DVC temporary policy rooms now between 4pm and 6pm?

[Wedgeout]

Fun thought..should be more like mobile order or doing online checkin when arrive for an ADR. They could still do their best on requests but system would know when you are in range. You hit check in. You check a few boxes. You get the “working on it” and it spits out a room number by 4pm. Otherwise you get the notification to please come to the front desk.

 

[DL1WDW2]

There are ways to improve room readiness, but people won't like them.

- They could suspend room requests until staffing is better. Assign rooms at check in.

- Disallow split stays, or put a surcharge on them to pay for the extra housekeeping fee if you transfer sooner than 4 days (when the towel service happens). IMO split stays are most of the problem.

- A lot of timeshares require guests to do a certain amount of tidying up before they leave, like stripping the beds and gathering towels.

I actually agree with this. Great suggestions .

 

[lowlight]

Jus

There are ways to improve room readiness, but people won't like them.

- They could suspend room requests until staffing is better. Assign rooms at check in.

- Disallow split stays, or put a surcharge on them to pay for the extra housekeeping fee if you transfer sooner than 4 days (when the towel service happens). IMO split stays are most of the problem.

- A lot of timeshares require guests to do a certain amount of tidying up before they leave, like stripping the beds and gathering towels.

Those are all great ways for owners to take the punishment for something that isn’t their fault. I personally like the suggestion of “make Disney uphold the standards we were sold on that are actually just basic hotel standards of having your room ready at check in time”.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Those are all great ways for owners to take the punishment for something that isn’t their fault. I personally like the suggestion of “make Disney uphold the standards we were sold on that are actually just basic hotel standards of having your room ready at check in time”.

Is it a hotel though?

Also, I think the things I mentioned absolutely are guest's fault. Don't take that to mean I think you're some kind of horrible person if you make a room request, I do it too, but it can cause a hiccup in the system.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Is it a hotel though?

Also, I think the things I mentioned absolutely are guest's fault. Don't take that to mean I think you're some kind of horrible person if you make a room request, I do it too, but it can cause a hiccup in the system.

Eh if there's a limit of days that can be booked together that's not on the guest. Split stays most often seem to occur when people are piecing together a trip. Sure an owner can purchase enough points to cover what they need but those days also need to be available to book. Plus there are people who are staying there who rented the points or paid cash for the rooms that Disney has in their hands.

It's like 7 days might be easier than 6 days or 8 days. Booking a Friday-Sunday may be easier than trying to book a Thursday-Monday or the converse may be true.

On the hotel side Disney absolutely employs booking restrictions and sometimes that means someone is staying somewhere else for a night or two to bridge it.

The last thing Disney wants to do is discourage people from staying longer on their property, they'd rather you stay longer (be it a DVC owner or renter or just the guest who pays cash from their website).

 

[McCrae]

Disney and the tourist industry in Florida is heavily dependent upon overseas workers coming to work on a short term basis. The shortages we are seeing now is a direct result of the US closing it’s borders to international travellers for the last 2 years. Now borders are open again pressure from Labour shortages will start to get better, but it won’t be an over night fix. It will be 2023 at the earliest before things get back to normal.

 

[tgropp]

There are ways to improve room readiness, but people won't like them.

- They could suspend room requests until staffing is better. Assign rooms at check in.


I don’t think that room requests are a problem as most people report, they don’t get them anyway. I Usually leave our room on departure day between 8-9 and let housekeeping know that they are free to clean. Hopefully everyone alerts housekeeping when they leave. A major problem is people leaving after 11. Five /ten minutes late makes a difference. Try charging people an extra days rate if they have not checked out on time



- Disallow split stays, or put a surcharge on them to pay for the extra housekeeping fee if you transfer sooner than 4 days (when the towel service happens). IMO split stays are most of the problem.



I have 125 points at BRV and 125 at BCV. When we go, we need a 2BR which allows us 3 nights yearly at each resort. I don’t think that Disney would legally have the right to punish me for three night stays,



- A lot of timeshares require guests to do a certain amount of tidying up before they leave, like stripping the beds and gathering towels.



This! We always take all of our trash to the trash room, dishes washed and towels piled in one heap from both washrooms. And leave a good tip.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Eh if there's a limit of days that can be booked together that's not on the guest. Split stays most often seem to occur when people are piecing together a trip. Sure an owner can purchase enough points to cover what they need but those days also need to be available to book. Plus there are people who are staying there who rented the points or paid cash for the rooms that Disney has in their hands.

It's like 7 days might be easier than 6 days or 8 days. Booking a Friday-Sunday may be easier than trying to book a Thursday-Monday or the converse may be true.

On the hotel side Disney absolutely employs booking restrictions and sometimes that means someone is staying somewhere else for a night or two to bridge it.

The last thing Disney wants to do is discourage people from staying longer on their property, they'd rather you stay longer (be it a DVC owner or renter or just the guest who pays cash from their website).

