HELP! Existing Resort Reservation, Can’t Add Dining?

[bryanb]

I wasn’t sure whether to post this in the dining forum, but I think the issue is more about the room reservation so I’m trying this first. Hope that’s okay!

I have a stay booked next week and there’s still time to add dining to my hotel room. I called Disney to do this and they told me that my exact room is no longer available, and I’d have to choose a preferred room or premium view or suite to add dining. The cheapest nightly rate she quoted me was $60 more than my standard room, which wipes out my savings from the dining plan (but would give me a nicer room that I don’t really want).

This doesn’t seem right to me. How can they be out of inventory on standard resort rooms if the reservation I’m modifying is a standard resort room that I’m holding on to? I asked her that and she said it was because the hotel was nearly full and all the standard rooms were taken. But again, one of them is taken by me so that doesn’t make sense. Can anyone tell me if the reservation agent is wrong here and I should try calling again? Thanks!

 

[dansdad]

I wasn’t sure whether to post this in the dining forum, but I think the issue is more about the room reservation so I’m trying this first. Hope that’s okay!

I have a stay booked next week and there’s still time to add dining to my hotel room. I called Disney to do this and they told me that my exact room is no longer available, and I’d have to choose a preferred room or premium view or suite to add dining. The cheapest nightly rate she quoted me was $60 more than my standard room, which wipes out my savings from the dining plan (but would give me a nicer room that I don’t really want).

This doesn’t seem right to me. How can they be out of inventory on standard resort rooms if the reservation I’m modifying is a standard resort room that I’m holding on to? I asked her that and she said it was because the hotel was nearly full and all the standard rooms were taken. But again, one of them is taken by me so that doesn’t make sense. Can anyone tell me if the reservation agent is wrong here and I should try calling again? Thanks!

It sounds to me the issue is that your current reservation is a Room Only. If that's the Case then your Room Only would have to be cancelled and a brand new Package reservation would have to be booked because Dining can only be added to a Package. The 2 reservation types are on 2 completely different systems so the Room Only can't just be converted to a Package and there must not be any other Standard Rooms left.

 

[Hopefully]

YOUR Standard Room does not count. I don't know why Disney does it that way, but they do. There must not be any other Standard room available for your length of stay.
The Reservation CM was correct

 

[bryanb]

Amazing and helpful as always. Thanks @Hopefully and @dansdad. I do indeed have a room only reservation on an annual pass holder rate.

 

[simplymama]

I'd try calling again though because you never know when things open up. I've gotten lucky more than once by making a call each day.

 

[sndral]

Amazing and helpful as always. Thanks @Hopefully and @dansdad. I do indeed have a room only reservation on an annual pass holder rate.

When you booked your AP rate Disney was encouraging people to book by offering that discount - book and we’ll reward you w/ a discount. They achieved their goal of a certain % of the hotel booked so no need to continue to offer the discount. The question now is not whether that room category is ‘available’ but does Disney’s computer think they can rent your canceled reservation at a higher price than you paid & it appears they think they can.
It’s also possible that the standard view rooms are overbooked & they plan on upgrading a few of those standards to preferred views.
Next time maybe book an AP ticketless package w/ dinning plan when you first book the room at the AP rate, of course final payment & cancelation penalties would be earlier.

 

[bryanb]

When you booked your AP rate Disney was encouraging people to book by offering that discount - book and we’ll reward you w/ a discount. They achieved their goal of a certain % of the hotel booked so no need to continue to offer the discount. The question now is not whether that room category is ‘available’ but does Disney’s computer think they can rent your canceled reservation at a higher price than you paid & it appears they think they can.
It’s also possible that the standard view rooms are overbooked & they plan on upgrading a few of those standards to preferred views.
Next time maybe book an AP ticketless package w/ dinning plan when you first book the room at the AP rate, of course final payment & cancelation penalties would be earlier.

It's think it's a good point and highly possible that the standard rooms are overbooked. There is inventory available on all of the other rooms that she quoted me, and she said that the AP discount would work for them as well.

Unfortunately, I needed a little more flexibility in this case since I wasn't sure I could get this much time away from work or if my girlfriend could join me. I'll already be at WDW for about a week, but coaching at ESPN for most of it (and not in the parks). So I decided to reserve a room-only add-on in the hopes of enjoying WDW a bit. Interestingly, Disney used to offer their ESPN event room rate for up to a week after the event ended (to encourage attendees to stay and play). This year they seemed to have cut back on that... I'm sure because they have no trouble filling rooms.

