Designing an Equitable Allocation System

[crisi]

There has been a lot of talk lately about how rooms are assigned and what priority should be given to requests. I think that a lot of people have different values and finding an equitable system we all agree on will be difficult, but here is the task.

Follows is a list criteria a room assigner might use to assign rooms, add your own if you wish and I've forgotten something. Put them in order with the person who gets the room that most closely matches their needs on top.

Person with medical request (i.e. non smoking, medical/ handicapped accessible medical)
Person with non-smoking/smoking request (non-medical)
Person with non-handicapped request (non medical)
Person with view/location request
Person with request that multiple rooms be close to one another
Home resort member booking 11-7 months out
Non home resort member booking 7-3 months out
Home resort member booking 7-3 months out
Any member making last minute bookings
Cash paying guest (CRO)
Guest of member (non-renter)
Renter of points (assuming member has made the reservation and specified “renter” so MS knows they aren’t a guest)
Person wanting to check into a room at arrival time (instead of waiting til four) - i.e. room ready as I understand it was designed to address complaints.

Some of these may be two tiered – for example I may believe after medical needs, home resort owners should get priority no matter when they book over CRO guests. And that from there, room assignments should be smoking/non-handicapped/multiple rooms/view location. But that a view/location request from a member is a higher priority request than a smoking request from CRO. But since medical needs trump all other priorities, a last minute cash booking of “non-smoking medical need” pushes everything down the tree– including a non-medical non-smoking request of a member.

I have some of my own ideas (like medical needs should trump), but a lot of mine are fuzzy and I’m hoping some discussion might spur an evaluation of my own beliefs on an equitable system. For instance, I’m divided on if renters/guests/CRO folks should ever (except for medical reasons) have their requests met before members. And some things I'm situational on - its is REALLY nice to check into a room when you arrive when traveling with a toddler or after driving all night, but I'm not sure if that is more important than someone else's nonsmoking/non-medical request.

 

[rascalmom]

Medical needs (including non-smoking) will have to trump if DVC is to be in compliance with the ADA requirements.

 

[crisi]

But should Disney be able to say to someone with a medical need "sorry, we just don't have a non-smoking room available" or should they have to bump someone out of their non-smoking room to give it to someone with a medical need?

 

[Tiggeriffic]

I don't understand why guests of members should have their requests any
lower than members. I would not want someone that I'm using my points
for to get anything less than what I would get. I would hate for my relatives
or friends to be treated worse than I would be treated.

Personally, I think that it should be medical requests first, and then everything
else based on the date of the reservation. I also believe that some people
request way too much and believe that they have to have the PERFECT room
or their vacation will be ruined.

One thing that everyone has to remember about DVC - meeting requests
is much harder because there is no requirement for you to reserve a week.
Also, DVC has to try to optimize the occupancy for everyone. So, unlike
other timeshares which could actually let you reserve a certain room, DVC
can't do that because they don't know if it will be occupied or not.

 

[crisi]

I don't understand why guests of members should have their requests any
lower than members. I would not want someone that I'm using my points
for to get anything less than what I would get. I would hate for my relatives
or friends to be treated worse than I would be treated.

The reason I'm divided on it is that I'm not sure I want YOUR relatives or friends to get treated better than I'M getting treated. By definition, your guest having the requests I want makes one less room available that will fulfill my every whim. After all, I made the investment in points, they just made the investment in having the right friend. DVC is a "membership" program and part of me believes that members should get certain perks not available to guests of members. Want the perks, join the program.

Most of me thinks you are right, though.

 

[Bugeye]

Yep - not an easy task!

 

[fishermouse]

Whats wrong with just assigning the room when the reservation is made? I make a request for a specific date they check the computer for that date if there is a room ie; non smoking, view of DD available for the dates I want I get it. If I plan 11 months out but can't get an early flight and I have to arrive at 8pm should I be stuck with whatever is leftover? Sounds like this should be a no brainer. Handicaped rooms should be saved for handicapped patrons unless all other rooms are booked. All smoking request should be treated equally or everyone will just say it's medical. Everyone gets the same 11 month or 7 month window and should plan thier vacations accordinly.
Having said all that I've booked three months out already and had no trouble getting a room, I have yet to see a bad room...

