We stayed at AKL Kidani Village last year and loved our room. We are going back this year and would love to have the same room again. What are the chances of getting a specific room number if you request it prior to check-in?
Thank you for your help.
Nicole mom to
Bill
I learned then to request what I wanted and not a particular room.
This illustrates a couple of issues of having inappropriate, too specific or unreasonable requests. If you don't get it, there's really nothing else that will fill that request. Also, as in your case, it might tick off someone and they may give you a poor room purposefully.I tried that once at WL. The room was not available and instead of a room at the end of the wing looking at Bay Lake we were assigned a ground level courtyard room. Almost exactly opposite of why I requested the other room!
I tried that once at WL. The room was not available and instead of a room at the end of the wing looking at Bay Lake we were assigned a ground level courtyard room. Almost exactly opposite of why I requested the other room!
I believe the room we were assigned was not occupied the night before b/c we stayed at the airport Hyatt and arrived at WL early and the room was ready. Because of that we knew where it was and inquired about if the request was on the reservation. The CM looked, said it was there and then checked on that room but it was occupied so it would have been impossible to get it. The assumption I made (incorrect as it was) was that we would then be assigned something close to that room but the front desk CM said since they don't know why a specific room was requested that they don't necessarily do that.
Bill
I deal with room assigners and GM's about room assignments and their personnel fairly regularly. It is a thankless and difficult job, must be like working in lost luggage at the airport routinely. So much so that most people are only able to do it for a few months at a time then they rotate or leave. They deal routinely with the type of people we see post here sometimes that you just can't please. As a rule people have come combination of unreasonable and unworkable requests. Most of the ones I deal with are working with full week stays though they do have variables of varying check in days and view types in many cases with an occasional cash day or two added to add to the confusion. Must be even more crazy when you add in the flexibility that DVC has. So much so that my info suggests that DVC just gave up on the process and left it up to the individual resorts to do (or ignore) as they desired. People are their own worst enemy sometimes including being too complicated and/or specific on requests.You know I never could figure out if the assigner got a bit peeved or was trying to be helpful in a weird way. Or maybe lazy.
Anyway, the CM found us a very lovely room overlooking the main pool with a great view of Bay Lake just down the hall from where we had originally requested.
And my requests are now more general since it was explained they don't just assume you're requesting a particular room b/c you want that area.
They stopped putting any effort into it as a system at the same time they said not to call or send faxes to the resorts with requests, about 4-5 years ago roughly. Now it's up to the individual resorts and often, the individual CM. Some mostly use the room ready approach, some mostly preassign. Personally I think they should put far more effort than they do and it should be system directed, but they should also limit the type of requests they accept to make it workable for the system and to establish reasonable expectations. Room assigners at most floating week timeshares seem to last between 3-12 months.That's very discouraging to hear about the room assignments and IMO probably not the appropriate response - or at least not one that is going to improve guest satisfaction. I've worked a lot in tourism and there are tons of thankless jobs in that industry. I've been screamed at more times than I could count for things that had nothing to do with me. Nor is an entitled feeling a DVC exlusive. Never was I ever told "well, we can't please them all so let's stop trying to please any". At least you get my meaning I'm sure. Room assignment at Disney really seems to be more insulated than a lot of positions - unlike the front desk CM position that may now have to hear more often guest not getting a request. I can imagine it's kind of like fitting a jigsaw puzzle together for assigning rooms but to not try seems more about decreased concern for guests/members than care for employees.
But - with all that being said - I don't always put in a request but when I have with DVC we've been pretty lucky and had it met in some way or another so my impression is that they are still trying. The learning experience I posted above was pre-DVC at WL. I know we won't always have this happen but I hope that the individual resorts will try to do this even if DVC doesn't direct them to. The one time I haven't gotten something from the request was BLT. A trainee checked me in for a 2 night stay in a studio - MK view. I asked if there might be a higher room and when she looked to the trainer the response was this. "Well, you can call back and check if you want to bother doing that". I really felt the love there!
As it stands right now, they have essentially eliminated requests. Or put it another way, you can request all you want, we're not really going to worry about it. There are exceptions but this is the jist of the approach as I see i.
It depends. IMO, early arrival should have nothing to do with it. I feel they should have a system to prioritize requests. I believe the order should be either be owner at that resort, owner at other DVC resorts, cash guests, exchangers with some additional priority based on when the reservation occurred. An appropriate alternative would be DVC members based simply on date of reservation followed by cash then exchangers. They should refuse to reassign simply because someone asks, esp if they push the matter, other than for medical related reasons.
