What are ABD rooms like? What if I want to upgrade?

[Richard M Nixon]

I'm assuming that ABD books blocks of rooms like any other group travel, so we get run of house rooms (probably the cheapest or smallest available). Is that typically the case? Do they support upgrading to different room categories and if so, is it done in advance or at check in? Can anyone share their experiences doing so?

 

[dina444444]

Which trip are you asking for? I see you just posted another threads asking about the backstage magic trip. I just did this trip in December with the dis and at the Loews in Hollywood room locations/views were all different and on different levels of the hotel, I was in a king room since I traveled solo but I think anyone that wanted a king room got one there. At the grand most if not all the rooms for our group were pool view rooms and same thing about bed types with the king rooms. I much preferred the room at the grand because it had recently been renovated and I liked the split bathroom set up more but the room at the Loews was fine as well.

 

[OhanaCuz]

The hotel that ABD put us up at in Budapest was very. Small or cheap wouldn't apply at all but I didn't try to upgrade the room.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I have been on 6 ABDs and as far as I know you don't have the option to upgrade a room.

You don't spend much time in the room on an ABD -- really just to sleep and shower. They keep you very busy during the trip.

 

[sayhello]

To my knowledge, there is no way to upgrade a room on an ABD. Everything is already pre-paid for, and many times the Guides have already checked in for us and handed us our keys, and we just had to provide a credit card at checkout to cover incidentals if there were any.

That said, it never hurts to ask ABD. Their policies change all the time, so who knows?

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

I don't think you can upgrade rooms. After 12 trips, I've never seen anyone ask or try. Oddly enough once in Saigon when we arrived for an ABD arranged prenight, the hotel asked if we wanted to upgrade, but I'm thinking that was Vietnam and was the exception.

Most of the hotels and rooms are quite good. Your opinion will of course depend on your experience. Some of our rooms have had amazing and definitely not standard views. In Zermatt, we had a balcony that overlooked the Matterhorn. In Guilin, the "Gum Drop" mountains. In Rotenburg, overlooking the main historic front street. In other places, it was obviously not the prime view. At the Peninsula in Shanghai, we had a view of the courtyard rather than the Bund. In Laos, our room was on the lower level without much view rather than overlooking the beautiful jungle. And often it's luck of the draw. I've been on the Africa tour twice. Once had a spectacular view overlooking the Indian ocean in Knysna. The other time (same hotel) we overlooked the opposite and less interesting side of the hotel. I think it was a golf course. And some guests will be assigned better views than others at any given hotel. It's very luck of the draw. You have to be cool with some randomness on ABD. As was mentioned earlier, you're not in the room very much.

 

[calypso726]

I don't know if they are upgrade-able. We've been on 10 ABD trips and never asked about upgrading a room. You are in the room with just about enough time to shower, change and sleep. On many of our trips I have waked into the room at check in and had my jaw hit the ground because the room or view was awesome. The last adjectives that would come to mind for any of the rooms we have stayed in on an ABD trip would be small or cheap. Hope that helps.

 

[RSM]

We have never done it through ABD. But, when we did the Australia ABD, we booked an upgraded room on our own for 4 pre-days at the Shangri La in Sydney. When we checked in, we asked if we could stay in that room as we didn't want to change rooms. They told us it would be another $30 per night for the nights we were there as part of the ABD. This wasn't done through ABD, but directly with the hotel. I imagine it would be easier to do if you book pre-days on your own at the first destination. Not sure if it could be done for the subsequent hotels on the trip without engaging ABD.

 

[Richard M Nixon]

Thanks for the responses, all! I'm still coming from the non-group travelling mindset and I forgot how little time would be spent in the rooms with ABD...that's a good reminder.

 

[AlixaLock]

Hey there! Seems like you got all the answers you needed, but since my experience was different, I thought I would throw it in.

