Would you be "happy" with a room type downgrade if Disney only refunded you the difference in price?

[robinb]

Inspired by the "Room Downgraded in MDE on Check-in Day?" thread, how would you feel if you were downgraded at check in?

 

[Disneylover99]

The only way I'd be happy is if I booked a more expensive room category because a standard room was unavailable at my resort of choice.

Otherwise, no, I would not be happy.

 

[Dashzap]

If you pay for a preferred room because walking is a problem, then you'd be very unhappy to be downgraded to a standard room.

 

[Smittolis]

As above, i think it all depends on the reasoning the original room was chosen... If you have physical limitations and wanted to be close to transportation or the food court and you were placed miles away, then the price difference wouldn't be of any compensation. But if its a particular view or something that was a 'bonus' then i'd be disappointed for sure but i'd make the most of it.

 

[Apopper74]

It really depends on the resort and what exactly the downgrade was. If I booked a tower at CR and got a garden room I would be unsatisfied with anything less. A down grade at Poly or AKL, for example, I would be fine. Now at any resort if I booked CL and got a standard non-CL I would be furious.

 

[BJ7644]

I went with Other. A deluxe is out of my price range but if I were to splurge on a savannah view or a theme park view, I would be planning on taking full advantage of the room - drinks to relax and watch fireworks or animals, etc. So a last minute downgrade would be upsetting.

Now if it were just to be a bit closer to the lobby I would be fine with it. As another posted stated - I probably only booked that higher room because standard was unavailable!

 

[scrapquitler]

It would depend on the downgrade. If they switched me from Savanna view to standard view at AKL, that would not be okay with me. If they switched me from Preferred to standard at All Stars, I'd think it was less of a problem.

 

[ncc1701]

Depends on the downgrade. If it is going from Riverview to Standard at POFQ that would be ok (or even being mover to POR). If it was being moved from POFQ to a value that would not (unless there were extraordinary circumstances )

 

[BigAlsGal]

Definitely depends. If I decided to splurge on say CR tower with theme park view and looked forward to that room and view for months and then was downgraded to the garden wing with only the cost difference returned to me I would be livid.

If it was PoR switch from river view to garden view. Meh. I can let that slide.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We stay Value with a Preferred room. I picked Other, because my sister and I are a couple of old bats and at the end of the day it's nice to not have to do a death march to get to our room from the bus stop. If we were downgraded to Standard it would be a big deal to us. Last time we stayed Standard our room was in Mighty Ducks, which is as far as you can go without being off-property. Staying Preferred we usually get Toy Story, which is right next to the food court and not so far from the bus stop that we're dying by the time we reach our room.

 

[HopperFan]

Since you say "room type" I will assume you mean same resort
just getting moved from say a water view to a standard view or CL to standard ....

I'm also working on assumption this a trip long impact.

Disney is a luxury vacation and while I go often, many do not.
They save and plan and get all excited for their trips.
They have studied and worked hard to book the room they want.
Guests are already overpaying for what they get - the least they can do it make it good.

If I had booked CR Theme Park View and got moved to Garden - oh no I will stand here until you fix it.
If I had booked AKL Savanna and got Standard - unacceptable and expect them to fix it.
If I had booked Riverview and got Garden at POR - likely accept the refund and expect FP+ or something.

There are many ways to fix it or make it good, and merely a refund won't do if the change is considerable.

So I order a steak and they bring me a burger ....
I book a balcony cabin on a cruise and I check in to an inside cabin ....
In both cases a refund does not make either right ... neither outcome is acceptable.
If this is a big trip for you, then make sure you feel they have made it right.

EX happened to us:
Booked and prepaid RACK RATE (would never do now) at CBR for a water view room.
Arrived to a standard view of stairs and parking lot room.
Never mind it was a King and we were a family of 5.
Took well over an hour to get them to move me to what I had paid for.
But we held our ground and got our room.
They were SO RUDE.
And they stuck us in Trinidad South, they got last laugh.
We didn't realize the walk we would have ....

