Bah...this is NOT the Arusha Savanna...

[doconeill]

We got in pretty early this morning, so I knew the odds of having a room ready was small, and sure enough, no room ready (actually a first for us).

I had a room request for the Arusha Savanna. I know requests are not guaranteed. Apparently they know what building you are in, but not the room necessarily. When she pointed it out on the map, it was one of the spurs that was totally in the Sunset Savanna area. So I asked about the Arusha Savanna request - if I had to wait for my room, couldn't I at least wait for that? She went off to speak to someone, and after several minutes returned and said "I got lucky" and there was someone who hadn't checked in yet...I mean, I'm not exactly looking to displace someone, but did everyone request the same view or something? So she takes back the cards, reprocesses and prints new ones, and then tells me the new room is...in the same building. But she said that it would face the Arusha Savanna.

Not.

I've got a room on the southerly side, facing back at the main building, with Kidani off to the right. At least there are some animals there. But don't tell me I'm "lucky" and say I've got an Arusha view when it is obvious I don't.

 

[DebbieB]

If you had to wait, it's possible the person that they switched you with complained when they got there and they switched them back.

 

[doconeill]

If that were the case, they should have been honest about it - and if they had likewise requested the same. But the person I originally checked in with when I questioned being the same building, said that the room would face the Arusha Savanna.

I did speak with a manager because more than anything I felt that the CM was a dishonest with me...and I am not one to complain in general (in fact, I have NEVER lodged a complaint!)

As it turns out, the CMs are often confused (as was he) by the room numbering here. Even he, when first hearing about it and my room number, thought it was an Arusha room. He had to check a map to be certain. Apparently we should have been put in room 5371, but were mistakenly put in 5271, which because it is in an offshoot wing it is one of the few XX7X rooms that are not Arusha. Of course, by the time I found out about it it was too late.

He did admit that the CM should have noticed when I questioned about it being in the same wing that the room was incorrect.

Unfortunately, this room faces sort of in toward the lobby section, and there is an outside staircase adjacent which obscures a lot of the view out towards the reset of the Sunset Savanna. From our point we see a VERY small section of it. So far, only a couple of ostriches and some other birds, and one Eland (I think) who seems to spend 24 hours sitting by the pond, have been seen so far. The manager did say they brought the animals back early though (Mar. 25th) instead of April 15th as originally planned, and the rest have been fairly recently in that area...we just seem to have been unluckly so far. We have seen from other vantage points that the area is HUGE, we just have a poor view of it.

Another thing that kind of stuck in my is the guy adjacent to me, checking in to a standard cash room, asked if he could upgrade to a savanna view. The girl said that she could place him in a Sunset room, but because of the construction, etc. etc. she could do it while still charging the standard rate. This tells me they still consider the view substandard.

The matter is settled anyways.

 

[Inkmahm]

I always ask for Arusha and I always get sunset. Without fail. Even asking to change when I check in, Arusha is never available.

And I also ask not to get put right above a "people pen" but I've still had CM's put me there and tell me the room is NOT above a people pen. These were often cash reservations, too, before AKV existed. Our family joke is that we never ever can check in to AKL without having to switch rooms at least once.

With AKV, I've had better luck not getting the people pen but still have never received Arusha savanna.

 

[crisi]

I get the impression that the desk clerks have very little idea where the rooms are. They see a series of numbers. But many of the desk clerks don't tend to walk the halls of the resort often enough to have a good feeling of which side of the resort it is on, or how far down the hall, or if its around a wing.

I say this because of a couple of instances where I've asked approximately where my room is - once at VWL I asked if the room would be on the lake side or not, and got what I thought was an honest "I don't really know, I've never been in that building."

Last time we checked in and our request was to have my sister's family close to us. So the same CM checked us both in, gave us both keys and room numbers and said "I think these are close to each other" - they were indeed right next to each other. Now, there was no reason for her to lie about them not being next to each other - she just didn't know (they were two bedroom lock offs and so the main room numbers she gave us were six room numbers apart). She also had no idea how far down the hall they were.

