cash buyers getting priority over DVC

[offtheice]

yes, we are planning on not returning to WDW as often as we had initially (and previously) done...

If something so stupid that you didnt get an exact room when you know room request arent guranteed,well then it proves you really where looking for an excuse to sell anyway. Oh well , someone will gobble up your points right away..

 

[skelooch]

tjkras;
What are you talking about, pre-assignment and room ready assignment, do different DVC resorts have different room assignment processes?
I thought it was all a first come first serve, all I want is to know if my first, second or third request is going to become available that day, I be given the ROFR.
It's not that difficult.

 

[tjkraz]

tjkras;
What are you talking about, pre-assignment and room ready assignment, do different DVC resorts have different room assignment processes?

All Disney resorts use two different systems: Room Ready and Pre-Assignment. Reportedly rooms are pre-assigned during high occupancy periods and Room Ready is used when things are slower.

Room Ready: Guest is permitted to choose from available, ready-to-occupy rooms at the time they check-in. Pro: Earlier entry to room. Con: Lower chance of getting exactly what you want.

Pre-Assignment: A room assigner reviews all reservations and rooms that will be opening-up, and attempts to meet as many of the requests as possible. Pro: Best chance for requests to be met. Con: Even if you arrive at the desk at 7am, you may not get into your room until 4pm if your pre-assigned room is not among the first to be cleaned.

I'm sure most people prefer one system over another, but neither would satisfy everyone. Some people want their requests met at all costs--others would prefer to get into a room at 10am even if it means making sacrifices.

Here's my own recent experience:

We spent one night in a Studio at BCV. Checked-in at 9am. Was told room was pre-assigned and all of our requests were met. Room ended up being ready around 2:30pm.

The next day we moved over to a 2B at SSR. Arrived at the desk at 10:30am. SSR was using Room Ready. The CM said they had two 2B Villas ready, showed them to us on a map, and let us choose the room we wanted. It was great to get into the room so early, but our only options were 2 of about 80 Two Bedroom units in the resort.

There's really no way to predict what sort of system the resort will be using. The best advice is to simply arrive as early as possible and hope for the best.

But also remember that under either system, the more restrictive your requests might be, the less chance the resort will be able to meet your desires. If you request "a 5th floor, non-smoking, non-handicapped villa near the elevators with a pool view", and all rooms that meet that criteria are already occupied by guests that checked-in days before, there is simply nothing the resort can do to meet your requests.

 

[skelooch]

Which system does the DVC resorts use, that's all I care about.

 

[tjkraz]

If you'll read the example in my post, I checked into two DVC resorts in two days and they were using different systems. To quote myself:

"All Disney resorts use two different systems: Room Ready and Pre-Assignment. Reportedly rooms are pre-assigned during high occupancy periods and Room Ready is used when things are slower.

"There's really no way to predict what sort of system the resort will be using [at any given point in time.]"

 

[skelooch]

tjkras;
I think your missing the point of the OP, lets say I'm staying at BCV, made my reservation 11 months in advance and I requested room 204. If I show up at 7am I should be told whether room 204 will be coming available that day regardless of what time it will be available and should be able to take it or not. I would be pretty ticked off if it wasn't offered to me first and I found out that it was given to someone that checked in at 4pm.

 

[tjkraz]

tjkras;
I think your missing the point of the OP, lets say I'm staying at BCV, made my reservation 11 months in advance and I requested room 204. If I show up at 7am I should be told whether room 204 will be coming available that day regardless of what time it will be available and should be able to take it or not. I would be pretty ticked off if it wasn't offered to me first and I found out that it was given to someone that checked in at 4pm.

Oh, I didn't miss the OP's point. I agree that the manner in which this particularly situation was apparently handled was inappropriate.

My post was a response to your prior comment: "they know every room that's going to be available that day and should assign them on a first come first serve basis as guests check in and should be given a choice of what most meets their request."

All I was trying to point out was that the two criteria you specified (first come, first served and "best match") really don't go hand-in-hand. Depending on the system in use, a guest will either get first come, first served (Room Ready) OR best match to their requests (pre-assignment.)

Arriving at the front desk as early as possible is still a very wise course of action. When a resort is using Room Ready, you'll get the pick-of-the-litter that you seem to want. If they are pre-assigning rooms it really shouldn't matter when you arrive, but in theory you should have the best shot at getting your requests satisfied by the room assigner.

