRs.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I disagree and am with the OP. I think the CC guarantee has had a very big impact on availability. As for the other measure of the system not allowing you to double-book, as previously mentioned, there were ways around it but they didn't involve putting any money on the line. Now, you have to risk losing money. Yes, one can still go through all the trouble and also cancel on time to avoid the fees, but I'm sure there are only a VERY small number of people willing to do all that.

I think the other significant factor is the steady increases and therefore, loss of value of the dining plan. It's just not as attractive an option anymore. So less people on the plan will certainly result in less demand for ADRs.

Clearly you're not reading what was written. The OP did NOT comment in any way on availability and I made it very clear that I was not commenting on my thought on the impact of the CCG on availability.

OP asked if anybody thought that the CCG was making a difference as to why there cancellation thread is so much smaller this year compared to same time last year. That is a completely different subject than availability.

 

[mcd2745]

Clearly you're not reading what was written. The OP did NOT comment in any way on availability and I made it very clear that I was not commenting on my thought on the impact of the CCG on availability.

OP asked if anybody thought that the CCG was making a difference as to why there cancellation thread is so much smaller this year compared to same time last year. That is a completely different subject than availability.

I don't think it's a different subject at all. With the measures in place, but the CC guarantee in particular, you have a lot less multiple -booking, specualtive ADRs, and any other reason why people were making ADRs they had little to no intention of actually attending the meal. So, the byproduct of that is two-fold: first, you have better availability overall and secondly, a much higher percentage of ADRs are being kept and not cancelled. Those are very much related and not completety different.

 

[Cafeen]

Also, upping availability increases the amount of getting what someone wants on the first go rather than booking something on a different time/day and continuing to search. Hence, fewer people needing to cancel.

However, the OP did also mention that it was preventing double-booking, which opens up availability, which leads all around into everything else we've been talking about .

Like everything, I'm sure there are multiple factors, auto-cancel, CC-holds, price increases, decreased quality (perceived or otherwise), etc. The drop in the threads could even be something as simple as no one bothers with them anymore as they were more a hold over from the old trading threads that are no longer allowed.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I thought the inability to book two ADRs using the same email address and phone numbers went into effect early-mid last year. I would think THAT would be the biggest contributor to people not double booking. If people were planning to cancel one anyway some time before their trips (that's what people posting on the cancellation threads are doing after all; they're cancelling well before they'd have to worry about the cancellation fee) then I don't see why the credit card guarantee would dissuade them.

I don't recall anybody saying that they thought the CCG was intended to prevent people from double booking. I've always heard that it was to prevent no-shows. Again, no shows are unrelated to cancellation threads because if people cancel then they're not no-shows.

I think the system change to only allow one ADR in a specified time frame with the same email & phone number had little affect on double bookers. There's too many ways around a system like that for it to be effective. Most families have multiple phone numbers & email addresses.

Personally, I think the CCG was to prevent people from not showing at the time of their ADR for any reason. I don't think it was targeted at a specific group.

I disagree and am with the OP. I think the CC guarantee has had a very big impact on availability. As for the other measure of the system not allowing you to double-book, as previously mentioned, there were ways around it but they didn't involve putting any money on the line. Now, you have to risk losing money. Yes, one can still go through all the trouble and also cancel on time to avoid the fees, but I'm sure there are only a VERY small number of people willing to do all that.

I think the other significant factor is the steady increases and therefore, loss of value of the dining plan. It's just not as attractive an option anymore. So less people on the plan will certainly result in less demand for ADRs.

I agree. The plan seems to be accomplishing exactly what those of us in favor of it were hoping it would do. It has opened availability for everyone not just those who book @ 180 + 10.

Clearly you're not reading what was written. The OP did NOT comment in any way on availability and I made it very clear that I was not commenting on my thought on the impact of the CCG on availability.

OP asked if anybody thought that the CCG was making a difference as to why there cancellation thread is so much smaller this year compared to same time last year. That is a completely different subject than availability.

Not to be argumentative, but the OP actually said, "This may have already been brought up, but evidently the credit card guarantee is really having the desired effect and preventing people from making multiple ADRS because I just noticed something." She then used the cancellation threads as an example.

 

[DoBug]

I won't argue about what OP and PP are talking about re why the cancelled ADR threads are smaller. I don't read those anymore . I remember being very annoyed at some people on those cancellation threads listing the 3 ADRs they were dropping for every meal.

But I do think the CC hold has a LOT to do with the ease of getting reservations now. And I remember some of last years discussions and it seemed like a lot of people here would not book any restaurant that required the CC hold because they disliked the policy so much. This was pretty surprising to me since that is generally the best restaurants (not talking about the character meals).

I think its also the price of the dining plan. Disney may have reached the tipping point there. We skipped it last year for the first time and didn't miss it a bit! We experienced some sticker shock at the time but don't have plans to go back to the dining plan anytime soon.

I am not even sure how off topic this is anymore but has anyone noticed whether the restaurants are more full now? If the goal was to reduce no-shows and get all chairs filled by butts then is it working?

 

[KELLY]

I just made ad's today for my August FD trip we upgraded from pop with the QSDP to POR. I had no issues getting what. I wanted within 30 minutes. I even got HDDR cat 2. Last year I couldn't even get a Tusker house this year There were tons of time to choose from.