A little disappointed

[trishy]

Tim,
I hope you do write a letter explaining the situation. Hindsight is 20/20 - I'm sure you've already thought "I should've gone down and spoke to the manager directly." But, oh well, that time has come and gone. Now is the time to write your letter and courteously explain how that particular view should've been reclassified to a "standard" during the construction phase since the "view" that designates it "preferred" was blocked. Let them know how you would like the situation remedied (i.e. points difference put back into your account). Ask for them to reply back and thank them for their time and consideration. I hope you follow up here with their reply. Good luck.

 

[NHLFAN]

Originally posted by Connears
We were forced to reserve a preferred view (only option)at 7 months. We only asked for non-smoking and close to the elevator as room request. We got the next to the last room on that very LONG corridor, about as far from the elevator as possible. As if that wasn't enough we had NO preferred view(we overlooked another roof; no water or boadwalk view). When I returned to the desk they said they could do nothing and we very NON disney in their attitude.
Connears

I felt their attitude to please at the front desk of the BWV was also very non-Disney like...
Here take your room like it or not...it's the one that was reserved for you.

 

[Sue's Mum]

Would it work if MS were to make all rooms the same and even out the points between standard and preferred views? I actually prefer a standard view!

 

[lenshanem]

I don't think staring at construction boards qualifies as prefferred view. Surely they coudl have given you somthing better or refunded the difference in points from a stndard view. I guess Iit woduln't hurt to contact MS, but in all actually you probbaly shoudl have gone back to the desk as soon as you saw the room.
Believ me, I wodul ahve.

 

[Dean]

I'm sure DVC regrets the term Preferred view. To understand the situation, one must first know that when sales first started, all rooms were the same higher price (preferred view points). During early stays, some complained and DVD decided to reduce the points for the rooms with the "worst views". To DVC, the term preferred view simply means it's better than the standard view (in general), or more accurately, that the standard views are worse than the rest. While it might imply a premium or special view to those unaware of the history, this was never the intention. Somebody must get the room that is not the top view, even if it's a view of the smile on the workers rear end. While the resort should try to avoid these situations when possible, if the resort if nearly full, it will not be possible.

This is no different than any other situation we have discussed many times where the view or location was not what the member wanted. Somebody must get those rooms and if it's me or you, so be it. Even if one complains and gets them to move you, that means you're essentially taking a room from another person, assume the resort is near capacity for ANY of the few days you're there.

To truly understand, one needs to know more information about the timeshare industry in general. Terms like Ocean Front, Ocean View, Ocean Side, Mountain View, Garden View, Island View and the like are thrown around. In many cases, they are not accurate from a view standpoint and many times far from any accuracy. For example, some Ocean Front rooms at Marriott’s Grande Ocean resort give you a great view of the shrubbery and are far inferior to many of the Ocean View rooms. At many resorts Mountain View, Garden View, or Island View mean parking lot views or worse.

Maybe they should have called them standard and substandard views, which is more accurate to the original intent. This is simply an issue of expectations and the current wording gives some unreasonable expectations over what the resort can deliver. I say again that DVC should assign unit views and give preference to owners at that resort to the detriment of non owners there. What this would likely mean at DVC is for certain buildings or areas of each resort would have to be divided up into areas for Owners, other DVC members, cash renters (from CRO, DVC), and exchangers. This method would add little to what they do now above the initial organization and staff training involved and should have absolutely no impact on fees. What it would mean is that owners at that resort would get the best rooms, as it should be. And that those who wanted certain views, would have to buy at that resort, again as it should be. At BWV, this has been partially addressed by the BW view separate reservation but the issue applies to all resorts to one degree or another.

 

[PamOKW]

If you get a less than desireable view that is still within that category, I don't think you can lodge a real complaint. If you are given a room where the view or the condition of the room has been changed due a temporary condtion (like the construction) I do feel you are within reason to ask for some compensation. The time to pursue it as while you are still at the resort. However, I don't see any reason why you should contact Jackie Lueders and let her know not only dissatisfacation with the room but also with staff response when you raised the question with them.

