how much is too much to ask for room request?

[RooRach0906]

I know room request are not guaranteed but i was wondering how much is too much? I will give examples with our upcoming vacation
1) At SSR is asking for a room in the Grandstand`s on a higher floor and near the Carriage house to much?
2) At BWV asking for a dedicated 1 bedroom overlooking the Community Hall too much?

I don't want to seem greedy or anything. We are travelling with our toddler and I am just trying to make it easier for sleeping and getting around with her. (She sleeps later than most toddlers and we want her to be able to sleep until her normal wake up time so she wont be a grouch.
TIA

 

[tjkraz]

I don't think there is any magic formula. Problem comes when the resort can't match your exact request because of other rooms which are already occupied or other circumstances. Then they may randomly pick one or two of your requests to meet...and they may not be the one or two you were most hoping for.

For instance, at SSR maybe they put you in a high floor near the Carriage House but in The Springs. Or Grandstand near CH but on the ground floor.

In our case, requests are almost always something we view as "it would be nice if..." They are rarely aspects which will make-or-break our stay. If you have a make-or-break request, honestly I would be tempted to list only that one. I would also recommend AGAINST doing the online check-in. Just do the normal check-in process upon arrival so you will have maximum interaction with a Cast Member. Then you will have a better opportunity to discuss the room assignment and perhaps make changes if possible.

Also just a word of warning, with the canal wrapping around the BoardWalk Villa wing, unless you have a Standard View room booked you are going to hear the Friendship boat horns from early morning until late at night.

 

[erionm]

The one thing I can think of is the BWV assigner may not know that dedicated 1-bedroom villas exist, so they wouldn't even know what room numbers to try to assign you.

 

[LSchrow]

The one thing I can think of is the BWV assigner may not know that dedicated 1-bedroom villas exist, so they wouldn't even know what room numbers to try to assign you.

that's a good point
i agree with tj - you have a better chance with regular check-in, BUT you also run the risk of guests with the same requests using OL check-in & getting the room(s) you preferred first - total catch 22
personally, we learned that the more we request, the less likely it is that we will get the rooms we prefer - in the past few years, we just request "near elevator" for our BWV BW view studios, and have gotten x029 or x031 every time.
1 request is obviously best, 2 is not unreasonable, but 3 might be pushing it to the point where you might wind up with the opposite of what you prefer.

 

[RooRach0906]

1 request is obviously best, 2 is not unreasonable, but 3 might be pushing it to the point where you might wind up with the opposite of what you prefer.

This is what I was really trying to ask so I at SSR I will request either grandstand or near carriage house

Boardwalk it will be overlooking the Community Hall and I guess when I check in we can just ask if they have a dedicated room in that area.

 

[Dean]

I know room request are not guaranteed but i was wondering how much is too much? I will give examples with our upcoming vacation
1) At SSR is asking for a room in the Grandstand`s on a higher floor and near the Carriage house to much?
2) At BWV asking for a dedicated 1 bedroom overlooking the Community Hall too much?

I don't want to seem greedy or anything. We are travelling with our toddler and I am just trying to make it easier for sleeping and getting around with her. (She sleeps later than most toddlers and we want her to be able to sleep until her normal wake up time so she wont be a grouch.
TIA

IMO DVC should only allow general requests. I'd say that anything more than general location is not reasonable. High floor and either near Carriage house OR an area such as Grandstand is about the most I see as reasonable. Things like asking for a specific unit are unreasonable, IMO.

 

[twooley2]

I do not think they pay much attention to request anyhow. I have been many times and I think they purposley avoid giving us our request.

 

[MousekeTom]

...I don't want to seem greedy or anything...

I was talking to an MS a couple months ago. After I gave him my first two requests for the same reservation, I asked him if I could add another. He told me, "[y]ou can add as many as you want." I can only imagine the look on the room assigner's face when he/she sees all the requests. I added the third request anyway.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I don't think there's a magic formula or any formula for that matter regarding requests. For years I never made requests and we had always been happy with our views no matter the resort. However, after 2 consecutive stays in the Carousel area of SSR, I began to make requests, general of course, Congress Park, DTD view and I've always gotten them.

At Kidani for instance, I make no requests, I always book a standard 2 br. I've always gotten a nice view of the Pembeh savannah with animals, 3 times in fact. I see threads where people have gotten views of the parking lot so I can't really understand it.

At OKW, in later years I did make a request to be in the Turtle Pond are, 42-43 and I've gotten those each time too!

Who knows!

 

[Anal Annie]

When I booked our spring break trip for this past spring at BLT I requested a higher floor, north tower, even number room and we got the 8th floor, north side and an even number room. I don't know if I would call the 8th floor high or not (aren't there 15 or 16 floors there?) but we DID get the other 2 requests met which was the important part and we had a great view. I also always check in at the resort front desk rather than doing the online check-in if I have a room request because I want to ask about it when we check in. I would rather wait for a room to be ready if it means getting part of our request met vs taking the first available room. I say ask for whatever floats your boat and hopefully you'll get at least some of it.

 

[twinklebug]

Typically the room assigner has worked to fulfill our first request when we've made it - no expectations, just amazed when we get them.

However, after experiencing some annoying rooms for my preferences (noisy areas) I have started making a second request on the reservation (example: Kidani, 2nd floor, 3 or 4 beads from lobby if possible) Again, the room assigners have fulfilled them somehow...

I think if I need to add a 3rd request it means that resort has become too difficult to work with and I'm needing a specific room. Time to find a new favorite.

 

[LisaS]

Lately it seems MS CMs are limited to choosing from a list of predefined requests in the reservation system, things like "High floor" and "Near bus stop". If you ask for something that is not on the list, they enter it into a comments field. I was warned about this the last time I booked Kidani. I requested "Sunset Savanna, Low floor" but was told that "low floor" was not one of the choices. The CM typed it in hoping the room assigner would notice it.

We got to Kidani and the front desk CM looked us up in the system. She said that she wondered if the room assigner had missed the note on our reservation because we had been assigned a room on the top floor. She volunteered to try to get us a different room. She came back a few minutes later and gave us a room on the "ground" (2nd) floor.

Overall I think requests are a good thing since it makes for a more pleasant stay for more of the guests. However, I wonder if the room assigners get put off when they see a long list of requests on a reservation.

 

[TDC Nala]

You can ask for whatever you like, but put the most important request first, and be aware that you may not get all your requests - you may even not get any of them.

The more numerous or specific your requests, the less likely it is that you will get all of them.