Cheapest Place On Earth

[Dizfreak]

Ok, I'm the first person to stand up for Disney. My family and I have gone there once or twice a year for the last ten years and we love it. We have our problems with it, but who doesn't?

This year our family has been plannin a huge trip for two weeks in October/November. It will be the first time in eight years that the entire family has gone together. We started making plans a year in advance. Reservations were booked November 2002 for Port Orleans French Quarter, our favorite resort. That's a year in advance.

Two weeks ago it's annonced the French Quarter will be closed for refurbishment during our stay. We were offered to stay at The Animal Kingdom Lodge for a largely reduced rate. Wonderful!!! However our room would have a spectacular view of the parking lot. Spoke to several reservations operators, "Sorry, there's nothing we can do."

Ok. So we decide to stay at the Riverside portion of Port Orleans. We request a poolside room. Even through all the inconvienience we have been put through, the room rate is going to be considerably higher than what we would have payed for our poolside room at the French Quarter. Another call to reservations. I ask to speak to a supervisor. Appearently the 1300 reservation people do not require a supervisor because none could be found. By this point I am severely aggitated and leave my name and number and say I want a call within 24 hours. "Well, our policy is 24-72 hours". Not only was i not called back right away as I requested, I was called FIVE DAYS LATER!!!

Again, "I'm very sorry, but there is nothing we can do."

So now I am awaiting a call from the level two supervisor. I expect to year from them in a week or so.

Am I wrong in thinking this is no way to treat a valued customer? Or indeed any customer. How can you not know you're going to close an entire resort a year before you do it???? Especially one which was just closed for "refurbishment." Unfortunately everything comes down to how much money they will make at the end of the day and Disney knows that many people like me and my family will keep coming back.

Let me know your feelings on this.

 

[disneydentist]

Originally posted by PhotoDave219
I think the original posters main beef is that the call ctr supervisors didnt/havent called them back to smooth everything over.

Other than that, if a guest chooses not to take the "make good" thats offered, thats the guest's peroragitive. (SP?)

Agreed on both counts. However, we were given to understand that relocation was being handled by a separate team of cast members. This certainly seemed to be the case when we called. The cast member at MKC reservations put us on hold for about 10 minutes while we waited for a member of the relocation team. From the sound in the background there were only three or four people involved. Just calling CRO or their supervisors won't get the job done. You need to speak to the right people.

Also, we received a letter afterwards saying that you could change your mind about the upgrades within 10 days. After that if you wanted to change it would be at regular rates.

 

[Becky]

Originally posted by wdwforus
You want to speak to someone with more authority and you should be allowed to. Where I live, which isnt to far from you, there is a company famous for its cutomer service and the minute you say you want to speak to a supervisor it happens.

Maybe yes maybe no.

I'm not saying the place you are talking about does and I would bet Disney doesn't :lookaroun , but in many high volume call centers when you ask for a supervisor they pass the call off to another person who tells you they are the supervisor

That didn't happen. It would have been the easy way out for them , but Disney provides better service than that

I'm staying at ASM starting tomorrow:sohappy: I sleep and shower in the room. If I had young kids and went back to the room early I probably would opt for a view also

Take the parking lot and ask about upgrading when you check in:animwink: Have a great trip

 

[KathyG/poohbear]

Is $10 more a night a deal? I have seen those parking lot view rooms go for $119.

AKL is a nice lodge and staying on the savannah side is not all it's cracked up to be. Depending where you room is, the animals may not come that close. It has a great store to shop in too.

However, the transportation to and from is bad. Also i didn't feel like I was in Disney. The pool is great though.

I would definitely take the Poly for $20 a night more. The Poly is the best.

If you think yuo are going to get customer service with Disney forget it. You can be nice or you can yell it's not going to happen. I had a bad experience at AKL, they lost my luggage and almost made me late for the return flight.

They promised when I stayed in the Poly in Feb, I would have all my room requests. I could barely walk due to a broken ankle and asked to be near the concierge lounge. Guest relations worked it out. For some reason the hotel changed my room and all the requests went with it. I ended up looking over a construction site.

Disney has nothing to lose. No other place compares with it and they know we will come back. Supposely when I go in Disney they will make it up to me. I will have to see that to believe it. It is not just Disney. Most call centers are like that. I have to call & beg just to get my insurance claims paid. It is the society we live in.

I have decided to let it all go and just be happy & celebrate life and not let the little things get me down. Trust me life has enough big things to worry about.

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by CoraJack

You know, if the AKL is so great, why do they keep pushing it in their ads/promotions? We are staying there (yes, savannah view) in June and it's starting to make me wonder. I'm thinking that I will be wishing that I was at the Poly again. But my 12 year old is begging for AKL.

Word of mouth is the most powerful weapon in Marketing. It takes a lot of time and effort to bring a guest to a hotel, but only seconds to lose many.

The hotel is new, not many people have stayed in it -compared to the other hotels-, some other people haven´t even heard of it, and others like you, are hesitating to stay there when choosing it against the one you have already stayed at. With all that said, what better way to bring people to talk wonders about the hotel, and spread the word about it, than bringing them via upgrades? If they are not going to pay full price at the first time, once they are pleased with what they received, they will make an effort to come back to it and even better, when they go back home, they will tell EVERYBODY about it!

