Disney has recently asked the DVC owners to refrain from faxing room requests. They are drowning in them. I'm curious how prevelant the practice is among the general Resort Board folks when booking any WDW resort (not just DVC). So here's the poll.
I was told by the manager at CBR that requests that are on the reservation when you first book it, is what they go by and then when you actually check-in, you are given the requests as long as they are available. Your first request is the main thing they go with, and if they can accommodate the other requests you may have they will. So if tons of people are requesting Martinique, the first ones that arrive at check-in get the requests. This happened to me the first time I went to CBR, I arrived and got to the checkin window by noon, but Trinidad North (my first request) and Martinique were already full, so I got Jamaica, which turned out to be so wonderful that it is my first choice now.
I predict that there will be a policy concerning requests at the rest of the resorts before long. I am sure it is a lot of work for them to wade through all the faxes. Then if someones request is not met then they have an unhappy guest. We have always been successful in asking for an area upon check in. A few times they have worked their Disney magic and we got a wonderful view.
For our one and only trip in June of this year, I faxed the room assignor at CBR with my request to be in Martinique 25. We checked in at 6:00 pm and my request was granted, no problem. I would not have been really upset if it had not been available, but I thought, hey, it couldn't hurt to try.
PamOKW, if I have a request, I make it when I am booking my reservation. I thought I would add to my post that at most of the resorts that I stay in, my request is usually just for a non-smoking room (which, sadly, has not always been met).
I faxed once - when I went on my honeymoon. I had booked a standard view at the GF. I faxed to see if they could put us in a dormer room with a castle view. We got the dormer room but not the castle view. We did get a view of a couple of things at the MK, though. I felt disappointed at first but immediately realized that - hey, I was asking for a freebie - c'est la vie - didn't really have a right to feel disappointed. Since then I've never faxed - I realized that it's probably my nature to get too wrapped up in whether I get my requests met so it's best for me to just go with the flow. The irony is - since I stopped faxing and requesting (other than non-smoking) - I've gotten upgraded a couple of times!! HAHA. Go figure. I think it's more about timing than anything else. Who knows. My husband's sister is in the hotel biz and says that most of the rooms aren't assigned until check-in anyway. But I guess it doesn't hurt to make a request then.
The only request I ever make, and I make it on my reservation, is for a non-smoking room (which I have always gotten). I always book a standard room with whatever the standard view is, since I don't plan to spend a whole lot of time looking out the window! However, on all of my stays at PO Riverside, I've been upgraded to a garden view without asking. I'm always very polite when I check in, and I travel during the off-season, and I check in early. I figure ANY room and ANY view at WDW is better than my office, and the view that I can see from its window (which is a parking lot view LOL!!) Beth