 

[lenshanem]

Dean, I really don't understand why they split up the views at BWV. When they did this, didn't it set them up for more problems, thus the recent guaranetted boardwalk prefrred view?
The problems it must have caused is maybe the reason they never had standard or prefferred views at VWl or BCV? Let's face it, the dumpster view doesn't seem liek that grand of a view to me at VWL. And soem would say being right next to the service road at BCV isn't too grand either.
That si one advantage BWV owners have over all the other members. They can get that standard view at 11 months whiel otehrs can't and save points. As we can see, just because you get preferred view doesn't neccesarily mena you'll get a fantastic view.

I say again that DVC should assign unit views and give preference to owners at that resort to the detriment of non owners there.

Isn't thsi already true with the ability for BWV members to get stnadrd or boardwalk views ahead of others? members at other resorts don't get thsi benefit.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by lenshanem
Dean, I really don't understand why they split up the views at BWV. When they did this, didn't it set them up for more problems, thus the recent guaranetted boardwalk prefrred view?
The problems it must have caused is maybe the reason they never had standard or prefferred views at VWl or BCV? Let's face it, the dumpster view doesn't seem liek that grand of a view to me at VWL. And soem would say being right next to the service road at BCV isn't too grand either.
That si one advantage BWV owners have over all the other members. They can get that standard view at 11 months whiel otehrs can't and save points. As we can see, just because you get preferred view doesn't neccesarily mena you'll get a fantastic view.

Shan, I'm sure they agree with you in retrospect. I think they would have been better off leaving all the rooms the same number of points. I also don' expect we'll every see this type of option again. The problem it causes is just like in this thread, it created expectations that were unreasonable and not doeable from DVC's standpoint. Even if they expected to have different views with different points, they'd never do it just for a single or even a few rooms so the dumpster view issue would never come into discussion for a standard view room.

Originally posted by lenshanem
Isn't thsi already true with the ability for BWV members to get stnadrd or boardwalk views ahead of others? members at other resorts don't get thsi benefit.

To a minor degree only. My statement was more in general terms anyway. Still, using BWV as an example, there are many things they could do to improve the benefits of the owners THERE. You give the owners the best of EACH type of unit as reserved and then the rest you assign in a preformatted way maybe as I outlined above. Of course this would work at any resort but would have less of an impact at OKW, HH and maybe VWL. It would have the largest impact at VB, SSR, BWV and BCV right now. VB would truly be the best example. Say one reserves an Inn room, give owners at VB the top two floors and everyone else below that, again in a preplanned order.

While I know that there are others on the DIS that disagree, it is my strong belief that owners at a single resort should get advantages above and beyond the booking windows to the detriment of non owners even if they own at a sister resort.

 

[RobDoc]

With the exception of BWV , none of the other DVC Resorts offer a guaranteed selection of view. We, on this forum, have usually described what can be seen from the balcony of various areas/buildings/rooms of the DVC Resorts, but none of these can be guaranteed when making a reservation except for Standard View and Boardwalk view at BWV.

I have often described views at OKW as golf course, water and woods- but sometimes only a glimpse of one/some/all of those choices may be seen- other times all three can be seen from any specific room. At HH, the choices are Marsh, Pool and Island Views- but some rooms have a look at more than one of those options.

BCV has Epcot, Courtyard and pool views, but the parking area, road and Swan/Dolphin may also be seen from some of those rooms. VWL has only woods views, but the quiet pool/lake/dumpster may be seen from a few of the rooms.

DVC originally tried to honor room requests in the order received (with owners having the advantage at 11 months) and that method seemed to work well in most cases. That practice has apparently given way to a new system due to the volume of changes made at check-in, in response to vocal demonstration by guests (both owners and other guests).

I would certainly favor a system, such as Dean describes, that gives favor to owners at each resort (the current BWV policy seems to approach that system). I also realize that even that type of system would still not solve the issue of vocal complaint at check-in by some.