Heads up to anyone with multiple reservations at a Disney Hotel

[Whistlebee]

Just a heads up, if you have multiple rooms with the same name booked at a Disney hotel you might want to call and confirm your rooms. I called Disney to confirm 2 reservations (at GCH) I had booked with an annual passport discount. When I booked these 2 rooms I was told I had to have my name on both rooms in order to use the AP discount (I’m the Annual passholder).
They recently changed their reservations system and now you are no longer able to have your name on 2 rooms. I’m unclear as to what would’ve happened had I just showed up at the hotel to check-in. I do know I was on the phone with them for 1 hour and 8 minutes just to cancel 2 rooms and confirm 2 rooms. I was hung up on at this point. I called back and after another 15 minutes they were able to work it out. It was a huge fiasco to re-book the room that their reservations system cancelled. I had all of my confirmation numbers. It baffles me that their reservation system is so complicated. Had I booked through Orbitz or Travelocity I could’ve canceled the rooms online in about 2 minutes. Even checking into a Disney hotel is a complicated process with the front desk person usually disappearing multiple times. I just don’t understand it. Ok, I’m done venting.

 

[dieumeye]

I hear you! There's something about booking a DL hotel over the phone that is way more complicated and difficult and strange than booking a normal hotel anywhere else. There's something... off... about it that I can't put my finger on. It almost feels more like dealing with a car salesperson than a customer service person.

A few days ago I booked 5 (!) rooms at DL hotel and it took almost two hours, and when I hung up the phone I definitely did not (and still don't) have a good feeling about it. I did get all the confirmation emails, although one of the confirmation numbers was different than what I was told over the phone, so that was weird. I just have this terrible feeling that I am going to show up and something will not be right, or that the 5 rooms will be spread out over all three towers, which would be... less than ideal.

Good luck!!!!!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Yikes~ I hope you end up with lots of pixie dust to compensate for such a stressful booking experience!

 

[Whistlebee]

I agree with you...something is definitely off. You’d expect them to be able to quickly accomplish simple tasks like booking or cancelling a room. It’s crazy!

 

[bethwc101]

Yup. It's extremely difficult. I am the person paying for our upcoming trip. They said if my names were on both reservations then they would randomly cancel one of them since "You can't be in more than one room at a time." What? I see no logic in this. What if there are two John Smith's who happen to be checking in on the same day? Will they just randomly cancel one?
Why can I do it no problem at a Super 8 or Best Western but DLR is having issues with this? Super annoyed. Over the last month I have spent 4+ hours on the phone with DLR since my reservations kept disappearing or they booked us for the type of room we didn't request. So now, my sister and my DH are on one reservation and I am on another one with my mom and siblings, but I'm the one who needs to check in and pay, but I can't because I am not on the second reservation. .

And we now have to do a split room stay at the same hotel which is annoying for moving bags, keeping groceries refrigerated, and taking afternoon rests.

I am planning on arriving VERY early for check in to have plenty of time to get it sorted out before EMH. I can always take a nap in the lobby.

Just seems like this is over complicated.
Sorry, Rant OVER!

 

[dieumeye]

Yes! Any other hotel in the USA I could call and book an entire floor of rooms under one reservation in my name in 5 minutes. At DL there is some weird aversion to any group that wants more than one room. I wonder if any CMs know why this is. I suspect that, unlike most hotels, there is really no pressure to be more customer friendly when it comes to the hotels since there will always be high demand for the on property rooms, so they have no reason to upgrade or enhance their system. Very un-Disney like though, especially when it comes to catering to families.

They say rooms will be assigned at check-in, so in order to get all rooms close together I want to check in as early as possible. Does anyone know how early you can check in for your reservation? I've heard of people checking in as early as 6am, but could I theoretically check in at 12:01am? Any ideas?

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Maybe it is an issue with reselling packages? You are right though - the whole thing seems very un-Disney. Is that hard booking WDW hotels? Or is it just at DLR?

 

[Whistlebee]

Well, I think they just upgraded their reservation system/software, and that certainly didn’t help. It is absolutely over complicated. I just don’t understand it. It’s terrible customer service too.

 

[DizMe]

I have had the same experience with the front desk CM periodically disappearing into the back for unknown reasons and not reappearing for some time. My recent check-in took over an hour. It was prepaid so it seems like all she had to do was confirm info/cc and give me a key, but it still required multiple trips to the back room; I will add that she had tried to get me a nice room as a surprise so maybe that was the reason. However, she wasn't authorized to do that so I had to go back to the desk for another long wait to sort it out. Everyone was very nice and friendly, but it's not an efficient system.