I added two days at Saratoga last summer last minute. It sure was my fault for not booking sooner so I could tie it to my first reservation. Like I said, it doesn't make you a bad person, but understandably adds a burden to staff.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I added two days at Saratoga last summer last minute. It sure was my fault for not booking sooner so I could tie it to my first reservation. Like I said, it doesn't make you a bad person, but understandably adds a burden to staff.

uh I'm sorry but what does your story have to do with what I said? I wasn't talking about last minute, I wasn't talking about it being someone's fault for not booking sooner. I was talking about policy Disney (and other hotels have) on days available to book, on just how it is sometimes with trying to piece together your trip (which has nothing to do with last minute). Geez you sure are concerned with absolving people of being a bad person whilst blaming them in the same breath

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

uh I'm sorry but what does your story have to do with what I said? I wasn't talking about last minute, I wasn't talking about it being someone's fault for not booking sooner. I was talking about policy Disney (and other hotels have) on days available to book, on just how it is sometimes with trying to piece together your trip (which has nothing to do with last minute). Geez you sure are concerned with absolving people of being a bad person whilst blaming them in the same breath

Sounds like I misunderstood you somewhere. Getting a little off topic now so I'll bow out. Good night.

 

[Sandisw]

Is it a hotel though?

Also, I think the things I mentioned absolutely are guest's fault. Don't take that to mean I think you're some kind of horrible person if you make a room request, I do it too, but it can cause a hiccup in the system.

It’s not hotel vs timeshare for me but rather that we hire Disney to prepare rooms and manage the property and there should be accountability for it.

I definitely think room requests should go and no room number sent to a guest until 4:00 pm or someone is at the resort and checks in, then first available clean room is given.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I wonder if the other room that was clean was assigned to someone that had a room request. If so, I wonder if Disney should pause allowing room requests until the can adequately staff cleaning. I think it makes sense to give someone standing there at 2pm the ready room versus holding that room for someone who arrives at 8pm.

Sorry, but I am going to respectfully disagree on this. Check in starts at 4:00. If a guest chooses to arrive at 2:00 that is their decision. But that decision now shouldn't force another guest to lose the room they requested. If you were the person who requested the room you would be pretty upset if it was given to another guest who happened to arrive early.

We have always arrived early for every WDW vacation. However, if our room happens to be ready before 4:00 then I look at it as "pixie dust"...I don't expect it. And I certainly wouldn't expect the resort to bounce another guest out of their requested room simply because I arrived early. There is plenty to do at WDW, so if our room isn't ready until later we have no problems entertaining ourselves. That said, we have typically been very fortunate and our room is usually ready in a timely manner. I think only one time we had to wait a couple hours...but we entertained ourselves during that time.

 

[Sandisw]

Sorry, but I am going to respectfully disagree on this. Check in starts at 4:00. If a guest chooses to arrive at 2:00 that is their decision. But that decision now shouldn't force another guest to lose the room they requested. If you were the person who requested the room you would be pretty upset if it was given to another guest who happened to arrive early.

We have always arrived early for every WDW vacation. However, if our room happens to be ready before 4:00 then I look at it as "pixie dust"...I don't expect it. And I certainly wouldn't expect the resort to bounce another guest out of their requested room simply because I arrived early. There is plenty to do at WDW, so if our room isn't ready until later we have no problems entertaining ourselves. That said, we have typically been very fortunate and our room is usually ready in a timely manner. I think only one time we had to wait a couple hours...but we entertained ourselves during that time.

And don’t give it away until 4 pm…I am fine with that…but why should someone who arrives and is there at 4 pm, not get a clean room because of some random assignment and the cleaning schedule?

Once 4 pm comes, then all clean rooms get assigned to those there, and you don’t allow changes.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

And don’t give it away until 4 pm…I am fine with that…but why should someone who arrives and is there at 4 pm, not get a clean room because of some random assignment and the cleaning schedule?

Once 4 pm comes, then all clean rooms get assigned to those there, and you don’t allow changes.

So you are saying that anyone having a requested room that was granted needs to arrive by 4:00? Otherwise that requested room should be given away? What if their flight doesn't land until 4:00 and they don't get to the resort until 5:00 or 5:30? I usually don't see a long line of people checking in at registration...people arrive at different times of day.

I think the issue is that if, say, 3 families are there at 4:00 then not having enough rooms to accommodate those three families is a problem. People are checking out at all hours of the day...it's not like everyone is checking our right at 11:00am and the housekeeping staff can't change over all those rooms. I realize the resorts are short staffed, but the checkouts are typically staggered. There should be rooms available for the early arrivers.

Personally, I haven't had issues with really long wait times. On our trip last week, our Poly room was ready at 11:00am and our BCV was ready at 1:30pm. This is the experience we usually encounter. The long waits seem to be the exception, not the rule. But if someone gets there at 4:00 and they have to wait until 5:00 for their room I think that isn't a huge problem. And in that instance I don't think a room that has been assigned to someone who requested it should be given away. That's just my opinion. I also see your point of view, though

 

[Sandisw]

So you are saying that anyone having a requested room that was granted needs to arrive by 4:00? Otherwise that requested room should be given away? What if their flight doesn't land until 4:00 and they don't get to the resort until 5:00 or 5:30? I usually don't see a long line of people checking in at registration...people arrive at different times of day.

