Think Disney will ever do this with room categories?

[FSU Girl]

This might be opening a can of worms, but was wondering. I’ve seen other hotels where you can pay more and have a guaranteed higher floor and wondered if Disney would ever do that.

I know for certain hotels I would like to have a guaranteed good view, like specifically the Poly Tower where I have the two bedroom villa booked which could end up on the 8th or the 1st.

It seems like a great idea for Disney since they could get more money for rooms and less people complaining about the room they got since they’d know what cater over they booked.

 

[Disneydawg74]

This might be opening a can of worms, but was wondering. I’ve seen other hotels where you can pay more and have a guaranteed higher floor and wondered if Disney would ever do that.

I know for certain hotels I would like to have a guaranteed good view, like specifically the Poly Tower where I have the two bedroom villa booked which could end up on the 8th or the 1st.

It seems like a great idea for Disney since they could get more money for rooms and less people complaining about the room they got since they’d know what cater over they booked.

Seems to me Disney has been moving in the opposite direction lately, combining parking lot views with garden views as a category.

 

[fla4fun]

This might be opening a can of worms, but was wondering. I’ve seen other hotels where you can pay more and have a guaranteed higher floor and wondered if Disney would ever do that.

I know for certain hotels I would like to have a guaranteed good view, like specifically the Poly Tower where I have the two bedroom villa booked which could end up on the 8th or the 1st.

It seems like a great idea for Disney since they could get more money for rooms and less people complaining about the room they got since they’d know what cater over they booked.

I stay frequently at a Hilton property that does that. Their top floor rooms are slightly larger than the others, and it’s a separate category. Still, it’s not guaranteed because if they are fully booked and something breaks down in the room you were assigned, then you don’t get it. I think Disney tries to avoid that scenario by having broader categories.

Although, Disney kind of does this at BLT, making the lower floors a standard view and the upper floors either lake or theme park view. I stayed on the highest standard view floor and the view was fine, but I imagine it’s not so great from the ground floor. So people in the theme park or lake view villa know they will be above a certain floor when they book those rooms.

I know the tower has three different view categories, but I haven’t seen a diagram of how they are broken up. I assume resort view are the cheapest rooms, but are they the only rooms on the lowest floors, like at BLT or do they run up the height of the building in one specific section? If you haven’t done so, I would put in a request for a high floor room.

I don’t think Disney will charge a premium by the floor number the room is on. I think they prefer to charge by view and group their rooms accordingly.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

My first thought would be that I think Disney's relatively high consistent occupancy levels 7 days a week, 365 days a year make a more micro-level management of room inventory less appealing to them from a practical matter. Much easier for Disney to break it down to a few basic categories with enough inventory to manage the giant Tetris puzzle that stays pretty full (more than most hotels/resorts) and charge us all more. And the resorts/room count where you could start coming up with "high floor" or other attributes that people would pay for is likely relatively small when thinking about the hotel inventory on property as a whole.

Also in the case of the DVC properties, where availability for us cash guests is limited to the number of rooms Disney can 'rent' from the small % of points Disney owns or has available at the time (ignoring the temporary situation when new resorts come online and Disney owns more yet to be declared inventory than normal so cash availability is higher) - I would like to join the first thread from DVC member Y who just paid X dollars for enough points to stay a week in a Island Tower TPV room during a peak points week when they get placed on a lower floor and a cash guest who paid a little view bump $ gets the high floor.

 

[Lewisc]

Probably not, for the reasons already mentioned.

I wonder if Disney will consider charging for early check-in. Pay $50 or wait until late afternoon for your room.

Edited to add
Disney already does what the OP suggests, to some extent. The top floors of the Contemporary are club level. The main building of the GF is club level.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I assume resort view are the cheapest rooms, but are they the only rooms on the lowest floors, like at BLT or do they run up the height of the building in one specific section? If you haven’t done so, I would put in a request for a high floor room.

Disney did do some tiering by floor when it comes to the Standard and Preferred view categories which I haven't seen a ton of objections to as they mostly follow some basic logic most would agree makes sense. The TPV category is more questionable as there's more than a handful of lower floor rooms (some that legitimately do not have a theme park view or only have a sliver view between trees, the wedding chapel, etc while looking left) that many have found questionable. There aren't a ton of these rooms, but there are some - and while I usually give Disney credit for being directionally accurate with the room view categories, some of them are really pushing things for the points and/or cash paid.

There is a bank or Duos on the TPV side they gave a "Premium View" category to as those are set back enough you don't really get a TPV. I'm sort of surprised they didn't also give a Premium View category to some of the lower level other rooms on the TPV side.

 

[SteveMouse]

As pp have mentioned, Disney likely doesn't want to try to schedule rooms with that tight a fit. There are comparatively few walk-ups to fill in unassigned rooms. Disney would not want to deal with downgrades because a prior guest has extended their stay unexpectedly or a room goes offline for maintenance. Having broad categories allows them to shuffle the deck more readily, including between resorts. What would be an equivalent to a high floor Destino tower at a different resort?

 

[hardcorestitch]

This might be opening a can of worms, but was wondering. I’ve seen other hotels where you can pay more and have a guaranteed higher floor and wondered if Disney would ever do that.

I know for certain hotels I would like to have a guaranteed good view, like specifically the Poly Tower where I have the two bedroom villa booked which could end up on the 8th or the 1st.

It seems like a great idea for Disney since they could get more money for rooms and less people complaining about the room they got since they’d know what cater over they booked.

If they can drop the prices further for those not so optimal rooms, that would be amazing.

 

[fla4fun]

Probably not, for the reasons already mentioned.

I wonder if Disney will consider charging for early check-in. Pay $50 or wait until late afternoon for your room

I can see a couple of issues with this.

