Grand California Villa Check-in Room Availability

[Deb & Bill]

Not to belabor this, but isn't after 4 and by 4 the same thing virtually? By 4 would mean it is ready by 4 and not after, however, after 4 means it is ready at 4 also so you can have the room at 4:00:01. I think many of us DVC owners have cut them a lot of slack by letting it fly when they say after 4 and letting it go until whenever.

If I was told by a car repair place that my car will be ready after 4, I would expect to be able to pick it up anytime from 4 until closing. How many would actually show up and be irriitated if it was not ready or would you patiently wait until they decide to get it ready by 5:00 or later?

To me this is a matter of getting what you paid for and is pretty straight forward. Based on the posts I have read, I am in the minority which is why DVC isn't too concerned about it.

After 4:00 PM means AFTER 4:00PM. It isn't anytime after 4PM. It is after 4PM. It could be 4:01; it could be 5:01; it could be 6:01 PM.

I know we got a villa around 5:45PM once because the previous guests did not vacate the villa and then left a horrible mess that had to be cleaned up before we could move it. I had checked in around 8AM that day hoping to get in earlier. It was New Year's Day and there wasn't any other vacancies and we needed a one bedroom with the studio available in four days to make it a two bedroom.

 

[Questforthemouse]

Not to belabor this, but isn't after 4 and by 4 the same thing virtually? By 4 would mean it is ready by 4 and not after, however, after 4 means it is ready at 4 also so you can have the room at 4:00:01. I think many of us DVC owners have cut them a lot of slack by letting it fly when they say after 4 and letting it go until whenever.

If I was told by a car repair place that my car will be ready after 4, I would expect to be able to pick it up anytime from 4 until closing. How many would actually show up and be irriitated if it was not ready or would you patiently wait until they decide to get it ready by 5:00 or later?

To me this is a matter of getting what you paid for and is pretty straight forward. Based on the posts I have read, I am in the minority which is why DVC isn't too concerned about it.

I'm with you on this one. I fully understand both sides of this debate but my travel experience, both leisure and business, is such that "after 3:00pm" (or whatever time) means the room will be ready for me at whatever time I show up from 3:00pm onward. It does not afford the hotel (outside of outstanding circumstances) the opportunity to leave me sitting around their lobby (or wherever) until 4:00pm or 6:00pm or 9:00pm or 11:30pm and then point out to me..."Hey sir, your confirmation does state AFTER 3:00pm so technically, we're not out of line" when I start to grow impatient. You'll notice DVC didn't word it "your DVC room will be available anytime between 4:00pm and 11:59pm and your guess is as good as ours" as you can imagine how that would go over.

 

[TagsMissy]

Not to belabor this, but isn't after 4 and by 4 the same thing virtually? By 4 would mean it is ready by 4 and not after, however, after 4 means it is ready at 4 also so you can have the room at 4:00:01. I think many of us DVC owners have cut them a lot of slack by letting it fly when they say after 4 and letting it go until whenever.

If I was told by a car repair place that my car will be ready after 4, I would expect to be able to pick it up anytime from 4 until closing. How many would actually show up and be irriitated if it was not ready or would you patiently wait until they decide to get it ready by 5:00 or later?

To me this is a matter of getting what you paid for and is pretty straight forward. Based on the posts I have read, I am in the minority which is why DVC isn't too concerned about it.

Well the room can be ready any time after 4pm not at 4pm.. DVC never promises a room BY 4, they offer it will be ready some time after 4... could be 5 or 6 pm... those are all after 4. After 4 is worded carefully as to not have a firm deadline as to when rooms are ready. We've had rooms ready at 10am, we've had a room not be available until nearly 6pm. Nothing to be upset over... it's not like the room wasn't available until 11pm.

 

[Questforthemouse]

Well the room can be ready any time after 4pm not at 4pm.. DVC never promises a room BY 4, they offer it will be ready some time after 4... could be 5 or 6 pm... those are all after 4. After 4 is worded carefully as to not have a firm deadline as to when rooms are ready. We've had rooms ready at 10am, we've had a room not be available until nearly 6pm. Nothing to be upset over... it's not like the room wasn't available until 11pm.

Not picking a fight here but...So if over your next 5 visits your room isn't ready until after 9pm will you be satisfied with that since it can be ready anytime after 4pm? And add to that the fact that DVC can't tell you when it will actually be ready so you just have to sit around or do something till you "get the call" sometime after 9pm. Then you "hope" it will be better on the next visit but it isn't...and so on and so on...

 

[tjkraz]

Here's the problem: DVC is a timeshare with 100% occupancy...not a hotel which averages 80% occupancy and has dozens of overflow rooms on any given night. At VGC and every other DVC, they have from 11am to 4pm to clean every single room regardless of the circumstances. That includes rooms being trashed by departing guests, maintenance needs, carpet cleaning, paint touch-ups and many more things we can only dream of.

