Changes to table service dining cancellation policy - credit card requirement expands

[Captain Chaos]

I haven't added my two cents into this conversation... I realy don't have a problem with this new policy if it in fact opens up reservations and prevents people from double or triple booking... But we all know cheaters will find a way to continually cheat the system...

One year I had lunch ADRs booked at 50's Prime Time Cafe... My friend and I decided we didn't really want to eat there... So, I walked up to the counter and cancelled, that day... Under this new policy I'd be charged... Is that fair? probably not... And this past trip I booked lunch in San Angel Inn, but again decided not to dine there for lunch... Walked up and cancelled...

Now, with this new policy, I either won't book at the restaurants this policy will take effect in, or, if I do, I will wait until the trip is closer... I normally book for 4 people: me, my friend, and at least 2 friends who live in the Orlando area... I always include my Florida friends in my plans, including dining.. I just never know when they can hang out due to their work schedules... Now, knowing if I book for 4 and only 2 show up, that I'd get charged for the other 2, i won't book until I know for certain how many I have dining.. if I can't get a reservation, so be it... I'll dine at a counter service... or just dine off property... There are plenty of good restaurants in the area...

 

[unkadug]

It's a conversation. Not work.

I'm amazed at a lot of the pointless conversations that go on around here. There are several long running threads in which people are discussing Marvel coming to the parks for example. And we know that's not going to happen any time soon. But people are still discussing it like its a possibility. I don't get it.

This is a real issue which will have a real impact on a lot of guests. So, yeah, I think it's worth discussing. More so than a lot of other topics here. If you're not interested in participating, why post?

:lol:

I was more referring to all your HTML formatting work in your line for line rebuttals.

As far as the real impact on customer satisfaction...I really do not think it will significantly matter to most people who know how to follow rules. This is more inline with other industry standards of business than the old model of abuse.

 

[lebeau]

Umm..isn't this already called the Disney Dining Plan?

I think the suggestion is to make the dining plan a requirement. Or something to that effect.

Yeah, it's a great idea.

The original question was "Does anyone have a better solution?"

To me, it depends on what you're trying to solve. If you're trying to solve double booking, yes, I have better suggestions.

But that's not what Disney is trying to do. Yes, I'm sure they hope this will curb double booking. But their primary concern is maximizing profit/efficiency. They want to fill every table every time. And if that;s not going to happen, they want to know in advance so they can cut staff accordingly.

It's not about making sure everyone gets a fair shake at the popular restaurants. It's about making sure Disney doesn't spend a dime more than they have to. It's about making the spreadsheet look as good as possible.

If that's your primary motivation, then this is probably the most efficient solution.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Thanks for the back-up. And thanks to anyone and everyone who engaged in a civil conversation on the topic. Even if we disagreed.

When this policy change was announced, a lot of people just looked at things at a surface level and cheered what they saw as an attempt to stop double booking. Since double booking effects us all, they saw this as a good thing and stopped there.

Heck, my first reaction was mixed. But the more time I have spent discussing it and going over what I consider to be the likely impact, the less I like this policy change.

I think when people see that it doesn't help with double booking, they will rethink things. Especially if they personally have some unexpected bad luck.

In all honesty, I don't expect this policy change to be permanent. I think Disney will get sick of dealing with the customer complaints and having to mediate who deserves an exception to their policy and who doesn't. I think this will be more effort than its worth in the long run.

My fear is Disney will decide to take a hard line and just take everyone's money. If they decide the extra cash is worth the disgruntled customers, then they will take one more step away from the great company they can be.

Even if Disney does take this hard-line approach. I think a lot of folks are going to be disappointed when it does diddly squat to help with double booking.

I think Disney will leave the policy in place, handle the guests who complain, and pocket the money from those who don't... I also don't think Disney would sit back and tell a family, YOU'RE CHILD GOT SICK?? TOO BAD.. HAHAHAHA THANK YOU FOR YOUR MONEY NOT SCRAM... I think if a child winds up sick and the family cancels the dining, or even if they don't, if that family complains, Disney will refund them the money...

I booked Dining With An Imagineer 2 years ago and was told the lunch was on the Disney Dining Plan... Once I got to The Brown Derby, I was informed the meal was NOT on the plan... I paid out fo pocket, an added expense i was not counting on, and afterward, I went to complain... The consierge at Contemporary (I was staying at Bay Lake) spoke with her manager, called Brown Derby, and after some discussion, agreed to refund me half od the cost... Did Disney have to do this? No... Yes, they were wrong in giving me bad info, but, I was also wrong because I failed to see on their website that Dining with an Imagineer was NOT on the DDP...

