DVC Room Request

DVC Grandpa

DVC Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2002
Messages
845
It was my understanding that MS has a goal of fulfilling at least one of the reservation requests. I made only one request my latest reservation and that was a floor on which I wanted to stay. My reservation conformation letter did not show my request although it did say “Requested non-smoking vacation home”. I purposely did not request non-smoking since the floor I requested was designated non-smoking and therefore I only requested the floor…I was trying to get my one request. I called MS when I got my conformation letter to change the notation but was told that ALL reservations must have the smoking/non-smoking designation. This must be the way they can say we honored one of your request.
 
They say they will TRY to fill one request, there's no guarantee they will. If your request is a certain floor, that maybe more difficult to fill, especially if there are few checkouts that day. If they don't have a room on that floor available and see that you don't have a smoking request, they may very well put you in a smoking room. I would not take that chance.
 
I found if you get to check in early you have a 50% chance of getting what you requested changed if they didn't give you what you requested. I only got upon request the view, room or building at any of the resorts and I have stayed at all 7, half the time I go to disney. They try rely hard to help when you are checking in to make your request happen. I feel MS and all the CM do a terrific job over all.
 
I've had trips where they haven't met any of my requests.

Now we only request non-smoking.

We've had really poor luck with floors - always requesting high floors and always ending up on the lowest possible floor.
 

I requested top floor at BWV for my 3 boardwalk view reservations in the past. First time I got it (5th floor), next time 2nd floor, next time 4th floor. So it's luck of the draw. I always request non-smoking and have never not got that.
 
I agree that there is a lot of luck involved. The last 3 trips we requested top floor and ended up on 2nd floor, one HC and twice in the the first BW view room (which actually faces the Village Green, not right on the BW). We always check in at about 1:00 p.m., so it is not because we come late. I hope that the laws of probability will work in our favor next trip to BWV.
 
I think DVC's current goal is to not worry much about requests. It seems to be up to the CM who assigns the room and whether they want to put any thought into it or not.
 
When we usually make our reservations, we generally limit our requests to the non-smoking request. Similarly, when we check-in, we pretty much take whatever room is assigned to us. That being said, I am wondering how particular people are when making requests for location, floor, room number, etc. at the time that they check in to the resort. How specific can you be or does this have to be done at the time that the reservation is made? I have seen references to requesting room upgrades at the time of check-in at the non-DVC resorts and always thought that I would never be quite bold enough to ask for such a thing! I guess I just don't know enough about when they actually assign the rooms for the DVC units (i.e. do they do this prior to check-in or at the time that you arrive at the resort)? Thanks for any input!!
 
They used to assign rooms prior to check in. For both the DVC resorts and the CRO resorts. They had a position called "room assigner" who would stack up the reservations in the order they were made and assign appropriate rooms.

This system had definate advantages - a big one was that people who made there reservations early were rewarded with rooms that met their requests more often than not. That gave home resort owners an advantage. It also had its disadvantages - there may be ten clean rooms when you arrive with your toddler in need of a nap at 11:30 - but the room you've been assigned to just got vacated two minutes ago and won't be cleaned until 4:00. The rationale given was that we owners preferred to get into a room right away than get our requests met (as the mother of two young children at the time, I have to admit that is compelling - though I think it was really about cutting costs).

However, even back then, a squeeky wheel could throw the pre-assignment out of whack - front desk CMs, presented with a guest at 11am who yelled about their location (or needing a clean room now for their soon to be napping toddler) would create "magic" by giving the dissatisfied guest a better room - the room another guest was supposed to check into when they arrived and who had made their reservation earlier.

Several years ago the room assigner responsibility was done away with. Rooms are apparently sometimes preassigned - particularly during busy seasons - or perhaps when someone is bored (we don't really know - it just seems that sometimes rooms have been preassigned). Now what happens is when you show up, available (supposed to be clean and empty - but the system hasn't always been perfect) rooms show up on their screen and the desk CM will put you in one of those. Sometimes desk CMs will look at your requests at that time and try and make a match. Sometimes they will give you the first room that shows on the screen with no attempt to match. Sometimes they will give you the option of several rooms "I have one open here, and one here, and one way down the hall down here."
 
Thanks for the detailed explanation crisi! So would it be reasonable for us to ask at check-in whether they have more than one room to choose from (i.e. if we were looking for a room on a certain floor or in a certain location)? I realize that they don't have to necessarily oblige but I suppose it couldn't hurt to ask at that time? Also, in a circumstance when they might have a number of rooms waiting to be occupied (i.e. the previous occupants have checked out and the new guests are due to check in later that day), is it better to arrive earlier in terms of having more units to choose from? Again, I realize that ultimately, we have no way of knowing how busy the resort is (or whether early check-in will be an option for that matter) but I'm just thinking that if the rooms are assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis, then would you not have a better chance of having your requests fulfilled if you arrive early? Don't be afraid to let me know if my logic is flawed!! :)
 
Your logic is what most of us believe. Showing up late seems to lower your chances of getting your requests met. Showing up very early doesn't seem to help much, though, because they really want to give you the clean rooms - and at 8:00 in the morning, that's usually not much.
 
Your logic is what most of us believe. Showing up late seems to lower your chances of getting your requests met. Showing up very early doesn't seem to help much, though, because they really want to give you the clean rooms - and at 8:00 in the morning, that's usually not much.

Thanks crisi! I certainly wasn't planning on showing up that early ;) , just maybe a couple of hours prior to check-in. In the end, I'm sure that we'll be pleased with wherever they end up putting us!
 



















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