And, while some would agree with your point about those booking 11 mos ahead getting preferential treatment, today it currently has no meaning at all. Booking date plays no role in room assignments.

 

[skelooch]

First come first served shouldn't have anthing to do with "room ready", it's either going to be available that day or it's not, and it should be made available to the first one checking in and requesting that room.
Don't you think that's the fairest way to assign rooms.
I assume we agree about that!

 

[tjkraz]

My personal preference leans toward the Room Ready system. With two small kids who desperately need naps in the afternoon, we'd prefer the ability to get a room immediately upon arrival rather than wait until 4pm for a room that is pre-assigned.

Then again, we aren't that picky about the room either. As long as it's non-smoking, 99.9% of the time we would gladly sacrifice a view (not that we normally request a view anyway) to get into the room a bit earlier.

So I guess we mostly agree since Room Ready is the first-come, first-served system.

The biggest opposition to your statement would probably come from those who simply cannot arrive early due to travel restrictions. Some members are coming from cities with limited flight availability, the west coast or even other countries. Those who cannot arrive until later in the evening are often frustrated with getting the "leftovers" at a resort using Room Ready.

Like I said, neither system satisfies all members.

 

[JimVL]

Room Ready: Guest is permitted to choose from available, ready-to-occupy rooms at the time they check-in. Pro: Earlier entry to room. Con: Lower chance of getting exactly what you want.

Pre-Assignment: A room assigner reviews all reservations and rooms that will be opening-up, and attempts to meet as many of the requests as possible. Pro: Best chance for requests to be met. Con: Even if you arrive at the desk at 7am, you may not get into your room until 4pm if your pre-assigned room is not among the first to be cleaned.

If the resort were using room ready the day I check in is it possible to arrive in the morning, and tell them what I'd like and that I'll return that evening?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Maistre Gracey]

A couple of years ago we had a beach cottage booked for our first two nights of our three night stay at VB. We were unable to get the cottage for the third night, so we booked a 2br.
On the morning of check out day the front desk called and asked if we would prefer to stay in the cottage. I said yes, but Member Services said there was no availability. The front desk responded that they get availability in the final days that MS does not have.
Yes, we took the cottage for night three. While walking around the resort that night, two of the six cottages appeared to be vacant. If we didn't take the cottage it would have been three of six.

I certainly don't have any proof, but I strongly suspected that DVC/Disney was saving the cottages for possible cash guests. When it became apparent that the cottages were not being booked with cash, they gave us the cottage for points.

Again, I would like to emphasize that is only my speculation. Also, there was no way to say for certain that the other two cottages were vacant.

MG

 

[skelooch]

I guess I must be speaking a different language.
night all

 

[3kidz4dis]

During high occupancy periods rooms are often pre-assigned to meet guest requests as best they are able, and there is little or no flexibility at check-in.

Pre-assignment actually gives guests the BEST chance of getting their requests. If you are booked into a 1B and there are 50 vacant rooms at the start of the day, the room assigner has many opportunities to try and fulfill the requests listed on your reservation. On the other hand, when resorts are using a Room Ready assignment process, guests only have access to the handful of rooms immediately available for occupancy when the guest arrives at the desk. Your "perfect room" may have already been given to a guest who arrived 10 minutes earlier.

so, really since you don't know what they are using, we should just put in our request when reserving and hope for the best, right? I mean even getting a 6:00 am flight still won't get us to Disney before 10:30 so, we we should just always take a later flight and sleep in since there isn't anything we can do about it anyway?

 

[DebbieB]

First come first served shouldn't have anthing to do with "room ready", it's either going to be available that day or it's not, and it should be made available to the first one checking in and requesting that room.
Don't you think that's the fairest way to assign rooms.
I assume we agree about that!

I spoke to a DVC Manager when room ready came out about 1 1/2 years ago (Jackie Leuders). She said that strictly going by the rules they setup, you could not be assigned a room that is not ready if there are other rooms that are ready. If you did not like the rooms that were ready, you could return to the front desk later and see what was available. In reality, they probably don't always go strictly by that but it's possible they do on a particular day. According to her, the main purpose of room ready is to get people into rooms ASAP trying to fill at least one request.

