"Hard" dining reservations/credit card charge coming?

[Praying Colonel]

Listening to the WDW Today podcast, they discussed a rumor about possible dining reservation changes.

Rumor is Disney's considering a change where they will give "hard" dining reservations, but will require a credit card number. The card will be charged $20 if there is a no-show.

This is allegedly due to Disney being unhappy with the large number of ADR's which are no shows.

Thoughts? I'd be thrilled with a hard ressie. Also, I think this might be a good way to cut down on ADR abuse and also open up more availability. But I wonder if they'd want to deal with the hassles that would come along with this (e.g. folks disputing the charge on their credit card bill).

 

[tmt martins]

I have no problem with them doing it. The TS places have no way of knowing what has or has not been canceled and No-Shows are even worse.

They end up turning people away when tables are empty because if they give them away then it's their fault.

They could also start cracking down on the mutli ressies for the same time. 180 is tough no doubt but a phone call is just very easy to do from phone even when waiting for a bus.

 

[MJMcBride]

I agree. No prob here with this, I always use my reservations.

 

[bicker]

Sounds good to me.

 

[BevS97]

They end up turning people away when tables are empty because if they give them away then it's their fault

I always thought the policy was that they wouldn't turn people away from an empty table, that the ADR just gave you the first available table and that empty tables were not kept for you.

 

[mitros]

Listening to the WDW Today podcast, they discussed a rumor about possible dining reservation changes.

Rumor is Disney's considering a change where they will give "hard" dining reservations, but will require a credit card number. The card will be charged $20 if there is a no-show.

This is allegedly due to Disney being unhappy with the large number of ADR's which are no shows.

Thoughts? I'd be thrilled with a hard ressie. Also, I think this might be a good way to cut down on ADR abuse and also open up more availability. But I wonder if they'd want to deal with the hassles that would come along with this (e.g. folks disputing the charge on their credit card bill).

Outstanding idea. In our 18 years visiting WDW, and our 15 years with the DVC, we have NEVER missed a reservation without calling. This should make some folks think twice about blowing off a dining reservation because they changed their mind and did not "feel like" contacting the reservation center. It's an easy thing to do: "hello,? please cancel my reservation for Chef Mickey's at 2PM on Friday" Thank You"!...........See, very simple

 

[Uncleromulus]

The credit card charge would be essential. If folks don't show up for ADR's, then they probably wouldn't show up for reservations either--unless there was a penalty attached.
I'd be for it.
But as noted--there will be hassles when folks dispute the credit charge for not showing up.

 

[magicmouse2]

Sounds great to me. I can see How there would be problems though ie folks not showing claiming it was due to Disney transportaion problems etc Why cant people decide on 1 restaurant per night and stick with it I dont think you should be allowed to book more than 1 dinner per day.

 

[bicker]

People can "claim" whatever they wish, and of course people do -- Disney does a great job addressing such claims, relying (perhaps a bit too much) on people's own shame about not taking responsibility for their own failure to plan ahead (leave early enough, etc.) I don't think that would stand in the way of a proposal like this, any more than it has stood in the way of the CC guarantee for Cinderella's and Hoop-De-Doo.

 

[jaysue]

We book and cancel ADR's all the time - provided that any deposit did not have restrictions associated - for example 24 hrs cancellation notice or something to that effect, and one could cancel and receive a full credit back we would be supportive of this.

We do often change plans during the day of the reservation based on what the kids want to do or if we have enough energy or based on where we are etc.

Cheers
jaysue

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

I don't see this happening because as I understand it the CC companies will side with the cardmember in this type of dispute...i.e. a charge when no service was rendered warranting the charge. Now Disney can contend that a service was rendered in the taking of the reservation but as they wouldn't be charging for a used reservation, only a reservation not used, it seems that this premise wouldn't hold water.

Perhaps Disney is huge enough to have enough clout with the CC companies to work it out.

 

[bicker]

How do you explain how CC guarantees work for CRT and HDD, then?

 

[Squidrific]

They could also start cracking down on the mutli ressies for the same time. 180 is tough no doubt but a phone call is just very easy to do from phone even when waiting for a bus.

Just FYI, they are cracking down on double reservations. I made double reservations for our January trip because of the dining plan (unsure which restaurants would be participating or not). I called last night after I read that the EPCOT restaurants were all back and the MS agent went through each of my days and made sure I only had one reservation.

I told him the reason why I made two to begin with and he said that he understood, but in the future, the system will pull all reservations in by last name and/or by phone number and there will be no more double bookings.