 

[Lehuaann]

I wasn’t sure whether to post this in the dining forum, but I think the issue is more about the room reservation so I’m trying this first. Hope that’s okay!

I have a stay booked next week and there’s still time to add dining to my hotel room. I called Disney to do this and they told me that my exact room is no longer available, and I’d have to choose a preferred room or premium view or suite to add dining. The cheapest nightly rate she quoted me was $60 more than my standard room, which wipes out my savings from the dining plan (but would give me a nicer room that I don’t really want).

This doesn’t seem right to me. How can they be out of inventory on standard resort rooms if the reservation I’m modifying is a standard resort room that I’m holding on to? I asked her that and she said it was because the hotel was nearly full and all the standard rooms were taken. But again, one of them is taken by me so that doesn’t make sense. Can anyone tell me if the reservation agent is wrong here and I should try calling again? Thanks!

The agent is wrong. Disney allows you to add to an existing reservation (up to 48 hrs in advance).

You will need to speak to AP Guest Services 407-560-7277‬. They can/will preserve your existing room type during the rebooking process via an override. Please see my posts on this thread:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/adding-dining-plan-to-room-only-discount.3729761/#post-60482001

 

[AngiTN]

Are you really, 100% certain buying the dining plan would save you money? I've yet to see it save money when it's bought at full price. Break even maybe, but that's without any discounts, like TiW or AP. Which you obviously have at least an AP, since you've got an AP room discount. So I'd look at the figures really, really close before I went to battle to get it converted to a package

Unless you just want those luggage tags, LOL (which I'll be honest, I did book a dining plan add on 1 night one trip to get)

 

[Elephantay]

Are you really, 100% certain buying the dining plan would save you money? I've yet to see it save money when it's bought at full price. Break even maybe, but that's without any discounts, like TiW or AP. Which you obviously have at least an AP, since you've got an AP room discount. So I'd look at the figures really, really close before I went to battle to get it converted to a package

Unless you just want those luggage tags, LOL (which I'll be honest, I did book a dining plan add on 1 night one trip to get)

What luggage tags??

 

[AngiTN]

What luggage tags??

the ones that come with packages only, with Mickey and the Gang on them.

 

[sndral]

Are you really, 100% certain buying the dining plan would save you money? I've yet to see it save money when it's bought at full price. Break even maybe, but that's without any discounts, like TiW or AP. Which you obviously have at least an AP, since you've got an AP room discount. So I'd look at the figures really, really close before I went to battle to get it converted to a package

Unless you just want those luggage tags, LOL (which I'll be honest, I did book a dining plan add on 1 night one trip to get)

Mmm, I stopped getting the dinning plan when they added alcohol, the price shot up, the plan included too much we rarely order (alcohol and deserts,) so it stopped penciling out for us, but...my last luggage tag disappeared from my suitcase 2 weeks ago, it was attached when I checked the suitcase, but gone when it came out the baggage carousel in Boston, maybe I’ll have to book a 1 or 2 day package to get a replacement!

 

[Elephantay]

the ones that come with packages only, with Mickey and the Gang on them.

Ahh, thanks. DVC so don't do packages.

 

[AngiTN]

Ahh, thanks. DVC so don't do packages.

Yeah, AP really don't either. We can by adding dining to room only reservations but it's rarely cost effective.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Room only can’t be “converted” to a package because they are sold by two different entities, Disney Destinations and the Walt Disney Travel Company. So, if the category you want is sold out, they won’t be able to book the new package, and then cancel the room only. They (and you) don’t want to cancel the room only first and then try and book the package, as it’s possible you could wind up with nothing (someone else can book in the time between canceling and rebooking, or if there is already an overbooking, the room won’t go back in inventory).

However, a supervisor can see what you are trying to do, and override the system to allow you to book the ticketless package with dining and then cancel the room only, and you would get a different confirmation number.

However, if they are already overbooked, they may not do it for you. YMMV.

That said, more often than not, the AP discount would be a greater savings than the dining plan. But, if you have 2-3 under 10 year olds, with a lot of character meals, then I can see the dinging plan to be a better deal. Make sure you do the math!