Upgrades - how???

[lmk]

Just wondering about your experiences getting room upgrades. For those of you who have been successful, have you asked for them when to check in or was it offered to you. Any advice? Also, are we likely to get an upgrade from AKL deluxe savannah? I don't even know what the next step up would be - Concierge?? Help!!!

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by lmk
Just wondering about your experiences getting room upgrades. For those of you who have been successful, have you asked for them when to check in or was it offered to you. Any advice? Also, are we likely to get an upgrade from AKL deluxe savannah? I don't even know what the next step up would be - Concierge?? Help!!!

If you are referring to a free upgrade I would think that an upgrade to concierge for free would be unlikely. When you are checking in you could inquire how much it would cost to upgrade to concierge and see what happens. All free upgrades are hit or miss.

 

[lmk]

Thanks Tiffany. By hit or miss do you mean they may or may not be offered at check in depending on luck? I'm assuming I shouldn't ask for a free upgrade but perhaps I'm wrong.

 

[heidica]

Imk - I was just going to ask the same thing.

For all those who got upgrades at AKL - did you ask at check-in or was it just given to you? Are you more likely to get a free upgrade by not asking and seeing what happens, or should you ask for a "complimentary" upgrade? If you ask, is it a free upgrade or it is automatically assumed that you are ready and willing to pay for the new price? Guess I need to know whether to keep my mouth shut or speak up and ask. And of course I am not expecting an upgrade, but since I have never gotten one, I am curious as to how others have.

 

[musicmom3]

We received upgrades from standard rooms in WL, BC, and CR. Of course, this was during the time when it was still customary for people to fax in letters right before arriving, which I did. I did not ask for an upgrade at WL or BC, but at CR I did ask, when I checked in, if they were offering any upgrades and the CM snapped back that I had already been upgraded (I am assuming the fax worked!). We are in savannah view for our upcoming AKL trip, and I plan to ask, when I arrive, if concierge is available to surprise my daughters. I have read that some posters have received a good discount by upgrading to conceirge on site--I have read as little as $20 a night! Of course, I think that is unlikely during President's week. If it is too expensive, I will probably just say so.

 

[Taratink]

I am going to ask if there are any upgrades availible when we arrive at the WL. If it cost more they will tell you. They will not just assignit to you without telling you the price if there is one. This will be my first time asking and I will be nervous.
Tara

 

[Bojangles]

AKL concierge is fully booked a lot of the time. I doubt you will recieve an upgrade.

 

[landmark]

We have been upgraded the last two visits. First at the CR upon check-in, right away the CM said "Wow! You got a free upgrade to Jr. Suite!" We were like... Yay! We didn't expect anything.

This past May we had booked Pool View at AKL but on the drive down DH decided that he'd like Savannah after-all so at check in I asked. "How much would it be to upgrade to Savannah?" The CM said... "Nothing, you've already been upgraded!" So... Yay! again. I was more than willing to pay any price difference.

Our March trip I'm not expecting any upgrades as it's going to be peak season and I think that more of the upgrades come during less busy times... but I'm not an expert and won't turn one down but am actually booking the rooms that I "expect". Rather than booking a standard and hoping for something else. Odds are that during peak season a resort could potentially be full!

 

[DebbieB]

One thing you could do before you leave is check reservations on the Disney website to see what rooms are still available for your stay. If they don't show any conceirge rooms, you know your chances are almost none. If they do have rooms open, then ask.

 

[Mary Ellen]

Since the type of room you've already reserved IS the same type of room you'd get if you'd booked Concierge, I'd just ask at check-in "How much to upgrade?". That's what we did our first AKL stay. It was reasonable so we took it. We had the same room we would have otherwise, we just got Concierge access. We weren't able to get the Sunrise Safari though as even the waitlist was full.

Second stay, we booked Concierge to start just to get the SS.

Good Luck!

 

[PAFamily]

When we checked into the WL last year, the CM offered us an upgrade to conceirge for 40/night, we thought it was a great deal!

 

[musicmom3]

Silly question--a reality check needed! I just realized from reading these posts that both that Room Assigners (CMs who work "in the back" figuring how who goes where on any given day) and Front Desk CMs seem to be able to give upgrades. Is that true, or am I missing something? Thanks for the info on upgrading to concierge, by the way.

 

[Minybear]

I asked for an upgrade at AKL concierge 3 mths out and the concierge person said I could have the upgrade to the 1 bdrm unit but it was a bad area and you couldn't see any animals from that location. We turned the upgrade down. We want to see the animals from our room.

 

[LibertyBelle]

Originally posted by musicmom3
Silly question--a reality check needed! I just realized from reading these posts that both that Room Assigners (CMs who work "in the back" figuring how who goes where on any given day) and Front Desk CMs seem to be able to give upgrades. Is that true, or am I missing something? Thanks for the info on upgrading to concierge, by the way.