 

[YoHo]

Perhaps surprising to some, I have no problems with this given a few caveats.

1: I can charge to my room

2: Disney makes it easier to cancel and adjust reservations from inside the parks. Perhaps bring back the old reservation center in Epcot, but bring it to all parks.

3: there's some sort of window, not a hard time. Say a 30 minute window for the res.



Perhaps someone who remembers better can help me out, but I thought the reason they didn't have actual reservations in the first place was due to the sheer size of the place and the number of people. Technology has certainly caught up to the point where WDW can schedule the number of guests they need to and CC charge aside, it really is to the guest's benefit to have a reserved seat. It also makes planning easier.
I think you need to have a window around the res time though to accomidate unexpected delays. If this ends up turning into parade viewing where you line up for an hour ahead of time to get your seat, then it's just really dumb.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

How do you know they work bicker? Maybe it's just not a big issue and Disney is eating the fee when knowlwedgable guests fight the charge through the CC company. Or, has someone from Disney told you that (A) nobody has disputed these charges or (B) Disputes have been made and the customer denied.

In my experience CC Companies favored me as a customer in at least two disputes, one with a car rental co. and one with a hotel reservation (which was really just like this scenerio).

I'm not saying this idea doesn't make sense but I don't think Disney will set itself up for potential problems over this issue.

 

[bicker]

Credit card issuers do favor the customer. However, many customers don't abuse that advantage, thereby facilitating the efficacy of credit card guarantees.

 

[raidermatt]

How do you explain how CC guarantees work for CRT and HDD, then?

Based on Visa/MC rules, the cardholder will always win in this case. AMEX even moreso, as they will ususally eat a charge of this size rather than upset their cardholder.

They work as a deterrent to abuse. It lets the guest know that Disney does care about you not showing up. That is enough to make most people take it seriously, which is Disney's goal in the first place.

Many of those that would still abuse the system don't know they have the right to have their cc company charge this back. This futher cuts down abuse.

Its basically a hollow threat, but its effective at acheiving its goal. I'd be somewhat surprised if Disney even bothers to process these charges, and if they do, I'd be shocked if they didn't reverse them upon request. They know they don't have a leg to stand on, and further, there's not much point in further aggrevating a paying customer. They will have made their point.


With regard to doing this for all restaurants, my opinion is the same as it is for CRT... the cancellation window should be very close to the actual reservation. And from a practical pov, the charge should be waived for anyone who contacts them either before or after the ADR time. I realize it could never be posted this way, but that's how it should work in practice, especially in the parks.

Beyond that though, I don't think the idea of a "hard reservation", meaning they hold a table for you, makes sense. Standard practice is to hold the table for at least 5-10 minutes after the reservation time. That's time somebody else could be sitting down and eating/paying/being happy. I actually think the "first available" system works very well for Disney, especially in the parks. It allows them to maximize the flow through the restaurant, keep the highest number of guests happy, and allows for the inevitable delays associated with theme parks.

Perhaps it would be different in the resorts, but it might be better to remain consistent. I'm not sure the gain would be worth it.

But to be clear, the cc guarantee and the "hard reservation" are two different issues. The former probably isn't a big deal given the above, but the latter would be a significant change that I don't believe would bring enough benefit to outweigh the downside.

 

[tmt martins]

Disney has some of the best info grabbing computer systems I've seen .

So with that said you book and not show you eat the charge .You disput it with CC company you are black flaged and can't make ADR's anymore.It could be that simple.

Like I said there are phones all over that connect you right to Dining you can even call from another resturaunt to cancel.

 

[raidermatt]

...it really is to the guest's benefit to have a reserved seat. It also makes planning easier.

I really don't think its that big a deal, really. There's exceptions, but we rarely wait more than 5-10 minutes to be seated with an ADR, and that's not really any different than when we have a reservation at a high volume restaurant elsewhere (high volume is key there).

Again, I think the first available system serves them well. They would certainly take a hit on volume if they were holding empty tables. They could make up for that with a price increase, but then you have another negative to offset the one benefit.

If the problem is no-shows, as was stated, the cc is all that's needed to combat that, again, provided its implemented correctly. Making it a "hard reservation" doesn't address the no-show problem at all.

 

[jima53]

Not trying to nitpick but is the reservation the act of reserving a mealtime, or the actual being seated and eating the meal. Seems that they are just charging for the right to make the reservation and holding it, which would be their end of the deal. Once they do their end, you have used their services that they would be charging for. Not sure how the credit card company could side with you. Wouldn't this be a form of defrauding an innkeeper type of thing where you used the service but now want to dispute it.

Jim