Upgrade room when booked through owners rented dvc points

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Hello. If you book a studio at AKV through another dvc members points can you upgrade the room from a standard view to a savannah view on check in by paying a fee?

Tia

[Deb & Bill]

Originally Posted by Paula Sedley-Burke

Hello. If you book a studio at AKV through another dvc members points can you upgrade the room from a standard view to a savannah view on check in by paying a fee?

Tia

No, you get what you reserved. There are no upgrades on points. All you could do is reserve fewer nights on points to get the savanna view and pay cash for extra nights. But unless you've booked those cash nights through DVC, you may have to move when the cash nights start/end.

[aaarcher86]

Originally Posted by Paula Sedley-Burke

Hello. If you book a studio at AKV through another dvc members points can you upgrade the room from a standard view to a savannah view on check in by paying a fee?

Tia

I don't think so. Just from my very limited knowledge, they are two different types of reservations. Different reservation lines, different rules, etc.

Owners that don't have enough points to get the type of room they want have to get additional points in a variety of ways. I imagine what you're suggesting was an option they'd do that all of the time instead of banking/renting additional points.

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Ok thank you! Looks like the best option is to either have less nights as you suggest and pay cash for the rest or have no view and enjoy the viewing platforms for free!

[owl0306]

nope we asked when my mil gave us points and was disappointed we could not pay for a larger room

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

What a shame. I wonder has anyone ever been given a better room than they booked because it was full or cm was just feeling kind?

[Pakey]

Originally Posted by Paula Sedley-Burke

What a shame. I wonder has anyone ever been given a better room than they booked because it was full or cm was just feeling kind?

I have owned DVC for 15 years, going 2-3 weeks per year, and have never gotten a room upgrade at any DVC resort.

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Originally Posted by Pakey

I have owned DVC for 15 years, going 2-3 weeks per year, and have never gotten a room upgrade at any DVC resort.

No or us. We have been going for 5 years. I wonder if anybody ever has. Probably not if you havent.

[Lynne M]

Timeshares don't work the way hotels do.

Even members can't upgrade a room with cash, if the reservation was made with points. At DVC, as with most timeshares, upgrades only happen if the room you originally booked is not usable for some reason (maintenance problems, generally), and there's no other comparable room to put you into. They're very rare occurrences.

Just as an aside, there have been situations where a renter has asked for an upgrade at the desk, and somehow the additional points were taken out of the member's account and used for the upgrade. Needless to say, that should never happen, and is entirely the fault of the CM. But, it still leaves the member without points that they likely intended to use for their own family's vacation, and I'm sure they insisted that the renter pay the additional cost of the points they used.

In short, if you rent points, expect that you will be getting exactly the room type that you booked.

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Originally Posted by Lynne M

Timeshares don't work the way hotels do.

Even members can't upgrade a room with cash, if the reservation was made with points. At DVC, as with most timeshares, upgrades only happen if the room you originally booked is not usable for some reason (maintenance problems, generally), and there's no other comparable room to put you into. They're very rare occurrences.

Just as an aside, there have been situations where a renter has asked for an upgrade at the desk, and somehow the additional points were taken out of the member's account and used for the upgrade. Needless to say, that should never happen, and is entirely the fault of the CM. But, it still leaves the member without points that they likely intended to use for their own family's vacation, and I'm sure they insisted that the renter pay the additional cost of the points they used.

In short, if you rent points, expect that you will be getting exactly the room type that you booked.

Omg thats awful re it coming from the rentals allocation! I wont ask now just in case that happens I would feel awful. No problems will rent extra points next time for a savannah view :-)

Just be happy to go to AKV. Not tried it before very excited! We mainly go to our home resort SSR. We ran out of points so we decided as we are renting somebody elses why not try somewhere else!

[TXGRMAMA]

Originally Posted by Paula Sedley-Burke

What a shame. I wonder has anyone ever been given a better room than they booked because it was full or cm was just feeling kind?

It has always been policy that the DVC reservations could/should not be upgraded. But many guests over the years have made scenes, demands, etc, trying to get better reservations. Having never worked at an actual DVC resort, I don't know how that worked there. But working at a deluxe resort where guest sometimes use DVC points, I have seen a few times when managers gave in and gave a better room.

But when the completely new software reservation system was implemented two years ago, it became a moot point. A DVC reservation CANNOT be modified. The system will not all any change of room categories or dates. The only modifications must be made by the DVC office. So the DVC owner must call Member Services themselves to modify the room type or dates. And member services will require the extra points to pay for the modification.

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Originally Posted by TXGRMAMA

It has always been policy that the DVC reservations could/should not be upgraded. But many guests over the years have made scenes, demands, etc, trying to get better reservations. Having never worked at an actual DVC resort, I don't know how that worked there. But working at a deluxe resort where guest sometimes use DVC points, I have seen a few times when managers gave in and gave a better room.

But when the completely new software reservation system was implemented two years ago, it became a moot point. A DVC reservation CANNOT be modified. The system will not all any change of room categories or dates. The only modifications must be made by the DVC office. So the DVC owner must call Member Services themselves to modify the room type or dates. And member services will require the extra points to pay for the modification.

Thanks for that explanation. I guess the division of the two systems ( DVC and cash sales ) makes it difficult to upgrade/modify the reservation in any way. Plus I would imagine Disney want to operate a fair system in that you cant upgrade some people and not others. We all pay the same dues etc. the rooms are all nice anyway! In future I just need to make sure I book a view if I want a view at the time!

[stayhomemom77]

We rented points for AKL in 2010 and just booked and paid for a standard view room but we were actually given a room overlooking the pool. We never expected or asked for an upgrade but I'm pretty sure that's what we got.

[DebbieB]

Originally Posted by stayhomemom77

We rented points for AKL in 2010 and just booked and paid for a standard view room but we were actually given a room overlooking the pool. We never expected or asked for an upgrade but I'm pretty sure that's what we got.

With DVC, pool view is part of standard view. The DVC categories at AKV are value, standard, savannah and concierge.

[spiceycat]

Originally Posted by Paul a Sedley-Burke

What a shame. I wonder has anyone ever been given a better room than they booked because it was full or cm was just feeling kind?

never for those reasons.

the only time DVC upgrades if the room you were assigned is taking out for rehab and they don't have another one in your size or view - then you might be upgraded.

been a dvc member since 93 and been on this site since 98 (started on the old site) - and can only remember 5 probably less upgrades.

so they don't happen often.