Designing an Equitable Allocation System

[sjdisneywedding]

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

yeah a human being uses the software program. Thats the extent of their involvement in assigning rooms.

 

[crisi]

bicker wasn't saying no one guarentees NS, he was saying only a few places guarentee a specific room. In general, they have rather inflexible booking policies - i.e. a cruise ship departs Saturday, arrives back in port the next Saturday, they aren't turning over rooms each day of the week. The same with some other timeshares - if you are required to book a week, defined as Saturday to Saturday, that makes it much easier to book a specific room. The problem with specific rooms (or room guarentees so specific that you might as well be booking a specific room - how many dedicated two bedrooms with two queens non smoking non handicapped high floor Epcot view rooms are there?) is that the possibility of leaving holes happens - i.e. I check out of that room with my guarentee on Tuesday, but you won't check into that room with your guarentee until Saturday. And DVC isn't designed for holes, its designed to operate at or near capacity.

So the next question on this software program. I book a room, and I'm a little late at making my reservations. My request is non-smoking, but I'm late enough that I don't get it. I book smoking. A month later someone cancels their non-smoking reservation for my dates. Is the room reallocated to me automatically? Or does the person lucky enough to call MS that day get the room? How about if it isn't all the days, but I'll only have to move once? What about one day in the middle? Should MS call me before moving me? Is their a waitlist?

(In my experience, a non-smoking guarentee at a hotel isn't worth a lot. If you check in late and the hotel is at capacity you are lucky if they have your guarenteed room, much less with your smoking preference, I've been "moved" to a different hotel because they don't have room for me. I've been stiffed on guarenteed rental cars (sorry, we just rented our last one, yes, I know that's a confirmation you are holding), too. They do always gladly refund my deposit. Hotels, if they have the opportunity, overbook figuring some people won't show)

 

[skelooch]

I agree somewhat with the medical needs coming first, as long as views aren't included with the medical needs. I can also foresee I lot more members claiming medical needs. If you request a NS or HA you should get it regardless of where it is, just don't ask for it to have an EPCOT or pool view also.

I always request specific rooms by number and generally use at least 10 or 12, when I arrive I ask if any of them are on the room ready list if one is that's great. If not I ask if any of them will be coming available that day, if one is I tell them I'll take it. They aren't allowed to tell me which one of my rooms it is but I'm happy and I wait for the room to be ready, which in a few cases as been well after 4pm. It seems to work pretty well for me. I'm also a smoker but I don't let that restrict the rooms I request because I would never smoke in the room anyway even if it was a smoking room. I wouldn't care if they made all the rooms NS, probably not a bad idea. That would solve soom of the problems.

I too don't think there is an easy solution, preassignment doesn't work and giving preference to the earliest reseravation is just to difficult to control with members staying all different of numbers of days. It would work fine if everyone arrived on the same day and stayed the same number of days. It would mean that they would possibly have to leave rooms empty for a night or two to make sure it was available for the person it was assigned to.

There is no one solution that will work for everyone, in the meantime I'm going to keep using my system, it's worked pretty well so far. I'll be home again in 12 days and let you know how I make out this time.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

bicker wasn't saying no one guarentees NS, he was saying only a few places guarentee a specific room. In general, they have rather inflexible booking policies - i.e. a cruise ship departs Saturday, arrives back in port the next Saturday, they aren't turning over rooms each day of the week. The same with some other timeshares - if you are required to book a week, defined as Saturday to Saturday, that makes it much easier to book a specific room. The problem with specific rooms (or room guarentees so specific that you might as well be booking a specific room - how many dedicated two bedrooms with two queens non smoking non handicapped high floor Epcot view rooms are there?) is that the possibility of leaving holes happens - i.e. I check out of that room with my guarentee on Tuesday, but you won't check into that room with your guarentee until Saturday. And DVC isn't designed for holes, its designed to operate at or near capacity.

So the next question on this software program. I book a room, and I'm a little late at making my reservations. My request is non-smoking, but I'm late enough that I don't get it. I book smoking. A month later someone cancels their non-smoking reservation for my dates. Is the room reallocated to me automatically? Or does the person lucky enough to call MS that day get the room? How about if it isn't all the days, but I'll only have to move once? What about one day in the middle? Should MS call me before moving me? Is their a waitlist?

