Here at CR and had a problem at checkin! Pics added pg. 5

[northriver]

I'll be checking in around around midnight next trip, and was careful to book the Wing standard view, nowhere to go but up, right? Never occured to me that we could get bumped to another resort altogether.

So, in a WALK situation, how do they handle the transportation? If we use a towncar service ($200 from Sanford), will the resort provide transportation? Since our transportation would have already driven away?

 

[bavaria]

Transport is provided with a hotel van if available, or a taxi.

 

[DisneyDuke02]

Folks, as someone who was once a WDW front office manager as well as someone who is now paid to work with hotels on service consulting basis, let me assure you as CDSTapis already stated this happens *all the time* -overbooking is like gambling...sometimes hotels overbook hoping just enough people show up for 100% occupancy and everyone's a winner, other times you get everyone and their mother showing up and there literally is no room at the inn!

However, all the questions - if I come on X day for Y nights with Z people will I be walked - cannot be answered because it is truly dependent on myriad factors that can't be determined. This includes occupancy trends, people showing up and leaving when they are expected to (which doesn't always happen), and even weather issues in other parts of the country. I have left on a Friday evening "down" (meaning, having to walk) 30 rooms on Saturday, only to show up Saturday and have it completely cleared and everyone having the accomodations they expected. Other times I'll show up and everything is great, and then all of the sudden a pipe breaks and I have to walk ten families to other hotels. It is a VERY sticky situation and, when I was a manager, the absolute worst thing I would ever have to do especially for all the reasons people here have stated - you have researched and paid big bucks to stay at a particular resort, and that's where you want to be!!! Heck, I even had a guest throw several pieces of luggage at me over it.

That being said, if you are presented with the issue, try to remain calm (it is hard to - I've been walked myself at WDW as well as in the "real world" including a vacation) and ask what your options are. As someone else stated, you may end up in a MUCH nicer room and/or suite....whenever possible you will always be moved to nicer accomodations than what you had originally. Although the situation is really tricky and unpleasant, be as pleasant as possible...chances are if you are willing to work with the hotel they will be willing to work with you - they will help you get to the hotel you are being moved to.

If at all possible, do try and speak with a manager as they will be much more aware of the situation and may have some more options available to them then a front desk cast member is aware of.

Hope this helps. This does happen, but it doesn't happen too frequently, so don't freak out too much. And to answer the DVC question, you cannot "walk" a DVC member (read: member, not a guest paying in something other than points) due to contractual obligations.

 

[Desnik]

Hi everyone!
We are home and I can't believe how long this thread got! I took a ton of pictures and will post them as soon as DH uploads them. Housekeeping didn't come until around 3pm. The housekeeper threw out DH's M&M's!!LOL I couldn't believe it I was cracking up. He was already annoyed by the whole check in experience, then the room was so dusty and the cereal on the floor ticked him off. But once his M&M's got thrown away he was MAD!!!LOL He called down to speak with a manager and we were told they would call us back. We waited a half hour but had to go to MNSSHP. DH paid $2.50 for those M&M's and he just couldn't believe that because he left it on the counter it would get thrown away.(it was open but he only ate a couple) She didn't vacuum either. Oh well, I was just happy we were able to watch Wishes on our balcony the night before.

I am so glad that the resort business has been explained in great detail on this thread! I learned so much. Thank you all.

I just wanted to state again, the "walks" we were offered were not upgrades. AKL, not an upgrade, GF garden room, not an upgrade. Also, we have stayed in the GF already and will be at AKV in Nov. I am glad that most of you have understood that in my particular situation, I was sticking to my guns and wanted my room. Now, I am not an unreasonable person. If the CM would've said, I am so sorry but we had an emergency and your room was flooded or something else similar I would've been upset but gotten over it and switched. If she would've had the manager come out to speak with me directly and explain the situation like others had in this thread, I probably would've had a different reaction to the situation. But to simply say we are booked,(at 4pm, check in time) you can choose the AKL or GF doesn't cut it! I am so glad to be a DVC member and not have to worry about this happening with my DVC stays!!

I also have to share with you all that on our flight down Jetblue overbooked and as we sat in our seats a family came and had booked the same seats. We volunteered to move so the family didn't have to split up. They move us and then had to move us again because they put us in someone else's seats! We then get on a DME bus that says it will stop at the CR and WL, only to get on and find out we are going to GF, POLY, WL and CR and of course the CR was last!LOL Then we get there and we are starving and the whole check in issue happens.(after about a hour and a half ride)

Overall, I'm glad we went, we had a great time. I am glad we stayed at the CR. Once the construction is done and DVC is built, that's when we will go back as hopefully owners there! That's a whole other topic. BTW, everyone we asked at the CR and GF(we went and visited for shopping)said the construction is for a DVC building. We'll see.

