Ever upgraded on DVC points

[vicarrieous]

The really weird thing that makes me skeptical of the whole pixie dust thing, is that according to his later post, they also asked for and were given an upgrade at AKV as well. Sure, it COULD happen once...and according to reports, has happened on fairly rare occasions. However, for it to happen to the same people twice on the same trip? Yep....skeptical.

THIS!

Strange a family of 3 needed a 2BR instead of the studio. I could see a 1BR being nice but a 2BR???? I wonder if they didn't want the kiddo sleeping on a pull-out in the studio??

Agreed, but who doesn't look at a picture of where or what they are staying in before going? You obviously would see one bed and one pullout. You would think they would KNOW what they were renting prior to going.

 

[ice cube]

Update....as of right now no points have been taken from the account...I had no points left for 2016 and not going to be reloaded until March of 2017. It shows on my dashboard that my March 2017 points are still all in tact. As for maybe hitting their credit card for the upgrade after they check out that would be very dirty on the part of the front desk and back room management as they were told it was a free upgrade.....yes again two upgrades in one trip is killing me too..hard to believe....I need to take a ride to AKV and speak with management.

 

[bumbershoot]

With that said "Disney" still hasn't taken any points...so now I lay here more confused then before as the upgrade was done, their cc has not been charged as of now and if they are going to take points when will they do so....ugh..

I wouldn't *worry* about it; I don't think any of us mean to make you worried. But keep on eye on it, and be prepared to call DVC to let them know that it wasn't authorized if they take the points. I'm not sure when they would take the points. But you're already seeing changes in the reservation.

Like many of us have said, upgrades CAN happen. We were offered a Grand Villa at SSR instead of our 2 bedroom when our 2 bedroom was so full of mildew/mold I could barely breathe (and that stuff messes with me BIG time, it makes me delirious very quickly, so I made some bad decisions involving moving rooms). That would have been a free "upgrade". We didn't take it; we moved the following morning to another 2 bedroom (like I said, I made some bad decisions), but it was offered.

Just be aware, but don't *worry*.

 

[jpeden]

In doing a bit of research, the only thing I could dig up regarding the "R Room Only" designation on the reservation posted is that's apparently the designation given to cash room only reservations...which could mean a huge cc bill coming for your guests. Not saying that's what's going to happen, but it's possible.

Last year we rented points at AKL Kidani and I kept noticing that every day we came back, the room was cleaned - as in beds made, linens replaced, etc. I knew this wasn't right, but the first night I figured it might have just been a mistake by housekeeping, so I let it slide. When it happened the third night (in a five night stay), I went down to the front desk. There was a computer issue that wouldn't let them check us in and charge the points, so they had to flip our points reservation to a "cash reservation" in the system because they couldn't run the points at that time. They told us that because of that, we'd receive the housekeeping for free every day and that it wouldn't be charged to us or our "friends" who "gave" us their points to use. I wanted to make sure that our renter wouldn't be hit with something, and I wouldn't be hit with a huge final bill at checkout. Neither of those happened. So, there may be some precedent for them making changes to a reservation to show up as a cash reservation. I was still a little nervous until we actually checked out and made sure to report this to the rental agency just in case but nothing ever came of it. Now, obviously this is a different story but the front desk can "flip" a reservation from points to cash in the internal system.

 

[ellie05]

Last year we rented points at AKL Kidani and I kept noticing that every day we came back, the room was cleaned - as in beds made, linens replaced, etc. I knew this wasn't right, but the first night I figured it might have just been a mistake by housekeeping, so I let it slide. When it happened the third night (in a five night stay), I went down to the front desk. There was a computer issue that wouldn't let them check us in and charge the points, so they had to flip our points reservation to a "cash reservation" in the system because they couldn't run the points at that time. They told us that because of that, we'd receive the housekeeping for free every day and that it wouldn't be charged to us or our "friends" who "gave" us their points to use. I wanted to make sure that our renter wouldn't be hit with something, and I wouldn't be hit with a huge final bill at checkout. Neither of those happened. So, there may be some precedent for them making changes to a reservation to show up as a cash reservation. I was still a little nervous until we actually checked out and made sure to report this to the rental agency just in case but nothing ever came of it. Now, obviously this is a different story but the front desk can "flip" a reservation from points to cash in the internal system.

I am not sure if the system can or cannot.But the front desk could have easily copy the reservation and made a new "cash" reservation. Then let either a manager or accounting fix the issue. We can't really prove that unless someone in front desk can tell us. I worked at a resort with a similar setting (we had hotels/timeshare) and when the system acted up we did whatever we had to do to take care of the guest at the moment figure out later the accounting nightmare we have created. Thankfully we knew people in accounting aka my mom who saved us from our screw ups.

 

[jpeden]

I am not sure if the system can or cannot.But the front desk could have easily copy the reservation and made a new "cash" reservation. Then let either a manager or accounting fix the issue. We can't really prove that unless someone in front desk can tell us. I worked at a resort with a similar setting (we had hotels/timeshare) and when the system acted up we did whatever we had to do to take care of the guest at the moment figure out later the accounting nightmare we have created. Thankfully we knew people in accounting aka my mom who saved us from our screw ups.

In retrospect, they did say something about fixing it on the back-end so that could be what they did.

