Upgrading to Preferred upon Arrival

[anf002]

Have any of you had successes or failures with upgrading to preferred upon arrival to your resort. We would like to get preferred at All-Star Sports, unless we are booked in the football section. Do you think that we could switch to preferred after we have seen our room location? We are booked at a military discounted rate. Thanks!

 

[Missytara]

If you ask to upgrade at arrival, you will most likely lose your discount and will pay rack rate for the room. It is like having a new reservation.

Upgrading at arrival depends on availability; as well as discounts. Discounts are meant to fill rooms at resorts, so if the preferred rooms are already booked up, there is no need to get a discount.

I would look to see what the availability is about 45 days out from check-in; that is when people normally either cancel or postpone their package dates and rooms do open up. However, there is no guarantee that it will have a discount for that particular room.

 

[DisneyWisher]

If you ask to upgrade at arrival, you will most likely lose your discount and will pay rack rate for the room. It is like having a new reservation.

Upgrading at arrival depends on availability; as well as discounts. Discounts are meant to fill rooms at resorts, so if the preferred rooms are already booked up, there is no need to get a discount.

I would look to see what the availability is about 45 days out from check-in; that is when people normally either cancel or postpone their package dates and rooms do open up. However, there is no guarantee that it will have a discount for that particular room.

Not true. But they will charge you the rack rate of the preferred room fee. I have requested preferred and downgraded because I didn't like the room choice. Music I was given Calypso 3rd floor at the end of the hall. The door was ajar and no way I was taking the room. They gave me Jazz (now a preferred bldg) 1st floor closest to the lobby. Loved it!! At Movies it was when they had just made Toy Story a preferred bldg. I moved to Mighty Ducks and rec'd the preferred fee as credit both times.

 

[Missytara]

Not true. But they will charge you the rack rate of the preferred room fee. I have requested preferred and downgraded because I didn't like the room choice. Music I was given Calypso 3rd floor at the end of the hall. The door was ajar and no way I was taking the room. They gave me Jazz (now a preferred bldg) 1st floor closest to the lobby. Loved it!! At Movies it was when they had just made Toy Story a preferred bldg. I moved to Mighty Ducks and rec'd the preferred fee as credit both times.

There are times when they have some leeway at some times of year; Veterans like myself post worst case scenario.

 

[Disneylover99]

I've tried to upgrade twice to a preferred room upon arrival at ASM. I was willing to pay the difference but there was no availability for me both times.

 

[stitchlovestink]

There are times when they have some leeway at some times of year; Veterans like myself post worst case scenario.

And I'm a veteran too and agree with the previous poster saying that is not true at all. You won't lose your discount. Worst case is there won't be availability. If the CM tries to take your discount in an upgrade all you need to do is ask to speak to a mgr. The mgr will know how to correctly handle any upgrade without you losing your existing discount. I have both upgraded and downgraded rooms on multiple occasions after arrival and NEVER lost my discount and I NEVER pay rack rate for a room!! So I completely disagree with your statement. You just need to get someone who knows how to do the job correctly!

 

[nkereina]

And I'm a veteran too and agree with the previous poster saying that is not true at all. You won't lose your discount. Worst case is there won't be availability. If the CM tries to take your discount in an upgrade all you need to do is ask to speak to a mgr. The mgr will know how to correctly handle any upgrade without you losing your existing discount. I have both upgraded and downgraded rooms on multiple occasions after arrival and NEVER lost my discount and I NEVER pay rack rate for a room!! So I completely disagree with your statement. You just need to get someone who knows how to do the job correctly!

I took PP's post to mean that you will pay rack rate for preferred if you upgrade. Not that you would be subject to rack rate on your existing reservation retroactively. All promotional discounts have a certain number of rooms allotted and once those rooms are gone, that's it. If those rooms are gone when the OP is trying to upgrade but there is still preferred availability, he or she would then have to pay rack rate for the upgrade - whatever the difference is to the total for the preferred room. Not the difference in the entire amount.

For instance, if OP is paying $199/nt with their discount in a standard room and a preferred room is $299/nt at rack rate, and the discount made preferred $250/nt, OP would have to pay the difference at $299/nt as opposed to $250/nt. So an additional $100 a night rather than an additional $50 a night.

