Friend Rented Her DVC Room For Me—How to Make Room Request

[Princess Katelet]

Hello, so if a DVC owner friend gets you a room, who/how do you make room requests? This is SSR and I want to request the top floor. It’s my biggest desire. She thought I had to call SSR directly. I thought she had to make the request somehow since she booked the room and is the DVC owner. Do you guys know the answer?

Also, there are two people on the ressie who have decided not to come. Do we need to remove them or can they just not show up? If we have to remove them (and I don’t see why...the room is the room...price won’t change no matter if it’s two people or four people in my two bedroom villa) how do we do that? Like what method of communication?

Thanks!

 

[coolbrook]

I think she has to call DVC member services and have the request noted on the reservation. She may just not want to call. The DVC member services phone lines have had very long waits lately and when I tried to call this week the line would just hang up on me, so its kind of a hassle. I dont think you need to remove the people not coming. I had that situation last July in a Bay Lake Tower two bedroom and didn't remove the folks who didn't come.

 

[mara512]

You are correct, your friend has to call and make the request.

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

If your trip is coming up soon, I would not have your friend make the request. As mentioned already, wait times are long when calling DVC. She would have to wait *several hours* on hold if she even got through and that is just to make a request which of course, isn't a guarantee. This is a caveat people need to consider when renting dvc points from friends or otherwise, the booking isn't under your control like a standard Disney resort reservation.

There are a few alternatives to calling member services. You can try faxing your request to the resort a few days before your stay. Your friend can email the request to member services- again if the stay is soon there's a chance they might not get to her email before your stay due to the number of emails they are now receiving. She can try to make the request via chat, if she is one of the lucky ones able to access it.

Regarding removing people from the reservation, if they are listed as the lead guest, that requires a call to member services.

 

[Princess Katelet]

Thanks, everyone. What would the email and phone number be? As for chat, does that have to be DVC chat? I accessed some chat last week when needing help adding people to my party in MDE. Is that the same chat? If not would that chat work anyway?

Why does it have to be the DVC member who does all this?

The ressie is under my name. Does that mean I am the lead guest and the other three don’t ‘matter’? The other three are listed on the ressie, but it’s all under my name.

The trip starts May 12. Is that too late?

 

[mgarbowski]

Thanks, everyone. What would the email and phone number be? As for chat, does that have to be DVC chat? I accessed some chat last week when needing help adding people to my party in MDE. Is that the same chat? If not would that chat work anyway?

Why does it have to be the DVC member who does all this?

The ressie is under my name. Does that mean I am the lead guest and the other three don’t ‘matter’? The other three are listed on the ressie, but it’s all under my name.

The trip starts May 12. Is that too late?

The email form can be accessed at https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/contact/email/ but only the member can do it. Why? It just is. I rented points earlier this year and made requests on behalf of my guests. All were acknowledged, with a specific email saying that my request was passed on to the resort staff. I do not know how many were granted.

The member needs te reservation number. I don't think guest names are necessary to make these requests. I do not think it is too late.

 

[cvjw]

DVC will only talk to DVC members. Not renters or friends using someone’s DVC points. Just have her go onto the member website and send an email.

 

[lovin'fl]

When you link the resie number to your MDE, you can do online check in and request some location things there. SOmetimes, thouugh, they don't have all the options and it is wonky. But you may be able to select what you want.

Another way is to belong to Touring Plans and select a room on there and they will send the request to the resort. On this you will actually select a specific room and then it has a 'notes' section where you can say what it is you want. So, say I have AKV booked at Kidani and want near Zazu elevator...I select a room that meets my parameters and in the notes I write 'any room near Zazu elevator is good'. I have had great luck every time I use this.

 

[CarolMN]

I second the advice to use touringplans.com, especially if you don't want to bother your friend. The next best option is to use online check-in. I believe top floor is one of the options you can select. Enjoy!

 

[Best Aunt]

Hello, so if a DVC owner friend gets you a room, who/how do you make room requests? This is SSR and I want to request the top floor. It’s my biggest desire. She thought I had to call SSR directly. I thought she had to make the request somehow since she booked the room and is the DVC owner.