On our China ABD we upgraded our room in Hong Kong, Shanghai and one other stop. We emailed the concierge in each city a few days before, asking for an upgrade. We were quoted a price and it was charged to our credit card on check out. The rooms on this trip were amazing without the upgrade, but we wanted a little extra space for the longer stays. It didn't change out ABD experience at all. When we got to the hotel our guide handed us our room keys and we proceeded just the way everyone else did. I did the same at the Lowes for our Backstage Magic trip. When I checked in for my pre-trip, I asked for an upgrade (which I would only want if I could keep it for the entire trip) they checked and were able to upgrade me for a fee which they charged to my credit card. The standard rooms at the Lowes were fine, but we had family coming to visit and staying in the hotel and we wanted a place for the group to hangout pre dinner etc. The important thing to note, though, is to make sure your leaders know your room numbers.

 

[lpm23]

We did the same thing in our Wyoming trip. We upgrade our room at the Wort Hotel to a suite to have more space. We sometimes do this because we travel as a group of 5 with my dad and it's nice to have the extra space. sometimes we just pay the single supplement for him to get him his own room but other times we just call hotels directly. We are also doing this on the Paris portion of our Siene trip this summer. we haven't had any problems doing it.

 

[White Rose]

We have one thing to add..if you are staying at a branded hotel and have status (like a Marriott or Hyatt)

Make sure you have your rewards number on file before you check in. We got a status upgrade (hubby is a business traveler) at no charge at the first hotel in the Germany Old intinerary. We booked one night on our own before the trip....then we reached out to the hotel to let them know we were traveling with ABD and did not want to change rooms if possible.

We had a room with a small balcony overlooking the river..only a few rooms had balconies at all...and we had concierge access because of our status for the full stay. We were only in the room occasionally, but it was nice to be able to go to the lounge and grab snacks... We were right next to the concierge lounge, too.

 

[Spork24]

We have one thing to add..if you are staying at a branded hotel and have status (like a Marriott or Hyatt)

Make sure you have your rewards number on file before you check in. We got a status upgrade (hubby is a business traveler) at no charge at the first hotel in the Germany Old intinerary. We booked one night on our own before the trip....then we reached out to the hotel to let them know we were traveling with ABD and did not want to change rooms if possible.

We had a room with a small balcony overlooking the river..only a few rooms had balconies at all...and we had concierge access because of our status for the full stay. We were only in the room occasionally, but it was nice to be able to go to the lounge and grab snacks... We were right next to the concierge lounge, too.

So if I’m not booking a pre night how do I alert the hotel of my status prior to arriving? Call the hotel directly? If so how long before my arrival. We’re staying in a Hilton property and I would love a possible upgrade from diamond status.

 

[RebelHawk]

On our Peru ABD trip we booked pre days on our on with points. I'm lifetime platinum with Marriott and we did get upgraded to a suite. After checking in I asked about linking our ABD reservation which they did without a problem. Also on our last day with ABD we were back at that same hotel. I don't know if it was random luck or my status but we were put into a massive multi room suite that we didn't get to use because our flight left at 1AM that morning. We dropped our bags off wandered around the room and then met all our new friends from the trip at the bar for drinks before our car service took us to the airport a couple hours later.

 

[White Rose]

So if I’m not booking a pre night how do I alert the hotel of my status prior to arriving? Call the hotel directly? If so how long before my arrival. We’re staying in a Hilton property and I would love a possible upgrade from diamond status.

I’d call or email the concierge.

We did it a few nights before we left, maybe a week? We also booked the first night on our own, not through Disney...not sure if that is why we got the upgrade.

If your diamond status gives you access to a concierge lounge I’d find out if you are eligible for it with a group rate...each hotel might have differs rules about that.

 

[Spork24]

So I attempted to add my Hilton honors number to my upcoming stay in Venice. This is the response I got:

“We inform you that unfortunately reservations made through third parties, as Disney in this case, are not eligible for points and benefits.

We remain at your full disposal for any further information or assistance you may need.”

It was worth a try.

 

[calypso726]

So I attempted to add my Hilton honors number to my upcoming stay in Venice. This is the response I got:

“We inform you that unfortunately reservations made through third parties, as Disney in this case, are not eligible for points and benefits.

We remain at your full disposal for any further information or assistance you may need.”

It was worth a try.

I try on each trip. It has worked once out of 10 ABDs. Like you said, it doesn't hurt to ask.