Did I misunderstand CRO?

[esk]

Called CRO to make ressies for May 2005 -- wanted to just book a 2BR Villa at BWV or B/Y Clubs, and then later apply either military, annual pass or AAA discount. Planned to pay first night's stay to hold the ressie and apply discount later.

CRO told me that wouldn't work, because chances are, when those discount codes for 2005 come out, there wouldn't be any 2BRs available. I told her I would already have one, since I would pay the deposit, and we could just apply the code to that existing ressie.

She said it doesn't work that way......they would have to cancel my existing and get me a new one, and I would probably lose my 2BR.

Am confused. Did I misunderstand everything I've read on these boards, or did I get a new CRO person (she did'nt know any of the codes and I had to read them to her off Mousesavers) and she just doesn't know? She also told me to book my villa through Shades of Green, and I know they don't book the Home Away from Homes....

Help!

 

[DebbieB]

That is correct. They will only apply the discount if they have AP availability for your resort/room size when the discount is released. So if there are no discounted 2 bedrooms left when the discount comes out, they will not apply the discount to your exisiting reservation. The people who were able to apply the discount to an existing reservation must have had availability for their resort when the discount came out. In effect, they have to cancel/rebook internally to get the discount.

I recently got the e-mail discount. Disneyworld.com showed availability for a 1 bedroom at BWV, but when I called they did not show that room as available for the discount so I would have had to pay rack rate. I booked BWI instead, they had discounted rooms.

 

[maraakl]

Or perhaps they were not trying to reserve at a member resort.

 

[LisaZoe]

As I understand it, the discounts are usually for only a certain number of rooms per resort and may also be only for some of the room types at a resort - especially the deluxes. So the CRO CM may have been trying to explain that a discount might not be applicable to a 2BR so if you still wanted the discount, you'd have to change room types.

Another possibility may be that the discount would be limited to only 1 2BR and likely to go in the first few minutes of availability. So, you could still have your existing ressie for a 2BR and not be able to apply the discount because the number of discounts available for that room type were already gone.

Hope that made sense?

 

[esk]

Thanks all, it does make sense, I'm just disappointed!!! I know I need to make ressies this far out to GET a 2BR, but can't really swing the $4,000 needed to do so. Last time, we made them in March for July, 2BR at OKW, and had no problems...military rate is 40% off, and that is obviously a huge savings.

Am going to try DU to see if they can help. Haven't used them before, but am hopeful.

 

[NHmouse]

As a DVC member and frequenter of the villas almost all of the inventory is only DVC. A few units are set aside for CRO and these are supplemented at the 60 day mark by any DVC units which are not booked. It is becoming increasing harder to find discounted units for the CRO side since DVC is growing so quickly. The inventory belongs to us. I might suggest you look into renting points from a dvc member since this is almost always less expensive than the rack rate especially if you have your heart set on a 2 bedroom villa.

 

[zurgswife]

I also second trying to rent points...the savings can be as high as 50%....good luck...

Also at the BWV there are a limited number of 2 bdrms...which are highly sout after by members

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by esk
Thanks all, it does make sense, I'm just disappointed!!! I know I need to make ressies this far out to GET a 2BR, but can't really swing the $4,000 needed to do so. Last time, we made them in March for July, 2BR at OKW, and had no problems...military rate is 40% off, and that is obviously a huge savings.

Am going to try DU to see if they can help. Haven't used them before, but am hopeful.

OKW usually has the most availability through CRO. You are more likely to get a discount there. BWV has limited non-member availability due to the location near MGM & Epcot. 2 bedrooms are especially hard to get because they are all lockoffs.