My family has planned a trip to Disney World for 10/13-20/2017, which I know is a popular time at Disney. Many months ago I booked a room at a higher price point than I wanted in hopes I would be able to apply a room-only discount for the general public or annual passholder. I missed the general public option so I decided to change our resort to a value. So a few days ago I began my quest to book at Pop Century to be among friends who are also traveling that week. Pop Century was not available for the 7 nights, however, I had no trouble getting into any of the All-Star resorts. Curious, I began searching for the first 6 nights at Pop Century and then for last night at Pop Century giving me the entire 7 nights. To my surprise, Pop Century had availability for all nights for 2 of the room types.
I called reservations and explained my situation and asked if they could make the entire 7 night reservation for me. The answer was 'no, not with one reservation.' It was explained to me that I had exceeded the maximum night stay at this resort and would need to book 2 separate reservations. Many questions raced through my head like "I have made many reservations in the past for as many as 11 nights and never encountered this" and "I was just able to book at the All-Star resorts for 7 nights". The Cast Member continued to explain that each resort manager has the option of choosing maximum night thresholds for any periods throughout the year and that this policy has been in effect for many years, however, manager's never utilized it. The insinuation further into the conversation was that Disney was now holding manager's accountable for showing some discretion and enforcing maximum night thresholds.
The Cast Member then had to get Guest Services on the line in order to merge the 2 reservations to ensure we would not have to move rooms, the general reservation specialist cannot do it. I was advised this is the new policy for Disney going forward and expect other resorts to follow suit. So, in the future, I won't be able to simply make a resort room reservation online if I encounter this problem again, I would eventually need to call and have the reservations merged. I am struggling to understand the business decision being made for guests staying more than 6 nights so can anyone break it down for me? Not upset, just really want to understand the 'why'.
I called reservations and explained my situation and asked if they could make the entire 7 night reservation for me. The answer was 'no, not with one reservation.' It was explained to me that I had exceeded the maximum night stay at this resort and would need to book 2 separate reservations. Many questions raced through my head like "I have made many reservations in the past for as many as 11 nights and never encountered this" and "I was just able to book at the All-Star resorts for 7 nights". The Cast Member continued to explain that each resort manager has the option of choosing maximum night thresholds for any periods throughout the year and that this policy has been in effect for many years, however, manager's never utilized it. The insinuation further into the conversation was that Disney was now holding manager's accountable for showing some discretion and enforcing maximum night thresholds.
The Cast Member then had to get Guest Services on the line in order to merge the 2 reservations to ensure we would not have to move rooms, the general reservation specialist cannot do it. I was advised this is the new policy for Disney going forward and expect other resorts to follow suit. So, in the future, I won't be able to simply make a resort room reservation online if I encounter this problem again, I would eventually need to call and have the reservations merged. I am struggling to understand the business decision being made for guests staying more than 6 nights so can anyone break it down for me? Not upset, just really want to understand the 'why'.
