Virgin / WDW Room Allocation

[allie5]

For our onsite stay next year we have booked through Virgin for AKL. They want to charge £43 A NIGHT for a Savannah view, which I think is utterly outrageous!! Of course, I REALLY want the view for the two kids to enjoy (its one of the reasons for picking this resort) but paying the supplement means we could have stayed at the GF or Y&B instead!! So, questions....

Has anyone stayed at AKL booked through Virgin, and if so what sort of room did you get?

If I dont book a Savannah view, what are the chances of just being "allocoated" one on arrival?

If I do want to book, do you think it will be better to negotiate with the resort on arrival, rather than deal with Virgin??

Its our wedding anniversary during our stay, is it worth mentioning and faxing this to the resort, say a few days before travel??? Might swing a room upgrade!!!

Thanks!

Allie

 

[Frances999]

That's quite a hefty upgrade price! I haven't booked through Virgin for AKL, however on our first Florida trip we booked the whole holiday with Virgin staying at the GF and were obviously given the cheapest type (garden view) room. I enquried about upgrading by calling the CRO directly but they were unable to assist as the reservation was through Virgin

I asked the same question of how likely it is to be allocated a savannah view room upon arrival over on the resorts board (where I practically live!) and the response was it is pretty unlikely.

I would definitely try faxing the resort and mentioning it's your wedding anniversary. You should receive a gift at the very least and hopefully a room upgrade!

Have a great trip.

 

[Found Nemo]

I've got another couple of brochures here (BA Holidays and First Choice) and to be honest, that £43 per room looks about par for the course. There's not much difference between the prices between operators- guess it comes down to demand, and the fact that everyone wants the Savannah view.

If you do contact the resort, don't do it until just before you go, as otherwise they won't have a record of your booking due to the tour operators' allocation programme.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

The difference in rack rate between standard and savannah room is $81 plus tax. I think it's extremely unlikely to get a free upgrade from a car park view to a savannah view, even if you do say its your wedding anniversary. Have you thought about booking a DIY holiday and making your own booking at AKL? We stayed for a week in August 2002 and got a savannah room for $154 + tax per night using an annual pass to get AP discounted rates (rack rate for that time was about $295).

Regards

Rob

 

[Peebee]

A friend booked a standard view room last year for their 10-night stay hoping to get an upgrade at check-in but nothing materialised. They spent the first night in the room then went back to the front desk next morning to upgrade to savannah view! I don't know off the top of my head what the cost was, but I can find out if you'd like Allie.

Paul

 

[allie5]

Paul, that would be fantastic, thank you.

Rob, looked into a DIY booking. Val on the DIBB has done me some quotes for booking seperately, but at present its coming out more than the Virgin package (still with the standard view). Im weighing up whether its worth hanging in for the AP rate or just doing the package. Ive gone DIY for Xmas and although I have saved money, it has been a bit of pain. The car rental isnt sorted and because the flights werent booked with Virgin direct there are questions over whether we can or cannot use DTD check in....just little things, but I thought for our "big" onsite stay, I wanted everything perfect!!

Ive resigned myself to knowing I will have to pay for the Savannah view but I am seriously hoping it will be less than £43 a night. To be honest I would be tempted to change to the Yacht & Beach if it is going to cost that sort of money!!

 

[Peebee]

Hi Allie. Apparently it was about £240 for the upgrade for the remaining 9 days, but it was definitely worth it!!

By the way, so long as you are flying Virgin you can use DTD check-in, only difference is that Virgin Holidays customers do so for free, rather than pay $5 per person on the day.

Paul

 

[allie5]

Oooh, thanks Paul, thats interesting. That works out at around £26 a night, much more acceptable! I will definately be leaving it till we arrive then!!

Thanks also for the DTD info...no one at Virgin seemed to know if I could do it or not!! Dont mind paying $5, thats well worth it!

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Originally posted by allie5
Paul, that would be fantastic, thank you.

Rob, looked into a DIY booking. Val on the DIBB has done me some quotes for booking seperately, but at present its coming out more than the Virgin package (still with the standard view). Im weighing up whether its worth hanging in for the AP rate or just doing the package. Ive gone DIY for Xmas and although I have saved money, it has been a bit of pain. The car rental isnt sorted and because the flights werent booked with Virgin direct there are questions over whether we can or cannot use DTD check in....just little things, but I thought for our "big" onsite stay, I wanted everything perfect!!

Whenever we've booked a DIY holiday we've spent about the same amount of money (perhaps even a little more) than we would have done on a package. This normally gives us better value for money, rather than actually saving cash. For example, we get better grade hotels, annual passes rahter than the Unlimited tickets that come with Virgin, etc.

Regards

Rob

 

[Korbs]

i am also in the same situation. We are going for 2 wks to stay at AKL in Sept booked through virgin just over a year ago. I thought our brochure said it was £50 for a savannah view but that was just a bit over priced for us as we had intended staying at the all stars to start with, and have 2 rooms booked. I ummed and ahhhed about it and just decided to take a chance when we get there and see how much much it is to upgrade when we arrive. If it's too much we won't do it, we'll just decide at the time, and until then, I'll be praying for a free upgrade (for our room anyway!)

 

[allie5]

Korbs, would you mind posting how you got on with the room upgrade when you return???

Thanks a lot.

Allie

 

[Korbs]

Hi Allie,

Just got back from AKL yesterday and remembered this thread from a while ago.
Had an absolutely fantastic time and the resort is lovely. We won't be staying offsite again!

We were due to fly out on Mon 6th Sept, and our flights were cancelled due to Frances, but we managed to get a flight out on the tuesday, so we only lost one day off our holiday.
Anyway, when we arrived, i felt too guilty to start being finicky and asking for free upgrades, considering how bad the last few days had been for them, and i thought they may be busy due to people staying there to get away orm the storm, so i didn't ask.

But, as the lady sorted out our checking in, she said, 'by the way, we've upgraded you free of charge to a savannah view room!'

YEEEEESSSSSS!

We were in rooms 3257 and 3259 overlooking the sunset savannah. It was really nice.

Having said that, if we had not been upgraded, i think it would have been just as good as we tended to look out of the viewing areas in the hallways as we were leaving were you get just as good a view. Though i don't think i would believe that if i hadn't stayed in a savannah room.

It was also probably quiet as lots of people had cancelled due to the weather and sept is generally quiet anyway, so it could be why i got an upgrade without mentioning it.

I did intend to find out the cost of upgrading, for next time, when we were checking out but i completely forgot. I leave my brain at home when i'm on holiday!

 

[barrysprot36]

Hi

We booked last year with Virgin for our hols this year (July/August) to stay at CBR. In April this year we altered our booking and paid the extra so that we could stay in a prefered building (Martinique).

HOWEVER, Virgin had not told CBR this and when we arrived they did not have any rooms available in that building for our 14 days.

IMO, if you are going at a busy time I would pre-book a savannah room if that's what you really want. We will be doing exactly this for the next time we go in 2006.

Caron