 

[buffettgirl]

I had the experience of trying to book over the phone and they had no rooms. 5 min before I had seen rooms for the dates I wanted, but wanted to call and look for military rates. I even told the rep that I had just seen rooms. She was seeing no rooms at all, with or without military rates. 5 min later I booked online for exactly what I had seen before. It’s like there was some disconnect happening. It was weird. And yes, it seems as weird at WDW.

 

[RecursiveColor]

It's a bit of a bummer to hear so many people have had bad experiences with booking. My first (and only) time making a reservation for a DLR property was for my upcoming trip happening this next week, and it was very positive/efficient. No rooms online, so I booked a rate through Expedia, but really wanted the reassurance of booking directly through Disney. Called them up and got a really nice CM who found me an even better rate than what I'd paid through Expedia, plus the AP perks. Took no more than 20 minutes in total, including payment.
Not calling to confirm until this Friday though, so here's hoping my experience stays magical

 

[DizMe]

It's a bit of a bummer to hear so many people have had bad experiences with booking. My first (and only) time making a reservation for a DLR property was for my upcoming trip happening this next week, and it was very positive/efficient. No rooms online, so I booked a rate through Expedia, but really wanted the reassurance of booking directly through Disney. Called them up and got a really nice CM who found me an even better rate than what I'd paid through Expedia, plus the AP perks. Took no more than 20 minutes in total, including payment.
Not calling to confirm until this Friday though, so here's hoping my experience stays magical

I think you'll be fine! I've not had issues with booking, just lengthy check-ins. On the plus side, I always get CMs at check-in who are extremely nice!

 

[sherilaine]

It is hearing comments like this that make me continue to avoid staying onsite. If I am paying double the cost for a smaller room then the last thing I want is to check in and wonder why they can't get their ducks in a row. I do not have the zen like personality to deal with something like that. You get what you pay for - except in this instance it seems.

 

[wallawallakids]

Thanks for the heads up. This is super strange. Does anyone know if the requests are still being up held for connecting rooms? We have two rooms booked and I thought it was strange that they told me the other had to be in my husband's name and not mine. So they put our 4 kids and me in one room, and him in the other by himself. I just hope at check in that everything goes seamlessly and the rooms are linked together like they are supposed to be. Seems to me like it would be easier to keep them all under one name and not two different names?!?

 

[Pamela M]

Yeah - I'm not sure why you can't have 2 rooms in one name. I'm setting up a trip to WDW and there is NO way to say you have 4 adults and 2 rooms. You have to do 2 separate reservations - that's crazy. I ended up going through a travel agent cause I just didn't want to deal with Disney.

 

[dieumeye]

Does anyone know if the requests are still being up held for connecting rooms?

On the phone, they said there is no guarantee that rooms would be connecting... or even on the same floor... or even in the same tower!! Only that they try to honor requests. I'm very nervous about it because the way we've planned our sleeping arrangements, it's going to be tough if we don't have 2 connecting rooms. Fingers crossed!

 

[Geemo]

The fastest check in's I've had have been at PPH. All less than 10 minutes.
DHL a little longer but not too much to complain about.

The GCH always takes awhile....
The last time at GCH the check in was over an hour, with MULTIPLE trips to the back room.
I wondered why the line moved so slowly with so many CM's working the counter.
If the it's going to take that long they need to remodel and have seats at the counter.

I still can't understand why it can take so long at GCH????
It is an uncomfortable wait, even though I'm at DLR.

G

 

[Whistlebee]

It is such a mystery as to why checkin takes that long. I think it just depends on who you get. I’ve had long check-ins at PPH & DLH. I haven’t personally had a long check in at GCH BUT I have seen the check in line be super long. Other hotels welcome you, check your ID, get a copy of your CC, give you your room key and you are on your way. Disney can definitely do better.

 

[whoever]

I've never had any issues other than when I moved from a regular room to the Adventureland Suite for my last night. It was a bit of a cluster having to go down and re-check in. They really should have made it easier given what I was paying.

 

[makthompson]

I hear you! There's something about booking a DL hotel over the phone that is way more complicated and difficult and strange than booking a normal hotel anywhere else. There's something... off... about it that I can't put my finger on. It almost feels more like dealing with a car salesperson than a customer service person.

A few days ago I booked 5 (!) rooms at DL hotel and it took almost two hours, and when I hung up the phone I definitely did not (and still don't) have a good feeling about it. I did get all the confirmation emails, although one of the confirmation numbers was different than what I was told over the phone, so that was weird. I just have this terrible feeling that I am going to show up and something will not be right, or that the 5 rooms will be spread out over all three towers, which would be... less than ideal.

Good luck!!!!!

I would reconfirm the reservation before going.