Resort Availability

[Yodasnuggs]

Hi all.

After much persuasion, I talked my husband into taking a very brief trip in November for Food & Wine and naturally, now the hotels that we were aiming for appear to have no availability.

Thus, several (related) questions. Does room availability fluctuate often? Are blocks of rooms sometimes or ever released over time? Is it like dining reservations where I may have to refresh and check often and might get lucky with a reservation? Is there a paid service that checks for open reservations similar to the ones that check for dining availability? Or is the situation generally, if nothing is available now there will continue to be nothing available?

TIA for any thoughts!

 

[nickys]

A few thoughts. Disney tend to discourage shorter trips which might leave “orphan nights”. If you’re only searching for 1 or 2 nights that could be the issue and it might be worth calling.

It’s also possible you are searching for rooms under a deal. Make sure you really are looking for all availability.

There are conferences on at certain times which will fill some resorts as they block book rooms. For example Gartner have one from 16-19 October but there may be others.

And people do cancel trips so it is worth checking back.

 

[Marionnette]

Hi all.

After much persuasion, I talked my husband into taking a very brief trip in November for Food & Wine and naturally, now the hotels that we were aiming for appear to have no availability.

Thus, several (related) questions. Does room availability fluctuate often? Are blocks of rooms sometimes or ever released over time? Is it like dining reservations where I may have to refresh and check often and might get lucky with a reservation? Is there a paid service that checks for open reservations similar to the ones that check for dining availability? Or is the situation generally, if nothing is available now there will continue to be nothing available?

TIA for any thoughts!

Disney has been known to reduce the number of available rooms based on their expected demand. They may take out entire building, floors or wings of a resort in anticipation of refreshes or refurbishments. Sometimes those rooms get put back in inventory if demand increases or refurbs get pushed back.

Disney also tends to discourage brief stays. You might do a search online for a 7-night stay and find the room you want but choose 3 nights during that same period and nothing shows up.

Priceline and Expedia may have rooms that you cannot book via Disney. And any groups that had blocks of rooms reserved may not need all if them. Those would get returned to Disney's inventory. People with packages reserved may cancel right before their final payment is due. Those rooms are also returned to inventory.

I don't know of any paid services that will do room searches for you but a Disney TA might. Otherwise, it's up to you to aggressively search. I did that last year for my sister when she and her husband wanted to stay at FW with their new camper. It took weeks to get the dates they wanted in early November but it did come together eventually.

Good luck!

 

[Raxel7851]

We wanted to do a split stay one time at Pop for 2 nights, then head over to POFQ. When I tried to reserve online, it showed no availability. So I called and and was able to get the 2 nights.

 

[BiBi]

We were just bumped from our resort because of them deciding to close down a section of the hotel due to low occupancy. The room we booked is a one of kind room and can't be found or replicated anywhere else. We are also 2 days from leaving for our trip so too late to cancel other travel expenses and are forced into a stay at a hotel we don't care for. This was also a resort only stay and geared towards the area we were staying in. So much for trying to have a nice romantic getaway. Because Disney can do this whenever they want, we can't trust them to try another time for fear it will and could happen again.

 

[wdwfan22]

We were just bumped from our resort because of them deciding to close down a section of the hotel due to low occupancy. The room we booked is a one of kind room and can't be found or replicated anywhere else. We are also 2 days from leaving for our trip so too late to cancel other travel expenses and are forced into a stay at a hotel we don't care for. This was also a resort only stay and geared towards the area we were staying in. So much for trying to have a nice romantic getaway. Because Disney can do this whenever they want, we can't trust them to try another time for fear it will and could happen again.

And what resort was this? Occupancy right now and going into fall isn't low. Several conferences are also taking place in October that are going to fill resorts to.

 

[BiBi]

I'm not going to drag down the hotel that did this to us because the decision was all Disney. When Iger cut down the amount of cast members both at the parks and hotels, they started moving people to different hotels so they could close sections to reduce the size of staff. This is a well known fact and it is happening along with the closures for refurbishments. We have family that works there and it has nothing to do with conventions and events that do bring the occupancy up. This was a one week decision at the hotel we were booked for and they tried to move us from an expensive high end suite into a standard room at a hotel that has little to offer for those who aren't attending the parks. The people I had to deal with over finding an alternate stay were heartless and rude. Lesson learned and we won't be able to trust that it won't happen again because it could happen.

 

[nickys]

The only resort I know of that has shuttered some buildings is POR.

I don’t think anyone will “blame” the resort you were bumped from, and it might help others who are due to stay there in the next few weeks.

What resort are you now staying at?

 

[BiBi]

We check in in 2 days and have yet to get an equitable replacement. Still in talks with Disney reservations.

 

[nickys]

We check in in 2 days and have yet to get an equitable replacement. Still in talks with Disney reservations.

I wouldn’t be going if I hadn’t got a room sorted out.

 

[Ayla]

And what resort was this? Occupancy right now and going into fall isn't low. Several conferences are also taking place in October that are going to fill resorts to.

I'm sorry, are you seriously saying occupancy isn't low with a straight face? Occupancy has fallen off a cliff.

 

[nickys]

I'm sorry, are you seriously saying occupancy isn't low with a straight face? Occupancy has fallen off a cliff.

Yes it has, but other than POR, what resorts have shuttered rooms due to low occupancy?

My guess is that there is another reason for @BiBi being moved, most likely one of the refurbs. Grand Floridian, Beach Club, Boardwalk have all had recent refurbs. BCV should be restarting.soon, BWV is due in January I think.

 

[Chi84]

We were just bumped from our resort because of them deciding to close down a section of the hotel due to low occupancy. The room we booked is a one of kind room and can't be found or replicated anywhere else. We are also 2 days from leaving for our trip so too late to cancel other travel expenses and are forced into a stay at a hotel we don't care for. This was also a resort only stay and geared towards the area we were staying in. So much for trying to have a nice romantic getaway. Because Disney can do this whenever they want, we can't trust them to try another time for fear it will and could happen again.

What resort is this?

 

[wdwfan22]

I'm sorry, are you seriously saying occupancy isn't low with a straight face? Occupancy has fallen off a cliff.

no it hasn't. Especially in October and going forward.

 

[larryz]

I'm not going to drag down the hotel that did this to us because the decision was all Disney.

Who do you think runs the hotel that did this to you?

 

[RainbowFigmentum]

Yes it has, but other than POR, what resorts have shuttered rooms due to low occupancy?

My guess is that there is another reason for @BiBi being moved, most likely one of the refurbs. Grand Floridian, Beach Club, Boardwalk have all had recent refurbs. BCV should be restarting.soon, BWV is due in January I think.

AKL-Kidani has been doing refurb from Feb to Sept/Oct this year.

 

[nickys]

AKL-Kidani has been doing refurb from Feb to Sept/Oct this year.

That wasn’t the rooms though, that was exterior work. They didn’t take blocks of rooms out of service.

 

[RainbowFigmentum]

That wasn’t the rooms though, that was exterior work. They didn’t take blocks of rooms out of service.

And then full soft goods/hard goods is coming 2024--https://dvcnews.com/other-resources/site-content/5196-dvc-resort-refurbishment-tracker

 

[nickys]

And then full soft goods/hard goods is coming 2024--https://dvcnews.com/other-resources/site-content/5196-dvc-resort-refurbishment-tracker

Not confirmed by DVC yet though. The only refurbs actually confirmed are:

BCV (resumed now)
BWV (expected early 2024)
BLT (was confirmed as being pushed back from 2023 at last year’s condo association meeting).

 

[RainbowFigmentum]