 

[ColoradoBelle1]

crisi brought up a good point that I hadn't thought of before: why should she not get 'better' treatment vis a vis room assignment (not anything else) than a friend of mine that I let stay using my points. I think she is right on that; i just had never thought of it that way before.

i think that the reason that assigning a specific room as opposed to room category as of the date of ressie , tho ultimately the fairest of them all, couldn't work because the ressie system is designed to 'give out' lets say 30 BW view rooms on Jan 1....but not to figure out that Mr Big is in room 2000 on Dec 31 and also Jan 1 and that specific room won't be available to you on Jan 1 but another BW view room will....in other words, just too complicated as system.

Which brings us to: Disney states that they are moving to room ready.Which means that we all have the opportunity to change our behaviors based on the room ready system. It isn't fair that Mr. Big has to fly in from England and thus gets the last room in the house. So Mr. Big would have to change his planning in order to get himself a 'fair deal' under this new system. Perhaps he needs to fly in the day before his ressie and stay up at Universal that night. It's his choice. Then he can arrive early the next morn to best be accommmodated with room ready.

My issue with Disney is that altho Disney spokespeople say room ready, there are a preponderance of CMs who tell you that you were preassigned a room and it is the ONLY ONE IN THE HOUSE. (Man, do I hate being lied to.) I think I could live within any fair system as long as it didn't change on whim.

Of course medical needs need to come first. Of course if re smoking, people wouldn't smoke in nonsmoking rooms (and Disney wouldn't change rooms from smoking to non or vv by simply spraying a room with deodorizer and calling it non)...........then nonsmoking medical would take priority. Truth is, there would always be a nonsmoking room available if the ressie system were structured so that those 30BW view rooms were already designated as 27 non and 3 smoking, and when the 27 non were reserved...no one got a nonsmoking ressie. Pretty simple and I'm not sure wy it isn't in place, tho I kinda think it is..just nobody talks about it.

It would have helped had the handicap studio rooms shower only all been given great views...then those of us who need a tub would take tub over view and those who dind't need a tub would get a non-used HA room with a great view.

Views should always be requests. I think that in the case of BWV, if Dis were completely upfront...BW is easy, Standard is harder cause there are random standards other than that one wing overlooking the entrance. PW is quiet pool, luna poo, croquet courtyard and maybe the BW courtyard but Im' not sure on that. I think we hsould be able to ask within each category for 1 thing: so LUNA pool....high floor or quiet pool: near elevator

Interestingly, none of my requests were initially met under the 'preassigned'. I was on a high floor near an elevator but those weren't in my specs!!!
The assigner was confused by my request because I asked for the standard view rooms in the croquet 'courtyard'....and she didn't have that listed anywheree so she just guessed.

:The reason that pre assigning doesn't work is that the people in MS live in Kansas and haven't been on property (many of them...I exaggerate). But they try their best. Then the pre assigner in house tries...but since she doens't speak with you, she really has to guess. And that's where it breaks down. Plus, I don't want my memberfees going to pay for all the headaches a pre assignor has....let her(him) do the HA medical rooms and big groups ...but give the front desk CMs the power to speak with a guest and give the guest options and let them ultimately choose.

Room ready can work and we all can change our patterns to let it work best for us. I'm from Colorado so could never get to DVC before 5pm...so I just fly in a day early, Saturday and that serves two purposes: I don't use lots of points for weekends and I spend a 'short' day off siet on the cheap and getting sleep so I can hit the parks early the next day. I changed my behaviors to live within the system.