Sometimes you have to stick up for yourself as a consumer... You'll be amazed at what may transpire...

 

[lebeau]

:lol:

I was more referring to all your HTML formatting work in your line for line rebuttals.

As far as the real impact on customer satisfaction...I really do not think it will significantly matter to most people who know how to follow rules. This is more inline with other industry standards of business than the old model of abuse.

Oh, that's no work at all. Not for a forum war veteran like me. I fought on the FLE front lines!

I disagree with your statement though. The double bookers are going to know the ins and outs of this. They'll set reminders for themselves. They'll have to pull the trigger 24-hours earlier than they used to or at least have an excuse ready. But most of them will continue doing exactly what they are doing without ever being charged a fee.

Most people won't be impacted to a large degree one way or another. Providing credit card numbers for multiple ressies will be a mild annoyance. But not much more than that.

The people who will be impacted are the people who tried to play by the rules and had something go wrong. They will either need to spend a significant amount of vacation time negotiating to get out of a fee or get hit with it on top of whatever bad luck caused them to miss their reservation in the first place.

Upsides for guests are few and far between. Downsides are pretty severe if you're unfortunate enough to face them.

 

[lebeau]

I haven't added my two cents into this conversation... I realy don't have a problem with this new policy if it in fact opens up reservations and prevents people from double or triple booking... But we all know cheaters will find a way to continually cheat the system...

One year I had lunch ADRs booked at 50's Prime Time Cafe... My friend and I decided we didn't really want to eat there... So, I walked up to the counter and cancelled, that day... Under this new policy I'd be charged... Is that fair? probably not... And this past trip I booked lunch in San Angel Inn, but again decided not to dine there for lunch... Walked up and cancelled...

Now, with this new policy, I either won't book at the restaurants this policy will take effect in, or, if I do, I will wait until the trip is closer... I normally book for 4 people: me, my friend, and at least 2 friends who live in the Orlando area... I always include my Florida friends in my plans, including dining.. I just never know when they can hang out due to their work schedules... Now, knowing if I book for 4 and only 2 show up, that I'd get charged for the other 2, i won't book until I know for certain how many I have dining.. if I can't get a reservation, so be it... I'll dine at a counter service... or just dine off property... There are plenty of good restaurants in the area...

Just my $.02 but it sounds like this policy is really going to impact you in a negative way. And even drive you to spend less on Disney dining...

What am I missing?

 

[unkadug]

Just out of curiosity, what would happen if you showed up for your ADR but did not eat. Would they still charge you?

 

[smk]

Great news!

 

[Captain Chaos]

Just my $.02 but it sounds like this policy is really going to impact you in a negative way. And even drive you to spend less on Disney dining...

What am I missing?

Not missing anything... I'll just change the way I book my dining... Not really a negative at all... If I leave Disney property, Disney gets hurt by me not spending my money there... Though there will be others who make up for my lost dollar... There are plenty of places off property that are just as good if not better than any restaurant Disney has to offer... I really don't see this as a negative on me at all, just a policy that will make me change my dining habits while in WDW... Would Disney rather I spend money in their restaurant or at TGI Fridays over in the Crossroads???

 

[NewfieFan]

Just out of curiosity, what would happen if you showed up for your ADR but did not eat. Would they still charge you?

Now that's funny! Imagine... a family of four all sick, too sick to eat, and they sit at the table b/c they're too stubborn to give Disney the $40. To server: "Hi, yes, we'd like some ice waters to take our Tylenols with!"

:ROFLOL:

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Now that's funny! Imagine... a family of four all sick, too sick to eat, and they sit at the table b/c they're too stubborn to give Disney the $40. To server: "Hi, yes, we'd like some ice waters to take our Tylenols with!"

