And The Beat Goes On!

[mom2rtk]

They probably implement huge "discounts" and sales tactics to hide the fees. If it sticks ... maybe gas prices go up .. and they implement a new "transportation" fee onto resorts to cover the price of their buses. It will go on and on ..

Just another way to raise prices without actually raising prices. Every company does it .. and it unfortunately works.

I suspect that just like a lot of fees we end up paying (Cable, Phone, concert tickets) .. we complain, but in the end don't do anything about them (because what can we do? ). We still want to consume that product. We complain to our friends loudly, but quietly still consume the product, save money elsewhere to pay the increased prices for the product we like to use.

Lately Disney seems even worse than Comcast. And that's saying something.

 

[DebbieB]

Would you pay extra for flowing water in your room? How about a mattress on your bed? This cracks me up. How can you make most of these listed optional? You can't without creating haves and have-nots within the same resort community, and policing that would cost more than the additional charge. So any increase would be universal - so it is a rate increase, pure and simple.

If Disney wants to raise rates, raise them. But don't ask your customers if they want you to raise your rates - what fool would answer yes to that question?

We really need to see the full question asked. I saw a post on facebook that the question was would you prefer a flat resort fee or pay a la carte for services?

 

[prestoncaldwell]

We really need to see the full question asked. I saw a post on facebook that the question was would you prefer a flat resort fee or pay a la carte for services?

So, basically, "We're doing this. Would you prefer KY or Vaseline?"

 

[Alison Wunderland]

Calm down everyone, buying new rags so they don't have to use mops on the tables anymore has to come from somewhere.

 

[Shanan]

I read the article on Yahoo and couldn't believe what I read. I nearly fell out of the chair laughing....... $15 fee that covers the 'joy' of Magic Bands and limited Fast Passes that you have to book 60 days in advance.

 

[dfb]

I read the article on Yahoo and couldn't believe what I read. I nearly fell out of the chair laughing....... $15 fee that covers the 'joy' of Magic Bands and limited Fast Passes that you have to book 60 days in advance.

Talk about adding salt to the wound. I now get to pay a fee for the very "perk" I hate the most!!! FP+/Magic Bands!!!

 

[courtneybeth]

I'm now contemplating that $179 per week Marriott 2 bedroom time share room and driving into the resort every day. Cost of rental car isn't too expensive and I get magic bands as a passholder.

 

[summerlvr]

I just completed the survey I received for my January trip. Despite the fact that I answered that I have an annual pass, have visited more than 20 times, use EMH, DME, and do advance planning, I was not kicked out of the survey. I stayed at All Star Sports, so the a la carte pricing was based on a stay at a value resort. The wording of some of the questions made me wonder if the prices would vary based on whether you were staying value, mod, or deluxe. I didn't do screen shots of the questions because I'm not computer savvy and wouldn't know how to incorporate them into my post, so I will just quote the main question about fees:

"A standard room in a value resort such as Disney's All Star Movies Resort or Disney's Pop Century Resort with an average nightly rate of $120

Includes:

Unparalleled Guest service
Close proximity to the theme parks
Transportation to and from the parks
Online check-in
Complimentary WiFi

Optional add-ons:

$5 per person for a Magic Band
$20 per person, round trip, for Disney's Magical Express
$15 per night, per car, for resort parking
$20 per room, per length of stay, for priority Disney Fast Pass+ planning (up to 60 days prior to arrival)
$10 per room, per length of stay, for Extra Magic Hours."


The question related to this information asked me if I would book a future stay at a value resort if these fees were implemented or if I would instead book a stay at a moderate resort, a deluxe resort, or if I would book offsite, or if I would not visit in the future.

I answered that I would not visit in the future.

Now can't you just imagine Disney asking folks if they would rather pay a la carte prices for certain services or just pay an across the board nightly resort fee? What do you think folks will choose? Therefore, Disney CAN claim that their guests PREFER to have a resort fee added to their stay!

 

[prestoncaldwell]

I'm now contemplating that $179 per week Marriott 2 bedroom time share room and driving into the resort every day. Cost of rental car isn't too expensive and I get magic bands as a passholder.

Per week? Are you a Marriott employee?

 

[prestoncaldwell]

So... to take advantage of the fact that a lot of people don't pay attention and only see the competitive room rate rather than the actual cost they are paying for the room.

Sigh. I think a lot of the problems of the world would be nonexistant if people would actually pay attention.

Sorry for not answering this....

If you think about it, the only reason a hotel would EVER institute resort fees is to increase their revenues while advertising room rates that don't include that in the initial quote. All the things they say the fees pay for, WiFi, cable, pool towels, what have you, are hotel amenities. WiFi in particular has had a history of being surcharged for those who want to use it, but the rest of them are pretty standard hotel amenities. Their costs go in the Other Expenses block on the profit & loss statement. Traditionally, hotel revenues stood alone as the revenue line on a rooms division P&L. It makes perfect sense, to generate this much revenue, you need to spend X on housekeeping, Y on maintenance, Z on Front Desk and other service staff, A on the cable bill, B on pool amenities, C on toiletries, etc. Now, they are charging the guests separately for some of these costs, but if you look at the P&L, the expenses are in exactly the same place, and the Resort Fee Revenue is on a line right below Room Revenue in the Revenue block.

