CBR $75 Gift Card deal ending

[JacknSally]

I called my agent today and she got this message...

In an effort to continually improve the Guest experience, we often refresh our offerings and atmosphere. We recently announced exciting changes that will be made at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World® Resort beginning May 1, 2017-June 30, 2018.

Please note Guests who booked reservations at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort prior to March 19, 2017, for arrival May 1, 2017-June 30, 2018, will receive a $75 Disney Gift Card, per night/per room. The gift card will be delivered upon check-in and may be used at participating Walt Disney World Resort Food & Beverage and Merchandise locations. This offer will not be available for reservations booked March 20, 2017 or after.

As a reminder, Old Port Royale Food Court, Shutters at Old Port Royale, Banana Cabana Pool Bar and Calypso Trading Post will be closed for refurbishment May 1, 2017-June 30, 2018. A variety of dining options available to your Clients for meals. Please note the following updates:

• An all-you-care-to-eat buffet offering will be available for breakfast and dinner.
• A selection of grab-and-go meals will be available for purchase in three new island markets located in the Aruba, Jamaica and Martinique regions of the resort.
• Additional a la carte offerings will be available at mobile food vending locations.
• In-room dining will remain available, including pizza, sandwiches and pasta.
• The feature pool—Fuentes del Morro Pool—and leisure pools will remain available.
• Recreation activities and entertainment will also be available.

This is also going around several FB groups, confirmed by TA's that they all received this but Disney has not made this information publicly available yet.

I'm curious about the wording of this message. "Booked prior to March 19, 2017, for arrival May 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018..."

We are booked at CBR for April 28 through May 4, 2017, and I admit the deciding factor in booking was the gift cards. We were originally booked at Riverside with the Bounce Back discount. We changed to CBR, and then received an email from Disney a couple of days ago that said we would be getting a gift card for every night out of our stay, and included our specific arrival date and reservation number. It made no mention of May 1, other than to say construction would be going on at the property starting in May of 2017. The way it was worded sounded as though we would be getting a gift card that covered all 6 nights.

The wording of the quoted message that went out to TA's makes it sound like you only get a gift card if you check in on or after May 1. While I would understand getting the credit only for the May 1 - 4 portion of our stay, this wording makes me wonder if they will try to tell us we don't get any gift card at all because we aren't physically checking in on or after May 1. Hopefully I'm just reading way too much into that.

 

[WEDWDW]

But if they're hitting a certain target on capacity already, it's like any other discount: You cut off inventory eligible.

BUT this isn't like "any other "discount"".

Disney felt like the inconvenience to a Guest for staying at a Resort without its Food Court,Full Service restaurant,Merchandise Shop,Pool Bar,etc. merited compensation in the form of a GC.

ALL Guest will experience this "reduction" in the normal Guest Experience at this Resort that Disney has deemed "worthy" of compensation and therefore said "compensation" should be available to ALL Guests who experience this "reduced" normal Guest Experience.

"Compensation" is in no way comparable to a normal "Discount".

There is no way for Disney to "rationalize" compensating some but not all.JMHO

 

[KrazeeK120]

Is it actually considered a new reservation when you add free dining or just a modification to an existing one?

It's considered a new reservation, I'm pretty sure.

 

[Tom P.]

We already had a stay at pop booked In July but we needed to get there a day sooner. I was trying to decide between just stay the extra dat at pop or the first night at cbr. My guess and its just guess is they want to get rid of this offer before free dining so people have to chose to keep thier old reservation or make a new once with free dining. Above else suspect that?

I agree, and it's probably not just limited to free dining. Disney is pretty certainly getting ready to release their Fall room discounts as well. I'm sure they are viewing the gift card offer just like any other discount, and don't want people stacking them.

BUT this isn't like "any other "discount"".

Disney felt like the inconvenience to a Guest for staying at a Resort without its Food Court,Full Service restaurant,Merchandise Shop,Pool Bar,etc. merited compensation in the form of a GC.

ALL Guest will experience this "reduction" in the normal Guest Experience at this Resort that Disney has deemed "worthy" of compensation and therefore said "compensation" should be available to ALL Guests who experience this "reduced" normal Guest Experience.

"Compensation" is in no way comparable to a normal "Discount".

There is no way for Disney to "rationalize" compensating some but not all.JMHO

I agree with this entirely. The gift card isn't a discount. It's an extra perk for agreeing to stay there during all the inconveniences. Sure, they're likely going to release free dining and/or room discounts soon. But you could get those same deals at most other resorts and not have to deal with the inconvenience of all the things that aren't available. To offer the gift card to some guests and not others during the exact same time period feels, at the very least, like very bad PR on Disney's part.

 

[wdw4rfam]

Maybe they are cutting off the gift card deal because free dining is coming and they are going to try and push CBR I'm sure they aren't going to offer $75 gift card in addition to free dining. Or maybe they will keep other moderates inventory for free dining low so it will fill CBR. Just some ideas I thought of......

 

[TravelandLeisure]

I guess I just don't see how Disney could reasonably think that guests won't just switch resorts if they have to choose between the gift cards and free dining. Why would anyone deal with the inconvenience of CBR if they aren't getting anything extra for staying there over somewhere else? If they won't allow people to keep their gift cards along with whatever the current offer is, I suspect guests will flee in droves for greener pastures.

 

[Susan Doeberl]

It says June 2018, which you can't even book yet, so anybody already booked right now should get the gift card deal.

Yes you can book for next year. You can't do it on line you have to call them. I just call last week to ask about next March and and that is what they told me.