:ROFLOL:

It seems like a joke now, but imagine what'll happen if Disney eventually starts to consider that to be 'lost revenue' or 'exploiting the system' (since technically they weren't no-shows, but they aren't generating adequate revenue). Then Disney will instate a rule that everyone at the table (not including infants) must order an entree or they'll be charged a $10 sitting fee. And then hordes of WDWMagic members will cheer on Disney for finding a way to penalize the "morons" (someone else's words, not mine) who unnecessarily took an ADR away from other guests but didn't actually order a reasonable amount of food for Disney to make a substantial profit on that table. :brick:

 

[yankspy]

It seems like a joke now, but imagine what'll happen if Disney eventually starts to consider that to be 'lost revenue' or 'exploiting the system' (since technically they weren't no-shows, but they aren't generating adequate revenue). Then Disney will instate a rule that everyone at the table (not including infants) must order an entree or they'll be charged a $10 sitting fee. And then hordes of WDWMagic members will cheer on Disney for finding a way to penalize the "morons" (someone else's words, not mine) who unnecessarily took an ADR away from other guests but didn't actually order a reasonable amount of food for Disney to make a substantial profit on that table. :brick:

Many restaurants already do this. They will charge a fee for splitting an entree. It is called a "plate charge".

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Many restaurants already do this. They will charge a fee for splitting an entree. It is called a "plate charge".

I'm not talking about splitting an entree. I know some restaurants do that, and at least when it occurs, they actually are splitting the entree into separate plates.

My example was a charge for showing up but not eating at all, or showing up and ordering an appetizer but not an entree. It sounds unreasonable to me at an à la carte establishment (I know it already applies to buffets), but with Disney it wouldn't surprise me at this point.

 

[yankspy]

I'm not talking about splitting an entree. I know some restaurants do that, and at least when it occurs, they actually are splitting the entree into separate plates.

My example was a charge for showing up but not eating at all, or showing up and ordering an appetizer but not an entree. It sounds unreasonable to me at an à la carte establishment (I know it already applies to buffets), but with Disney it wouldn't surprise me at this point.

Gotcha.

I guess the only way I would charge for not eating would be if no one at the table ate at all which would be awkward.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

I really will find it hard to believe Disney will go through with this, especially when restaurants still cater to small, temper mental children.

The easiest way around this is to, say you make 4 ADR's but will only attend 2 for the day, just make the ADR for one person, even if you have a party of 4, you go up to the podium and ask them to make your party of one to a party of 4 and Disney will do this without batting an eye, as they have done for me in the past. So basically you lose 20 bucks, which if your at Disney World is a small drop in the bucket.

This policy won't change my vacation planning at all.


Jimmy Thick-This won't stick...

 

[lebeau]

It seems like a joke now, but imagine what'll happen if Disney eventually starts to consider that to be 'lost revenue' or 'exploiting the system' (since technically they weren't no-shows, but they aren't generating adequate revenue). Then Disney will instate a rule that everyone at the table (not including infants) must order an entree or they'll be charged a $10 sitting fee. And then hordes of WDWMagic members will cheer on Disney for finding a way to penalize the "morons" (someone else's words, not mine) who unnecessarily took an ADR away from other guests but didn't actually order a reasonable amount of food for Disney to make a substantial profit on that table. :brick:

Oh, I wouldn't expect Disney to make any exceptions for infants. Heaven forbid!

 

[COProgressFan]

Oh, I wouldn't expect Disney to make any exceptions for infants. Heaven forbid!

LOL:ROFLOL:

Sadly I think to some degree you're right!

 

[Tinkwings]

Ok so I did not read this very long thread and understand going forward what the policy will be....so am assuming that if I make my ADR's for a 2012 trip BEFORE 10/26 I will not suffer a 10$ per peep penalty if I should change my mind and forget to cancel....which is unlikely but as I did not enter a credit card thus far....am I safe in assuming it will not be retroactive?

 

[Amused to Death]

....am I safe in assuming it will not be retroactive?

That would be my guess since no one has had to put a check mark next to anything resembling this new policy nor have they had to provide any credit card information so far.

On canceling online...

It would be nice if Disney could get their online reservation system to work on a consistent basis before implementing this policy. How are we supposed to be able to cancel ADRs if we keep getting error messages?

I've been looking at this for about the last two or three weeks now:

We are currently experiencing problems displaying reservations. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Is anyone else seeing this?

If I can't retrieve them, I can't cancel them. :brick:

 

[Master Yoda]

That would be my guess since no one has had to put a check mark next to anything resembling this new policy nor have they had to provide any credit card information so far.

On canceling...

It would be nice if Disney could get their online reservation system to work on a consistent basis before implementing this policy. How are we supposed to be able to cancel ADRs if we keep getting error messages?

I've been looking at this for about the last two or three weeks now:


Is anyone else seeing this?

No, and I am in the system almost daily. What browser are you using or are you by chance looking at a date greater than 180 days out?