Beware of Undercover Tourist

[edweg]

I have made my resort reservation via Undercover Tourist. Although the reservation shows up on My Disney Experience, I cannot make room requests on the site. I have been told that Undercover Tourist would need to make the request since they technically booked the room. I have reached out to Undercover Tourist at least five times to make the request. All of my contact requests have been ignored. Customer service is lacking and I am frustrated. I thought Undercover was a reputable site. Apparently I was wrong. I should have booked directly through Disney. Consumers beware of Undercover Tourist lack of customer Service.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Cancel it and book direct through Disney. An unresponsive TA is a danger to your trip since they own your reservation and have almost full control of it. I say almost because I do believe you can cancel it without UT's assistance.

 

[nostalgic4disney]

I had a similar experience with Small World agency. I could not get a response from the agent I was assigned. I canceled with them and booked directly with Disney. I had one agent with a different company that responded in a timely manner and did. Great job. So there are good agents out there

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I had a package booked with Undercover Tourist for my Easter trip and when I did the room check-in on the app there were a couple room request options. Not a ton of options though, although there haven't been a lot of in app options for quite some time now.

 

[fla4fun]

I have made my resort reservation via Undercover Tourist. Although the reservation shows up on My Disney Experience, I cannot make room requests on the site. I have been told that Undercover Tourist would need to make the request since they technically booked the room. I have reached out to Undercover Tourist at least five times to make the request. All of my contact requests have been ignored. Customer service is lacking and I am frustrated. I thought Undercover was a reputable sight. Apparently I was wrong. I should have booked directly through Disney. Consumers beware of Undercover Tourist lack of customer Service.

This is the way it works when you use any kind of travel agent. The agent owns the reservation until you check in and any changes have to go through them. This can be good or bad.

As you have found, little changes that you probably didn’t even think about have to go through the agency, and that wait time can be frustrating. Imagine a discount code is released and although the agency says they will monitor those for you, they are so busy on the phone with Disney that all you get is crickets. You may be watching the inventory slowly disappearing online without knowing whether you got it or not.

On the other side of the coin, when Covid hit and the closures at Disney were causing chaos, people who went through an agent had someone else sitting on the phone lines waiting to cancel or reschedule. They have the ability to focus on your trip so you can focus your attention elsewhere.

I have only used an agent a couple of times, when my mom was dealing with cancer and I needed to make her the priority. I was one of those people watching the discounted rooms disappear in real time, not knowing if I was getting that discount (I did). I found that I prefer to be in charge of my own reservation if at all possible, so I haven’t used an agent since. My experience was not with Undercover Tourist, so it is not just their agents who have some communication issues.

You have a couple of options. If the room rates are still similar, and you aren’t too close to your trip, you can book direct with Disney and cancel the UT reservation. If you are within the penalty period for cancelling, you can go to the front desk upon arrival (whether you did online check in or not) and discuss the room requests to get the room that best meets your needs from the available inventory. Room requests are just requests, not guarantees, so even if you change your booking to go direct with Disney you may not get the room you desire.

I hope you get a room you like and have a great trip!

 

[eandt]

I have made my resort reservation via Undercover Tourist. Although the reservation shows up on My Disney Experience, I cannot make room requests on the site. I have been told that Undercover Tourist would need to make the request since they technically booked the room. I have reached out to Undercover Tourist at least five times to make the request. All of my contact requests have been ignored. Customer service is lacking and I am frustrated. I thought Undercover was a reputable sight. Apparently I was wrong. I should have booked directly through Disney. Consumers beware of Undercover Tourist lack of customer Service.

Have used UT numerous times and they have always been super accommodating

 

[Dug720]

I'm surprised you weren't allowed to add a request - that's not changing anything. I've always been able to add a request onto my room in spite of using a TA with a different agency. I don't always get it because it's a request (the front desk CM has said "I can see your request on here" (and and they read it to me) and even check to see if there is anything close available - sometimes yes, sometimes no.

But I've never been told I can't add it myself. I wonder if that's part of Disney's deal with UT that literally everything has to go through them?

 

[DanceDisney23]

Customer service must have gone downhill then. I booked through UT right before Covid. They called me to confirm my ticket dates before processing because one of the tickets had an extra day. And then I made a room request via TouringPlans without problems.

Did you try calling Disney for the room requests? I find the online options too limited anyway.

 

[edweg]

Customer service must have gone downhill then. I booked through UT right before Covid. They called me to confirm my ticket dates before processing because one of the tickets had an extra day. And then I made a room request via TouringPlans without problems.

Did you try calling Disney for the room requests? I find the online options too limited anyway.

I did call Disney customer service and they are the ones who informed me that UT must make the request. I can't cancel and rebook the same room through Disney as the rooms are all booked. My only option is if I cancel and book a different resort through Disney. The trip is in July so there are not a lot of resort options at this time. I have learned my lesson and will book direct with Disney next time. The point of my post is to warn others about UT reliability in my situation.

It also makes me wonder if the better rooms are distributed to Disney direct customers over the rooms booked via a 3rd party.

 

[fla4fun]

It also makes me wonder if the better rooms are distributed to Disney direct customers over the rooms booked via a 3rd party.

That was not my experience at all. I received rooms in great locations, one of which had a huge oversized balcony (BCV). I make fairly generic room requests, and these rooms were equal to or better than the ones I booked direct.

I have always wondered if people who are staying for longer trips get the better rooms over people who are there for short trips. I always seemed to get great room assignments for my 1-2 week trips, but less desirable ones for the 1-2 night trips, even when booking direct. Not bad rooms (I have only had one bad room at Disney) but rooms in higher traffic, noisier locations or with a lesser view.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I'm surprised you weren't allowed to add a request - that's not changing anything. I've always been able to add a request onto my room in spite of using a TA with a different agency. I don't always get it because it's a request (the front desk CM has said "I can see your request on here" (and and they read it to me) and even check to see if there is anything close available - sometimes yes, sometimes no.

But I've never been told I can't add it myself. I wonder if that's part of Disney's deal with UT that literally everything has to go through them?

When I booked through Orbitz years ago I was not able to add a room request myself. Not sure why it varies.

 

[gottalovepluto]

It also makes me wonder if the better rooms are distributed to Disney direct customers over the rooms booked via a 3rd party.

No. Method of booking has no relation to room assignments.

 

[Dug720]

When I booked through Orbitz years ago I was not able to add a room request myself. Not sure why it varies.

It has to do with the contracts. I know with Celebrity Cruises they have a move-up program where you can bid on moving up to a better cabin - but if you book with Costco or another big box agency you cannot participate because of the contracts between them and Celebrity.

 

[_19disnA]

Once you book a Disney reservation using ANY travel agent, they own the reservation and you can no longer discuss it directly with Disney. That is how it works for everyone.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Did you use the chat option? I have never had an issue reaching someone from undercover tourist

 

[edweg]

Did you use the chat option? I have never had an issue reaching someone from undercover tourist

I just finished the chat option. I was able to speak with someone. 30 minutes later they claim that my request has been made and I will receive some kind of verification within 72 hours. This is the furthest I have been with the room request. Hopefully it will all pay off. Thank you all for the comments. They were very helpfull.