Any Advantages to Checking in @ 60 Days?

[dansdad]

It is definitely not a new procedure if you know any inventory managers you will know how much they job varies given many factors such as high occupancy and blocking rooms for maintenance etc. My trip in October 15 i had a hard time making a reservation because there was nothing available but if I put day by day it show me a room available. When I called the CM was great but he had to have it approved by the inventory manager because everything was blocked out already that was well over 2 weeks before the trip. High occupancy assigning rooms only 4-5 days in advance will screw up your inventory big time.

I only mentioned it being a new procedure because I was just talking to my Cousin over Christmas who is a room assigner at Beach Club. I am always asking him questions as I like to be able to give accurate advice. As of his last day before him coming home for Christmas he said they start getting all the reservations released to them at 3 days out.

***ETA***

I had to call him to find out. He said that blocking out rooms for new reservations is common and does need inventory manager approval. And is separate from actually assigning rooms.

 

[AngiTN]

Thank you for clarifying that. I didn't get past that part of the online check in process because I didn't see a preference option for connecting rooms which is our priority. Being that connecting rooms is noted as a request on our reservation, should I skip doing online check in all together? My concern with doing online check in is getting pre-assigned rooms that aren't connecting.

Nope, won't impact it at all. I never skip doing online check in. It's like a milestone towards a trip, like getting MB in the mail. We request connecting rooms on our last trip, nothing else. Still did online check in. Got our request too

 

[bumbershoot]

Magic bands do allow you to bypass the front desk. Once your room is ready, you can get a text with the room number and head right there. So online check in does have that perk

But MBs don't let you absolutely bypass the front desk. We didn't get the room ready texts at all with two checkins last month (and I've actually never gotten one).

If you have not put your cc info. into MDE I can guarantee you will not by pass the front desk.

You can't NOT put in CC info now. You used to be able to skip it, but now you can't.

Yes, the connecting rooms request is noted on the reservation. I am wondering though if I should opt out of doing online check in so to ensure that request is granted as priority or if doing the online check in and selecting those room preferences will nullify the connecting rooms request made at the time of the reservation?

Online checkin is fine, but I wouldn't make any requests while doing it. Let the connecting room request you already made be the only request on there.

 

[Dug720]

As long as your request of connecting rooms is noted on your reservation there is zero reason to not do Online Check In.

Especially because a request is just a request. You could opt to not do online and STILL not get the request because there are only a limited number of connecting rooms.

 

[peabody58]

We've used on-line check in since it started and have been pleased with the overall results. As previously mentioned, it's a mental milestone in the pre-trip excitement. Not getting our requested room location has not been a problem, as the rooms we have gotten have all had their own unique characteristics.

 

[danikoski]

I have heard that sometimes the online check in requests will wipe out phone requests orove them in priority, so, as a PP mentioned, you might want to do online check-in without making any online requests.

Also, I ran into the issue of not being able to doonline check in without entering a credit card, which will be charged the balance of the room, from what I understand, the day of check in. This doesn't work for us this trip because mom and I are splitting the room, so we will just check in at the front desk. No big deal.

 

[AngiTN]

I have heard that sometimes the online check in requests will wipe out phone requests orove them in priority, so, as a PP mentioned, you might want to do online check-in without making any online requests.

I never make any requests that contradict each other. I use all the different methods to make the same requests. TP Fax, online check in and phone call, if it's needed for a request such as connecting rooms. If I can't make the same request, like with connecting rooms with a method then I do nothing. For our trip where we hoped for connecting rooms I called to include it and put it on our TP fax and it was our only request. So online check in had no requests added.