Room Rates Out of Control?

[MouseHouser]

"Domestic hotel reservations this quarter are in line with a year ago, while rates are up in the low single digits, Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said on a call."

I cheer Disney financial success, because if the company were to fall on hard times and the quality were to drop, for me, the Disney magic goes poof. I buy-in to the "happiest place on earth" notion. Hard to believe the service continues to shine this many years since Walt's passing.

Disney has never been cheap, but we always managed to make the trip happen over the years. Just please, keep up the good work, Disney.

How do you feel?

[vicster]

We go every year - no other vacation compares. Worth every penny!

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

While we choose not to afford Disney vacations every year, we do get to go every 3 to 5 years and tend to tie them in with special occasions. It is an great almost all inclusive vacation opportunity that not much else can touch.

[Tigerinvestigator]

I work three jobs all year long just to take my family......and it is worth every single day I have to work!

[DizneyRox]

Yeah, they are insane! We're looking at a cruise next summer and I priced out a few nights at AKL to see what's doing. I was met with $415 a night quote for a Savannah View room. Add to that food and ticket prices and staying on the boat longer ends up to be cheaper.

That's out of control! Granted, it's not a discounted rate, at all, no AP, no DVC, but it's also no "free" dining, etc.

[Katzateer]

I try to just look at value rates for rooms and limit our expenses to make this an annual trip for us. It is worth every penny - a highlight for us. It would be nice to stay at some of the other resorts but we wouldn't be able to go every year if we spent so much on rooms.

[azcavalier]

Yeah, they are insane! We're looking at a cruise next summer and I priced out a few nights at AKL to see what's doing. I was met with $415 a night quote for a Savannah View room. Add to that food and ticket prices and staying on the boat longer ends up to be cheaper.

That's out of control! Granted, it's not a discounted rate, at all, no AP, no DVC, but it's also no "free" dining, etc.

Yeah, but it's not like you got that quote for a standard view room at a moderate. I mean, if you're simply pricing out "going to WDW" versus another vacation, you can have a great experience without trying to book the top-of-the-line hotel rooms, and save a lot of money, too!

[DizneyRox]

Yes and no... My accomodations on a cruise ship are outside balcony staterooms (usually higher up on the ship), which I wouldn't have trouble equating to a deluxe hotel at Disney. I almost choked when I saw the quote for a 1BR villa!

If I were just wanting to go on a cruise, I might look at lower deck inside staterooms.

[BrerGnat]

The price of WDW hotels has always been "out of control."

However, regardless of what the Mouse says, there are still MANY discounts available for almost the entire calendar year. I've been visiting regularly for about the past 12 years, and I've never paid rack rate, and have not gotten less than a 40% discount since then either.

Until the discounts stop completely, I'll have no complaints about the cost of WDW lodging, because at the discounts I've gotten, it's quite reasonable.

[Mitzie]

How timely..DH and I were just at AKL the end of Oct. and if I said it once I said it 20 times..Disney World is worth every penny. From the moment we pulled into Disney property on ME I had a smile on my face that I think was even there in the middle of the night!! The whole place just gives me the warm fuzzies.

[minnie04]

Well we certainly don’t go as much as we used too. I don’t mind paying the hotels price ( we have out grown the on property resorts, so now we book 2 or 3 bedroom resorts with kitchens that makes a big difference). It’s the ticket prices for the parks that kill me. We are a family of 5 and that can really break the bank if we want to go to more than one park during our visit, yes!! There are discount tickets, but when you multiply them by 5 it’s really a lot. Now when you look at a 7 day cruise with everything included it does make more sense, but IT’S NOT DISNEY!!! And that’s where we really like to go. So in a nut shell we make it work somehow some way ...

P.S. when we did stay on property (before my last son) we never paid full price...And we loved it, it was worth every penny!!

