Disney is considering adding a nightly resort fee to its resort hotels

By WDWMAGIC Staff · Wednesday March 9, 2016 7:54am EST · "Walt Disney World Resorts"

According to a recent Walt Disney World survey that has been sent out to previous guests, Disney is considering adding a nightly resort fee to its hotels.

The survey mentions a $15 per night resort fee that would include Disney's Magical Express, MagicBands, FastPass+, Resort entertainment, WiFi, Extra Magic Hours, and parking at the resort and parks.

All of these features are currently included with any Walt Disney World Resort hotel stay, but the survey proposes a $15 per night charge to cover these.

The survey goes on to ask how a resort fee would impact the decision to stay at the resort.

Resort Fees are common at other hotels, with the onsite Swan and Dolphin requiring a $25 per night fee, which includes WiFi, 2 bottles of water, long distance phone calls and access to the health club. The offsite Gaylord Palms requires a $20 resort fee, with includes internet and the health and fitness center.

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wogwogMar 09, 2016
↩ replying to Cmdr_Crimson
A lot of chains do not show it until your final bill unless you ask about it.
NelleBelleMar 09, 2016
This! Hence why your bill is higher when you check out :mad: It's generally buried in small print somewhere
Jon81ukMar 09, 2016
Would be interesting to see how it goes for international guests, even with the good ticket deals we get the hotels are expensive, in fact we were looking at staying off site at least part of the trip if there wasn't a free dining or similar offer.
Also would they charge us $15 on check in or add £10 when we pay the booking off upfront.
Either way adding an extra fee might seem like small change compared to the overall price, but it would be one push too far.
UpAllNightMar 09, 2016
Coming from the UK we have never weighed up Disney resorts as being worth it. We spend so little time in the hotel anyway so it really becomes an argument on location. Yes Disney resorts offer that great location, but £1000 per person (for a value-moderate) vs staying somewhere like Pointe Orlando which is also a good location, is a no brainier to us. That £1000 we 'save' can go towards our next trip. But we are more 'Orlando parks' visitors rather than people who base their time solely at Disney.

Cabana Bay is easily the most tempting on site resort to stay at from Disney/Universal....and it's cheaper than every single Disney hotel yet offering the space inside of a Disney moderate (according to reviews, I've yet to visit)
ford91exploderMar 09, 2016
↩ replying to Nubs70
Increase the resort fee Then charge for parking....
ford91exploderMar 09, 2016
↩ replying to deeevo
Paging @sshindel yet another so called survey which boots respondents who use social media. More collection of so called data to support a predetermined outcome
deeevoMar 09, 2016
I bet the other resorts on Buena Vista Dr. are loving this. They will gain a lot of business if this rolls out. Just yesterday I was looking at the Dolphin or Swan to stay over this weekend but once I did the math and added the $25 a night resort fee on top on the $225 a night I could stay and Coronado for $244 with my AP discount. Now if you were to add that $15 a night fee to my Coronado stay I would pick the Dolphin or Swan since I can walk to EPCOT and save a few $$.
MagicRatMar 09, 2016
DVC, we paid for platinum annual pass, my five year old talks about the place daily, but this for me would be the last straw. I have been going there at least once a year since 1990. Most years twice. They have done some good upgrades lately and are modernizing, however the company is blatantly going for cheap cash grabs.

I own and run a company and if I changed my principals for immediate money opportunities, 3 things would happen. 1, customers are smart enough to figure it out. 2, they would leave. 3, I would go out of business. Too bad Disney is banking on the new customer and is too large to ever figure out what it is doing. Or they just don't care. I however am finally starting to pay attention.
Prince-1Mar 09, 2016
↩ replying to DisneyPrincess5
For an extra fee they will provide kids for the length of your stay so that they can charge you the resort fee.
asianwayMar 09, 2016
↩ replying to TinkerBelle8878
You really need to hang around the Ohana-ey Facebook groups a little. They'll moan but clip more coupons and buy more gift cards at target. These people aren't normal
DisneyPrincess5Mar 09, 2016
↩ replying to gsam4ever
Bahamas oh good-just what I always hoped for :jawdrop:
asianwayMar 09, 2016
↩ replying to PhotoDave219
And using a $350 rate at the Polynesian. Can you even come close to that anymore?

Better than asking $750+15 I guess for them to skew it
sshindelMar 09, 2016
↩ replying to ford91exploder
It could also be that they can use social media to gather data about people who post there, and want to use the survey to gain views into those opinions that are not readily available. Or, the survey had already been received and completed by the preset number of people who answered yes, so the number of responses needed to ensure equal measurements Had already been met. Pretty simple, standard, and non-nefarious reasons to limit response demographics or specifically target demographics who cannot be reached elsewhere.
For example, at work, we have a whole lot of data about our customers. Tons. We have 0 visibility into those who decide not to buy with us. Looking for ways to gain understanding into those people is a large undertaking to try and reduce known bias from our data, rather than to introduce bias as you tend to believe is happening.
lostpro9hetMar 09, 2016
↩ replying to asianway
During "Value Season", but still not really close:
wdwmagicMar 09, 2016
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