First time staying via DVC

[gnozuk]

Booked a stay buying points from Dave's and will be staying at the Animal Kingdom and Saratoga.

Had a few questions that I hope can be cleared up!

1. How often if at all can one receive an upgrade to a better room / request specific room locations? If you can, would the best way be to reach out to the DVC member and have them send the request in?
2. There is no housekeeping correct? Are you able to request new towels / toiletries at anytime? Do they provide liquid hand soap?
3. Any other general advice or things to look out for as a first timer?

 

[crvetter]

Here are some answers:

1) You can ask the member to put in a room request to DVC member services. However, the request can’t be to a “better” room as you must be requesting location only because the room type/view category must remain the same.
2) Restocking towels and toiletries can be requested any time for free, this is relatively new change. For stays under 8 nights you get new towels automatically on day 4. And for over 8 days on the 4th day you get full cleaning and 8th day you get towels only.
3) I don’t really have any other suggestions, just think of it as a room and only a room. The upgrades you hear about are pretty much non-existent and rare. DVC rooms can’t be upgraded by Disney like cash per essentially law.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

2) Restocking towels and toiletries can be requested any time for free, this is relatively new change. For stays under 8 nights you get new towels automatically on day 4. And for over 8 days on the 4th day you get full cleaning and 8th day you get towels only.

Has anyone ever concluded what "day 4" is supposed to mean, definitively? Is check-in considered Day 1, or Day 0? In other words, is housekeeping supposed to come after the third night or fourth night?

 

[crvetter]

Has anyone ever concluded what "day 4" is supposed to mean, definitively? Is check-in considered Day 1, or Day 0? In other words, is housekeeping supposed to come after the third night or fourth night?

The DVC website specifically states that check in is Day 1

 

[Mle8308]

Booked a stay buying points from Dave's and will be staying at the Animal Kingdom and Saratoga.

Had a few questions that I hope can be cleared up!

1. How often if at all can one receive an upgrade to a better room / request specific room locations? If you can, would the best way be to reach out to the DVC member and have them send the request in?
2. There is no housekeeping correct? Are you able to request new towels / toiletries at anytime? Do they provide liquid hand soap?
3. Any other general advice or things to look out for as a first timer?

You can't really be upgraded because an upgrade may require more points. The soap is bar soap, though they do have shower gel. Other advice is to do your research, plan what is priority for you to see/do, and have fun!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The DVC website specifically states that check in is Day 1

That's super annoying because that would go 3 nights, then full cleaning, then 5 nights.

 

[sndral]

Booked a stay buying points from Dave's and will be staying at the Animal Kingdom and Saratoga.

Had a few questions that I hope can be cleared up!

1. How often if at all can one receive an upgrade to a better room / request specific room locations? If you can, would the best way be to reach out to the DVC member and have them send the request in?

DVC villas are generally booked @ close to 100%, so there’s very little inventory to play w/ vis a viz. changing your villa upon arrival. That said AKV Kidani & SSR are large DVC resorts, so both are more likely to have options for moving than smaller resorts if you dislike your assigned villa location. They used to charge like $50 to move you if you’d actually already been to the room & then wanted to move, I’m not sure whether they still do so.
Asking the owner to add any location requests on the reservation (by phone, email, or chat w/ member services) before arrival is the best way to have your wishes noted. The online check in options aren’t very useful IMO. Villas are assigned several days before check in.
Do not ask the front desk for any upgrade that would cost more points to book - for example from standard view to savanna view at AKV, or SSR standard to preferred - as there have been cases where the front desk has ‘given’ the point renter that requested upgrade & then the extra points needed were deducted from the owners account. The front desk isn’t supposed to do this w/out the owner’s consent, but rare mistakes can happen. Unlike Disney cash reservations where free upgrades do happen, it’s very rare to get one w/ a DVC point stay.

 

[crvetter]

That's super annoying because that would go 3 nights, then full cleaning, then 5 nights.

