Does Dolphin make room assignments before you checkin, if so, how soon?

[BC]

Just wondered if we wait until checkin to ask for a comp upgrade would it be too late if room assignments are already made? Also, if we fax a request, how soon should I send it?

 

[bellman]

Can tell you for sure but I read in one of the 74 pages of post from the Swan/Dolphin FAQ that they do room assignments on Fridays. I also read in that you should fax in your request about 5 days before check in.

 

[Sammy]

BC:

We just returned from a great Dolphin vacation so I'll try to help. This is what I did for my room request: I had booked just a standard room for an 8-day stay.....gov't rate. Two weeks prior to arrival date, I went onto the Dolphin website and clicked on "Reservations". From there, there is a link for "Special room requests". I explained what kind of room I wanted, the view I was looking for, etc., and sent it along. On the day of check-in, the CM made no mention of any of my room requests, so when I handed her my Starwood Preferred card to be sure she credited the stay to my account, I asked her if there were any possibility of an upgrade (I did not have any points). She looked in her computer and said she found a room with a "great view", but didn't specify. Well, the pixie dust was flying because she gave us a room on the 8th floor in the East Wing....directly facing BC/YC and Spaceship Earth!! We watched IllumiNations from our room 3 times! This was a complimentary upgrade...we didn't pay anything extra for the room.

I would certainly send the email to the hotel AND ask at check-in. If you don't have one, the Starwood Preferred Card doesn't hurt either.

Good luck and I'd be happy to answer any other Dolphin questions for you!

Sammy

 

[webray]

Sammy...

wow, that is excellent. What day did you check in on?

 

[Sammy]

webray: we checked in on a Saturday afternoon around 1:30/2:00. I was a little disappointed at first because when I asked for the upgrade, the CM offered us a balcony for an extra $30/night. I declined and must have sounded really disappointed because she said, "let me see what I can do..." and found the "view" for us. I wish I knew how to post a pic here, because the photos of the view from our room are absolutely amazing! We could even see the Cirque tent and saw the PI fireworks one night when we were up verrrrrry late!

Sammy

 

[Dolphin_Girl008]

Good for you, Sammy! We'll be staying at the Dolphin in December (Dec 13-26)... I hope we'll be able to get an upgrade. We'll be checking in on a Saturday (late morning/early afternoon).

 

[webray]

Well, I guess that is how our room with the view on the 8th floor, which we had paid extra for, disappeared....ugh.

 

[webray]

I am not saying that to be mean sammy...just to let you know...there are two ways rooms are assigned...when you reserve it and then the room controller...the person who took our ressie...gave us room on 8th floor, balcony, great view...yes, i paid extra for the balcony/view.

When we arrived...the room had been given to someone else...let's just say, we were not happy...we paid extra for the not so great view on a lower floor.

 

[Sammy]

webray: I'm sorry to hear about your room. I was not aware you could actually reserve a specific room or area when you made ressies....that's good to know for the future. I did not reserve a specific room or area....the CM hadn't even given me a room assignment before I asked for the upgrade. If you paid for a specific view or room and didn't get it, I'd be pretty upset too! Did you call or go back to see if it could be changed?

Sammy