 

[Dizfreak]

Thanks to everyone for replying.

I have stayed in AKL before and enjoyed it very much. We had the parking lot view and personally I could care less, I was just excited about the balcony. But my four year niece is going and we all thought it would be nice for her to see the animals from our window. Then when we requested this that's when we started getting the run around from the CM's and the less then friendly customer service.

Someone said it right when they stated Disney knows we will come back. This is one of many things that seems to be slipping.

 

[RogueHabit]

Originally posted by Pippa
I too am booked to PO FQ in Oct this year and I didn't even get a choice of where to stay instead! Virgin holidays wrote and told me that I have been transfered to Riverside and that was that!

That's because Virgin effectively treat PO as one big resort, and therefore this isn't a material change to your trip.

Many of the people here booked directly with Disney, so they have a bit more bargaining power to play with.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Someone said it right when they stated Disney knows we will come back. This is one of many things that seems to be slipping.

Honestly, i think over the past few months, Disney CS is getting back to the way it was - or at least is headed back in that direction. I had no problem booking my latest adventure with the FTV package and the CM was able to help me plan everything i wanted, including exactly where in the CBR i wanted to stay and kept searching until i got the best deal imaginable. (For my price range that is) Maybe i got lucky and got a CM who was very friendly and went out of his way, i dont know.

I still think that no matter what happens that a supervisor and yourself need to chat just to smooth things over so that you arent worried about this come trip time. There's a lot of time between now and then, who knows what will happen. Good luck.

 

[Gregory]

Originally posted by Dizfreak
I ask to speak to a supervisor. Appearently the 1300 reservation people do not require a supervisor because none could be found.

Is it possiable that the supervisors were busy with another of the 1300 reservation people? Also, there are "reservation people" for a reason... If everyone wanted a supervisor, not only would the supervisors not get their jobs done because they were talking to people who want to be compensated for something Disney had no control over, there would be no need for the "reservation people." And if there was no need for the reservation people, there would be no need for supervisors to supervise them... get it?

 

[PhotoDave219]

Is it possiable that the supervisors were busy with another of the 1300 reservation people? Also, there are "reservation people" for a reason... If everyone wanted a supervisor, not only would the supervisors not get their jobs done because they were talking to people who want to be compensated for something Disney had no control over, there would be no need for the "reservation people." And if there was no need for the reservation people, there would be no need for supervisors to supervise them... get it?

Two thoughts. First, have you ever worked in a call center and in customer service? Well i have, and i know that part of a supervisor's job is to call people back and smooth things over with the customers. It comes with the territory.

Second, thats just not a nice thing to say to someone. Granted, i may be new 'round these here parts, but that aint right.

 

[kennyj29]

upgrades

Last year we were booked for the CBR and it was closed during the time we went also. We got an upgrade for the Poly. We were at the furthest room away from the Main Building. It was quite a walk but you know what? It was such a beautiful walk that we didn't even notice and I didn't expect to get the same room that my friend had booked and paid full price for. Why should I? Just being at the Poly was enough for me. The CM's did the best they could and I appreciated that I didn't have to stay at the PO Riverside or French Quarter or Coronado. I don't like those resorts so I chose the upgrade and it was worth every penny. I would have taken the parking lot also because it's so pretty at the AKL that I wouldn't care. It didn't say anywhere that you had a pool view originally and that you probably had to pay a little more for it. As long as I am on Disney property and getting more than what I booked for, how could I complain. How long do you look out the window. You have to be a little reasonable also. They do accomodate you if you bend a little.

 

[BRER STITCH]

Re: Re: Cheapest Place On Earth

The ANTI-DEFINTION of Customer Service...... :brick:

Originally posted by Gregory
Is it possiable that the supervisors were busy with another of the 1300 reservation people? Also, there are "reservation people" for a reason... If everyone wanted a supervisor, not only would the supervisors not get their jobs done because they were talking to people who want to be compensated for something Disney had no control over, there would be no need for the "reservation people." And if there was no need for the reservation people, there would be no need for supervisors to supervise them... get it?

This whole thought process regarding customers only contributes to the already existing problem.

I would never tolerate this in my business.

If somebody asks for a Supervisor, they should be connected to one. It's their job. It's a pretty simple solution to avoiding the type of frustration DIZFREAK is experiencing.

Planning a large Disney trip can be a HUGE headache (especially when changes are made to your original plans)....it's CUSTOMER SERVICE'S job to make the chore as smooth as possible.

In my opinion, an error was made in the way they handled the situation. Lets hope it was a "rookie" mistake and does not happen again.

In any event, DIZFREAK, you guys are gonna have a GREAT TIME!!

:sohappy:

 

[Maria]

It looks like the situation relies in the person who talked to you on the phone. I would risk to say that he/she didn´t even tell a supervisor that you were requesting to speak to one. Did you take the names of the people you spoke to?

Also, I´d like to read that you ended up taking the AKL with the parking lot view. I am sure you are going to like the hotel and the room, so please consider it!