I agree that its certainly something a manager could adjust at his or her discretion, but I wouldn't count on that when doing my budget for the trip.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I took PP's post to mean that you will pay rack rate for preferred if you upgrade. Not that you would be subject to rack rate on your existing reservation retroactively. All promotional discounts have a certain number of rooms allotted and once those rooms are gone, that's it. If those rooms are gone when the OP is trying to upgrade but there is still preferred availability, he or she would then have to pay rack rate for the upgrade - whatever the difference is to the total for the preferred room. Not the difference in the entire amount.

For instance, if OP is paying $199/nt with their discount in a standard room and a preferred room is $299/nt at rack rate, and the discount made preferred $250/nt, OP would have to pay the difference at $299/nt as opposed to $250/nt. So an additional $100 a night rather than an additional $50 a night.

I agree that its certainly something a manager could adjust at his or her discretion, but I wouldn't count on that when doing my budget for the trip.

But if you have read the entire thread you will see that the OP is talking about ASSp ( a value) which means going from a standard to preferred room would only cost anywhere from $10 to $20ish depending on season & day of the week. And again, I am speaking from multiple experiences. I say they have a worse chance of not having availibility in preferred. They are ungrading people for free because the hotels (at the values) often enough aren't full. They want happy guests. That's MHO speaking from experience!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Value resorts most frequently are full. Reading these boards, upgrades relating to Value resorts are most frequently to DVC properties - not to other categories at the same resort level - because some DVCs have space (and for marketing), while Values and possibly Moderates are oversold.

 

[Missytara]

But if you have read the entire thread you will see that the OP is talking about ASSp ( a value) which means going from a standard to preferred room would only cost anywhere from $10 to $20ish depending on season & day of the week. And again, I am speaking from multiple experiences. I say they have a worse chance of not having availibility in preferred. They are ungrading people for free because the hotels (at the values) often enough aren't full. They want happy guests. That's MHO speaking from experience!

I would love to see your stats on the facts that values are often not full. They are in fact often full. Especially during discount and busy times. Considering the fact that Disney has offered less and less discounts, people may only be booking values. Especially enticing people who are staying off-site to go to the values; it is their bread and butter.

 

[Missytara]

Value resorts most frequently are full. Reading these boards, upgrades relating to Value resorts are most frequently to DVC properties - not to other categories at the same resort level - because some DVCs have space (and for marketing), while Values and possibly Moderates are oversold.

Finally a voice of reason; thank you!

 

[stitchlovestink]

I would love to see your stats on the facts that values are often not full. They are in fact often full. Especially during discount and busy times. Considering the fact that Disney has offered less and less discounts, people may only be booking values. Especially enticing people who are staying off-site to go to the values; it is their bread and butter.

The mgr I know who works at POP and tells me what the occupancy levels are for his hotel!! Wanna call him. A liar? POP has rarely been full this this year! In March there were weeks where the occupancy levels weren't even at 50%. One of their busiest weeks so far this year was the cheerleading convention they just had a little over a week ago and then the BTGs back in January would be the other along with MLK weekend. But their numbers have been down since AoA opened esp the LM rooms.
I can't speak for the All Stars...don't know their numbers. But why would my friend lie to me?!

 

[kaytieeldr]

The mgr I know who works at POP and tells me what the occupancy levels are for his hotel!!

Disney doesn't make those specific numbers (percentages) public. With the average nightly industry-wide occupancy rate at about 72%, it's pretty shocking that Disney allowed some weeks to go by during a relatively busy travel month at one of its newest resorts with fewer than 50% of the rooms occupied - and didn't offer additional discounts to entice guests to visit.

Once a hotel room goes unsold, you can't ever make that money back. Moving someone into a higher-priced room at no extra cost (upgrading) has ZERO effect on revenue; you're just moving the money from one room to another. And it's not as if you can upgrade anyone into the now-available room. It's a standard room at a value resort; it's the base of the base.

Anyway, again, not sure why your friend is revealing to you numbers Disney doesn't make available; and some of those numbers sound sketchy.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Disney doesn't make those specific numbers (percentages) public. With the average nightly industry-wide occupancy rate at about 72%, it's pretty shocking that Disney allowed some weeks to go by during a relatively busy travel month at one of its newest resorts with fewer than 50% of the rooms occupied - and didn't offer additional discounts to entice guests to visit.

Once a hotel room goes unsold, you can't ever make that money back. Moving someone into a higher-priced room at no extra cost (upgrading) has ZERO effect on revenue; you're just moving the money from one room to another. And it's not as if you can upgrade anyone into the now-available room. It's a standard room at a value resort; it's the base of the base.