If we could go to first resserved first served...the problme might still be that the preassigner doesn't understnad what it is we want. We'd have to have some definitive 'requests' in place with that system...and yes, it could work and yes, IMHO that would be ultimately the fairest. But right now we are supposedly dealing with room ready...I'd love it if we could get that in writing so that when a CM says to me, as she did on May 9: oh here at BWV we pre assign and there is only one room for you take it or leave it. For those who might say that since I said no, that I robbed someone else of THEIR request: I actually think that there was a someone else who HAD requested a high floor near the elevator. (especially since the CM tried to have a MARVIN check into the room with me...I think MARVIN had the same last name as I, and MARVIN wanted that highfloor near elevator. (Of course I checked him out and no, it wasn't J. Depp so I declined to share my balcony )

 

[sjdisneywedding]

Whats wrong with just assigning the room when the reservation is made? I make a request for a specific date they check the computer for that date if there is a room ie; non smoking, view of DD available for the dates I want I get it. If I plan 11 months out but can't get an early flight and I have to arrive at 8pm should I be stuck with whatever is leftover? Sounds like this should be a no brainer. Handicaped rooms should be saved for handicapped patrons unless all other rooms are booked. All smoking request should be treated equally or everyone will just say it's medical. Everyone gets the same 11 month or 7 month window and should plan thier vacations accordinly.
Having said all that I've booked three months out already and had no trouble getting a room, I have yet to see a bad room...

I agree with this theory. plain and simple. if its available when you book, you get it, thats it. If its not try another resort or another date or drop some of your requests. It adds more benefits to home resort since you can grab that NS room 11 months out. Hey if you want to stay at a non-hoime resort you may just not get your first choices and you shouldt anyway its not your home resort

Medical should obvioulsy take first priority, but I dont even think its a problem as far as HA rooms go. Not many people are going to be requesting to guarentee a HA room unless they need it.

 

[bicker]

President Reagan was fond of saying, "Trust, but verify." In the absence of stringent requirements for proving medical need, special priority for medical need is very dangerous. Don't folks remember how giving folks with professed medical need front-of-line-access resulted in lots and lots of abuse, just a few years ago? The only thing that resolved that was mainstreaming folks with medical need into the regular queues.

Room assignment when making the reservation results in a lot of problems. The job of a room assigner is to assign rooms so that there are no gaps. Unless you have a lot of folks making one-night reservations, assigning rooms when making the reservation will reduce the capacity of the resort, which is something that isn't even permitted with DVC.

 

[crisi]

Whats wrong with just assigning the room when the reservation is made? I make a request for a specific date they check the computer for that date if there is a room ie; non smoking, view of DD available for the dates I want I get it. If I plan 11 months out but can't get an early flight and I have to arrive at 8pm should I be stuck with whatever is leftover? Sounds like this should be a no brainer. Handicaped rooms should be saved for handicapped patrons unless all other rooms are booked. All smoking request should be treated equally or everyone will just say it's medical. Everyone gets the same 11 month or 7 month window and should plan thier vacations accordinly.
Having said all that I've booked three months out already and had no trouble getting a room, I have yet to see a bad room...

Pretty much because people book three months out and don't all arrive on Saturday and check out on Saturday. i.e. you want a non-smoking room, booking on short notice. But the resort is pretty darn full when you book. They can put you in a smoking room the day you check in and for a few more days, but during your trip is booked for a smoker, but a non-smoking room opens up, so you move.

You see this currently with last minute bookings at resorts - i.e. "we were able to get 2 nights at BCVs, then three nights at OKW, then we needed to move for the last two nights over to SSR. They didn't have a week open anywhere." It doesn't happen a lot (usually you can string together a full week somewhere) but it does happen.

Few people like moving mid trip, and its costly as the rooms require a full cleaning.

sjdisneywedding: What happens when the HA room is the only non-smoking room left in the resort? Does it get booked by someone non-handicapped (and the handicapped person is told "snooze you lose" when they try and book). Or is it put into some sort of "likely" status for the first booker ("I have you booked in a non-smoking room, but its HA. If someone requires that room, I will have to move you to a smoking-optional room").

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I just skimmed the points and I am getting a headache.

I did have one thought about room assignments made at reservation - not really feasible or even a good allocation of DVC CM resources, IMO. With all reservation changes made in 11 moinths, all the last minute changes, especially around the 31 day period, and even with the last minute wait-list, cancellations, etc., it doesn't make sense to me. Just ONE reservation can mess up previously scheduled room assignments. I think more people would be upset at having to move every night because that's where the non-previously booked rooms are then not getting any of their requests.

