Disney World is known for its amazing hotel theming. There’s nothing quite staying in a transportive environment like Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge!
Animal Kingdom Lodge
But, while Disney owns many hotels, hotels are not the company’s primary business focus. And Disney often leaves it to other hotel companies to test out new trends before adopting them.
Here are three hotel trends we think Disney should jump on ASAP!
Online Tipping for Housekeepers and Bell Staff
Yes, we totally know the drill. We need to carry cash — small bills, preferably — to tip the bell staff and housekeepers. But knowing and doing? Well, they are two different things. We think about needing that cash in our pocket right when we need it for a tip, and whoops, we spent it at Gideon’s Bakehouse yesterday.
No need to tip the bell services cast members at the Tower of Terror!
Hotel properties including the Virgin Hotels chain are shifting to online tipping for hotel staff, using an app called TipYo. Disney, we would love to have this ability in the My Disney Experience App!
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Choose Your Own Room
You know how when you check in for a flight, you can often select or change your seats? The app gives you a map of the plane and shows you available seats, and you just tap which one you want.
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
Yeah, that’s possible with hotels now, too! Hilton Hotels allow you to browse a floor plan of the hotel and select your room when you check-in via their app, according to Hotel Tech Report. You can also decide to pay extra to upgrade your room to a more desirable location — just like paying more for those airplane exit rows!
11 Tricks To Get A Hotel Room Upgrade No Matter Where You’re Staying
Robot Room Service
As staffing shortages continue in the hospitality industry, many hotels are cutting out in-room dining (aka room service). Some hotels — including one at Universal Orlando Resort — have turned to robots as the delivery system for their in-room dining.
Relay the Robot delivers in-room dining orders and other extras requested by guests, according to AllEars.net.
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Disney is relying more and more on technology in serving guests through the My Disney Experience App, Genie+ and MagicBand+, and we’re sure more is on the way!
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What hotel innovations would you most like to see come to Disney World? Tell us in the comments!
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Back in the day you could request your room at the Disney hotels. No guarantees but you could request when you made the reservation. Had it work several times, got close several times and missed out as well. No extra charge so long as the room was in the same class
If Disney paid their staff a living wage, there wouldn’t have to be any tipping. On top of that, if they put it in anything official, then the people would get taxed on it, instead of just putting the tip in their pockets. Since the US charges the poor to make a living, every bit they can get “under the counter” is a bonus to them.