News WDW Resorts to add fees for parking

[AshaNeOmah]

I just can't see a parking fee happening at the value and moderate resorts. Parking is in abundance at those locations.

I can actually internally justify most of the profit-based decisions. This one might be too much for me, if it turns out to be true. My family buys APs every 18 months or so and usually spends 10-20 nights a year in value or moderates. Paying to park in the All Star parking lot would be infuriating.

There are too many places in the world my kids should see before they grow up. Maybe it's time to start visiting those places.

 

[drizgirl]

Just raise the damn ticket price if ya need to make more money. This nickel and diming business is for the birds.

Who said they're not doing that as well?

 

[contrariwise]

In the case of DVC many things are "have to's" because the owners and Disney have legally binding contracts.

Current contracts, but not new ones.

 

[TimeTrip]

No plans to validate shoppers or diners eh? There goes the "let's eat at that restaurant" crowd. You'd think they would validate for a place like V+A.

 

[drizgirl]

The OP has stated that resort fees are the industry standard.

Too bad Disney's prices are already well above industry standard.

 

[peter11435]

Current contracts, but not new ones.

Certainly new contracts could see some alterations. But that wouldn't change the fact that they would still be bound by tens of thousands of existing contracts. And future contracts would still need to meet all requirements of Florida timeshare law. So they wouldn't be able to double tip and charge those guests for parking and still include lot maintnenance in their annual dues.

 

[drizgirl]

No plans to validate shoppers or diners eh? There goes the "let's eat at that restaurant" crowd. You'd think they would validate for a place like V+A.

I would be very unhappy to be paying to park yet still competing for a spot with people parking for free to dine or shop.

 

[seascape]

Resort fees are horrible, however it's the taxes on top of the room costs that cause them. The occupancy tax is on the room costs and not the additional resort fee. Therefore if a hotel charged 100 a night for the room and there were a resort fe of 20 a night the 12% occupancy tax would be 12 but if the room cost 120 wit no resort fee the tax would be 14.40. Now 2.40 may not sound like much but think if the costs were double or triple that and you were staying a week or more. 2.40 a day for 7 days is 16.80, double is 33.60 and triple is 50.40. It really adds up so the real reason for these fees is the over taxing of rooms.

 

[drizgirl]

Resort fees are horrible, however it's the taxes on top of the room costs that cause them. The occupancy tax is on the room costs and not the additional resort fee. Therefore if a hotel charged 100 a night for the room and there were a resort fe of 20 a night the 12% occupancy tax would be 12 but if the room cost 120 wit no resort fee the tax would be 14.40. Now 2.40 may not sound like much but think if the costs were double or triple that and you were staying a week or more. 2.40 a day for 7 days is 16.80, double is 33.60 and triple is 50.40. It really adds up so the real reason for these fees is the over taxing of rooms.

So resort fees are to save customers money?

 

[NearTheEars]

I won't light my torch yet as this is still a rumor with unconfirmed details but...

It sounds like yet another strategy to make sure the people staying on property remain on property.
They want you to take the magical express from the airport to the resort and never leave WDW grounds.
This could easily curb rental car usage. Not shocked about the resort fee possibility either. Most places started sneaking those in when having WiFi access became a must and they tend to use that as an excuse. Obviously WDW is way behind on charging it, but I'm sure they will put together a list of things to justify it that I'm sure new customers won't question.

These extra fees will certainly alienate some longtime guests, but as I've said before, I don't think they care about repeat guests anymore. They are making bank off of the once-in-a-lifetime folks that are maxing out a credit card to make this dream trip come true. They are coming no matter what.

We've already transitioned to staying off property (mostly near Disney Springs) for the couple of weekend staycations we take each year. We never used the busses anyway, and I couldn't stomach paying more than the All-Star rates, so it was a no brainer to stay offsite and get better accommodations for the same price, even with their resort fees.

 

[willtravel]

Well I figured this was coming after it was part of a survey about a year ago. Thats ok it just pushed me offsite. The room prices are nuts now and add in resort fee and i'm done. I can stay at the Four Season for the price of the Beach club.

The problem with staying off site would be I think, no more EMHs. If that is not a pull for you to stay in park then that is great. There they have you.

 

[NearTheEars]

So resort fees are to save customers money?

I think they are saying it's better to add a resort fee and not raise rates, because you would be hit with a higher tax charge. I'm not confident, though, that they actually care.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

I don't know how their survey results panned out (though they have a way of framing things to get the result they desire), but if they're looking to implement this I'm not sure they're prepared for the backlash.

Ticket price increases are generally tolerated because, for the most part, people are going to go anyways. Nightly hotel rate increases have been easy to sneak in because very, very, very few customers are actually comparing and checking their exact nightly rate: The vast majority of on-site guests look at the total package cost and work from there. At what point in the booking process would the resort and parking fees be added? In my experience, these are check-in charges, and that's where the mouse is leaving themselves exposed for significant pushback if they're getting dinged at checking for hundreds of dollars for a trip they already dropped $5k on.

I'm sure this is being considered, but I'd be a little surprised if it actually gets implemented. There are plenty of other, easier devices to drive up revenue that are less transparent and, thus, easier to phase in with minimal backlash.

 

[willtravel]

I would think the hotels by downtown Disney, the non affiliated hotels, Hilton, B hotel, Best Western, etc,, won't mind these new charges since they are already doing at least the resort fee..

 

[drizgirl]

I think they are saying it's better to add a resort fee and not raise rates, because you would be hit with a higher tax charge. I'm not confident, though, that they actually care.

Of course they don't care.

They only care what they can "get away with". And they think it's easier to sell a base rate with hidden fees, than to sell a posted rate equal to the base cost plus those fees.

It has nothing to do with saving tax for the customer. It's about padding the bottom line to pay for overruns on MM+, overruns in Shanghai and to pad Iger's retirement.

 

[dreamfinder]

$30 a day to park? That's crazy.

 

[drizgirl]

There are plenty of other, easier devices to drive up revenue that are less transparent and, thus, easier to phase in with minimal backlash.

I'm sure they're all over those as well.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

I'm sure they're all over those as well.

Unfortunately, you're probably right.

I've been booking more and more split stays for clients doing shorter stays at WDW and adding 2 or 3 days at Universal, and the feedback I've been getting has been swinging harshly in Universal's favor in terms of pricing, resort quality, and customer service. It's a hard pill for me to swallow, knowing what Disney once offered.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Oh, the horror of it all. I just hate having to pay money for things on my luxury vacation. Seriously, I could have sworn that Disney already charged resort fees.

I don't see the big deal and the other resorts do this for a reason. So, why not Disney?

And the best and most obvious reason would be to insure more captive audience situations. Keeping people onsite and spending every available nickel at Disney. I'm amazed that they didn't do this years ago as soon as they instituted the Magical Bus from the Airport.

 

[asianway]

Current contracts, but not new ones.

Only a new resort. Any new contracts at an existing resort still look to the governing documents at the inception