Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
Often after a stay at a Walt Disney World resort hotel, guests are sent a survey about their experience. Sometimes these surveys may include clues as to where Disney is considering going in the future. That’s why one recent question has many guests wondering if a major change is coming to Disney hotel pricing: a resort fee.
Here’s the question:
Mandatory daily resort fees are very common at hotels covering things like WiFi and health club access. In fact, the Swan and Dolphin Hotels, which are on Disney property but not run by Disney, both have a hefty daily resort fee of $25 that covers WiFi, domestic phone calls, the health club and two bottles of water.
Disney World hotels have always come at a premium price, with the trade-off being that didn’t then nickel and dime you — Internet access, health club access, and even self-parking have always been included. So, on the one hand, a move like this might be considered a change to that approach.
On the other hand, Disney does have competition. When comparing prices of hotels on a site like Expedia, is it fair that the price shown for Disney is all-inclusive while the price shown for other hotels excludes a mandatory daily resort fee? It may seem strange to some guests that a fee charged daily (and that was mandatory) wasn’t considered to be a part of the room rate, but it’s not and it gives other hotels the appearance of an even lower rate compared to Disney.
At this point, this is just a survey question. Who knows if it will come to be? What’s your opinion of this potential change?