Something will happen every 4 days or every 3 nights. The trend stays that way. You don’t reset your count it’s always based to your check in day, not reset to the day after your cleaning or trash and towel.

Day 4 Cleaning
Day 8 Trash and Towel
Day 12 Cleaning

So always every 4 days or every 3 nights

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Something will happen every 4 days or every 3 nights. The trend stays that way. You don’t reset your count it’s always based to your check in day, not reset to the day after your cleaning or trash and towel.

Day 4 Cleaning
Day 8 Trash and Towel
Day 12 Cleaning

So always every 4 days or every 3 nights

Right but that's a problem. The room is way dirtier on day 11 than it is on day 3.



Those peaks should be even with one another if the schedule were designed properly, IMO.

 

[Sandisw]

Booked a stay buying points from Dave's and will be staying at the Animal Kingdom and Saratoga.

Had a few questions that I hope can be cleared up!

1. How often if at all can one receive an upgrade to a better room / request specific room locations? If you can, would the best way be to reach out to the DVC member and have them send the request in?
2. There is no housekeeping correct? Are you able to request new towels / toiletries at anytime? Do they provide liquid hand soap?
3. Any other general advice or things to look out for as a first timer?

It is very infrequent that a DVC reservation will be upgraded. It happens pretty much only when there is an issue with what was booked.

If someone asks about it, and was given one, the owner would then be charged the additional points for it…which is why most contracts reference not being something a renter should do.

In terms of location requests,assuming your contract with Davids allows for this to happen, can be sent to MS by the member to note on your reservation. You can also chose things in online check in but that would override any you got the owner to add,

 

[njcoach24]

It is very infrequent that a DVC reservation will be upgraded.

I’m curious about this. My best friend has DVC, they booked a 2 bedroom for the week at AKL, they checked in and were “upgraded” to a 3 Bedroom Grand Villa completely by surprise.

They didn’t complain about any issues and never even checked into the 2 bedroom they booked.

I guess this rarely happens but would be a nice surprise to book a studio at POLY and end up in a bungalow, though I’m sure that never happens.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I’m curious about this. My best friend has DVC, they booked a 2 bedroom for the week at AKL, they checked in and were “upgraded” to a 3 Bedroom Grand Villa completely by surprise.

They didn’t complain about any issues and never even checked into the 2 bedroom they booked.

I guess this rarely happens but would be a nice surprise to book a studio at POLY and end up in a bungalow, though I’m sure that never happens.

It does, but it's pretty rare.

Most upgrades at Disney are rare. DVC upgrades are more rare. Too many people expect it to happen or expect their celebration to merit the freebie.

 

[CarolynFH]

I’m curious about this. My best friend has DVC, they booked a 2 bedroom for the week at AKL, they checked in and were “upgraded” to a 3 Bedroom Grand Villa completely by surprise.

They didn’t complain about any issues and never even checked into the 2 bedroom they booked.

I guess this rarely happens but would be a nice surprise to book a studio at POLY and end up in a bungalow, though I’m sure that never happens.

Most upgrades of DVC reservations are the result of the room being out of service unexpectedly. However, during the first few months after the reopening in 2020, there were many reports of very nice upgrades, and my theory was that the rooms weren't otherwise going to be filled, so Disney was upgrading people to lure them to buy DVC points.

 

[Shellyred8]

Also be aware of the daily trash pick-up. A CM will come into your room every day and empty the trash (if someone knows for sure that this has changed, please correct me).

 

[CamillaF]

I had requested a down grade. I had a split stay at AKL and had a savanna view then a regular view. I was fine being in a regular view the whole time and giving someone else an upgrade. However the rooms were fully booked so giving me one room would not work.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Also be aware of the daily trash pick-up. A CM will come into your room every day and empty the trash (if someone knows for sure that this has changed, please correct me).

We had stays in December and in January - daily trash/recycling pick-up is still being done. And that included whether we were at AKL, OKW, or BC during those stays.