By Henry Magenheim and David Cogswell
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Disney Select tour operators are
offering different answers to questions about their policy of
including Disney World passes in Orlando packages that use
non-Disney hotels.
One operator told Travel Weekly that Disney relaxed a
requirement that operators with space at the on-site Disney
properties must include four-day passes with their other Orlando
products.
Another said there's been no change in the policy.
Disney declined to offer specifics, but said it did resolve
"some GDS problems" on behalf of "some operators," to make it
easier to strip the passes and still make an automated booking that
earns CRS overrides and segment credits.
As previously reported, contractual agreement between Disney and
its operators require the four-day pass to be included in all
off-site hotel packages.
Operators are required to include the tickets in their brochures
and ads, and can strip the passes only if it means preventing loss
of the sale. To strip the passes, operators required agents to make
a phone booking, thereby eliminating any benefit to using the CRS,
a procedure criticized by some agents.
Disney is believed to have made some adjustments in light of the
criticism, but the operators are telling different stories, and no
operator would speak on the record without a guarantee of
anonymity.
One said, "There is no change that I know of. They're not going
to lessen the restrictions."
Another operator said, "It's gotten a little less stringent --
insofar as we can strip the tours in the GDS now. For advertising
purposes we must still advertise with the ticket media
included."
Still another flatly stated that Disney backed off its
requirement that the operators include the passes in their packages
for the off-site hotels.
"If you didn't want the passes, you couldn't make the sale
through the CRS. They've gone back to their original way.
"For the operators it's a better deal. It gives you more
flexibility. Disney's not the only game in town anymore. A lot of
people are going to Orlando for a lot of other reasons."
One of the "other reasons" is the expanding Universal Orlando
resort area, encompassing a hotel, two theme parks and a dining and
entertainment area.
Universal is included in separate packages sold by some of the
same Disney Select operators.