 

[ice cube]

Update: just so everyone understands they are a family of 4 not 3 as I mentioned their son's birthday in OP but that didn't mean they were just a family of 3....they were upgraded twice first a SSR studio to 2 bedroom lock-off and again AKV studio savanna to 1 bedroom savanna. They did a split 7 night stay and did ask if they could be upgraded at both resorts. We came home yesterday but they are not to check out until Friday. When they checked out of SSR after their first 2 nights nowhere on their "guest pay invoice" did it state a charge for a per night room charge. Its been 4 nights since they checked out of the SSR and no points have been taken from my account. I went to AKV Kidani front desk the other day to speak with management and was told the screen shows no charge for the upgrade. In this situation I don't trust anyone and told my friends to make sure just like when they checked out of the SSR to go to the front desk and physically check out. At that point they will know if their card was charged for the upgrade or not. As of right now all my March 2017 are still in tact...

 

[disneynutz]

I wouldn't worry about it, just keep an eye out should something happen that shouldn't. Upgrades are far a few for DVC but CM's do what they do. Worked out well for your friends.

Bill

 

[vicarrieous]

Update: just so everyone understands they are a family of 4 not 3 as I mentioned their son's birthday in OP but that didn't mean they were just a family of 3....they were upgraded twice first a SSR studio to 2 bedroom lock-off and again AKV studio savanna to 1 bedroom savanna. They did a split 7 night stay and did ask if they could be upgraded at both resorts. We came home yesterday but they are not to check out until Saturday. When they checked out of SSR after their first 2 nights nowhere on their "guest pay invoice" did it state a charge for a per night room charge. Its been 4 nights since they checked out of the SSR and no points have been taken from my account. I went to AKV Kidani front desk the other day to speak with management and was told the screen shows no charge for the upgrade. In this situation I don't trust anyone and told my friends to make sure just like when they checked out of the SSR to go to the front desk and physically check out. At that point they will know if their card was charged for the upgrade or not. As of right now all my March 2017 are still in tact...

Glad you weren't deducted points and extra bonus no charge for them. I hope it all works out.

 

[TaraPA]

I think your friends got a very rare pixie dust moment! It can happen twice in 1 trip using DVC points - it happened to me last year. I had a split DVC stay on my own points - Poly studio standard - was put in a theme park view studio (I considered this a free upgrade since I had book standard view) - then the VERY magical upgrade - had a WLV studio booked - checked into a 2BR villa! We were so busy running around being excited about it being a "1 BR" villa that it took about 20 min. for one of us to realize there was another door by the TV - leading to the 2nd BR! We hadn't asked for an upgrade, they were just magically granted. I'm assuming there was a shortage of rooms in the categories I booked or mechanical issues that day - whatever it was, we were beyond thrilled as we had never received an upgrade when on DVC points in the past. Pixie dust is real!

 

[Jennasis]

This reminds me of when my sister and her friends rented a ton of points to do a Christmas week stay at SSR from my uncle. I warned them that studios were smallish, and tried to get them to rent the Treehouse instead, but they insisted on having 3 separate rooms. When they got there they were disappointed in room size and mentioned asking for an upgrade, but luckily they didn't try after I explained how DVC works.

Glad (and happily shocked) that it was a pixie dust moment for your friends!

 

[Ndusmama]

Update: just so everyone understands they are a family of 4 not 3 as I mentioned their son's birthday in OP but that didn't mean they were just a family of 3....they were upgraded twice first a SSR studio to 2 bedroom lock-off and again AKV studio savanna to 1 bedroom savanna. They did a split 7 night stay and did ask if they could be upgraded at both resorts. We came home yesterday but they are not to check out until Saturday. When they checked out of SSR after their first 2 nights nowhere on their "guest pay invoice" did it state a charge for a per night room charge. Its been 4 nights since they checked out of the SSR and no points have been taken from my account. I went to AKV Kidani front desk the other day to speak with management and was told the screen shows no charge for the upgrade. In this situation I don't trust anyone and told my friends to make sure just like when they checked out of the SSR to go to the front desk and physically check out. At that point they will know if their card was charged for the upgrade or not. As of right now all my March 2017 are still in tact...

This whole thing must have been really frustrating for you. It would have been for me. I hope you at least had a chance to enjoy your vacation otherwise.

 

[ice cube]

FINAL UPDATE: well our friends came home on Sept. 2 and over that weekend they did come by the house to first thank us for everything. They did apologize for any inconvenience and proceeded to show us both room charge receipts when they checked out of the SSR and AKV. NO where at any point were they charged for the upgraded rooms at either resort. As of this note no points have left the account so I can truly state they were upgraded twice at two different resorts within a 7 night stay for "FREE". Unbelievable I'm still in awe as I never ever heard of this exact scenario. My only conclusion is that being the last week in August when Disney is somewhat quiet having a split stay at 2 resorts that are probably also on the quiet side and it being their 1st time and celebrating their son' 6th birthday Disney's cm's decided to spread enormous amounts of pixie dust..
btw: Having such a great time they are looking forward to go again next year. So we can say the cm's did their job correctly as they did spend a fortune on everything else and they want to come back next year too. They also understand they need to rent at least a 1 bedroom...

 

[addiln]

we were upgraded from a studio to 1 bedroom on our last trip to BWV. It was the first time I have been upgraded since I became a DVC member. it was a nice surprise but was way more room then the 2 of needed to have.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Never happened to me in 14 years of ownership, so it shouldn't be expected.

I'd also be somewhat skeptical of someone being upgraded on two different DVC reservations at separate resorts, on the same trip, just for the asking. It just doesn't happen that often. It's a whole lot of pixie dust this family got...and it might happen more often at resorts that have rooms blocked off for renovation which is pretty widespread right now.