I think the issue is that if, say, 3 families are there at 4:00 then not having enough rooms to accommodate those three families is a problem. People are checking out at all hours of the day...it's not like everyone is checking our right at 11:00am and the housekeeping staff can't change over all those rooms. I realize the resorts are short staffed, but the checkouts are typically staggered. There should be rooms available for the early arrivers.

Personally, I haven't had issues with really long wait times. On our trip last week, our Poly room was ready at 11:00am and our BCV was ready at 1:30pm. This is the experience we usually encounter. The long waits seem to be the exception, not the rule. But if someone gets there at 4:00 and they have to wait until 5:00 for their room I think that isn't a huge problem. And in that instance I don't think a room that has been assigned to someone who requested it should be given away. That's just my opinion. I also see your point of view, though

I am saying that first available is also a request and should take precedent over other requests if at 4 pm, if someone is there, but doesn’t have a clean room yet.

That is why I don’t and never have agreed there should be room requests because the priority should be as many rooms as possible are handed out at 4 pm that are done.

No owner should be sitting for an hour in the lobby for a room when one is clean and ready to go.

And, for the record, I have waited past 4:30 only twice and most of the time my rooms are ready on time, if not slightly earlier.

But, I have an issue with rooms being held past 4 pm that are done, unless all rooms are done and ready.

 

[CarolynFH]

It would be great if somehow when you check out early from your first room you could get priority to check in early to your second room.

We had a split stay AKV to BWV in January. When I did online checkin for BWV, I put 12:30 PM as our arrival time, because we planned to have Bell Services transfer our luggage while we went to Epcot for an 11:30 ADR. At 12:30 I received a text saying our room wasn't ready yet, and then about 15 minutes later I got the text with our room number. I don't think I could say we got priority to check in early to our second room - our assigned room was simply ready for occupancy, and they let us know that.

 

[CarolynFH]

if our room happens to be ready before 4:00 then I look at it as "pixie dust"...I don't expect it.

Exactly - that's our attitude too.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I am saying that first available is also a request and should take precedent over other requests if at 4 pm, if someone is there, but doesn’t have a clean room yet.

That is why I don’t and never have agreed there should be room requests because the priority should be as many rooms as possible are handed out at 4 pm that are done.

No owner should be sitting for an hour in the lobby for a room when one is clean and ready to go.

And, for the record, I have waited past 4:30 only twice and most of the time my rooms are ready on time, if not slightly earlier.

But, I have an issue with rooms being held past 4 pm that are done, unless all rooms are done and ready.

I see what your saying. That isn’t unreasonable. In a perfect world there would be enough rooms ready to accommodate those guests that are on site and ready to check in, which would allow any room requests to also be honored. But for some reason if the resort is behind on room availability and there are guests starting to “pile up” after check in time, then I see your point of making every room available.

I think it is mostly a moot point. From my experience (even during post COVID) resorts have been very good about check in times. Like I said previously, our room is almost always available early. On our trip last week, we had a Poly lake view room and I requested 3rd floor. We arrived really early for a pool day and our room was ready at 11:00, but it was a first floor room. It’s cool…all good. I am not really sure how they assign rooms and what goes into it, but I have a feeling they do assign waiting guests the next available room regardless if that room was “requested” previously by another guest.

 

[New Mouse]

Is it a hotel though?

Also, I think the things I mentioned absolutely are guest's fault. Don't take that to mean I think you're some kind of horrible person if you make a room request, I do it too, but it can cause a hiccup in the system.

If Disney can't uphold room requests (which again most basic hotel chains seem to field them without issue) then don't take them. That's not a guest issue that Disney can't keep up with basic hotel industry expectations.

It is advertised in similar nature to a deluxe resort, so yes by Disney's words it is equivalent to if not better than a hotel.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

I am saying that first available is also a request and should take precedent over other requests if at 4 pm, if someone is there, but doesn’t have a clean room yet.

That is why I don’t and never have agreed there should be room requests because the priority should be as many rooms as possible are handed out at 4 pm that are done.

No owner should be sitting for an hour in the lobby for a room when one is clean and ready to go.

100% agree with this. People standing there at 4pm waiting for a room should always take precedence. First come first serve at 4pm should be the top priority. Room requests are just that..requests are never guaranteed. No one is entitled to one. But members are entitled to a room as close to 4pm check in as possible

I know people go to great lengths to secure specific rooms. But I will always disagree that those requests trump members getting into their rooms as close to 4pm as possible. And honestly, I really have no skin in the game. 90% of my trips start with us taking the 6pm flights from Chicago. We routinely arrive at WDW at 10pm-11pm....so i understand how this could affect me. But I would still say people getting there at 4pm should get my assigned room versus waiting until 6pm to get theirs.

And who says the last room cleaned is the worst view?