One, the rooms that are not occupied the night before and would be already available for early occupancy the next day, could be the least desired rooms. You see, everyone who has checked in prior to you has already asked to be moved to a better room if they weren’t pleased with the one they got. So instead of early access to that great, straight on, MK view you wanted you got the room where you have to go out on the balcony and stand on your tippy tip toes to know there’s a theme park there. Not much of a benefit for your $50.

Second, at what point in the booking process would this transpire? Because until the evening before, they don’t have a clue how many rooms may be available for early occupancy. Even then, you will have some people who, let’s say, overstay their welcome and don’t make it out until well after 11:00. So now you have 100 people who paid for an early room, but only 75 early rooms that are ready. Again, not much of a benefit for your $50.

I know for cash reservations, there is a box to check when you do online check in to let them know that getting a room as early as possible is a priority for you, over any room requests you might have on file. In dozens and dozens of trips to WDW I have only received my room after 4pm twice, once due to a big turnover day and once because they were giving us a complimentary upgrade to a suite and the guests were late leaving. I have received my room before 11:00 about 35% of the time without indicating during online check in that I wanted an early room. The rest have mostly been available between 2:00-3:00 in the afternoon.

 

[Disnsyncey]

Second, at what point in the booking process would this transpire? Because until the evening before, they don’t have a clue how many rooms may be available for early occupancy. Even then, you will have some people who, let’s say, overstay their welcome and don’t make it out until well after 11:00. So now you have 100 people who paid for an early room, but only 75 early rooms that are ready. Again, not much of a benefit for your $50.

I know for cash reservations, there is a box to check when you do online check in to let them know that getting a room as early as possible is a priority for you, over any room requests you might have on file. In dozens and dozens of trips to WDW I have only received my room after 4pm twice, once due to a big turnover day and once because they were giving us a complimentary upgrade to a suite and the guests were late leaving. I have received my room before 11:00 about 35% of the time without indicating during online check in that I wanted an early room. The rest have mostly been available between 2:00-3:00 in the afternoon.

Normally the extra charge is proposed when you arrive to the FD (I was offered in NYC when I arrived at 10am), and if someone hasn't received a text yet and was HIGHLY DESIRING for a room, they would probably go to the FD to ask about one.....

but then they would end up not sending any texts and then having droves of people stop by the desk trying for a room, clogging up the CMs from actual problems....

the last few times we haven't gotten our room text until dinner time, but we are at the parks anyway, so it doesn't matter.....we all have different experiences

but on the topic of high floor, corner room, all of those are room categories at other hotels, otherwise the PMS wouldn't be able to charge them the correct rate for those "upgrades", so Disney does have the different categories at least in preferred and not.....

 

[gottalovepluto]

No. Their most recent actions in nixing various room views simplified their system, I don't see them adding in a new layer of complexity.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I wonder if Disney will consider charging for early check-in. Pay $50 or wait until late afternoon for your room.

Swolphin offers something like that. But, I don't see Disney offering it due to their high occupancy levels and seemingly* low housekeeping staffing levels.

*every other day service in low level hotels, not getting rooms cleaned until late afternoon in some deluxes, not returning to clean a room if you're there the second they want to clean it

 

[DizneyFamof4]

I also believe the number of customers that might complain about their room view is minuscule at best.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

This could end up being a problem at DVC resorts if they were to institute something like this. I'm not sure the POS allows for up charges on room locations. And if they start denying members access to corner rooms, upper floors or any other popular room locations (like the special studios in VWL or the BWV Village Green view) because a cash guest is paying an upgrade fee, that's not going to sit well with the members who bought in and pay dues to maintain those coveted rooms.

 

[Brian Noble]

This might be opening a can of worms, but was wondering. I’ve seen other hotels where you can pay more and have a guaranteed higher floor and wondered if Disney would ever do that.

We aren't that far off now.

I'm not sure the POS allows for up charges on room locations.

If you think the BLT or AKV view re-classifications were within the bounds of the POS, then it probably does. Both of those reallocated across units, as far as I know, and that's all that is required.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

We aren't that far off now.


If you think the BLT or AKV view re-classifications were within the bounds of the POS, then it probably does. Both of those reallocated across units, as far as I know, and that's all that is required.

Ah, yes, that's an entirely different DVC controversial topic. But how are owners going to feel if suddenly they have no access to certain rooms because they are being held to upsell to cash guest? Those rooms in sold-out resorts are ALL part of DVC inventory and I can't envision owners taking it without protest if specific rooms are being reserved for cash guests paying to upgrade to the most sought-after locations.

 

[Brian Noble]

I don't know how you get from "Disney might charge more for higher floors" to "...and then remove those rooms from DVC inventory."

The latter part they definitely cannot do. They can select from bookable categories for anticipated breakage and exchanges within the Disney Collection, but I haven't seen any evidence that they've exclusivley cherry-picked for that inventory so far, and don't know why that would change.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

I don't know how you get from "Disney might charge more for higher floors" to "...and then remove those rooms from DVC inventory."

The latter part they definitely cannot do. They can select from bookable categories for anticipated breakage and exchanges within the Disney Collection, but I haven't seen any evidence that they've exclusivley cherry-picked for that inventory so far, and don't know why that would change.

I think you are missing my point. I understand exchanges and breakage. I understand that DVC rooms that are surrendered via this process can be sold via the WDTC for cash. But I also understand that rooms are not assigned until close to check in. My point is this: If the WDTC can upsell a cash room at the time that they make their reservation at a DVC resort so that a cash guest can get a higher floor BLT room, garden view room overlooking the Village Green, AKL resort view studio with a partial savanna view, etc., then I think members may have an issue with that practice.

 

[Brian Noble]

I don’t do conspiracy theories.