[disneydementia]

Mind you I usually stay at the economy resorts, have only done the four night cruise, but when it comes to anything Disney, my reply to the cost quote is "Thats not bad!"

[LVT]

The discounts do matter. We paid $95 at a motel 8 and the discounts for a Value have been at that level or less for the last 5 trips.

[MouseHouser]

"How timely..DH and I were just at AKL the end of Oct. and if I said it once I said it 20 times..Disney World is worth every penny. From the moment we pulled into Disney property on ME I had a smile on my face that I think was even there in the middle of the night!! The whole place just gives me the warm fuzzies."

Mitzie, we're so on the same page. How nice you have mixed twins. So does my DS, her only 2 kids. They are her "raison d'etre."

Thank you people for all the responses. Strange how some peeps (mostly on other sites) don't see it our way. Oh, the humanity!...I mean, ignorance! ;-) See you at Disney World!

[LauraByTheSea]

As a hotel revenue manager of 5 hotels in a Florida destination, 2 major brands, one of them a resort, I can with definite experience say yes, they are SO out of control. But, they can get it. That's kind of the way it's done, if you can get it, get it. And, although I still can't believe it, I paid it this past weekend! This is for the deluxe resorts, maybe not so much for the others... After my stay this weekend, I can say that you are paying for the Disney name for sure, to be able to say you stayed at the Poly or the Comtemporary, that you were "on the monorail", etc... The resorts were not $500 per night resorts for sure, but again, you're paying for the name... BTW, we really did have a great stay, and would probably do it again, but would wait until we could get a deal!

[Cinderelley]

I have to agree with DisneyRox. For the money, a cruise is a much better deal. But I am just as willing to pay to take the family to WDW as I am a cruise. They are just two different kinds of fun.

[NH Disneyfan]

I bought DVC a couple years back for this exact reason - hotel prices will rise and I want to keep going. My average per night stay at a 1BR villa is less than half of the prices quoted in this post - worth every penny. The various discounts we can currently get from DVC also help a great deal. If you go frequently, DVC may really be for you!

[lighteningqueen]

I don't get DVC you pay on the thing every month and then a maintenace fee or something. Like 2-500.00 per month and then you say you can stay at a deluxe for half of that. Well no not really you pay every month, times 12 months and say you don't go one year that's a ton of money.. This is what the salesman said to us. So how is that cheap until you pay the program off. Just don't get it. Or maybe I shouldn't. I think it's for the well off, or people who don't have to worry about daily living and can well afford it. That's great for them. But I am just as happy with POP and all the Disney Icons they have. It feels like Disney. Not Africa, or Hawaii or a Southern Manor. I am every bit as happy. We got one night in Jan at 65.00 didn't even ask then the next 7 nights for $82.00 a night so I am feeling good and its all paid for, just waiting for the DME tags and the flight on the way.. 59 days!!!! NOT even charged on a credit card. so happy about that..

[TheMartellFamily]

For our family we enjoy the value resorts. Paying under $100 to stay there on vacation is very affordable. With that being said we may visit other cities and need to stay in a hotel and pay more than $100 with no extras. We do not stay at more expensive resorts because the important part is we decided we just need a location to sleep. Everyone has their needs.

[faline]

I don't get DVC you pay on the thing every month and then a maintenace fee or something. Like 2-500.00 per month and then you say you can stay at a deluxe for half of that. Well no not really you pay every month, times 12 months and say you don't go one year that's a ton of money.. This is what the salesman said to us. So how is that cheap until you pay the program off.

Everyone who makes the decision to buy into the Disney Vacation Club does need to look at it critically to see if it, in fact, meets their needs. We made the decision to buy several years ago, but for the reasons you note, determined we would not finance our purchase. We started saving with this goal in mind and purchased our points in 2010. I don't consider us "well off" but, for us, as we look into the future, hope for retirement (and the reduced /fixed income that comes with that), it became a way for us to "pre-pay" for future vacations so, for us, it made sense.