DH and I did go to the front desk and tell them about the housekeeping issues. Also on one of the marble nightstands, a chunck of the corner was missing!(I have a picture) The daybed had a slash in it like if someone sliced it with a knife! The weird thing is, we did not notice this until after our room was "cleaned". So the running joke with DH and I is that our housekeeper had a party in our room and slashed the daybed and broke the table while pretending to clean as she was eating our M&M's!!LOL Just kiddin! We had the CM's cracking up at that! Also, we had an issue with the shower not working properly and they said they would get it fixed.

I'm sure there is more I'm forgetting! It was a crazy 2 nights! I'll post the pics soon.

 

[louey]

I still haven't gotten past the dirt and fruitloop on the floor??? Hello how much does it cost to stay there ALOT!!!! It should be clean and ready. We are staying there in June 08 and paying top dollar, I just hope and pray it all works out for us. We are looking forward to it.

 

[deej696]

Thank you for the update on your stay!

Disneyduke is dead on. While this does happen often in the hotel business, there is no real set of tips to "avoid being walked." I will tell you that when I was in the business, there were certain reservations that were "targeted" to be walked over others. For example, if the hotel was hosting a group, then under no circumstances was someone from that group to be walked. The last thing the hotel needed was someone in the convention talking about their bad experience. We would often search for 1 night reservations, preferably booked through a wholesaler like priceline, and walk them early in the day. While that may not be a popular statement, if given the choice between walking someone paying $199 to the hotel directly, or $120 to priceline, the hotel manager chooses the priceline every time. We would also avoid walking frequent guests, although this didnt help much as practically everyone staying with us had before, being primarily a corporate hotel.

Granted, Disney is a little different, and they may not have the same mindset we did. I guess the moral is that there is no real way to avoid it, and stressing about it before your vacation isn't going to do any good!

 

[mommytobug]

We had reserved and paid for Poly concierge in 2003. We got there after dark to be told there were no more concierge rooms left. I was so upset and really had to push for them to refund that part of our reservation. She kept saying I could use the lounge even if not in that building............ummm NO! They refunded and we still got lagoon view but then got in the room and it was a smoking (had requested non due to dds asthma. ) We still had a magical time but I am prepared this time to stand my ground. The only place they can walk me to is the GF from the Contemporary. I understand things happen but geez!!

 

[klmall]

Very little that I have read in this thread surprises me given what I have read recently on DIS. I still love Disney and won't change my plans for future visits! We did learn to try to check in early when more rooms are supposedly available (didn't help during spring break in 2002 at AKL) but it usually does give the CMs more options to satisfy our requests.

We learned that hotel reservations are never truly guaranteed many years ago when we booked a chain hotel reservation guaranteed regardless of time of arrival and showed up at 10:30 pm exhausted after driving 12 hours only to find they had given our room away hours earlier! They did "walk" us to the Hotel Savery (real name) 20 minutes away where we spent a night in a room about 10' x 12' and a miniature toilet! It did have a 24 hour snack shop but otherwise it was truly unsavory and we hightailed it out of there at daybreak!!!

Disney has certainly treated us better than this!!!

 

[G8r4evr]

I had to post to this thread. We have reservations at the Contemporary next month. All I can say is this...if they don't have my room you all will hear me from the disboards . Seriously...planning a trip, spending tons of money, regardless if it is one night or ten, and to be told when you are checking in we don't have your room. Unless they offered me a suite or something way better than what I had booked ...like maybe Cinderella's Castle suite lol...seriously it would have to be something better...I would be highly pissed.

I get what all the CM's are saying and it happens in all hotels...it still stinks royally. Especially the kind of money we all spend there. I just can't fathom it.

I had to reply...my insides were turning as I read this thread.

I'm glad it worked out for you and you are having a great trip.

I totally agree. With the rates that the Deluxes charge, they should be able to get along just fine without overbooking.

I can see CSR overbooking, as Im sure conventioners no show more often than others, but if I pay $350+ for a room (and booked it months in advance), my room type and resort had better be available when I get there...or they might as well plan to "walk" me to a suite.

 

[mommytobug]

I would think management would want to know all of this. Are we doing the right thing by contacting the front desk or should we be writing letters to someone who really cares. It seems to me the front desk behavior is just as at fault as mousekeeping. I know when we had the mess up at the Poly the girl kept going behind the desk to someone and I would have been a lot happier if that someone had been professional enough to show their face. What does everyone think??

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I would think management would want to know all of this. Are we doing the right thing by contacting the front desk or should we be writing letters to someone who really cares. It seems to me the front desk behavior is just as at fault as mousekeeping. I know when we had the mess up at the Poly the girl kept going behind the desk to someone and I would have been a lot happier if that someone had been professional enough to show their face. What does everyone think??

