BCV review

[Alabama Minnie]

Stayed in a 1 bedroom villa:

Very nice but if I every stay here again, probably want, my 1st request would be to not have a 1st floor room. There was ZERO privacy on the patio, not in front or between the patios. I usually have my morning coffee outside before everyone gets up but not this time. I did notice that there are lattice partitions between the patios at the hotel, even that would be better.

When I found out at check-in, I did ask for another room not on the 1st floor, but they could not move us until the next day. It was just TOO much effort to move with 2 kids and their stuff.

We also found a sippy-cup full of spoiled milk under the sofa bed when we pulled it out. Glad our 9 month old didn't find it first. Not sure how well they are cleaning, our 1st day when we got back to the room at 5:00 they had not been there. When they arrived about 15 min. later, we couldn't let them do it, we had to get ready for a dinner ressie.

The location convenience was GREAT but our experience at BLT after this was A LOT better.

 

[Disneytam]

I feel your pain. We stayed in a BCV 1 bedroom in November and loved all the room. It was our first time staying in any VC room, but when I booked I stated upper room and also called in at about a week before our trip and asked for anything but ground floor. Needless to say when we checked in we were given a ground floor room and I was so disappointed! We always stay deluxe and really enjoy using our balconies the same way you do and it is impossible to use that area they give you with all the guests walking past your room and the feeling that you are sitting on the sidewalk beside your neighbors room. I won't even get into my silly fear of snakes!

I did walk down and ask for a change but they said there was nothing else available. We had a split stay and were only there 3 nights so we just kept the curtains closed but it really put a damper on the trip. When we switched to the PBR at Universal they completely made up for though as we were given a room with a balcony for our anniversary! Balconies are few and far between at this hotel so we were extremely happy. We just love this hotel and have stayed here often and have never been given a ground floor room. Just as with Disney I always request an upper floor room.

Both rooms were spotless on this trip though we did have the problem of house keeping being at the BCV really late both days to clean. If I remember correctly it was around 5 pm both evenings as we were also back to the room getting ready for dinner reservations.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

I feel your pain. We stayed in a BCV 1 bedroom in November and loved all the room. It was our first time staying in any VC room, but when I booked I stated upper room and also called in at about a week before our trip and asked for anything but ground floor. Needless to say when we checked in we were given a ground floor room and I was so disappointed! We always stay deluxe and really enjoy using our balconies the same way you do and it is impossible to use that area they give you with all the guests walking past your room and the feeling that you are sitting on the sidewalk beside your neighbors room. I won't even get into my silly fear of snakes!

I did walk down and ask for a change but they said there was nothing else available. We had a split stay and were only there 3 nights so we just kept the curtains closed but it really put a damper on the trip. When we switched to the PBR at Universal they completely made up for though as we were given a room with a balcony for our anniversary! Balconies are few and far between at this hotel so we were extremely happy. We just love this hotel and have stayed here often and have never been given a ground floor room. Just as with Disney I always request an upper floor room.

Both rooms were spotless on this trip though we did have the problem of house keeping being at the BCV really late both days to clean. If I remember correctly it was around 5 pm both evenings as we were also back to the room getting ready for dinner reservations.

BCV must be poor about granting requests. I have usually gotten most of mine at Disney over the past yrs. I did request 2 different room #s at BLT on the cross-walk floor but didn't get either. They did give us a villa on the cross-walk floor though.

The second day at BCV we came back to the room and found a laundry basket full of towels/supplies left by the door. I didn't understand why the didn't just come in then and clean the room.

I have never stayed a PBR but I have stayed at Royal Pacific and I don't remember any of the rooms having balconies there, that was also a little disappointing, but that "skip-the-line" benefit at Universal can't be beat IMO.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

First thing to keep in mind is that even when you pay cash, BCV is a DVC property. This means it runs at 95%+ occupancy 365 days a year. This can make requests very hard to meet.

The second thing to understand is that even though cash guests get daily housekeeping, those units are exception cases throughout the building, and mousekeeping tends to often run late because of turnover on other units not getting daily housekeeping, and because as a DVC property they aren't staffed for every unit-every day mousekeeping.

This is pretty common at the DVC properties, both items.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

Probably, the time for me to address the housekeeping problem (including the "sippy cup") was when it happened. It was just too much after a 9 hr. ride. I also expected paying cash (AP rate) that I might get priority housekeeping since they don't clean the owners daily. It was, as I said, a much different experience at BLT. Our room was cleaned everyday by the time we came back to get ready for dinner. I also liked that BLT had the 2 baths and the extra sleeper chair in the 1 bedroom villas.
We have now stayed at 3 DVC properties with cash visits. We like the POLY the best but we need 2 studios there so I guess BLT will be our choice from now on, even though they NEVER have any discounts it's cheaper than 2 rooms.