Are Disney Resort Fees A Possibility?

PopPhan;2480449 wrote: No one likes, or easily justifies, increases in rates or added "fees." This would be something that would make a lot of people cringe and decide to stay off-site, but maybe that is what Disney is trying to do. What is the average occupancy rate of the Disney hotels? I have been noticing fewer and fewer rooms available for any of their discount offers, so maybe this is a contributing factor.

I would be surprised if they are running near max occupancy, because over the past year I have been getting more discount offers to stay on resort through email and snail mail than the previous decade combined.

Stu29573;2480462 wrote: And the Disney company continues its blind rush to obsolescence. The whole selling feature for the company used to be value and service that went above and beyond what anyone else in the industry could provide. Now it seems like they are doing their best to blend in with everyone else. The quality of the experience is dropping dramatically while the cost for the customers (no longer viewed as "guests") is increasing. On our December trip the "lack of magic" was horrendous. My family will not be returning any time soon.

This is more of the "par for the industry" thinking that management has embraced (and many of the customers appear to find acceptable). These are the things management does when they have decided that being like everybody else is just fine and no longer want to be a leader.

I have a problem with a resort fee that everyone has to pay, however, if they want to go to an a la carte model, I think I would be ok with that.

I mean the free Wi-Fi and Magical Express are relatively new things (ok, so they have been around for a decade but still) you used to have to pay for the Mears shuttle to get to the resort from the airport and you use to have to pay for internet access at the resort.

Actually, come to think of it, I seem to remember everyone on this site complaining that the new "Magical Express" thing was causing the price of the rooms to go up. Which most people felt was unfair for the people that did not use Magical Express.

faline;2480440 wrote: And....will they tack on the resort fee to those who are vacation club owners???

I was wondering the same thing. And why should I have to pay a per-day fee for DME when I'm a "local" and do not use the service ?

Walt has to be doing backflips in his grave... :(

Ed;2480474 wrote: I was wondering the same thing. And why should I have to pay a per-day fee for DME when I'm a "local" and do not use the service ?

Walt has to be doing backflips in his grave... :(

Ed - Come on, you know how this will be spun....Locals or those who rent vehicles or drive will pay the resort fee for parking, while the rest of us will pay it for DME. See, it all works out. That's that funny Mickey Mouse Math for you.

Sorry, aren't all those things they've been advertising as justification for paying more to stay on site? And now they want us to pay separately for them? That is cheeky. I mean, who's going to answer that survey with a "Yes, I'd love to pay extra for what I'm already paying extra for."?

We have never minded paying more to stay on site, but charging separately for those things is ridiculous. Unless they give you the option to lower your room rate by that same amount if you'd like to decline. And, I also totally get that we've already been paying for these things because it's baked into the higher room rates, but a separate line item for them is bad show. If they need to raise rates to cover these costs, that's one thing, but I find that hard to believe.

I can also see having people pay seperately backfiring on them. While DME makes it easy for people visiting, face it, it's basically a way to hold people hostage on their property. "Hey, we have this great service - we'll pick you up and drop you off at the airport. Isn't that great?" Therefore people won't have access to a car, can't stop for groceries (thus needing to pay for more food at the resort) and can't drive to other theme parks and attractions - thus keeping all of their vacation money on Disney property. If they want to start charging me money to be held hostage (so to speak) I'd seriously price out the cost difference to rent a car and use that to stop for groceries, go to other Orlando parks, etc. And then I'd start thinking 'hmm, I have this car now, there's no real reason that I NEED to stay onsite. Oh, look I can stay at this other hotel, offsite, for a fracation of the cost of the Disney resort.'

faline;2480440 wrote: And....will they tack on the resort fee to those who are vacation club owners???

Keeping in mind that just converted Poly, currently converting VWL, and rumored to be doing BC/YC next they could turn it into a selling point "buy DVC and no resort fees". Similar to days when DVC had free internet and resorts didn't, they still need a gimmick to attract buyers.

If I have to pay an extra 15 a day then I will stay off site. The 15 that I am now saving goes to the parking fee at the parks. The room I would be staying in would be cheaper than onsite. Disney's resorts are going to lose some of us.

I spoke to guest relations yesterday regarding all of the price increases and cuts, the tone that I got was, thanks for your concerns, but disney is going to continue these until it gets to a point that it breaks the other way.

They blatantly told me they are pushing the market as far as they can on price and will continue to do so until people stop going.

We've decided against going next year as we had planned to.

ChipNDale79;2480515 wrote: I spoke to guest relations yesterday regarding all of the price increases and cuts, the tone that I got was, thanks for your concerns, but disney is going to continue these until it gets to a point that it breaks the other way.

They blatantly told me they are pushing the market as far as they can on price and will continue to do so until people stop going.

Sounds about right. Then it usually takes years to build the business back up to a normal level again.

ChipNDale79;2480515 wrote: I spoke to guest relations yesterday regarding all of the price increases and cuts, the tone that I got was, thanks for your concerns, but disney is going to continue these until it gets to a point that it breaks the other way.

They blatantly told me they are pushing the market as far as they can on price and will continue to do so until people stop going.

We've decided against going next year as we had planned to.

This doesn't surprise me at all. At least the person gave it to you straight.

We stayed offsite twice this year and once on site. While I definitely liked staying on site much more I will not stay onsite if they have resort fees.

I know many will keep paying the higher prices and that is what Disney is counting on.

I also agree that Disney most likely will have DVC members not pay the fee while everyone else does to increase DVC sales.

I love Disney but they are slowly but surely pushing me out to Universal or Sea world or the FLORIDA Keys. :(

ChipNDale79;2480515 wrote:
They blatantly told me they are pushing the market as far as they can on price and will continue to do so until people stop going.

No doubt that is the full truth. I am very surprised somebody in that role did not try to spin it as necessary for all the capital expenditures, increasing overhead expenses, etc. I would not expect that sort of answer to have been approved by the corporate communications department.