 

[agassizsmile]

Id rather have free dining than gift cards id save more money.If CB doesn't offer free dining im definitely switching resorts.Problem will be availability at resort im switching to.Which resorts typically offer free dining?

 

[agassizsmile]

Following

 

[Nutbean]

We are booked for 14 nights at CBR this September. If they don't offer free dining along with the gift cards, we will switch resorts without a doubt. There is no way we would choose a $75/night gift card and major resort construction over free dining and no construction.

 

[westie55]

This is also going around several FB groups, confirmed by TA's that they all received this but Disney has not made this information publicly available yet.

I'm curious about the wording of this message. "Booked prior to March 19, 2017, for arrival May 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018..."

We are booked at CBR for April 28 through May 4, 2017, and I admit the deciding factor in booking was the gift cards. We were originally booked at Riverside with the Bounce Back discount. We changed to CBR, and then received an email from Disney a couple of days ago that said we would be getting a gift card for every night out of our stay, and included our specific arrival date and reservation number. It made no mention of May 1, other than to say construction would be going on at the property starting in May of 2017. The way it was worded sounded as though we would be getting a gift card that covered all 6 nights.

The wording of the quoted message that went out to TA's makes it sound like you only get a gift card if you check in on or after May 1. While I would understand getting the credit only for the May 1 - 4 portion of our stay, this wording makes me wonder if they will try to tell us we don't get any gift card at all because we aren't physically checking in on or after May 1. Hopefully I'm just reading way too much into that.

We are also booked beginning April 28 and received what sounds like the same email. No mention whatsoever of May 1, which is actually our checkout date. The email clearly states we will be receiving a gift card for EACH night of our stay and that we needn't call to arrange for this; our gift cards will be waiting for us at arrival.

 

[lor]

We booked a week ago and I was told that the gift cards were to be given until June of 2018, guess they changed their minds on that. My guess is that they are coming out with new discounts, free dining and/or room discounts and they don't want people being able to stack discounts. We booked room only though for the $75 gift card discount so we could get the park passes for Canadians which were a 35% discount so still works out pretty good for us hopefully.

 

[focusondisney]

It is not mutually exclusive, right?
You can book today, for the rest of the year (or beyond). Get gift card.
You can book tomorrow for the rest of the year, don't get gift card.
It is possible, but is it true? Who knows??
Is it a good move? I don't think so, because either your vacation is severely impacted, or not - that has more to do with the dates of travel, not the date of booking.
If it IS true though it tells me they don't want to stack the gift card AND free dining, which will be released soon.
However, many people already stacked it on a bounce back free dining - so that's not fair either, is it?

The difference between your 2 free dining examples is that if you booked with a free dining bounceback last year, you booked expecting to stay at a resort with established dining options. Months later you find out you will be staying in a fully involved construction zone with limited food options that very well may be less than what is available at value resorts. If you book next week, or whenever free dining is announced, you know what you're getting when you book. If you make an educated decision to stay there, maybe you won't get extra compensation.

 

[focusondisney]

Yes you can book for next year. You can't do it on line you have to call them. I just call last week to ask about next March and and that is what they told me.

I don't know if you can book til June 2018 yet in the US, but I know posters from the U.K. have mentioned booking over a year in advance. Not sure exactly how far out they can book, but it wouldn't surprise me if they can already book June '18.

 

[agassizsmile]

My TA told me Disney will not release any dining promo prior to a room discount. SO doesn't that mean the 75$ gift card was basically our room discount and perhaps the dining promo will be announced after the 20th

 

[_auroraborealis_]

BUT this isn't like "any other "discount"".

Disney felt like the inconvenience to a Guest for staying at a Resort without its Food Court,Full Service restaurant,Merchandise Shop,Pool Bar,etc. merited compensation in the form of a GC.

From a P&L perspective, this is just like any other discount. As a guest, you may see it as functionally different... but from an accounting standpoint, not so much the case.

 

[focusondisney]

My TA told me Disney will not release any dining promo prior to a room discount. SO doesn't that mean the 75$ gift card was basically our room discount and perhaps the dining promo will be announced after the 20th

Disney has released free dining before room discounts before. They have also released them simultaneously for the last several years. Any body's guess what they'll do this year.

 

[Moramoon]

I don't know if you can book til June 2018 yet in the US, but I know posters from the U.K. have mentioned booking over a year in advance. Not sure exactly how far out they can book, but it wouldn't surprise me if they can already book June '18.

It's 499 days in advance if i remember right. You have to do it by phone. They can only book as room only with the current rate and will update once the new rates are available. We were planning a trip for may 2018 so I'll be calling in the morning to book.

 

[tee11]

The difference between your 2 free dining examples is that if you booked with a free dining bounceback last year, you booked expecting to stay at a resort with established dining options. Months later you find out you will be staying in a fully involved construction zone with limited food options that very well may be less than what is available at value resorts. If you book next week, or whenever free dining is announced, you know what you're getting when you book. If you make an educated decision to stay there, maybe you won't get extra compensation.

I understand what you are saying. It's true, many people (including us) were booked before the construction was announced, and I was shocked when I heard about it. I think that definitely called for some kind of showing of good will from Disney (they surely knew earlier of these construction plans!) - whether in form of a gift card or the offer to switch resorts at no extra cost (and they did offer that, although the approach was chaotic, to say the least!)
For the last weeks however, you COULD book knowing full well you'd book into a construction zone AND get a gift card. Apparently in a few days, that will change.
What I meant was, that this must have to do with the Free Dining release date - it's coming soon, and they don't want to stack all these discounts.

 

[robinb]

I think that CBR will be offered at a discounted price compared to other moderates once the gift card deal is done. The disruption is too great to expect guests to muddle through while paying regular prices.