What is the policy on double booked ADRs?

[AbbyPan]

2 years ago I double booked for LTT and Narcoosees. We agreed shortly after that Narcoosees would be our final choice but I forgot to call and make the change. Why am i sharing this? well it was a stupid mistake, but I should have never double booked to begin with.

When we showed up to Narcoosees we were told that the reservation had been cancelled because we already had a reservation for LTT. So disney caught it and they cancelled our Narcoosees ressie.

Lesson learned and I'm glad it happened. I don't ever plan on doing that again because its definitely possible to know where you want to eat by the time you call Disney Dining. Thinking about it more, especially with Free Dining being offered, I would hate to miss out on an ADR just becuase others want to double book and make sure they get what they want. Its just not fair IMHO.

Just thought I'd share my experience

 

[KimR]

I wonder how much of a problem this really is, though. I would imagine that a rather large percentage of ADRs are no-shows for various reasons: double-booking and failing to cancel, kids gettting sick, scheduling problems, etc. I'm sure Disney counts on a certain percentage of no-shows and overbooks tables to comensate. I doubt a table would ever sit empty at a Disney restaurant due to someone not showing up for an ADR.

 

[mbanks21]

FYI the new dining system WILL be linked to your room reservations

 

[onelilspark]

I do wonder how the online ADR system will work. Because if it's set up like the rest of Disney's system, you have to log on and have an account, password, etc. It would very time consuming to make up several accounts and book ADR's under each of them. I guess some people would, but not many. So let's hope that's the plan.

That's a good point. I know I wouldn't go through the process to make extra accounts. Though, for my trip in February, we currently have more than one booked, under my name and my parent's. I'd have an account and so would my parents' anyway, so that wouldn't completely stop us. We also don't stay on site since they live close by.

I know it's off topic, but speaking of this, anyone know if you're only going to be able to book online?? This might frustrate my Dad if he's responsible for booking. He's less internet savvy than my Mom and if he wants to surprise her with a dinner at Disney one night, I know he'd prefer the phone (or he'd call me up to schedule it for him!)

 

[choirfarm]

tiggertabi is correct - Disney could easily solve the double booking issues that occur at the 180 day mark by associating all of your ADR's to your room reservation - force a 3 hour buffer between ARD's on the same day (lunch at 2:00 PM and Dinner at 5:00PM as an example), or just allow one ADR per Breakfast - lunch - dinner slot.

Sorry, that won't work. Example, my husband and the two boys had a 4:25 reservation at Beirgarten while my daughter and I had a 4:25 reservation at Askerhaus. (They didn't want to eat with the princesses.) So what you suggest would not have been fair to us.

 

[FireDancer]

Without having access to the data it is hard to tell exactly how many double bookings are actually done. I would also love to see what kind of back end Disney uses for their reservation systems.

Whenever the issue of double booking comes up though I think the most elegant solution would be to homogenize the guest experience. It would basically be a ERP-CRM hybrid reservation system. I don’t know how a customer service company like Disney could have these separate systems for everything. I know whomever does their data analysis must have lost their hair years ago.

If the reservation, Dining, Magical Express, etc systems were interlaced it would not only make the experience better but also make it easier for them to service guests.

If the systems were interlaced they could attach the dining reservations to either your packages, you resort rooms, your annual passes, etc. Now, this isn’t really a solution based on double booking but the nature of it would keep people from doing it. If you have a package you would have a limit on how many reservations you could have for a given time. There are other advantages to this type of approach also. One example is that you could get text or email reminders sent automatically to your phone at given intervals before your reservations or your Wishes cruise or whatever.

If you don’t have a room reservation, an AP, or a package then they could require a CC number and apply a cancellation policy.

I am under no delusion that this would solve the double booking issue but it would help fight it while also improving the guest experience (remember when Disney cared about such things).

The first time I thought about this kind of solution was when they ran into ME problems with baggage fees. The system they used had no way of taking money but you couldn’t use ME without a room reservation. If they could tie the ME system into the reservation system they could just charge your room for the baggage.

Wow, that ended up being way long, sorry.

 

[smfnj]

The problem is that people don't cancel the one's they don't use.

No, the problem is that people double book.

Steve

 

[laura001]

Hopefully with the new reservation system coming in December (**crosses his fingers**) they will address this issue by making people lay down CC#s and having a 72-hour cancellation policy. People will still find ways to double-book, but they'll have to release the duplicates well prior to the day in question or be penalized for it. I would have no problem with this because I would never be guilty of tricking the system, and I think anyone who does have a problem with it is up to no good.

I am one that would never double book, but, and I don't have a problem using my CC to secure my reservation, but a 72-hour policy I would not agree with at all. There have been two occasions were we cancelled our ADR's the day of, first reason was that we were just too tired to go to dinner that night (cancelled around 12 noon, and we wouldn't have known 72 hours before), and the other was a time where we had met up with some friends and decided to eat dinner with them. The restaurant we were booked with couldn't accomodate all of us, so again, around noon, we changed our reservation.

I would have to say that you are on vacation, perhaps today you just aren't up for what you had planned, why be punished for it with a charge on your CC because you didn't cancel in time. I say that as long as you cancel you should be fine, and of course this double booking stuff has to go!

 

[DisDreaminMom]

I had no idea this would open up such a big discussion, but I am glad it did. I like Steve's post along the lines of "No, it's the double bookers".

A few years ago, a friend was trying to find a parking place at a large hospital here in KY. She was circling the building for about 20 minutes when she saw a space open up. The car in front of her drove past right before the driver in the spot started backing up. While my friend was waiting, with her turn signal on, for the car from the spot to pull out, a passenger from the car that had driven by the spot jumped out and stood with her arms outstretched blocking the road and screaming that it was "her spot" now, while her car's driver drove back around the block to get to the spot again. My friend was so angry she almost hit the woman with her car. After sitting there staring at the woman for a minute, my friend started driving into the spot and the woman was yelling in a heavy foreign accent that people in HER country didn't act so barbaric. My friend screamed back, "If you don't like our rules, then go HOME!".

Sometimes I imagine yelling that at people when they do something so intentionally rude it just astounds me. (I'd never do it, but in my next life...)I feel a pinch better knowing that WDW cancels double ADR's. It sounds as if you have a legitimate reason to double book, you'd better make darn sure you have the CM note the situation in both ADR's, just like a birthday or Anniversary.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Here I sit within the window of 180 days normally would be able to book and cant because the new res. system isnt up and running. I only want 2 res, one for a character breakfast and 1 for a character dinner..

The whole reservation thing is out of control..LOl Im going on holidays 5 months from now I cant guess what park im going to be on what day etc etc, and being on time frames for all meals is stressful.

I have no problems giving my credit card #, and them charging me if I dont cancel within say 48 hours. There arent too many places in life where you can reserve and not secure it, hotels, etc..

Double booking..(not because your party wants to split up..thats valid) but just because you arent sure where you are going to be, what you feel like for dinner is IMO selfish. Having a credit card hold would def help eliminate this I think.