(In my experience, a non-smoking guarentee at a hotel isn't worth a lot. If you check in late and the hotel is at capacity you are lucky if they have your guarenteed room, much less with your smoking preference, I've been "moved" to a different hotel because they don't have room for me. I've been stiffed on guarenteed rental cars (sorry, we just rented our last one, yes, I know that's a confirmation you are holding), too. They do always gladly refund my deposit. Hotels, if they have the opportunity, overbook figuring some people won't show)

crisi, you keep going back to changing rooms in the middle of stays arguement. My arguement back is its up to the individual, if they want to change becuase the request is that imortant to them then they can if it isnt they dont accept those reservations. very simple.

As far as your question about rooms becoming available after previous cancellations, i would answer: what happens now when you call and the room you want is not available? You make another reservation! and/or you get put on a waiting list. its not rocket science its all generated by computer software programs.

The high occupancy doesnt really doesnt pose that much of a problem. people will fill the rooms, most of the people here say these requests dont matter one way or another to them. so either they are telling the truth and will be able to be flexible and fit into the open rooms or they are lying.

we arent changing the number of rooms or the number of dvc members. the rooms will still be occupied at the same high level. Its just that people wont be misled as to what type of room they are getting.

Based on past polls and posts, mostly everyone gets what they request anyway as far as NS and HA. So wheres the problem is letting people know ahead of time, so for those that really do care, they can have options.

 

[Disney Fanatic]

I have to jump in on this one.

I mentioned in another thread that I went to the Fairfield presentation at the Daytona Ocean Walk Resort and one BIG PLUS which they were pushing was the fact you could book your exact room 11 months out. They give you a detailed map of the resort and encourage you to book early the room # you want....Guaranteed!!!

Now their program is all points based as well as week based so they have the same booking issues as Disney, but they seem to be able to do it.

I really think Disney should be able to some how be able to build a program that can do just this.

As a person who just rented points and stayed at OKW, I definately DO NOT think I should have any type of priority over the DVC owner themselves. I don't even think I should have equal status. DVC owners are the ones who paid BIG bucks to be part of DVC and should definately take priority over me just renting their points for any type of room requests. I know if I was an owner and received a less desireable room than someone buying points, I would not be a happy camper!!

Just my 2 cents....

 

[Dean]

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

First, all medical issues do not come under the ADA. Then there's the idea that MOST timeshares are treated like Condo's and thus exempt from most of the ADA requirements. I know a number of the Marriott's have wording in their documents that even service animals must be registered, pre-approved and insured as an example.

I realize that there are many perspectives but here's mine. The order of preference should be

• Owner at THAT resort
• Other DVC owners
• Cash renters (from CRO)
• Exchangers.

Within that list, only generic requests should be accepted. Since HC rooms are booked directly, they would be bypassed having already been taken out of the pool. DVC should accept only general view or areas and smoking/non plus grouping multiple rooms under a single group. In no circumstances should an owner at THAT resort take a back seat to anyone else no matter when they booked. Time of booking should only be a tie breaker based on the other issues. This is the only fair way to do it. IMO of course.

As for guaranteeing smoking vs NS, even the hotels that say they do, leave themselves an out if something happens.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

bicker wasn't saying no one guarentees NS, he was saying only a few places guarentee a specific room. In general, they have rather inflexible booking policies - i.e. a cruise ship departs Saturday, arrives back in port the next Saturday, they aren't turning over rooms each day of the week. The same with some other timeshares - if you are required to book a week, defined as Saturday to Saturday, that makes it much easier to book a specific room. The problem with specific rooms (or room guarentees so specific that you might as well be booking a specific room - how many dedicated two bedrooms with two queens non smoking non handicapped high floor Epcot view rooms are there?) is that the possibility of leaving holes happens - i.e. I check out of that room with my guarentee on Tuesday, but you won't check into that room with your guarentee until Saturday. And DVC isn't designed for holes, its designed to operate at or near capacity.

bicker may not be talking about NS specifically but thats what I am reffering to along with HA. Again we really have to separate this floor and room # and proximity to elavators and stuff of that nature, even I will admit thats going way to far overboard. I mean those arent really deal breakers. Thats just being picky and wanting it all. Those are more like things when you ask for when you check in if you can happen to lucky enough. NS and HA are 2 totally different issues. these 2 issues can make or break a families vacation for whatever reason. I know alot of people who would rather not go on vacation at all if they have to stay in a smoking room and I think its their RIGHT to know this info BEFORE they travel all the way to WDW.

also as far as the hotels guarentee on NS rooms goes, in my experience, I have stayed probably 1000 nights over the last 5 years and I only had 1 smoking room that was booked as a Ns and I was comped a night for the mix up. Ill take that 1000-1 ratio over my current 3 rooms -3 mix ups at DVC any day.

