DVC resorts, procedure for room requests

[disneyberry]

i may be staying at BWV this month, and was wondering about how you go about making room requests?

do the DVC resorts handle them differently? i know regular Disney resorts, you can call or fax the resort room controller about 4 days before your arrival date to make requests.

please offer your advice!

 

[eva]

I find the best way to make room requests is to make them when you are making your reservations. MS will take the requests at that time and put them in the order of priority for you. We have done this everytime and usually get what we request. Timing is everything in DVC. The people that make their room requests through MS first are given priority. So the earlier that you make the requests the better.

 

[disneyberry]

how about for cash paying non-DVC members? since those rooms are released much later, does that mean that you pretty much have no chance of getting your room requests?

and... can you even fax the room controller your requests or will that be ignored?

 

[wdw1972]

As someone already stated, they try to meet requests based on when you made them - it makes sense to make your requests when you make your reservation. It's also been reported that if you call & modify your reservation (to change something or simply to add a request), then your *date* changes to that date, and that's the date used for determining when your current requests were made. For that reason, I make my requests when I book - at 11 months out. I've never been disappointed, in years of 6 or more trips per year.

I personally see no reason to waste my time or Disney's faxing requests prior to arrival....even at non-dvc resorts I make my requests at reservation time and almost always get what's been requested.

I have called the morning of my arrival to see if my room is ready (meaning it would have had to have been empty the night before) if I'm already staying on property somewhere, and asked about changing to a different room if mine's not ready but others are. So, while a cash customer will be at the bottom of the request list (along with last-minute dvc bookers), it costs nothing to make a request, and due to last minute changes it just might happen that the stuff requested can be met.

I'm not sure if they give priority to dvc members if they've got 2 reservations both made at the same time....I would think so, but I'm not sure. There are so many wonderful rooms at the dvc resorts, I can't see obsessing over it that extent!

 

[Firefighter Mickey]

I have never heard about the if you change your requests it becomes based on the date you change. I doubt that such information is actually tracked in the system. In fact, when I recently had to change a request, the person in MS commented that since the reservation was made so long ago, that I had a good chance of getting the request.

I had a discussion at Vero Beach with a former room assigner, and this is the way I was told it was done:

Requests are ordered by the date the reservation was made, within that set,
Medical requests take the next priority
Then smoking preferences
All other requests

Room assignments are generally made 3 to 4 days prior to an arrival date. Reservations with no requests are usually not assigned until check-in.

 

[DebbieB]

One thing a fax can be good for is to list alternate requests if your first request is not available. That way the room controller has an idea of what you are looking for. It can get complicated to list alternates on your original reservation.