The Room Block is a Challenging Task - I need help!

[jnale]

I'm thinking too much on this room block and making myself more confused than when I started!

(BTW - I went to Disney 2 weeks ago for a site visit and met Pam Pearce who is totally awesome. I will post a trip report soon with pics.)

I hope someone can answer my question....
If you know some of your guests want to stay more days than the dates you have listed on the room block, do you have to specify their extra days on the room block so they can receive the discount for those extra days?

For example:
Let's say I have guests staying in a moderate & value resort from Friday to Monday (and these are the specified room block dates), but the guests staying at the Deluxe resort want to stay from Thursday to Tuesday and my DF & I want to stay much longer than that. Do I need to specifiy the extra dates so those guests (including myself) get the wedding discount?

 

[4luvofthemouse]

We picked the day before, the day of and the day after for our room block because we didn't know how long our guests would stay. We have people staying a week, some for 4days and some just 2days.
The discount does apply to those days that aren't blocked, if there is availability. I think they have to say that just in case, but we never had any problems with it.

 

[Kristen14]

No, you do not need to extend your room block. Just use the dates you think the most guests will be there. As long as there is room available at the resort, your guests will get the same rate. So just tell the ones you know will be there early to book soon!

I stressed about my room block too, but it turns out that nothing needs to be exact. You can have more guests at a resort than your block allows, just as long as the resort isnt sold out when they book. You can also have guests there on days that arent in your block. It's all about booking early!

My room block is from January 23-27. HOWEVER... I just used it to book myself a room from January 18-21, which as you can see isnt in my block at all (although it's close).

 

[BaBeeCee14]

I stressed out about my room block also, but don't worry so much about it. Its all really an estimate and doesn't have to be exact. They don't expect you to know who is definitely coming, where and how long they want to stay. So just do the best you can.

I have Pam as well, she is great! She has been very helpful so far, but I don't think I will get the chance to meet her.

 

[pooh98378]

You don't have to specify the exact days, however you can only get the discount at the hotels you have chosen. So, for example, if you want to stay at the Contemporary and it is not in your room block, then you will not get the discount. Also, just remember that they do not "set aside" the days that are not included in your estimate so it is more likely that the discount may not be available if you wait to book, although I think I've only seen this happen maybe once on the boards. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Don't worry --- I think the room block was the most difficult thing in the planning process.

 

[meryll83]

Sorry to butt in, but I have a few questions about room blocking as well.

• Can you only choose 1 value, 1 moderate and 1 deluxe for your room block?

Me and Si were thinking of splitting our stay perhaps between the Boardwalk and the Polynesian.

Although I suppose really to be fair to our guests we would need something in each resort category, we have the possibility of renting some BWV DVC points anyway, so this may not even be an issue.

• How early can you start to use this discount? Is it as soon as you have registered your details?

• Also, how do guests go about booking with this discount? I presume they have to do it by phone and not online? And do they just quote our names or something?

With us being from the UK our guests will probably start booking early, I think I'm going to call Disney before the 12 month mark to explain this and see if we can get things moving a bit earlier than normal.

 

[theantibride]

I know people who have gotten the discount at non-selected hotels. I think it's all based on availablity. For our room blocks we're doig 5 days before and 5 days after the wedding date to give everyone plenty of time for their vacations.

As for booking once you sign your contract Disney will send out the save the dates to your guests. This will have the information on the resorts you have picked and the rates available. It will also have the information they need to get the rate such as a code and whatnot. I know people have used their own personal travel agents and gotten the discount so I think they just have to have the info. HTH

 

[autumnbride2B]

You can actually choose up to four resorts for your block. We had All-Star Sports, POFQ, the Boardwalk and the Yacht Club.

 

[meryll83]

You can actually choose up to four resorts for your block. We had All-Star Sports, POFQ, the Boardwalk and the Yacht Club.

That's good to know.
I think in that case we would go for Pop, POR, BW and Poly, although I'll have a chat with those who want to stay onsite first and see if they have any different preferences.

 

[orangetiggs]

We have animal kingdom, grand floridan and coronado springs in ours and its was up and runing about 4 weeks after we signed our contract for people to book

 

[meryll83]

We have animal kingdom, grand floridan and coronado springs in ours and its was up and runing about 4 weeks after we signed our contract for people to book

Slightly OT here sorry!:
Have your guests been booking flight only and rooms seperately?
Scheduled flights don't go on sale til about 11 monthsa prior to return, so everythings going to be booked a bit backwards in our case - cruise first, then wedding, then rooms, then flights last!
I think possibly charter flights can be booked earlier than this, but I know at least for me and Si we will have to use scheduled flights because we are currently looking at departing on a saturday and returning on a sunday.
We will be looking at flights from Manchester so I'm going to have a look at the 08 prices for the same time of year when they are released very soon to try and compare this to what we may pay for 09!

 

[orangetiggs]

We booked ours as soon as the virgin holidays apckages came out on sale this year and most of our guests did the same. we have our frineds getting avilla and then some others are staying at AK through the room block. Because we already have like 90 room nights anyway the room block did not matter to us as disney have our res numbers anyway. We are going to book an extra night at the GF for after our comp night so we get two nights there

 

[meryll83]

Did you find this the cheapest time to book with Virgin - as soon as the packages went on sale?
So you haven't taken advantage of the room discounts available through Disney by doing it this way?
As I said before me and Si will have to do it all seperately this time anyway, but I was just wondering what was the best way for our guests to go.
The times we have been we have booked the package with Virgin so at least I can help people out who go with this option.

 

[orangetiggs]

we get 10% discount with virgin so it works out cheaper for us to do it this way. i found a lovely travel agent that would also give my guests 10% discount so they all booked with her.

We just added another one and if she had booked it through our website and then booked flights she would only have saved about £200 because she is a single traveller.