 

[crisi]

I'm trying to figure out the logistics here. Perhaps I am dense, and there will be no "holes." But I can't figure out how that happens. When I book a room on short notice for seven nights and there is only one room available each of those seven nights in the resort, and two nights its non-smoking, then three nights its smoking, then two nights its non-smoking, I'm not sure how I avoid moving. Unless I choose not to book, in which case, in order for rooms to be occupied at the same rate, someone else has to be willing to move, or be taking short vacations that happen to slot correctly. I think more people will be upset at moving than upset at not having their requests met. And I suspect that a lot of people will "refuse to move" causing even bigger scenes at the front desk. The CM I talked to last trip said this is a problem with the BW View - that every week they have to toss someone out of the room who was able to book it for one or two nights, and then is supposed to move, but doesn't want to.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

I have to jump in on this one.

I mentioned in another thread that I went to the Fairfield presentation at the Daytona Ocean Walk Resort and one BIG PLUS which they were pushing was the fact you could book your exact room 11 months out. They give you a detailed map of the resort and encourage you to book early the room # you want....Guaranteed!!!

Now their program is all points based as well as week based so they have the same booking issues as Disney, but they seem to be able to do it.

I really think Disney should be able to some how be able to build a program that can do just this.

As a person who just rented points and stayed at OKW, I definately DO NOT think I should have any type of priority over the DVC owner themselves. I don't even think I should have equal status. DVC owners are the ones who paid BIG bucks to be part of DVC and should definately take priority over me just renting their points for any type of room requests. I know if I was an owner and received a less desireable room than someone buying points, I would not be a happy camper!!

Just my 2 cents....

well there you go!!!

can we at the very least get off the arguement that it is not done anywhere else and the it cant be done arguement

 

[skelooch]

Disney Fanatic,

Let's say I book room 422 at the 11month window and I'm arriving on a sunday, let's say the people in the room prior to me are checking out on friday unless they have a reservation for only friday and saturday nights that room is going to sit empty for two nights if they guarranteed me the room, I don't think they're going to let that happen.
Another example, again I book day by day for room 422 again ariving sunday,staying for 4 nights, someone calls the next day and wants room 422 but is arriving saturday but is staying for 7 days, who get the room?

I have a bad feeling that they'll bump me for the 7 night stay, but I sure hope I'm wrong.

 

[TCPluto]

Its just that people wont be misled as to what type of room they are getting.

No one is being misled. Everyone should know that these requests are just that, and not guaranteed.

Some of the newer members of DVC seem to have a hard time understanding this and, therefore, may have made an unwise purchase.

 

[Deb & Bill]

First, all medical issues do not come under the ADA. Then there's the idea that MOST timeshares are treated like Condo's and thus exempt from most of the ADA requirements. I know a number of the Marriott's have wording in their documents that even service animals must be registered, pre-approved and insured as an example.

I realize that there are many perspectives but here's mine. The order of preference should be

• Owner at THAT resort
• Other DVC owners
• Cash renters (from CRO)
• Exchangers.

Within that list, only generic requests should be accepted. Since HC rooms are booked directly, they would be bypassed having already been taken out of the pool. DVC should accept only general view or areas and smoking/non plus grouping multiple rooms under a single group. In no circumstances should an owner at THAT resort take a back seat to anyone else no matter when they booked. Time of booking should only be a tie breaker based on the other issues. This is the only fair way to do it. IMO of course.

As for guaranteeing smoking vs NS, even the hotels that say they do, leave themselves an out if something happens.

If smoking was prohibited in DVC resorts, and smoking areas provided, then that would eliminate a lot of the problems - except for the smokers who like to smoke in their room.

One problem with your list would be an owner at a certain resort who used points from two resorts to get their reservation. We have points at three resorts and often combine them after 7 months to get the number of days we need.

 

[tjkraz]

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.

Do-tell. I'd love to hear that list of hotels that allows guests to book a specific room.

 

[Dean]

If smoking was prohibited in DVC resorts, and smoking areas provided, then that would eliminate a lot of the problems - except for the smokers who like to smoke in their room.

One problem with your list would be an owner at a certain resort who used points from two resorts to get their reservation. We have points at three resorts and often combine them after 7 months to get the number of days we need.

