Anyone else being forced to change a booking at the Grand Floridian this January?

They also stated two years ago they purchased the VGF contract specifically with this trip in mind.

Perhaps they joined doing research and didn't post until this happened or didnt happen?
Excellent sleuthing! Let's all open up a detective agency specializing in DVC related crimes and mysteries.

We can call it "And then there were none...points left that is"
 
I had a 2 br booked at GFV last year. On the day of my arrival, while we were still driving, Disney called and asked if we would be willing to stay at a 2 br suite with concierge service included. They said the main difference would be that we would not have a kitchen. We accepted and were wowed with the suite, and really appreciated the lounge access. There were 7 of us so it saved a lot of money on food. I never asked why our original room was not available.
I hope you receive a better solution than what they have offered so far. The grand villas are amazing and I would not want to miss out on them.
This happened to us last January; book 5 nights in a 2bd standard view, and while we waiting to check in, received a call saying the room was not available. The offered to move us to a cabin at CCV, and we were also comped 2 nights for a future stay (used those nights at CCV for Dec 30 & 31 this past December) and got a $300 resort credit.
 
I read through this thread (popcorn in hand). Since OP hasn't returned, I re-read the inital post. I have an issue with some of the details. first: I have a hard time believing that DVC couldn't give a reason for the unavailable room (they know if it's "out of service" or being used by a VIP), Second, they would know when another GV would be available and maybe move dates. Third, when we had an issue with our GV at OKW (leaking ceiling) we were offered several different options, but they did see that another GV would be available the next day. We stuck it out in our inital GV for the night. We were generously refunded points and were happy with the outcome. But in this instance, I find it hard to believe that another option wasn't good. (I get that it's a dream for a family of 13 - only 12 in a GV!!)
 
This happened to us last January; book 5 nights in a 2bd standard view, and while we waiting to check in, received a call saying the room was not available. The offered to move us to a cabin at CCV, and we were also comped 2 nights for a future stay (used those nights at CCV for Dec 30 & 31 this past December) and got a $300 resort credit.
Woah! That's a pretty sweet trade up.
 
we were also comped 2 nights for a future stay (used those nights at CCV for Dec 30 & 31 this past December)
I think this their new preferred make-good, instead of returning points. They give a voucher for X nights at the equivalent room category in the future, but booked from the cash side.

We had a check-out related issue in 2018 where resort management volunteered to return points used for the last night. It ended up being kind of a hassle because our stay ended 3 days before a new UY, and most of the trip was using borrowed points, so there was some consternation on my side about resort management's return of points (and I think I had to call Member Services to fix something).

In 2021 we had a different resort issue. The resort's initial make-good offer was well-meaning and was valued more than we were expecting, but due to some unique circumstances was utterly valueless to us. We highlighted this, explained why it was a uniquely bad offer to us, and suggested one night of points instead. The resort manager indicated they no longer do this, but then instead offered a voucher for 2 nights at any Studio, any nights, no expiration (booked from cash inventory). This was way more compensation than we expected for the issue and happily took it.*

Anyway, all this to say that a resort manager indicated they no longer return points and having experienced it, I see why. The voucher system frees them of all the points management conundrums, where returned points might not actually be usable and could also create Member Services calls to try to move the 'free points' around.

Looking at a lot of my upcoming stays, a return of points would definitely be a hassle for making sure those returned points don't end up lost.

* This voucher was used on a stay that would have been impossible to book at 7m and informed us that we needed to stay at a certain resort on specific dates every year, and resulted in us purchasing a new (resale) contract...
 
Thanks for all the entertaining posts. You take some time off of DiS, and you forget how entertaining it is. I don’t know if the OP is real or fake, but reading this was better than Netflix!
Now that those smarter than I have pointed out OP had an established but quiet account I’m torn. Ugg! If it’s real I hope they get some serious compensation/settlement.
 
This was a good read. Op hopefully it works out for them and they get to enjoy their family trip still. Would hope it’s not a troll but it’s nice seeing others report similar experiences and compensation was given.
 
Day-of check-in (we were moving from a great stay in a GV @ BWV to a Poly Bungalow) we got a call that our Bungalow needed to be taken out for maintenance, and we'd be moved to a concierge suite at the GF. My parents don't really like the GF (they think it's too snooty, to each their own!) so they asked for more and were able to get a separate room for my brother/SIL and a comped breakfast at Ohana. They gave us a tour of another Bungalow for funsies after breakfast (which...why couldn't we stay in that one?!) but it all worked out ok.
 