It depends on the avalaiblity of the hotel. If the hotel is not full then the front desk cm that is checking you in would be able to do an upgrade on their own, if the hotel is full they have to enter a code that only the room assigners would have and they would not be able to do so without asking. Upgrades that are done prior to your arrival are usually done by the room assigner to fix the counts in any given category (for example at WL they will over sell the standard so you can pay the cheaper rate and then upgrade to woods or courtyard.) As far as upgrades at check in it depends on the cm... if they are a long time front desk cm they will probably do it if they can because they know that they are not messing anything up, if it is a newer cm they probably won't or they might ask. Personally if it was avalaible and you ask I would do it (a view upgrade that is, Front desk cm's can't upgrade to suites without room assigner permission). I also did upgrades for clean rooms on arrival again if I could. It depends on the situation, but asking at check in and being perky and fun doesn't hurt. The worst they can say is no

 

[musicmom3]

Once again I am amazed at the information that I get on these boards. Thank you for explaining the upgrade from "the other side of the desk"!

 

[lark]

Maybe luck of the draw, but each time we've been upgraded, it was when we didn't say a word and just checked in as usual. I usually just find some way to make some small talk.

I used to ask, and don't believe I was ever upgraded when asking.

I got the sense last time that we were upgraded that it was the front desk person that did it, but I don't know. I do know that she had a very long list of rooms that she was scrolling through to find one for us, so I don't think our exact room was preassigned.

 

[KCBWV]

Could someone please explain the view from a one bedroom suite at AKL?

 

[airforcewife]

So my question is since we will be at CR during the week before Christmas(19-26), should I ask or not bother? We are in a wing room and would like to upgrade to the tower. But the price was $100 per night more. When you ask what do you say? I'm a little nervous about asking for this! I don't want 12th or 14 th floor or anything, just a tower room.
so. any advice or am I crazy for even thinking about trying during the holiday season?
Be gentle...I'm still new at this it is our first trip!

Robyn

 

[jenjersnap]

be gentle with me too. I am a newbie and just don't understand all the intricacies of the WDW process! Can someone give me advice, pretty please?

Our first two nights are booked at AKL, standard view. We chose AKL because my four-year-old is crazy, insanely in love with African animals and this is a special treat for him. He wishes we were staying there the whole trip but we will be moving to FW cabins. When researching it, I read that something like 90% of all rooms face a savannah so I assumed they were "standard" rooms. I was horrified last week when I figured out how wrong I was - I mean, I have psyched my DS up so much and it's gonna crush him if we aren't facing the animals (and me, for letting him down. )

Anyway, I am perfectly willing to pay for an upgrade ... do I try to call now? Or, is it better to wait and ask when we arrive? There are a couple complications - first of all, I tried to book through Disney directly first and they were sold out of the discounted rates for our dates in mid Dec., so I booked through Travelocity (a nightmare I won't repeat, but that's a story for another time). They gave me the Disney confirmation # though and I called to verify the ressie was in their system. Is there any discrimination for 3rd party bookings that would keep us from upgrading? Has anyone experienced anything like this or, better yet, NOT experienced any difference? (I know that seems like an odd question, but I've read about deluxe hotels discriminating against, specifically, Expedia customers. Some hotels freely admit this too). The second complication is that our plane doesn't arrive until midnight - does that pretty much doom us to parking lot he!! no matter what we hope and/or are willing to pay for? I am sure, with a 4-year-old and a 16-month-old, at that time of night after a 5 hour flight, we are not going to be our most charming and perky selves.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have cried over my idiotic mistake and feel like such a fool.

 

[lark]

Jennifer -- I think there is a very signficant chance that, without changing your reservation, you will not get a savannah view, which is what you need. I would not count on an upgrade in this circumstance. In fact, I think it's 50/50 at best, and probably worse. You should know you are trying for a double upgrade -- you're not just looking to jump one view category, but two.

There may be a little confusion in terminology here, though. I think must people, when the use they term "upgrade" are talking either about showing up at the resort and getting a better room than the one they paid for for free or being offered the opportunity to get a better room for a relatively modest additional payment at the time of check in.

If you really are in position where people in your party will be crushed if you don't get a savannah view, then I really don't think an upgrade is what you need. What you need is to change your reservation as soon as possible to get what you want. If it were me, the first thing I would do is call 407-WDISNEY and see if there is a savannah view for my dates, and find out what the best rate I can get it for would be. At this point, for mid-December, if it's prior to the 19th, about the best you could hope for is a triple A discount off the rack rate of $275/night, or about $230 before taxes. If they have it, and if you can cancel your travelocity reservation, just book the new reervation and cancel your travelocity reservation.

If the only way you can make the AKL work in the first place is with a deeper discount, I think the only option is to call travelocity and see if you can get a savannah room at the same discount, or call disney and just tell them your situation and ask what they can do. If you don't like the answer you get at first, call back. If you just show up at the hotel at midnight hoping for an upgrade, you are likely to be disappointed. But even then, all is not lost. If that is the best you can do, I would try, in this order: (1) begging, and (2) offering at the time of check in to pay extra for a savannah room.

As for discrimination for reservations made through on line TAs, I have used expedia for disney and saw no difference in treatment, although it's tought to know for sure. We were upgraded recently on an expedia resservation.