Thanks, everyone. What would the email and phone number be? As for chat, does that have to be DVC chat? I accessed some chat last week when needing help adding people to my party in MDE. Is that the same chat? If not would that chat work anyway?

Why does it have to be the DVC member who does all this?

I remember from one of your prior posts that your friend, who is the owner, is new to DVC. It seems like your friend has a bit to learn about how DVC works (and you're ending up doing the learning for your friend!).

When a call is placed to DVC Member Services, they ask for a bunch of information to confirm that they are talking to the DVC member. DVC ownership is a financial investment, and a non-owner should not be able to access someone else's investment by phone.

There is a line drawn between reservations made through the DVC system and reservations made through the regular Disney reservation system. You can't call 407-W-DISNEY (the phone line for the regular Disney reservation system) to get help with a reservation made through the DVC system. I would assume that you also cannot go to www.DisneyWorld.com (the website for the regular Disney reservation system) to get help with a reservation made through the DVC system.

Likewise, while you can book a DVC room through the regular Disney reservation system at www.Disneyworld.com, the availability you see there does not match the availability for making a reservation through the DVC system. I know you did not ask that question, but it seems like it might come up.

Also - you cannot call a Disney hotel directly, whether it's a DVC resort or a regular resort. You might see a phone number listed for a resort, but the phone will be answered by someone at an off-site call center. Some people have reported that when they asked a resort-specific question, the person answering the phone put them on hold and called over to the resort to get an answer, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Deb & Bill]

DVC doesn't accept faxes. Have your friend email MS with your request from the member website. Including the names that need to be changed. And she needs at least two weeks or more to get it done.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

I just want to confirm something because I'm seeing different advice here. I asked the person we got the points through if he needed to make the room request and he said that I can do it by calling the reservation line. Has anyone done this?

 

[CarolynFH]

I just want to confirm something because I'm seeing different advice here. I asked the person we got the points through if he needed to make the room request and he said that I can do it by calling the reservation line. Has anyone done this?

Requests related to DVC points reservations must go through MS, cannot go through the hotel reservations side. MS won't talk to a non-owner. I'm afraid your friend is mistaken. However, your friend doesn't have to call MS - they could email via the link on the member website or chat via the member website.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

Requests related to DVC points reservations must go through MS, cannot go through the hotel reservations side. MS won't talk to a non-owner. I'm afraid your friend is mistaken. However, your friend doesn't have to call MS - they could email via the link on the member website or chat via the member website.

Since I posted the question I did a chat through MDE and the CM gave me a number to call. I'm on hold now so we will see what happens. May end up telling me I can't do anything. I'm not talking to MS.

 

[CarolynFH]

Since I posted the question I did a chat through MDE and the CM gave me a number to call. I'm on hold now so we will see what happens. May end up telling me I can't do anything. I'm not talking to MS.

Please come back and report the outcome - so we can know if there is yet another exception to policy being made, not that it would be a surprise if so....

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

Please come back and report the outcome - so we can know if there is yet another exception to policy being made, not that it would be a surprise if so....

Ok so the CM did back it up that the owner needs to contact MS and I am not able to do it myself. Oh and when I texted the guy who we are renting the points from he said he is happy to do it but he has had people who have been able to do it before without him having to do it. Weird.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Ok so the CM did back it up that the owner needs to contact MS and I am not able to do it myself. Oh and when I texted the guy who we are renting the points from he said he is happy to do it but he has had people who have been able to do it before without him having to do it. Weird.

I hate to say this out loud, but if those people reached the outsource call center, the reps may have just lied about putting in the requests. The outsource is ... Variable in quality, let's say, and if the trip is 6 months out complaints about not getting a request will never blow back on their satisfaction or turn ratings.

 

[Sandisw]

Ok so the CM did back it up that the owner needs to contact MS and I am not able to do it myself. Oh and when I texted the guy who we are renting the points from he said he is happy to do it but he has had people who have been able to do it before without him having to do it. Weird.

There are some people who pay to subscribe to Touring Plans which will send a request. It’s possible people did it that way?