Can you imagine, "Sir, good news, 100% of your requests were met on nights 2, 4, and 6!!!!"

Well, I'll seriously worry about room assignments and room requests when I get an absolutely horrible room. Until then, I'll keep an ear out but won't worry about it too much cause it hasn't personally affected me yet.

 

[magicmama]

Medical requests should always be honored first. And now I get a little confused about what would be best after that. I'm just happy to have a non-smoking room!
I haven't been to an annual meeting yet. Is this something to bring up at the meeting? This sounds like something that should be talked about at the annual DVC member meetings.
How many of you go to the annual meetings?

 

[sjdisneywedding]

Room assignment when making the reservation results in a lot of problems. The job of a room assigner is to assign rooms so that there are no gaps. Unless you have a lot of folks making one-night reservations, assigning rooms when making the reservation will reduce the capacity of the resort, which is something that isn't even permitted with DVC.

I dont know what century you guys are living in but there wouldnt be a "room assigner" its all in a software program.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

sjdisneywedding: What happens when the HA room is the only non-smoking room left in the resort? Does it get booked by someone non-handicapped (and the handicapped person is told "snooze you lose" when they try and book). Or is it put into some sort of "likely" status for the first booker ("I have you booked in a non-smoking room, but its HA. If someone requires that room, I will have to move you to a smoking-optional room").

crisi, thats a great point. honestly I dont know. i guess maybe your scenario would be the result. Not perfect but still think this option is better. At least the person booking knows up front what the deal is. They wont get there thinking they have a shot at a NS, NHA, room only to find they have a smoking room. Neither system is perfect, theres no denying that, but this way here people have choices. Theres no choices once you pay hundreds of dollars to fly down and arrive to find your requests arent met. what are you going to do then, fly home?

This way at the very least you save your money replan your trip and have a nice happy disney time

 

[sjdisneywedding]

I just skimmed the points and I am getting a headache.

I did have one thought about room assignments made at reservation - not really feasible or even a good allocation of DVC CM resources, IMO. With all reservation changes made in 11 moinths, all the last minute changes, especially around the 31 day period, and even with the last minute wait-list, cancellations, etc., it doesn't make sense to me. Just ONE reservation can mess up previously scheduled room assignments. I think more people would be upset at having to move every night because that's where the non-previously booked rooms are then not getting any of their requests.

Can you imagine, "Sir, good news, 100% of your requests were met on nights 2, 4, and 6!!!!"

Well, I'll seriously worry about room assignments and room requests when I get an absolutely horrible room. Until then, I'll keep an ear out but won't worry about it too much cause it hasn't personally affected me yet.

the changing around of reservations really makes no difference at all. Its all computerized, if someone cancels a room that was NS it simply goes back into inventory. No different than booking a PV at BWV and changing it to SV later or vice versa.

 

[bicker]

I dont know what century you guys are living in but there wouldnt be a "room assigner" its all in a software program.

Not yet. Maybe someday, but there is still a human being involved.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

the biggest thing I see is everyone seems to think this is some major technological invention. In reality half the world(ok maybe not exactly half)already uses this booking procedure. Its has its complications, problem areas, advantages and disadvantages, but please stop saying its too hard to accomplish because thats just not true.

yes theres a lot of turn around, a high occupancy level, and odd check in check out times, but other high occupany hotels do it, other timeshares do it, inclusive resorts do it, heck even DVC does it at BWV with views. So give me a break with the its too difficult arguement.

 

[bicker]

Only cruise ships and boutique hotels allow folks to book specific rooms.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

Only cruise ships and boutique hotels allow folks to book specific rooms.

Sorry but this is completely 100% FALSE! I travel for a living, sometimes as many as a couple hundred nights a year and almost EVERY hotel I have ever stayed has a guarenteed NS request.

Guess you never stayed at BWV and chose between a SV or PV room