Anyway, again, not sure why your friend is revealing to you numbers Disney doesn't make available; and some of those numbers sound sketchy.

Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know if you have 2880 rooms and X number of them are occupied... you just do a division problem to figure out what pecentage of rooms are occupied....
It's not calculus.

And my DD works at a wdw resort and they are often told by their manager what the occupancy levels are!! Right now her home resort has had a low occupancy level so she has been deployed out to another resort that is very busy! So this isn't as hidden as you may think if you work in the resorts there. Do you work at a wdw resort??

 

[nkereina]

But if you have read the entire thread you will see that the OP is talking about ASSp ( a value) which means going from a standard to preferred room would only cost anywhere from $10 to $20ish depending on season & day of the week. And again, I am speaking from multiple experiences. I say they have a worse chance of not having availibility in preferred. They are ungrading people for free because the hotels (at the values) often enough aren't full. They want happy guests. That's MHO speaking from experience!

But I did read the whole thread. If you had read my post, you would know the figures I were using were pure examples. Whether the difference is $10, $20 or $100 - it still works the same.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I would love to see your stats on the facts that values are often not full. They are in fact often full. Especially during discount and busy times. Considering the fact that Disney has offered less and less discounts, people may only be booking values. Especially enticing people who are staying off-site to go to the values; it is their bread and butter.

I was at Pop last week. It didn't seem full to me. Food court crowds and bus lines were never very long. I've been same week several times before and it seemed less busy. I booked and got preferred room. A friend booked standard room and got preferred room with no additional charge.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know if you have 2880 rooms and X number of them are occupied... you just do a division problem to figure out what pecentage of rooms are occupied....
It's not calculus.

And my DD works at a wdw resort and they are often told by their manager what the occupancy levels are!! Right now her home resort has had a low occupancy level so she has been deployed out to another resort that is very busy! So this isn't as hidden as you may think if you work in the resorts there. Do you work at a wdw resort??

Thanks for the digs. I 100% understand that it's, well, percentages - not calculus. I'm pretty good with numbers. Without a calculator or having memorize it, I can tell you that while 50% of the rooms in Building 10 at Pop are Preferred (easy), only 16.7% of the rooms in Building 6 are (why those two? they comprise the 70s). I can also tell you that the Preferred rooms in the 70s comprise 5% of all the rooms at Pop Century, again just using my brain.

So while I don't 'get' calculus, I understand percentages. A below 50% occupancy rate during 'some weeks' of a busy travel period at the World's most popular travel destination is more than surprising, as is a hotel manager discussing such numbers with the general public or a hotel manager not advising her/his employees not to do the same.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I was at Pop last week. It didn't seem full to me. Food court crowds and bus lines were never very long. I've been same week several times before and it seemed less busy. I booked and got preferred room. A friend booked standard room and got preferred room with no additional charge.

'Not full' the first week in May isn't nearly the same as more than 50% empty some weeks in March (a much busier travel period).

 

[stitchlovestink]

I was at Pop last week. It didn't seem full to me. Food court crowds and bus lines were never very long. I've been same week several times before and it seemed less busy. I booked and got preferred room. A friend booked standard room and got preferred room with no additional charge.

Thank You!!
I booked a standard room (cheapest category) and was upgraded to standard pool view which is more expensive at no additional charge. Only line I encountered all week was coming back from MK at closing one night. Now granted, this was not a pleasure trip, so I didn't spend much time in the parks. But on my way to the parking lot on many occasions....I NEVER once saw a line at a bus stop with more than 20 people. And the food court was often empty! They almost always had some of the soda dispensers and seating sections shut down/closed off. I guess to make less work for the CMs?? Not complaining, just stating observations that I witnessed. And the bowling pin pool was pretty much empty all week and our weather was gorgeous!!!! Even the hippy dippy pool wasn't that busy. It had people but it wasn't crazy. I wouldn't even say busy... IMHO.

 

[shell8558]

Just wanted to add that I stayed at sports in February - the same week as the national cheerleading competition and Mardi gras - we were upgraded to a preferred room at no extra cost in the surfs up building . We did not even realize it was preferred until we unloaded the car . The resort was booked to capacity as were the other all stars because of the competition and the influx of people from the gulf coast . So - my suggestion is to ask the front desk when you check in- never hurts . I don't know how we got upgraded - my only thought is that they put everyone not with the competition in the preferred rooms? I did ask for a quiet room - maybe that helped ??