Booking a Villa and not staying in it?

[tammymacb]

I have a large family reunion in planning right now. We'll be at HHI in Aug of 2011 and have 20 people. I'll have a GV, a 2 BDRM and a studio. I am paying ( points ) for the rooms.

My DH and I live in Charleston. We may or may not drive down on Sunday evening. ( I work on Sundays, so we wouldn't leave Charleston until 8 PM ). But, even if we leave on Monday, we'd leave around 9AM and I know that our villas would not be ready by the time we arrive. So, I'm considering booking the studio beginning on Sunday night instead of Monday. For us, and anyone else who gets in early, we'd have a room to cool off in, change into bathing suits, etc etc. until all the villas are ready.

But, I need to figure out how to do it. I'm not actually staying in the studio, I'll be in the Grand Villa. So, my name isn't on the room. I thought about booking it separately from the rest of the studio reservation and just putting my name on it, but then I'd have to check out at 11 AM and defeating the purpose of booking the extra night in the first place. Anyone ever done this before? How did you do it?

 

[Sandisw]

I have a large family reunion in planning right now. We'll be at HHI in Aug of 2011 and have 20 people. I'll have a GV, a 2 BDRM and a studio. I am paying ( points ) for the rooms.

My DH and I live in Charleston. We may or may not drive down on Sunday evening. ( I work on Sundays, so we wouldn't leave Charleston until 8 PM ). But, even if we leave on Monday, we'd leave around 9AM and I know that our villas would not be ready by the time we arrive. So, I'm considering booking the studio beginning on Sunday night instead of Monday. For us, and anyone else who gets in early, we'd have a room to cool off in, change into bathing suits, etc etc. until all the villas are ready.

But, I need to figure out how to do it. I'm not actually staying in the studio, I'll be in the Grand Villa. So, my name isn't on the room. I thought about booking it separately from the rest of the studio reservation and just putting my name on it, but then I'd have to check out at 11 AM and defeating the purpose of booking the extra night in the first place. Anyone ever done this before? How did you do it?

Why not just put yourself as a studio guest and put someone else in your place in the GV? When you all arrive, I don't think it really matters which room you actually stay in.

And, once you have all checked in, I would think that you could then go down to the front desk and tell them that you have decided to change your room and they can reissue you the correct room keys.

Good luck!

 

[Chuck S]

Why not just put yourself as a studio guest and put someone else in your place in the GV? When you all arrive, I don't think it really matters which room you actually stay in.

And, once you have all checked in, I would think that you could then go down to the front desk and tell them that you have decided to change your room and they can reissue you the correct room keys.

Good luck!

Honestly, there is no way to know if the OPs room (or one of the other rooms) will be ready by the time they arrive. Since they are arriving on a Monday, it is possible one of the rooms would be empty from Sunday night. So then, it really depends upon when the rest of the party may be arriving. Because there may be a room ready, but the guests for that room may be the last to arrive.

Surely there is some sort of changing area for people that are tempoararily without a room, all the other DVC resorts have a restroom/changing room that can be used.

 

[Sandisw]

Honestly, there is no way to know if the OPs room (or one of the other rooms) will be ready by the time they arrive. Since they are arriving on a Monday, it is possible one of the rooms would be empty from Sunday night. So then, it really depends upon when the rest of the party may be arriving. Because there may be a room ready, but the guests for that room may be the last to arrive.

Surely there is some sort of changing area for people that are tempoararily without a room, all the other DVC resorts have a restroom/changing room that can be used.

Maybe I misunderstood her question but I thought she was asking about adding on Sunday night to the original studio (that currently has a Monday check in date).

If they book Sunday night, and just tell them they won't be there until early Monday AM, that room would be ready. Of course, I do think there is a time when you have to arrive in order to do this. She would have to be on that reservation, however, to check in to it if she is going to be the first to arrive.

 

[bobbiwoz]

A MS CM once told me that it's fine to book a room for the night before with the purpose of having a room upon arrival early the next day. I'll bet you would be allowed to put your name on a studio for that purpose with that note.

 

[Chuck S]

Maybe I misunderstood her question but I thought she was asking about adding on Sunday night to the original studio (that currently has a Monday check in date).

If they book Sunday night, and just tell them they won't be there until early Monday AM, that room would be ready. Of course, I do think there is a time when you have to arrive in order to do this. She would have to be on that reservation, however, to check in to it if she is going to be the first to arrive.

This is true, but it could also get complicated with any room charging, etc. And again, with a Monday check-in, chances are at least one of the rooms will be ready and left empty from Sunday night.

 

[LIFERBABE]

We've had several family get togethers and I coordinate them all.

You tie all the villas together as "travel with" and link them to your GV. I check in for the entire group and all villas.

At SSR, they actually sent a CM over to our GV with our package and let me disburse the keys for our 9 studios worth of guests.

At HHI, again I checked in for the group, and issued everything out in the GV.

We have 26 at AKV in Oct and I have all the ressies linked as "travel with" and again, I will check in for all. You can only be listed on 1 reservation but as the member you can check into all the rooms if you are linked on all of them.

I dont put charging on KTTW because it's a mixed group of people and it works better for me. Dh and I were the only ones on the GV with charging and it was not an issue for anyone.

 

[tammymacb]

Maybe I misunderstood her question but I thought she was asking about adding on Sunday night to the original studio (that currently has a Monday check in date).

If they book Sunday night, and just tell them they won't be there until early Monday AM, that room would be ready. Of course, I do think there is a time when you have to arrive in order to do this. She would have to be on that reservation, however, to check in to it if she is going to be the first to arrive.

I do plan on booking Sunday night and probably not staying there. Then driving in Monday morning and having an available room.

I'm worried about changing the name on Monday morning- as I want a key to get in but then will assign the room to other family members when the villas are opened up. I'm also worried that if I don't show up on Sunday, my reservation may be cancelled for being a no show.

 

[Sandisw]

I do plan on booking Sunday night and probably not staying there. Then driving in Monday morning and having an available room.

I'm worried about changing the name on Monday morning- as I want a key to get in but then will assign the room to other family members when the villas are opened up. I'm also worried that if I don't show up on Sunday, my reservation may be cancelled for being a no show.

I do think there is a time by which you have to check in in order for it to work. It may be by 6:00 am. If you are not planning on being there that early, then you are right, you would not want it attached to the reservation as it could cause them to cancel you out.

Good luck!

 

[RobDoc]

I do plan on booking Sunday night and probably not staying there. Then driving in Monday morning and having an available room.

I'm worried about changing the name on Monday morning- as I want a key to get in but then will assign the room to other family members when the villas are opened up. I'm also worried that if I don't show up on Sunday, my reservation may be cancelled for being a no show.

Just call the resort on Sunday to let them know you will arrive early on Monday to check-in. Your reservation will not be canceled.

We did something like this 2 weeks ago at HH when our family arrived on different days. We went to the desk and checked them in and got all room keys early. They allowed us to do this as the reserving members even though we were not staying in either of the villas. We had 5 nights on points and an additional cash night all linked together. We checked-in and paid for the cash nights before our lids arrived to get their keys from us. Just have your photo ID available when you check in.

Have a great stay!