If you are on Travelocity, and you see a room rate for $115, you like it and book it. By the time you get to the screen that informs you that you will pay a $25 resort fee, you are already invested in the buy decision. If it listed for $140, you may have passed by and kept looking. The contrast is even starker in Las Vegas during slow season, when a $49 room special is actually running $74, 51% higher than the rate you think you are booking when you first click.

And one other supportive note: It has been mentioned that Las Vegas resorts now charge Resort fees. This is largely true. However, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas does NOT charge a resort fee, or at least did not when I worked there. The reason was strategic....The Cosmo wanted to position itself as the HIGHEST average room rate in the market to establish a sense of elite status to the property. So it wanted max room revenue in the revenue per room night calculation, even though a $165 Cosmo night and a $145+$25 MGM room night cost exactly the same to the guest.

 

[Jessica Sinegal]

I could ALMOST understand if it was optional.

 

[midge3426]

For the past ten years, Disney has been slowly adding costs "here and there." Slowly customer service has devolved. Disney room rates have always been over priced, but that was okay because you received exceptional service on everything. That is no longer the case. This corporate arrogance and greed needs to cease. Anyway, we have been going for the past twenty years, but we are no longer feeling valued as a Disney customer and will spend our hard earned money elsewhere. Hopefully, the corporate greed will cease when Iger leaves.......if he ever leaves.

 

[Megsmachine]

Bonnet Creek and the Swan both add a $25 per night resort fee, so they'd still select Disney if they wanted Disney. But those who are on the fence about a Disney resort might well go to the cheaper ones.

Somewhat randomly selected dates of October 6-October 11 (5 nights) for a family of 2 adults, one pre-teen and one teen:

Yacht Club Standard room = $496 per night x 5 nights = $2,480
Beach Club = $589 per night ($2,945)
Swan = $216 per night ($1,080)
Bonnet Creek (a little of an "apples to oranges" comparison but I added it because of the quality of the hotel) = $199 per night ($995).

If Disney thinks that raising resort rates by way of adding a resort fee isn't going to make people pay attention to this math, they are crazy. At the Swan you get the 60 day FP+ booking and the Disney Transportation, but lose Magical Express, the ability to buy a Dining Plan, and a "free" Magic Band. Anyone going to argue that a "free" Magic Band and a ride on a Disney bus are worth $1,865?

We've stayed at BC once in September and booked it 2 weeks out. We got a 2 bedroom for $590. We are booked for a one week trip in May for a 2 bedroom and are paying $700, and booked that 4 months out. For our family to stay at Disney (we are a family of 7) for the SAME week (with the spring discount) it costs:

ALL OF THE BELOW are 2 Bedrooms because Disney says we have to due to our family size. None of the following amounts include tax. Some are cheaper than normal because of the Spring offer. This is the same exact week we are going to BC for $700 and that $700 includes all fees and taxes. They do require a $150-$200 deposit that we actually got back before we left the resort the last time we went.

SSR- $4382 for a 2 bedroom (due to our family size)
the villas at DWL- $7175
AKV-$6633
Contemporary-$9405
Poly Villa Resort-$13,000 what the......
Yacht Club-$9100
Boardwalk-$5887
Poly Bungalow-$17,850 (not even bookable right now)
BLT-$7413
Grand Floridian Villas-$8869
AKV Jambo-$6265


the CHEAPEST one being SSR (and probably OKW) is still $3682 more then BC.

Start doing the math. I loved staying on property when we did, the benefits are no longer worth it. At all. Its easier and faster to drive to the parks. So what, it costs $17/day to park if you go to the parks 7 out of 7 days its still only $119. So you can't do the dining plan, at $63/day for just the adults, believe me, you can eat cheaper and still go to your favorite Table service meals. I would say the only slight draw back is planning FP+ 30 days out instead of 60. I think I'll take my $3682 and be fine with having to wait an extra 30 days to do that. As far as 180 out verses having to book every day for the days your staying at the 180, I'll remind myself of that $3682 dollars and not mind having to book every day for 7 days straight. I've actually never had to do that. We booked our meals 4 months ut and have even gotten some better times in the last month for our TS meals. It has never been necessary to book at the 180 mark for us.

 

[Megsmachine]

We've stayed at BC once in September and booked it 2 weeks out. We got a 2 bedroom for $590. We are booked for a one week trip in May for a 2 bedroom and are paying $700, and booked that 4 months out. For our family to stay at Disney (we are a family of 7) for the SAME week (with the spring discount) it costs:

ALL OF THE BELOW are 2 Bedrooms because Disney says we have to due to our family size. None of the following amounts include tax. Some are cheaper than normal because of the Spring offer. This is the same exact week we are going to BC for $700 and that $700 includes all fees and taxes. They do reguire a $150-$200 deposit that we actually got back before we left the resort the last time we went.