The only way to get it changed it to e-mail member services and express your complaints. I would prefer they go back to pre-assignment by date of reservation.

 

[skelooch]

DebbieB;
I respectfully disagree with what you were told by MS, they will assign you a room even if it is not ready as long as you are willing to wait for it, which I will always do so that I get what I want. If someone is not willing to wait and takes something that is available now that is their choice.
All I want is to be told at check-in, is which of my choices will be available that day, then let me choose what I want to do. Why should someone who checks in 4 hours after me wind up with my first choice.
Why should they care about trying "to get people into their room ASAP", that choice should be mine to make not theirs.
All I want is for them to give me all of the options available when I am checking in.
You can't convince me that this can't be done. It isn't Brain Surgery.

 

[tjkraz]

All I want is for them to give me all of the options available when I am checking in.
You can't convince me that this can't be done. It isn't Brain Surgery.

Nobody ever said that they COULDN'T assign rooms in that manner. The point is that the resorts choose not to assign them as you describe.

There are a lot of different points-of-view on the topic, and no system is perfect. As DebbieB said, she would prefer that rooms be pre-assigned with requests granted based upon the date of the booking. In order for that to happen, your room is selected several days before you even arrive and it doesn't matter a bit when you check in. You get that room that was pre-selected for you. Period.

As I said in one of my posts, I happen to prefer Room Ready because #1 on our list of priorities is simply getting IN a room.

So here we've got three people with three differing points-of-view. Nobody is trying to tell you that you are wrong for wanting the system that you describe, nor are we saying that Disney is functionally incapable of using such a system. But the point is they DON'T use a system exactly like the one you describe.

 

[DebbieB]

Skelooch,
I totally agree with you. I was just repeating what I was told when I inquired about it. At the time (mid 2003), my main concern with room ready was the BWV boardwalk view rooms, it was before the change to split them out. I was sold BWV on the basis that by booking at 11 months I would have priority for a boardwalk view. The room ready system would have made it a free for all. That's when she said that they would not assign a room that was not ready when there were other rooms ready and you could come back later to see what was available. Less than a month after that they made the announcement that boardwalk view would be a separate category, which made me happy (I finally got one last December).

 

[skelooch]

I want the options to be up to me not some scheduler, let's start a campaign to change the system.

 

[brunoflipper]

If something so stupid that you didnt get an exact room when you know room request arent guranteed,well then it proves you really where looking for an excuse to sell anyway. Oh well , someone will gobble up your points right away..

try reading the post where i explain the logic behind our decision... this was just another contributing factor... i now undestand the DVC/cattle analogy and fully believe that disney could give a rat's **** about DVCers (unless they are trying to sign up new ones ) in the sense that they care no more for them than regular guests and maybe less because they know they've got us... again, it is not my intention to make anyone agree with me... this is just how i see it and i won't debate the issue with any DVC holy-rollers...

i loved how at check-in she told me about the great members only "deal" and gave me my envelope for 10% off of the park pictures.... oh wow, yeeehaaawww! don't break the bank with that amazing offer ! please...

 

[brunoflipper]

Nobody ever said that they COULDN'T assign rooms in that manner. The point is that the resorts choose not to assign them as you describe.

There are a lot of different points-of-view on the topic, and no system is perfect. As DebbieB said, she would prefer that rooms be pre-assigned with requests granted based upon the date of the booking. In order for that to happen, your room is selected several days before you even arrive and it doesn't matter a bit when you check in. You get that room that was pre-selected for you. Period.

As I said in one of my posts, I happen to prefer Room Ready because #1 on our list of priorities is simply getting IN a room.

So here we've got three people with three differing points-of-view. Nobody is trying to tell you that you are wrong for wanting the system that you describe, nor are we saying that Disney is functionally incapable of using such a system. But the point is they DON'T use a system exactly like the one you describe.

looking back on it, i think they were using room ready... i was there, it was 3 pm, one 2BR NS was available, and they wanted to get me into it right then and there... that is why she told me "this is the only one in the resort", and i said "is there other option for something closer in one of the 18 other buildings i requested"... she said let me see "what i can do", she went into the back and came out and said "sorry this is the only one"... and i took it... maybe had i gone "spastic" they would have given me the option of waiting for the later ones, but as much as i would have prefered another location i hate to hassle the CMs...