DVCers and Upgrades?

[Luv2CtheMouse]

Do DVCers ever get suprised upgrades? Yes yes, I know - book where you want to stay. But that is not my question. I am just curious if DVC guests ever get suprise upgrades. Say, I book a room at AKV and pick a standard room.... during a slow time, would it be completely uncommon for Disney CMs to put us in maybe a savanna view room?

 

[wildernessDad]

The most direct answer is no. It's not like hotel management.

 

[chalee94]

Say, I book a room at AKV and pick a standard room.... during a slow time...?

what is a "slow time?"

DVC will sell enough AKV pts so that every owner should be able to book a room there during the year. it's more complicated than that but that's the theory behind pt based timeshares. there are times of the year where it's more important to book at 10-11 months out and times where you can still find availability a few months out...but if a lot of rooms are vacant, that means a number of owners are having their pts expire without using them - don't count on that happening a lot.

also, hotels have customers and timeshares have owners. the hotel might be willing to make different deals for different customers and that is pretty common...but the point charts for timeshares apply to all the owners. it's a different model.

there are very rare cases where your room might have maintenance issues and all that is available is an "upgrade" - but that almost never happens in practice. if you ask for an upgrade and get it, expect to be charged the point difference.

 

[OKW Lover]

Almost never happens.

Unless there has been some unforeseen issue with a room category that makes it unavailable, you will get exactly the category you book.

 

[buckysgirl]

While I wouldn't count on it, it does happen. Last year in October we booked a week standard view and when we checked in at 10:00am they upgraded us to a savanna view. It was far from the the lobby but we didn't care. We were thrilled and the animals were great.

 

[It'sJustPoints]

I was going to ask the same question because we met a couple this past trip who claimed they have been upgraded their last 2 trips to SSR! This past trip from a studio to a 2 BR?!?

Could that be right???

 

[Sammie]

DVC does not do complimentary upgrades when staying on points. They do at times due to booking issues, maintenance issues, etc. have to move a guest.

As stated you can ask to upgrade but will be charged the necessary extra points to cover it.

A word also to those that rent, your guest could do this to you, ask for an upgrade and the points will be taken from your account. Should not happen but it does because Disney does not recognize renting as an official transaction.

 

[DebbieB]

I was going to ask the same question because we met a couple this past trip who claimed they have been upgraded their last 2 trips to SSR! This past trip from a studio to a 2 BR?!?

Could that be right???

Did they say they were members? Upgrades happen more often with cash guests. It's a way to try to get them to join.

 

[com_op_2000]

Once cause of over booking at VWL:
Booked a studio at VWL, when we tried to check-in, we had been upgraded to a WL 2 bedroom lake view suite. Called some family members to come and join us for an unexpected vacation.
Once cause of problem with check-in at AKL:
Booked a standard view studio at AKL-Jambo, checked-in, given a room key as the room was suppose to be ready, went to the room, and found suitcases and purse in the room along with the room not being made up. Went back to the front desk, they gave us an on-the-spot upgrade to a savanna view room in another part of the resort.

 

[TiaMaria]

With DVC, staying on points...it would have to be one of the aforementioned scenarios:

Maintenance issue that will take days to correct

or

Problem with the booking caused by Disney


With DVC points, you should just pretty much take the words "complimentary upgrade" out of your vocabulary and memory bank!

 

[n2mm]

Nearly Never unless there's a problem. Stayed at DVC resorts for the last 5 years, so about 30 stays now and never received an upgrade. As mentioned, cash folks would most likely be offered an upgrade, but not using our points.

 

[Starshine]

We've gotten lucky twice, both for studio view types. We had reserved a BLT lake view studio this past May for just one night, there was no mention of an upgrade or room change at checkin. Imagine how surprised we were when we opened the room door to find a MK view! Then just a few weeks ago we had a standard view studio at BWV booked from Wed thru Mon and opened our door to find a view of the scary clown pool. This one might be iffy though, it was a second floor room behind the pool bar so perhaps they considered it a standard view?

 

[chalee94]

We had reserved a BLT lake view studio this past May for just one night, there was no mention of an upgrade or room change at checkin. Imagine how surprised we were when we opened the room door to find a MK view!

was the room really classified as a MK view room? many of the lake view rooms on the outer north side of the BLT have a view of the MK when you step out onto the balcony but they are still not in the grouping of rooms that is classified as MK view.

 

[Starshine]

was the room really classified as a MK view room? many of the lake view rooms on the outer north side of the BLT have a view of the MK when you step out onto the balcony but they are still not in the grouping of rooms that is classified as MK view.

This one was definitely classified as an MK view- it was an upper floor facing directly toward the monorail and the GF. I just looked back through my pics, the room# was 8028. Surprised the heck out of us!