 

[LisaS]

As it turns out, the CMs are often confused (as was he) by the room numbering here. Even he, when first hearing about it and my room number, thought it was an Arusha room. He had to check a map to be certain. Apparently we should have been put in room 5371, but were mistakenly put in 5271, which because it is in an offshoot wing it is one of the few XX7X rooms that are not Arusha. Of course, by the time I found out about it it was too late.

I wonder if what confuses the CMs is that if you just look at the horseshoe and ignore the spurs, all of the odd-numbered rooms face Arusha, the even-numbered rooms face Sunset or Uzima. Maybe the CM didn't realize that the spurs contain both odd and even numbered rooms and assumed that because you had an odd-numbered room you had an Arusha view.

I'm confused by the manager's comments however. Of the rooms with numbers like "xx7x", 8 face Arusha, 5 face Sunset, 3 face Uzima and 2 face the pool. And there is no room with the number 5371. Maybe he meant 5373? Here is the list of rooms with numbers like xx7x and here is a link to a wonderful room map of Jambo House: http://www.parkinfo2go.com/dvc-akv/floor5.php

[U]Room    Size   Trail    View[/U]
5270   Studio   Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5271   1BR      Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5272   1BR      Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5372   Studio   Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5373   1BR      Kudu    Arusha Savanna
5374   1BR      Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5375   Studio   Kudu    Arusha Savanna
5377   Studio   Kudu    Arusha Savanna
5379   1BR      Kudu    Arusha Savanna
5470   Studio   Zebra   Pool
5471   1BR      Zebra   Uzima Savanna
5472   1BR      Zebra   Pool
5572   Studio   Zebra   Uzima Savanna
5573   1BR      Zebra   Arusha Savanna
5574   1BR      Zebra   Uzima Savanna
5575   Studio   Zebra   Arusha Savanna
5577   Studio   Zebra   Arusha Savanna
5579   1BR      Zebra   Arusha Savanna

 

[doconeill]

I wonder if what confuses the CMs is that if you just look at the horseshoe and ignore the spurs, all of the odd-numbered rooms face Arusha, the even-numbered rooms face Sunset or Uzima. Maybe the CM didn't realize that the spurs contain both odd and even numbered rooms and assumed that because you had an odd-numbered room you had an Arusha view.

I'm confused by the manager's comments however. Of the rooms with numbers like "xx7x", 8 face Arusha, 5 face Sunset, 3 face Uzima and 2 face the pool. And there is no room with the number 5371. Maybe he meant 5373? Here is the list of rooms with numbers like xx7x and here is a link to a wonderful room map of Jambo House: http://www.parkinfo2go.com/dvc-akv/floor5.php

[U]Room    Size   Trail    View[/U]
5270   Studio   Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5271   1BR      Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5272   1BR      Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5372   Studio   Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5373   1BR      Kudu    Arusha Savanna
5374   1BR      Kudu    Sunset Savanna
5375   Studio   Kudu    Arusha Savanna
5377   Studio   Kudu    Arusha Savanna
5379   1BR      Kudu    Arusha Savanna
5470   Studio   Zebra   Pool
5471   1BR      Zebra   Uzima Savanna
5472   1BR      Zebra   Pool
5572   Studio   Zebra   Uzima Savanna
5573   1BR      Zebra   Arusha Savanna
5574   1BR      Zebra   Uzima Savanna
5575   Studio   Zebra   Arusha Savanna
5577   Studio   Zebra   Arusha Savanna
5579   1BR      Zebra   Arusha Savanna

He may have used 5371 as an example, but made it sound like that was the actual error. Given the fact that he himself was even confused doesn't leave me very confident in their being able to satisfy ANY room requests. He did say that EVERYONE requests Arusha...which pretty much says to me that if you don't request it, you definitely aren't going to get it.

Hopefully with Kidani and the better room views (including an all new savanna) things will even out.

 

[LisaS]

He did say that EVERYONE requests Arusha...which pretty much says to me that if you don't request it, you definitely aren't going to get it.

Hopefully with Kidani and the better room views (including an all new savanna) things will even out.

I agree that with Arusha having less than 1/3 of the rooms but getting all the requests, that's a recipe for disappointment. I agree that when Kidani opens, things will improve. For example, I prefer to be on a lower floor and that is not an option in Jambo House. But for those who prefer to be in Jambo House and want Arusha, it's going to take some luck to have their request met, plus perhaps some better training of the CMs.