HELP!!! Should I book rack rates??

[tinkerrn]

My fiancee and I are plannning to honeymoon at POFQ and The Swan in Sept.. However, there are no AAA king rooms available at POFQ during this time. Should I go ahead and book the rack rate, which is available,? If I do this , can I apply the AP discount if and when it becomes available or AAA if someone cancels? VERY CONFUSED< but needing to make plans now...not in 5 months. TIA!!!

 

[simzac]

You say that there are no AAA king rooms available. Do you mean there are no king rooms available at all, or that AAA says there are no king rooms available. I was under the impression that you always apply the AAA discount to any room only reservation. Am I wrong?

 

[Lollipop Mom]

Did you try POR or do you have your heart set on POFQ? If you go ahead and book it now and a code rate becomes available, you can call to have it applied. Just make sure you are aware that having the ressie already doesn't guarantee you that you'll get the discount. There is always a chacne that the category of room that you were hoping for will not have rooms available at the code rate for your dates. If you make the ressie now, you or your travel agent can always keep calling back to check on the AAA rate too. people cancel reservations and make changes all the time so you never know when something may become available again. CMs have been saying that a cancelled code ressie goes back into the rack rate pool but that hasn't been my experience. I've had situations where someone was changing from WL to Poly at an AP rate. I had another client hoping to pick up 3 nights at the WL and the dates worked out. I called to cancel the first ressie and said I had another client who wanted to pick up some of those cancelled days and I had no problem doing that.

I was under the impression that you always apply the AAA discount to any room only reservation. Am I wrong?

No, there are only a certain # of rooms per resort and room category per night available at any discount, be it AAA, PIN codes, AP or public codes. I think more often than not people have less trouble booking AP rates b/c they are available so far in advance.

 

[simzac]

Did you try POR or do you have your heart set on POFQ? If you go ahead and book it now and a code rate becomes available, you can call to have it applied. Just make sure you are aware that having the ressie already doesn't guarantee you that you'll get the discount. There is always a chacne that the category of room that you were hoping for will not have rooms available at the code rate for your dates. If you make the ressie now, you or your travel agent can always keep calling back to check on the AAA rate too. people cancel reservations and make changes all the time so you never know when something may become available again. CMs have been saying that a cancelled code ressie goes back into the rack rate pool but that hasn't been my experience. I've had situations where someone was changing from WL to Poly at an AP rate. I had another client hoping to pick up 3 nights at the WL and the dates worked out. I called to cancel the first ressie and said I had another client who wanted to pick up some of those cancelled days and I had no problem doing that.



No, there are only a certain # of rooms per resort and room category per night available at any discount, be it AAA, PIN codes, AP or public codes. I think more often than not people have less trouble booking AP rates b/c they are available so far in advance.

OK, if I understand you correct, the following example would apply. If Pop Century offers 20% discount for AAA members during value season, and in one particular week during value season, that resort only has 200 rooms left to rent, and all 200 rooms are reserved by AAA members, you are saying that all 200 could not get the AAA discount. I find this very hard to believe when Disney states that AAA members get the 20% discount. Or have I still missed something?

 

[ptrbryant]

When I was calling for reservations for May, I asked about AllStarMovies...they said they had rooms available for my dates, but NO AAA rate-rooms, so I'd have to book rack rate. They DID have rooms the AAA rate could be applied to at POP....we ended up choosing POR anyway and got the AAA rate with that. So, I guess they have a limited number of rooms at each resort that a AAA discount can be applied to.

Karla B.

 

[dreamflight99]

You are indeed correct ptrbryant. Here's another consideration. Once these rooms have been "reserved" as AAA rooms, they are removed from the reservation system. If the guest calls back three months later, and "cancels" the reservation--the rooms are returned to the system as "REGULAR RACK RATE" ROOMS, and NOT AAA DISCOUNTED! I have learned this over the years, as it's the same with airlines, etc. So, it's best to PLAN EARLY, and obtain the discounts as soon as possible/when applicable.

 

[Lollipop Mom]

OK, if I understand you correct, the following example would apply. If Pop Century offers 20% discount for AAA members during value season, and in one particular week during value season, that resort only has 200 rooms left to rent, and all 200 rooms are reserved by AAA members, you are saying that all 200 could not get the AAA discount. I find this very hard to believe when Disney states that AAA members get the 20% discount. Or have I still missed something?

that is correct, if Pop Century had 200 standard rooms total on any given night, they may say that they will allow say 50 rooms per night to be booked with a AAA discount. So if you are the 51st person to call for a certain night, you will be told there are no rooms available at the AAA rate. There may still be rooms available, just not at the AAA rate. If you change your dates, your room category (from standard to preferred for instance) or your resort, you may still be able to get the discount if there are rooms available at the discounted rates. The same would apply if 200 people called and reserved rack rate rooms, they will always sell at rack even if it reduces the # of discounted rooms available.

This scenario is true not just of AAA rates but of AP, PIN, CM rates or any other discount offered. Disney says they offer 20% off because they do...they just don't GUARANTEE you can get the 20% off on any given date at any given resort.

 

[DMRick]

If the guest calls back three months later, and "cancels" the reservation--the rooms are returned to the system as "REGULAR RACK RATE" ROOMS, and NOT AAA DISCOUNTED! I have learned this over the years, as it's the same with airlines, etc. So, it's best to PLAN EARLY, and obtain the discounts as soon as possible/when applicable.

That must change sometimes, because just like I have been unable to get an AP room at a certain hotel, and then called later and it had opened up, this has happened with AAA rates. I was told they were none available, yet a week later, magically we used AAA (at a time when there was no AP's) for the same resort and same timeframe. That said, if I had my heart set on a certain resort and certain type room, if I was willing to pay rack, instead of changing resorts to save money, I would book it.