 

[ShayBells]

I went with other because I'd have a mix of emotions. I'm a pretty easy going person and I never complain but I would be so disappointed. I go with my room picks to be close to transportation and food court. If they moved me far away I'd be so upset and dying by the end of the week. But again As pissed as I'd be I'd suck it up and still try to enjoy my vacation as much as possible. Que Sera

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I'm an easygoing gal. So long as I'm still on Disney property, I'm probably fine. My dad has worked in the Hotel and Restaurant industry for years so we're extra sympathetic to things like this.

 

[Disney_traveler]

I booked and paid for what I booked and paid for for a reason. Heck I might even not be happy with an upgrade, but I KNOW I would be unhappy/disappointed with a downgrade even with a refund.

I had a kinda sorta somewhat situation at Dominos the other night. long story short....after a late order and a mess up they just wanted to refund me for all pizzas. One pizza was ordered a specific way for a specific person and was wrong. I told them refunding doesn't change the fact I'd be going home with an incorrect pizza. Then they asked me what I wanted to do. Duh! I want the correct pizza!

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I'm in the boat with most others. If I booked a category, I would certainly be frustrated. But, it depends on the situation. For example, I tend to book Garden or Water at the Moderates (and walk from the main building) to get that feeling of separation. Switching to a view of the parking lot ruins that for me, but I would likely be ok with the refund and some type of gesture (like FP or the like).

If I booked a "premium" view - like CR tower, WL courtyard, AKL Savannah, etc., that would be different. That would be a huge splurge, and I would expect something significant if it happened. Because I would have likely stayed at a Moderate instead.

 

[Princess Minnie321]

I think it would depend on the type of downgrade. If I booked a resort for a waterview or poolview and got a standard view, I would be disappointed, but it really would not be a big deal.

On our last trip, our kids were very excited about our savannah bunk bed room at AK. If we arrived and did not have bunk beds or the savannah view that would have made me very upset.

 

[housetomouse]

If I were changed from a CL booking to non-CL, that in particular might be a problem because I make dining, park and FP plans around that.

If a downgrade decreased the number of beds or the bed size, that would also be a problem.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I would want some form of compensation in return then I would be ok. Did not have to be a big thing just a token that it happened and I am a valued customer. These things happen. A free breakfast and I will move on.

 

[disneyvoice]

It would depend on which resort this happened at. In July we are staying at AKL for the first time and have a Savannah View room. The only reason we are splurging on a deluxe resort this trip is because my DH has degrees in Animal Health and we thought it would be fun to stay at AKL so we could hang out on the balcony and watch the animals. If a Savannah Room had not been available when I made the reservation we would have chosen a different resort. So if we had to be downgraded I would prefer the option of just moving our reservation to a moderate hotel. Chances are it would be less expensive than a Standard Room at AKL.

If it happened at one of the other deluxe resorts it wouldn't be as big a deal to me. Sure it would be a bummer to not get a theme park view if you thought that was what you were getting but I could live without it. The only thing I would ask for would be if I had made a reservation using a discount then I would ask if it would be possible to get the downgraded room with the same discount applied to it. It wouldn't seem right to be charged more than you would have been had you actually reserved the downgraded room when you made your original reservation. It's not like you "missed" the deadline for reserving a discounted room in this scenario. If, however, I requested to be moved to a moderate or value resort instead I would not expect to receive any kind of discount on that room because it would most likely still already be less expensive even without a discount than what we were planning to spend already.

I will add that I can understand getting downgraded if rooms had to be taken out of service for some reason, that isn't something that WDW can predict. However if the case was that the room type had just been overbooked, I would be less than thrilled because I might have made different plans had I known a certain room type was not actually available in the first place. For example, if I really wanted a Theme Park View at The Poly and it wasn't available we might have chosen to stay at the Grand Floridian instead.

If a CL room wasn't available for some reason I would ask that we still be given access because when we stay CL we make plans around the fact that food and drinks are available and typically don't make as many ADRs.

 

[elphaba91]

It would depend on whether the downgraded room was my second preference if the room I booked hadn't been available or if I would have booked a different resort or at a different time (or perhaps not booked at all, although I don't see that as a likely scenario). If it was my second choice I would, with assurances that there was no like or better room available, accept it, although a lack of any extra perk like Fastpasses or a free drink would leave a bit of a sour taste. If it wasn't, then I would probably expect more compensation - and require them to check every other option that I would prefer to that one.