SSR- $4382 for a 2 bedroom (due to our family size)
the villas at DWL- $7175
AKV-$6633
Contemporary-$9405
Poly Villa Resort-$13,000 what the......
Yacht Club-$9100
Boardwalk-$5887
Poly Bungalow-$17,850 (not even bookable right now)
BLT-$7413
Grand Floridian Villas-$8869
AKV Jambo-$6265


the CHEAPEST one being SSR (and probably OKW) is still $3682 more then BC.

Start doing the math. I loved staying on property when we did, the benefits are no longer worth it. At all. Its easier and faster to drive to the parks. So what, it costs $17/day to park if you go to the parks 7 out of 7 days its still only $119. So you can't do the dining plan, at $63/day for just the adults, believe me, you can eat cheaper and still go to your favorite Table service meals. I would say the only slight draw back is planning FP+ 30 days out instead of 60. I think I'll take my $3682 and be fine with having to wait an extra 30 days to do that. As far as 180 out verses having to book every day for the days your staying at the 180, I'll remind myself of that $3682 dollars and not mind having to book every day for 7 days straight. I've actually never had to do that. We booked our meals 4 months ut and have even gotten some better times in the last month for our TS meals. It has never been necessary to book at the 180 mark for us.

All that to say, what's another $15/day???? haaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! (rofl) The dis really needs a good ROFL emoji.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I just can't keep up! We all know they will do (and are doing) JUST FINE without these fees. Please send me the survey to take Disney, I will be thrilled to give my opinion (as if it matters)!!

 

[mom2rtk]

All that to say, what's another $15/day???? haaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! (rofl) The dis really needs a good ROFL emoji.

Take your pick:

 

[ellie05]

I haven't read through this entire thread, so please forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but one of the reasons resorts implement resort fees is to offset commissions that need to be paid to third party vendors. Disney's standard commission to TA's is 10% on room-only reservations and packages. If a room is $400 a night, that boils down to $40 going to the TA. So, if Disney implements a "resort fee" which is separate from that room price, they have just offset the cost of that commission by $15. That's a pretty high percentage. When you look at mods and values, it will offset it even more. In essence, they are recouping a lot of what they have to pay out to TA's, Orbitz, etc. And, of course, in probably the majority of cases, people are booking directly through Disney so Disney doesn't have to pay any commission on those bookings. In essence, they are passing the cost of paying those commissions on to the consumer. This would be a HUGE moneymaker for WDW. It leaves a very bad taste in my mouth though. These were all supposed to be "magical extras" that came with your "magical" onsite stay. Yes, it would be better for optics to imbed these fees in the room price (which they've been doing for years anyway). But to raise room prices AND start charging a resort fee? Bad form WDW! Bad form.

Even if it is to try to cover this third party fees is not ok. They have been paying those for a long time.

 

[wisblue]

DVC dues are more regulated than hotel rates. Currently our dues pay for some of those amenities Disney is considering charging for (if not all). So if they charge DVC owners the fee at check in to cover those expenses they can't also charge for those same expenses through our dues. Our dues cover many things like property taxes, capital expenditure reserves (to pay for needed refurbishments), DVC administration costs, but also the cost of operating our resort (wifi, transportation, resort activities, etc). DVC actually has to put out a budget every year for each DVC resort with itemized lines such as housekeeping, transportation, etc. See link below

https://*******.com/financial/dvc-resort-budgets/resort-budget-for-bwv/

So if they were to charge the proposed fee for DVC owners too they would have to decrease the portion of our dues that previously would have paid for those items since the newly generated revenue would decrease operating costs of the resorts we own.

Your post and the link highlight why I think applying a fee like this on rooms booked with DVC points would be more problematic for Disney than putting them on non DVC stays. So much depends on exactly what they would try to charge for, and whether the fee is mandatory as a condition of staying in the room, or optional based on use of a service or facility that is not covered by DVC dues.

For example, DME. If that is covered under the "transportation" category, it would be double charging to make DVC members pay extra when they use it. If not, I certainly can't say that perpetual free DME was part of my contract when I bought DVC because the service wasn't in place at that time. If they can and do start charging for DME, I can decide whether I am willing to pay the charge. But, if they make it mandatory to pay a fee for it, regardless of whether I use DME or not, that's another issue.

As a DVC owner I feel like I have the right to occupy the room with no charges other than what I paid when I purchased the contract and my monthly dues. If they want to start charging for Magic Bands, the right to make FPs 60 days in advance, or the right to take advantage of EMH (or eliminate these things completely), they might have the right to do that, subject to dealing with whatever fallout it creates with DVC members. But, I would feel like at a minimum they would have to provide me with a card to access the room at no charge and the option to decline to pay for any extra services that I don't want or need.

 

[bcrook]

I wonder if the fee is $15 per day per room or $15 per person per day per room?

So a room with 9 people would only pay $15.00 the same cost as a room with 2? That seems odd.

 

[bcrook]

I can't really think of any reason why DVC members wouldn't also pay for the magic bands, FP, bus services, etc.

I do think the cost of wifi has been absorbed by maintenance fees though. So that would be a difficult sell.