We can all play amateur hotel manager and assume that improvements can be made. Maybe yes, maybe no. But if there is room for improvement, it's going to cost money. You're spending more money for higher staffing levels, additional layers of supervision, additional training, additional pre-screening or any number of other improvements.

So it comes down to a question of whether members want to see their dues go up to change the status quo. Personally I've stayed at the Grand Cal 5 times and have received a room after 4pm once...and that one time was around 4:15.

Personally I'm not convinced that there's a big enough issue to start throwing money at it.

 

[zavandor]

After 4:00 PM means AFTER 4:00PM. It isn't anytime after 4PM. It is after 4PM. It could be 4:01; it could be 5:01; it could be 6:01 PM.

I understand this is the way it's now, but so I don't understand why to say a time at all. They should say "the room will be ready sometime during the day, maybe in the late evening, probably earlier".
Would we accept this phrasing?

Why not say: after 8:00am? After 8:00 would mean anytime, also 4pm or 9pm.
It's not "after 8:00am" because it would create an expectation for members to be able to enter the room in the morning.
But the same reasoning is valid for "after 4pm", it creates the expectation to be able to enter the room at least at 4pm.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I...But the same reasoning is valid for "after 4pm", it creates the expectation to be able to enter the room at least at 4pm.

Exactly. DVC wants the rooms to be ready by 4PM or around that time if not earlier. I think that is when the housekeepers leave. But sometimes guests are pigs, they don't vacate on time, the room has problems, so it might not be ready by 4PM. So you feel giddy if your room is ready before 4PM and totally frustrated if it isn't.

If they told us 8PM, we'd be writing member satisfaction every day.

Usually, if the room isn't ready closer to 4PM, they might compensate you in some way. A room credit, dining credit, etc. We got no compensation for our late room because it was exactly what we had requested and was the one that met our needs. And it was several years ago as well. I think they hand out compensation a lot more quickly now.

 

[taaren]

Here's the problem: DVC is a timeshare with 100% occupancy...not a hotel which averages 80% occupancy and has dozens of overflow rooms on any given night. At VGC and every other DVC, they have from 11am to 4pm to clean every single room regardless of the circumstances. That includes rooms being trashed by departing guests, maintenance needs, carpet cleaning, paint touch-ups and many more things we can only dream of.

We can all play amateur hotel manager and assume that improvements can be made. Maybe yes, maybe no. But if there is room for improvement, it's going to cost money. You're spending more money for higher staffing levels, additional layers of supervision, additional training, additional pre-screening or any number of other improvements.

So it comes down to a question of whether members want to see their dues go up to change the status quo. Personally I've stayed at the Grand Cal 5 times and have received a room after 4pm once...and that one time was around 4:15.

Personally I'm not convinced that there's a big enough issue to start throwing money at it.

While I agree with this completely, the only thing I would change is that official check out time at the VGC is 10am.

And I do wonder, if despite being at 80% occupancy usually, if they give first priority to the hotel guests sometimes ...

I know its not all the time, because I once got the text for my 2 bedroom at 2p, was in by 2:30p, and as I was passing the front desk I overheard a CM telling a hotel guest that there were no more rooms available to add to her reservation or extend her stay over that Columbus weekend, the hotel was at capacity. Or maybe because they were at capacity that weekend they had hired extra help or authorized overtime for the hotel?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

While I agree with this completely, the only thing I would change is that official check out time at the VGC is 10am.

And I do wonder, if despite being at 80% occupancy usually, if they give first priority to the hotel guests sometimes ...

I know its not all the time, because I once got the text for my 2 bedroom at 2p, was in by 2:30p, and as I was passing the front desk I overheard a CM telling a hotel guest that there were no more rooms available to add to her reservation or extend her stay over that Columbus weekend, the hotel was at capacity. Or maybe because they were at capacity that weekend they had hired extra help or authorized overtime for the hotel?

Official check out time at VGC is 11am - the same as all DVC resorts.

Overall I've had no worse experience in getting a room by 4pm at CA than I have in FL. But I will agree with those posting that usually if there is something like "check in after 4pm" that means the room will be ready then - barring any circumstances beyond the control of the hotel/motel. Things do happen but I've not had a rash of experiences that makes me think there is a problem.

What I have experienced more than 2-3 times - and I believe is why you get a front desk telling you the room will be ready in 15 minutes is that there's some indicator that the housekeeper is in the room. Then they are supposed to release the room for availability but sometimes that step is missed or the system messes up.

When leaving VGC we've had housekeeping there right at 11am. And other times they have not been in sight so I don't think there's any special directive to clean the Villas last or first either.