Personally I'd be happy to eliminate smoking and enforce it with gusto. In the scenario you mentioned, one would be treated as a non home resort owner or have two separate reservations.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

I'm trying to figure out the logistics here. Perhaps I am dense, and there will be no "holes." But I can't figure out how that happens. When I book a room on short notice for seven nights and there is only one room available each of those seven nights in the resort, and two nights its non-smoking, then three nights its smoking, then two nights its non-smoking, I'm not sure how I avoid moving. Unless I choose not to book, in which case, in order for rooms to be occupied at the same rate, someone else has to be willing to move, or be taking short vacations that happen to slot correctly. I think more people will be upset at moving than upset at not having their requests met. And I suspect that a lot of people will "refuse to move" causing even bigger scenes at the front desk. The CM I talked to last trip said this is a problem with the BW View - that every week they have to toss someone out of the room who was able to book it for one or two nights, and then is supposed to move, but doesn't want to.

no your not dense, your correct in that if you wanted 7 nights and in that scenario, then you would either have to move or remove your request. or try another date or try another resort. Its give you the options. I think its better than getting all the way down there to find out you have a smoking room for a week.


you are also correct in the occupancy theory where shorter stays would be necessary to completely fill all rooms but I dont think its that big a problem. Theres tons and tons of varying vacations being booked all the time. some short, some long, some medium length. The same way you get those crazy breaks in your example where only 1 NS room is available for 2 days, then smoking for 3 etc is the same way they get filled as well-by people taking all sorts of various lenghts vacations.

I mean we really are not talking about slicing up all kinds of blocks of rooms in tiny tiny blocks that arent easily managable. At least i am not, I'm only talking about NS and HA. The majority of rooms are NS and NHA anyway so reaqlly there should not be that big of a difference anyway.

If we start to add in floor #, building #, proximity to elevator etc then you start to have major problems.

 

[SoCalKDG]

well there you go!!!

can we at the very least get off the arguement that it is not done anywhere else and the it cant be done arguement

It can be done, but room vacancies will increase. The real question is what pct. increase will there be in room vacancies? Is DVC/Disney willing to accept rooms not being filled on certain days?

I would think that they could take 1/2 of the rooms and make them reservation ready, then use the balance as run of the house, thus helping to elimanate some of the bubbles that may occur, while at the same time rewarding the early 11 month bookers.

 

[tjkraz]

(In my experience, a non-smoking guarentee at a hotel isn't worth a lot. If you check in late and the hotel is at capacity you are lucky if they have your guarenteed room, much less with your smoking preference, I've been "moved" to a different hotel because they don't have room for me. I've been stiffed on guarenteed rental cars (sorry, we just rented our last one, yes, I know that's a confirmation you are holding), too. They do always gladly refund my deposit. Hotels, if they have the opportunity, overbook figuring some people won't show)

Well I am glad someone finally said it!!!

The "non-smoking guarantee" at most hotels is a farce. Commercial hotels don't have the occupancy levels of timeshares. They'll take any and all reservations, claim things are guaranteed, and 99% of the time have occupancy levels with more than enough buffer to accommodate every guest.

Many hotels with higher occupancy rates will monitor reservations and "convert" rooms to non-smoking on a daily basis as necessary. They claim to use high-tech air filtering machines to clean smoking rooms and move them to the NS inventory. Sorry, but I'm just not too keen on that prospect.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

Do-tell. I'd love to hear that list of hotels that allows guests to book a specific room.

its already been pointed out that I was referring to NS requests not SPECIFIC rooms.

but of course, as usual, jump right into an arguement instead of actually giving some type of useful information.

please, by all means keep at it, its really helpful in discussing potential changes

 

[sjdisneywedding]

Well I am glad someone finally said it!!!

The "non-smoking guarantee" at most hotels is a farce. Commercial hotels don't have the occupancy levels of timeshares. They'll take any and all reservations, claim things are guaranteed, and 99% of the time have occupancy levels with more than enough buffer to accommodate every guest.

Many hotels with higher occupancy rates will monitor reservations and "convert" rooms to non-smoking on a daily basis as necessary. They claim to use high-tech air filtering machines to clean smoking rooms and move them to the NS inventory. Sorry, but I'm just not too keen on that prospect.

like I said in the last 5 years I have stayed in over 100o nights in hotels and have had exactly 1 smoking room that was booked as a NS

 

[OneMoreTry]

This is one of the better threads on requests. IMnotsohumbleO.

I agree that getting basic requests should be do-able. Some of the problems seem to be:

The people that care the most don't always get there early in the day. It would be great if all those showing up after 6 had no requests listed.

The rude guests that unexpectedly smoke in a NS making it unsuitable for the medical request NS asthmatic. What can be done if the resort is at capacity and the guest arrives at 11pm??

Agreement on priority order of requests. I think this is where software would have to come in. Guest of member vs member (How would they know this at time of booking?). Early booking nonmedical versus late booking medical. Should a late-booking medical bump an early booking non medical??



BTW: Vistana in Orlando has NO nonsmoking villas. They are all smoking opotional.