I agree 100% with you and it makes me remember a check-in problem my parents and I had at the Contemporary in August 2002. This was back when the Atrium Club was still considered Concierge Light and I don't think we could have checked-in on the 12th floor since we were never told of that after getting letters from the Contemporary IPO and because Cast Members who worked on the 12th floor were done at 4:00 PM. So that would mean guests arriving after that would have had no choice to check-in at the front desk in the lobby. Anyway when we checked-in we were told our room was not ready and we had requested a fridge for our room because at the time they were not in every room and it was free for guests on the 12th and 14th floors. However the Cast Member said there was a charge for it and we told him no it's not and showed him proof from the Disney World website which stated it should be free. So we had went to go get something to eat at the Food & Fun Center and after that called the number they gave us to see if our room was not ready and we were told it was not. Since it was after 3:00 PM my parents and I went to stand in line to wonder what was going on, because we heard other guests checking-in getting their rooms right away. After asking what is going on the Concierge manager comes out to meet us and tells us sorry about the wait and that our room was ready. We would get our fridge within 10 minutes because that is what she said and it turned out to be true.

I am not sure why the manager decided to come out but it was a nice thing for her to do, however I am sure others would like that to happen when dealing with problems at the front desk and not having the same Cast Member going back and fourth to speak with them.

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Thanks for the review! I can't wait to see your pictures. I hope that you post some soon.

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

I know when we had the mess up at the Poly the girl kept going behind the desk to someone and I would have been a lot happier if that someone had been professional enough to show their face. What does everyone think??

Agreed that in certain situation the MANAGER should come out and talk to you, but the person that your check in CM is going back to talk to is not a manager. They are talking to the room assigner and/or support CM. These are regular front line CM's that just have a few more back of house abilites, they are not managers and can not 'represent' the hotel, so it is not that they are being unprofessional by not coming to talk to you. They are the ones that do the paper work, the auditing, things like that. They are more knowledgable on the computer system (or they have access codes to overide things) and can fix reservations that perhaps didn't download properly, they can shuffle rooms around to get you a specific request if it is possible... And usually they are doing 3 or 4 things at a time so they can not come out. There have been times when I have had 2 CM's come back at once needing help with something, while being on the phone with someone else and trying to fix a room block that got blown...it is chaotic and hectic in the back office, to say the least... I am not saying that in certain situation someone (a manager) should not come out to talk to you, what I am saying is don't take it as disrespectfull that the person the CM is asking for help is not coming out, most times it is just not possible to with everything that can be going on at once.

As with anything else (and I ALWAYS say this) it is your vacation, you have saved for it, you planned it years in advance, you want it to be perfect. If something is not going right, or you feel that it is heading down a bad road, ask for a manager... don't get so frustrated that it ruins your vacation, the only way to make the situation better and allow the hotel to fix it (and try harder in the future) is to know that the problem existed...

 

[noahdove]

I am wondering just who the CM wanted to put in this reserved room????

 

[Desnik]

Here are some pics of our room:

This is the nightstand that had the marble broken off which was not like that when we checked in, but like that after our room was cleaned. I took the picture to show the front desk and make sure they knew we didn't do it:

This is a picture of one of the spots where the dust was bad. This area is right next to the bed. It is sort of a ledge where picture frame is leaned up on. The bron on the left hand side is the frame to the headboard:

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

Well Disney, IF YOU ARE READING THIS... Feel COMPLETELY FREE to bump me from Pop to ANY deluxe Resort - LOL!!
I would not be complaining if I arrived and they wanted to send me over to the GF! lol

 

[cara loves the poly]

all it means is that they will offer the move to someone else, I can't imagine why anyone would think they would lie about it. Do you lie at your job

Someone else will take the Grand Floridian and be thrilled. I know I would.

So, the right thing to say is, we are running short on rooms, could we possibly interest you in this........, not - we don't have a room for you.

 

[MichiganMomto4]

Well Disney, IF YOU ARE READING THIS... Feel COMPLETELY FREE to bump me from Pop to ANY deluxe Resort - LOL!!
I would not be complaining if I arrived and they wanted to send me over to the GF! lol

LOL - I totally agree. When we show up at the desk for POR in November, they are more than welcome to walk me right on over to the Poly, CR, GF or Boardwalk, thankyou!!

Although to the OP, I totally understand where you were coming from and honestly, I can't think of an 'upgrade' to an MK view - that's kind of ultimate I'm glad it all worked out for you and you had a good trip

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Some great info here....I'm purely specultating here, but I can't help but wonder if part of the situation wasn't due to the construction - it would explain the dust. Just a thought.

 

[720L]

I'm confused, weren't the rooms just renovated? So why the damage in their room? I hope we don't have this problem, we'll be there tomorrow!!!