This happened to us last January; book 5 nights in a 2bd standard view, and while we waiting to check in, received a call saying the room was not available. The offered to move us to a cabin at CCV, and we were also comped 2 nights for a future stay (used those nights at CCV for Dec 30 & 31 this past December) and got a $300 resort credit.
This is generally how things work at DVC. Last time there was an issue for me, I was comped up to a theme park view at BLT--same size room. It was lovely. So I'm super confused as to the limited options for the OP and how the OP hasn't updated.
 
This is generally how things work at DVC. Last time there was an issue for me, I was comped up to a theme park view at BLT--same size room. It was lovely. So I'm super confused as to the limited options for the OP and how the OP hasn't updated.

There have been a few stories lately where that has unfortunately not been how things work. IIRC, a few months ago someone was displaced at a Boardwalk 2BR and received two YC resort rooms with no kitchen, no points return, and $100 a day. I may not be exact on the amount, but it didn’t nearly qualify as a satisfactory comp.
 
There have been a few stories lately where that has unfortunately not been how things work. IIRC, a few months ago someone was displaced at a Boardwalk 2BR and received two YC resort rooms with no kitchen, no points return, and $100 a day. I may not be exact on the amount, but it didn’t nearly qualify as a satisfactory comp.
I think this just happened to be a stubborn and inexperienced manager. The stay in question was December 2023 during the BWV refurbs.

Management insisted that a regular room at YC was equal to their BWV 1BR because…

The Disney Exchange Collection said so. Lol.

Hopefully by now all has been settled.

If not, or if any other owner gets caught in this situation, I’d start with the Exchange document itself:

View attachment 822674
The paragraph at red arrow begins with, “One Reservation Point is equivalent to one Vacation Point. Reservation Points have no other relationship with, or comparison to, Vacation Points and are established for convenience of reference only.

While in certain circumstances we can be bumped from our DVC reservation, DVC cannot claim a similar use of points in the Disney Collection Exchange is a lateral move.
 
^Unfortunately that person did not get a good resolution :(

Regular hotel room. They gave me a $100 credit each day. Which only showed up as $50 initially, had to call member services and get them to fix it. There were no notes in my reservation to even get the $100. Had to wait 3 hours for a call back to confirm it. Spent twice as much on food because we had to eat out all meals.

The were moved from a 1BR at BWV over to YC regular room with a $100/day credit, that only came through as $50/day credit initially. They were able to that part get straightened out but never really got proper compensation to begin with.
 
I think botched refurb timelines, like the BWV problems above, have different make-good constraints compared to one-off issues.

The BWV refurb issue (and other botched timelines for refurbs) impact more reservations and that has knock-on effects:
  • Gotta re-room more reservations (duh)
    • Both more rooms per night, and, in BWV's case, for many more nights
  • Gotta do it equitably and give everyone equal treatment. What's worse?
    • You get re-roomed from a BWV 1BR to a YC hotel room, same as others
    • You get re-roomed from a BWV 1BR to a YC hotel room while other BWV 1BR guests get moved to a BCV 1BR
Combined, it means you need a higher volume of the exact same make-good available, and that really limited their options. Plus there was probably some refurb PM somewhere already feeling heat over the timeline and didn't want to bork the budget too.

For the most part, isolated incident make-good tends to be very good from Disney.
 
I think botched refurb timelines, like the BWV problems above, have different make-good constraints compared to one-off issues.

The BWV refurb issue (and other botched timelines for refurbs) impact more reservations and that has knock-on effects:
  • Gotta re-room more reservations (duh)
    • Both more rooms per night, and, in BWV's case, for many more nights
  • Gotta do it equitably and give everyone equal treatment. What's worse?
    • You get re-roomed from a BWV 1BR to a YC hotel room, same as others
    • You get re-roomed from a BWV 1BR to a YC hotel room while other BWV 1BR guests get moved to a BCV 1BR
Combined, it means you need a higher volume of the exact same make-good available, and that really limited their options. Plus there was probably some refurb PM somewhere already feeling heat over the timeline and didn't want to bork the budget too.

For the most part, isolated incident make-good tends to be very good from Disney.

That was a very rare example so luckily I doubt any of us will need to deal with it going down like that. It would not have jived with me though. I understand that occupancy was exceptionally high, leaving little room for moving, and that our contracts say under certain circumstances our rooms may not be available.

