Disney Survey on implementing a $15 resort fee

[spectromagic04]

Chances this actually happens?

 

[halltd]

Wow. This is crazy! That survey says the $15 a night fee covers basically all the reasons why Disney marketed their hotels as "special" before. Now that all costs extra?

I remember when wifi was first introduced and it was something like $10 a night and we thought that was insane. Now it's free. Soon it won't be free anymore? Are politicians running the finance dept?

My family who visits 5-8 times a year from out of state will seriously reconsider staying on property since they don't use the majority of those "benefits" for $15 a night. They have so many MagicBands already, they don't need new ones, they don't need wifi as they have unlimited data plans, they have annual passes so the parking is already free, they never use Magical Express, and if EMHs didn't exist, they'd survive.

I think this fee is going to dissuade a lot of Floridians from staying on property as well. If you come up from Miami for the weekend, have an annual pass, and don't need wifi, these "extras" really aren't worth $15 a night either.

Ouch!

If you look at Universal's hotels, they really DO save money if you want the Express Pass. Like, you can save hundreds of dollars, even if you are a local...and even WITH the parking fee. Unless FP is going to go away for non-hotel guests, this resort fee is bunk.

 

[TinkerBelle8878]

Do Swan and Dolphin have a resort fee? If so, is it more/less than what this survey proposes and what does it include? If you're not using magical express, don't have kids, or need wi-fi (which S&D probably has anyway)..will this be a cheaper option? If so, these two resorts will benefit from Disney's greed.

 

[ThemeParkJunkee]

I am re-evaluating staying at a Universal Deluxe Resort for my length of stay with my Leows membership, buying discounted off site tickets for WDW, cutting the WDW portion short to just see new stuff and buying an Orlando Flex Ticket for 14 days and checking out the rest. Hubby wants to.

 

[Nubs70]

$15 per night should nicely increase PRGS 5% - 6%.

But how do we top that for next quarter/year?

 

[Mike S]

$15 per night should nicely increase PRGS 5% - 6%.

But how do we top that for next quarter/year?

No more free ice.

 

[NelleBelle]

I was kinda annoyed at my husband for making a stink about staying at off-property when we go in Oct. But after reading all the changes Disney's made (not at all positive), I am SOOOOO glad that we booked an awesome deal at Wyndham Bonnet Creek (we even got a $50 Disney gift card for booking, which will pay for Magic Bands)!!! I expect to pay a resort fee when I'm staying at an off-site property, but having all the benefits that were included in an on-property resort is exactly, to quote another poster, what made staying at Disney MAGICAL!! Well, if there is no magic on-property anymore, I'd just as soon save my $$ and find just as good, or frankly bigger and better, properties that are just as close. SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU DISNEY

 

[Rob562]

One bit of accounting mis-direction that is being missed is that by making a "resort fee" a separate line-item from the room price, that means that it's $15 of the room price that stays the same no matter what and *isn't* being reduced by a 15%, 20%, 25% room discount.

Our "everything but Disney" Orlando trip in 2017 is looking more and more likely...

-Rob

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I'm a bit confused..Say you book a room online is that $15 a day implemented into the full total of your resort stay?

 

[NelleBelle]

Generally when we stay at resorts where they have a resort fee, they add it on along with all the taxes and stuff so the price you're looking at goes up significantly. So frustrating if they start this, because you know it'll start out at $15 and then creep up to $30 to compete with other hotels (we generally something along those lines when we go to Vegas)!

 

[wogwog]

I'm a bit confused..Say you book a room online is that $15 a day implemented into the full total of your resort stay?

A lot of chains do not show it until your final bill unless you ask about it.

 

[NelleBelle]

This! Hence why your bill is higher when you check out It's generally buried in small print somewhere

 

[Jon81uk]

Would be interesting to see how it goes for international guests, even with the good ticket deals we get the hotels are expensive, in fact we were looking at staying off site at least part of the trip if there wasn't a free dining or similar offer.
Also would they charge us $15 on check in or add £10 when we pay the booking off upfront.
Either way adding an extra fee might seem like small change compared to the overall price, but it would be one push too far.

 

[UpAllNight]

Coming from the UK we have never weighed up Disney resorts as being worth it. We spend so little time in the hotel anyway so it really becomes an argument on location. Yes Disney resorts offer that great location, but £1000 per person (for a value-moderate) vs staying somewhere like Pointe Orlando which is also a good location, is a no brainier to us. That £1000 we 'save' can go towards our next trip. But we are more 'Orlando parks' visitors rather than people who base their time solely at Disney.

Cabana Bay is easily the most tempting on site resort to stay at from Disney/Universal....and it's cheaper than every single Disney hotel yet offering the space inside of a Disney moderate (according to reviews, I've yet to visit)

 

[ford91exploder]

$15 per night should nicely increase PRGS 5% - 6%.

But how do we top that for next quarter/year?

Increase the resort fee Then charge for parking....

 

[ford91exploder]

Funny, I got the same survey and as soon as I got to the part about "Do I post on social media, do I read blogs ect...." it ended the survey as soon as I hit next. Wow... just wow.

Paging @sshindel yet another so called survey which boots respondents who use social media. More collection of so called data to support a predetermined outcome

 

[deeevo]

I bet the other resorts on Buena Vista Dr. are loving this. They will gain a lot of business if this rolls out. Just yesterday I was looking at the Dolphin or Swan to stay over this weekend but once I did the math and added the $25 a night resort fee on top on the $225 a night I could stay and Coronado for $244 with my AP discount. Now if you were to add that $15 a night fee to my Coronado stay I would pick the Dolphin or Swan since I can walk to EPCOT and save a few $$.

 

[MagicRat]

DVC, we paid for platinum annual pass, my five year old talks about the place daily, but this for me would be the last straw. I have been going there at least once a year since 1990. Most years twice. They have done some good upgrades lately and are modernizing, however the company is blatantly going for cheap cash grabs.

I own and run a company and if I changed my principals for immediate money opportunities, 3 things would happen. 1, customers are smart enough to figure it out. 2, they would leave. 3, I would go out of business. Too bad Disney is banking on the new customer and is too large to ever figure out what it is doing. Or they just don't care. I however am finally starting to pay attention.

 

[Prince-1]

Oh boy, let's see...we don't use Magical Express, don't really need WiFi, and we have no kids. This should be fun.

Great info-thanks for posting. Unfortunately it'll likely happen. As another poster said, why wouldn't they just kind of push the prices up or lump this in with little explaination? Or are they required to inform guests and can't just hike the price??

For an extra fee they will provide kids for the length of your stay so that they can charge you the resort fee.

 

[asianway]

Do Swan and Dolphin have a resort fee? If so, is it more/less than what this survey proposes and what does it include? If you're not using magical express, don't have kids, or need wi-fi (which S&D probably has anyway)..will this be a cheaper option? If so, these two resorts will benefit from Disney's greed.

You really need to hang around the Ohana-ey Facebook groups a little. They'll moan but clip more coupons and buy more gift cards at target. These people aren't normal