How do I check availability online?

[borgthe]

I'm a new DVC member and can't for the life of me figure out how to see what's available for a certain time period. All I see is this vacation request form. How can I check myself?

Thanks!

 

[pickles]

sadly you cant. The only way to find out is to call member services and check and that availability can change within minutes. so your best bet is to simply know where you want to stay and then have first, second and 3 rd choices as well as being prepared to waitlist

 

[borgthe]

That stinks!

 

[disneynutz]

That stinks!

As a new member, you will soon learn that there are several things that you weren't told.

Bill

 

[borgthe]

Oh boy, Bill. Like what????

 

[disneynutz]

Oh boy, Bill. Like what????

You will find out for yourself and these items might not be a issue for you like they are for me.

Things that Disney could do better, but chooses not to.

Problems with MS making mistakes.
Not holding room inventory while your reservation is being booked.
Having to call back to double check that MS did their job correctly.
Not being able to verify inventory and wait lists online.
Changes to DVC policies and rules without member input.
Not being able to have input on how our dues are spent.
Rooms being assigned view categories that are not accurate.
Breakage inventory not being used for breakage.
Rooms not being cleaned properly.

Bill

 

[Chuck S]

You will find out for yourself and these items might not be a issue for you like they are for me.

Things that Disney could do better, but chooses not to.

Problems with MS making mistakes.
Not holding room inventory while your reservation is being booked.
Having to call back to double check that MS did their job correctly.
Not being able to verify inventory and wait lists online.
Changes to DVC policies and rules without member input.
Not being able to have input on how our dues are spent.
Rooms being assigned view categories that are not accurate.
Breakage inventory not being used for breakage.
Rooms not being cleaned properly.

Bill

Many of these items are covered in our paperwork. If Disney (or any corporation, for that matter) specifically mentions in a contract that they can do something, chances are at some point they will do it.

And what do you mean by breakage inventory not being used for breakage? Breakage inventory (rooms not rented on points 60 days out) are turned over to Disney for cash reservations, they can use them for upgrades if they like. A percentage of our dues are still offset.

 

[disneynutz]

Many of these items are covered in our paperwork. If Disney (or any corporation, for that matter) specifically mentions in a contract that they can do something, chances are at some point they will do it.

And what do you mean by breakage inventory not being used for breakage? Breakage inventory (rooms not rented on points 60 days out) are turned over to Disney for cash reservations, they can use them for upgrades if they like. A percentage of our dues are still offset.

A few, not many of the items listed are in the paperwork.

Breakage rooms are intended to remain available to replace rooms that are broken. Instead of keeping spares, Disney uses the rooms for other purposes. As a result Guests are given rooms that have major problems, ie: water leaks, no AC, other issues that should keep the room from being occupied.

Members have posted and our family has been told that every room is booked and there is no room to move us to. Disney staff has told us that the problem with room is a known issue but management wants the rooms occupied.

Every Guest and Member should expect and receive a clean, stocked, fully functioning room.

Any info on how much money is paid towards our dues from each room that is turned over to CRO?

 

[Silver Queen]

Sorry to hear that the previous poster experienced so many problems. we had had very satisfactory experiences with our membership, DVC record keeping, and the cleanliness of our rooms. This far we have stayed at four different DVC resorts. My one issue with DVC was when we had to cancel reservations for some family members who were going to vacation with us. When we cancelled the reservation they didn't tell us that the points for those reservations should have been transferred to our next trip so that they wouldn't expire. As a result we used "newer"points for a subsequent trip and ended up losing about 14 of our older points. I guess the lesson learned was that if you have to cancel or modify a reservation and will be using fewer points make sure those points get assigned to your next trip. This situation occurred because we were taking several trips with a few months time frame.

 

[RobDoc]

A few, not many of the items listed are in the paperwork.

Breakage rooms are intended to remain available to replace rooms that are broken. Instead of keeping spares, Disney uses the rooms for other purposes. As a result Guests are given rooms that have major problems, ie: water leaks, no AC, other issues that should keep the room from being occupied.

Members have posted and our family has been told that every room is booked and there is no room to move us to. Disney staff has told us that the problem with room is a known issue but management wants the rooms occupied.

Every Guest and Member should expect and receive a clean, stocked, fully functioning room.

Any info on how much money is paid towards our dues from each room that is turned over to CRO?

The rooms turned over to DRC at 60 days are referred to as "Breakage Inventory" and appear as an income line item in the budget. It does make a sizable contribution to offset dues. The other rooms turned over to DRC for cash reservations mostly come from points used by DVC members for non-DVC options. That income is used to pay the cost of the non-DVC reservation and does not contribute to the DVC budget.

The 2-4% inventory maintained by DVD is used when villas are removed from member inventory for maintenance issues. Very few of those rooms are rented by DVD, although they can rent them.

I agree that every guest should have a clean, well-functioning room but there are certainly issues that come up where it sometimes falls short and it's entirely probable that there is no vacant villa to be moved to at that resort. I'm not sure what is referred to where "Instead of keeping spares, Disney uses the rooms for other purposes." and I would question the origin of that statement.

 

[Chuck S]

A few, not many of the items listed are in the paperwork.

Breakage rooms are intended to remain available to replace rooms that are broken. Instead of keeping spares, Disney uses the rooms for other purposes. As a result Guests are given rooms that have major problems, ie: water leaks, no AC, other issues that should keep the room from being occupied.

Members have posted and our family has been told that every room is booked and there is no room to move us to. Disney staff has told us that the problem with room is a known issue but management wants the rooms occupied.

Every Guest and Member should expect and receive a clean, stocked, fully functioning room.

Any info on how much money is paid towards our dues from each room that is turned over to CRO?

That is not correct, Breakage Inventory does not represent the ownership interest Disney/DVC maintains for out of service units. Breakage inventory is DVC inventory that is not reserved by members 60 days out. This generates some income to offset dues.

What you are speaking of, the inventory used to replace rooms out for maintenance/rehab, is retained ownership. This retained ownership is used to take rooms out of service for scheduled maintenance and rehabs, as is currently the case at OKW. The retained ownership allows DVC to take a number of room out of service for scheduled rehabs while not legally "overselling" the resort. DVCers receive no offset for this, as it is not owned by Members, but by DVD.