Last trip we were a party of 4. We did not want to stay in one room together so deliberately decided to pay double the points and double the cost: either 2 studios or a 1BR.

If for some reason our room was not available, I would expect adequate compensation. If they couldn’t muster that and pushed the idea that I then must accept outright cancellation to get my points back, I’d want to be shown all the reasoning of how it was my specific unit that ended up on the chopping block… the methodology following our DVC contracts.

To accept a YC room is really no different than accepting a BC studio, and a BC studio is very similar to BW studio. But this guest had booked a 1BR, twice the points from a BW or BW studio (which the YC room is comparable). Sure, if BC studio or YC studio is all that is available, AT LEAST give me back half my points. That is ridiculous. Shoot, Pop Century ‘Disney Exchange Collection’ point chart shows 26pts/nt single room that time of year, but that does not make it OK to move a Deluxe 1BR at the same point cost over there. The reasoning MS used to moving over to YC was invoking the Exchange Collection point charts, where right on those same charts says:

Reservation points have no other relationship with, or comparison to, vacation points and are established for convenience of reference only.

Outright these charts say NOT equivalent to vacation points, aka normal DVC points.

It was a weak justification on their part, and doesn’t surprise me to have never heard of such a thing elsewhere, ever, where DVC is concerned. What they’d have a better angle with is pushing the outright cancellation but they also better be ready to prove the proper system was used, and not just thrown at whoever happened to pick up their phonecalls that day. Also ready to defend management decisions around whatever caused such a ruckus that so many parties needed to be moved unscheduled simultaneously that the only alternatives end up being downgrades without proper compensation or be cancelled. Makes no sense.

Maybe I’m the unreasonable one but I would not take what happened BWV1BR/YC family lying down. They said they reached out to DVC before, during and after. Did not get a response over those weeks. Shortly after they rented out BW points here and haven’t been back since. We’re left to guess what happened but I wouldn’t blame them if they decided to move on after an experience like that.

Why couldn’t DVC give them back the difference between a studio and 1BR? That seems fair, not saying ‘well the Exchange Collection point charts say that is equivalent.’ That was bunk.
 
I had a situation last January where I was doing a split day. First 3 days I was at VGF solo and then my husband and grown son flew down to meet me for 5 days at BWV. Been DVC members @ BWV for more than 20 years.

We’ve almost always stayed in a 2 BR unit with a Boardwalk view at BWV. It used to be fairly easy to get this booking 8 to 11 months out, but it’s now one of the hardest DVC rooms to get at 11 months out (the last few years we’ve actually had to walk the reservation for few weeks to even get a BW View).

The morning I was moving over to BWV I got a call while I was packing up at VGF. My family was on the plane on the way down from Boston. It was an operations person at BWV telling me they had a “maintenance issue“ and we would not have the Boardwalk View that I had worked so hard to get 11 months prior. I protested and told them it was unacceptable. The ops person said she would “see what she could do“ but wasn’t sounding very optimistic.

I was going to spend a few hours at the pool at VGF that morning but instead decided to grab my luggage and hop in an Uber over to BWV. Upon arrival I nicely asked to speak with the manager. I explained the situation and that our son had taken time off of work specifically for this trip as was looking forward to reminiscing in the villa with the boardwalk view - he & his brother had many happy memories on the Boardwalk as a kid (regarding that view, IYKYK !).

The manager was new to BWV and was very kind and understanding (and seemed to know that the ops person who had called me from the resort was working on the room issue). Within 10 minutes or so the manager had located another 2 BR Boardwalk view room for us. I was so very grateful and honestly pretty surprised.

Based on this experience, I do think it’s always worth pushing back. I’m sure stuff happens, but it’s really hard to know what’s going on behind the scenes and why one would get bumped in that circumstance when I’m quite sure I was the one of the first guests to book a 2 BR Boardwalk view room @ 11 mos out for that week. Of course it may mean that another guest then got bumped. But it could also mean that there was a VIP pushing for that room and the Boardwalk was trying to find a guest who would be willing to give it up.

Really sorry to hear this story from the OP. I sure hope he circles back if/when he has a chance. Also some great ideas from folks here on how best to negotiate in this circumstance.

Fun read.
 
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned that there is always the suite at the castle. The location makes up for the reduction in size.
This was my first thought. It's the only option that would be an upgrade, IMO (in spite of the capacity issues).
 



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