How often are your room requests honored?

[new kid at heart]

I was just curious, since room requests are not guaranteed, and by room request I mean just requesting a certain building or floor, how often they are honored? Do you think it matters if you book through a travel agent like AAA or if you book on your own?

 

[Tikiman]

My experience with AAA was that they never communicated anything to the resort very well but there are many Disney travel planners that you can get an AAA discount and they seem to communicate with the resorts muc better and even know some of the resort CMs.

 

[DawnCt1]

My room requests are pretty standard. I don't want to be the last room on a very long hall. I want the typical bedding and non smoking. I have never had a smoking room at WDW. I usually ask on check in which rooms are available and request that I am not too far from the elevator. I am not usually disappointed. We were given a room one time that looked like an attic room. Absolutely no view. Completely obstructed. I called and we were moved. Another time we were given a corner room that we absolutely loved. The room looked fine until we walked in the bathroom and it hadn't been cleaned and there was a pile of dirty towels. They wanted to move us. We had already waited too long for our luggage, too long for the room, etc. I told them to clean the bathroom and they could buy our breakfast for our inconvenience. They did.

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

I request very little, usually:

- non-smoking

When at value resort, I pay for a preferred building (depending on resort, usually at ASMu) so I don't have to be far from the main building, same at CBR.

At WL, I requested non-smoking, North Wing, near elevator, we paid for woods view. We got, 6th floor, woods view, very close to elevator - 6th floor is smoking - but we had no trouble, so I didn't ask to be moved.

At AKL, we paid for Savannah view, and got it, along with a king bed room.

We ask for very little, and are usually very happy with our rooms.

The one time I wasn't happy was when we were put in Trinidad South at CBR, but I didn't know enough to ask to be moved - I do now.

 

[Lewisc]

My experience; if there are enough rooms in the category I'm asking for I do OK. When I asked for a room near EPCOT at the BC I got what I asked for.

Rooms which are in short supply such as a K room don't always get met. What percentage of the rooms in the resort will meet your requests? If only 10% of the rooms meet your requests that you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Someone asked how to guarantee she would only get one of a small number of specific rooms in the POLY. Some of us told to book LV if that's what she wanted. Most of the people paying for GV would prefer one of the rooms with a partial LV. I guess she didn't think we'd realize what she was really asking for.

REQUESTS that everyone is asking for are less likely. Asking for a specific building sounds reasonable UNLESS it's the closest building to the food court that doesn't cost extra.

 

[lomillerin]

I never get my requests. Well, I do usually get non-smoking but anything else I have ever requested has not been done.
I do not have very specific requests either. I requested bundbeds at AKL and of course had 2 queens. I posted a thread about this yesterday. I think you should get to book certain things like non-smoking and bed configurations.

 

[monorailsilver]

I have always got my requests. I have never faxed & always spoke with a CM so they type it in as I am on the phone with them.

I always request non-smoking as my husband is an asthmatic so they always guarantee that one. And I always request 2-3 longhouses which (the 3 closest to the TTC at the Poly) & I am always in one of them.

 

[becka]

We have been 5 times and we have made requests 4 of those times. The first 3 times all of our request were honored (they weren't that detailed so that made it easy) but on our trip to Pop Century the only thing we got was a ground floor room. I asked to be in the 50's, 60's or 70's (any building), ground floor with a courtyard view in that order of importance. We were on the very back side of the furthest 90's area...about as far as you can get from the main building. Oh well....

 

[bugsy]

we have requested a king bed, non smoking, crescent lake
view at the YC- do you think these are reasonable requests,
and likely to be met for our trip in May?? we did pay for the
water view upgrade.

 

[Lewisc]

we have requested a king bed, non smoking, crescent lake
view at the YC- do you think these are reasonable requests,
and likely to be met for our trip in May?? we did pay for the
water view upgrade.

Maybe 10% of the rooms are King. Water view doesn't guarantee Crescent Lake, it could be a pool view. You should decide which request is more important to you.

 

[Ilovestitch]

As an adult I've stayed at CBR twice and Polynesian and we got all our requests. We make the request through CRO and fax a request. We always check in early, usually before 11 am so maybe there are more rooms availiable. The second time at CBR, the CM at the front desk pulled out a binder w/a map of the resort and showed me my choices. At Poly, the CM (named Cricket ) had me tell him what my dream room would be and we got it! -Steph

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

We have always gotten our requests. Used to fax, but last trip did not. I don't get too detailed. Usually just Area and Bldg #. Only thing I demand is No Smoking.

Hoping for the best this trip. Asked for Pop 50's bldg, close to food court. I'm not holding my breath.

 

[SaraMc]

On our last trip in Feburuary we requested that our room be beside or near my sisters room at ASmusic We were right next door. Also we just happened to be in the same building as we were on our honeymoon just one floor up exactly. That was kind of cool. ( we didnt ask for that it just happened)

They always have been pretty good, but we always get a early flight in so we are there before the real check in time and seem to get what we ask for.

 

[franw]

I would say that we have almost always gotten our requests met up front but a couple of times we moved to a new room the next morning.
I asked for an upgrade if one was available for my son's family and since they were arriving at 2 a.m. I didn't expect much of anything to be left. Well, they put them in a beautiful concierge room over the Boardwalk Bakery. They were so tired when they got to the room that it wasn't until they woke up that they realized what a terrific room they were upgraded to.

 

[nwdisgal]

Most of the time I've received my requests, but they are usually very general. The one I didn't receive was a request for King Bed one year when we were staying at AKL. Now that I know 10% or less of these rooms are King Beds, I understand why.

 

[Dana49]

More often than not, our requests have been honored. I have found the resorts to be extremely accomodating.

 

[Terk-1]

When we stayed at the Movies in 2001, I requested first floor, non-smoking in the Toy Story section. Got it. Room looked out right over Andy's room.

When I stayed at the Polynesian in 2002, requested non-smoking room #: 1913 in the Tokelau building. Got it and was very happy. View of lagoon & GF from here, but room considered "garden" view.

When I stayed at the Wilderness Lodge in 2003, requested room #: 5032 (woods view) and got it. Had to wait until 3:30pm to check in, as it was being cleaned, but TOTALLY worth it. It's a non-smoking room and had an amazing view of the castle & Wishes at night.

For my upcoming trip, I requested a first floor, non-smoking room either in Dalmations or Toy Story, as I will be going solo.

 

[sweetinmaine]

We at least get the building that we request. We, too, don't ask for much. As long as it's a non-smoking and not too far from the main area, we'll take it!

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We seldom make requests. However, the few times we have, they haven't been met. Usually, it doesn't matter. However, on a trip to CBR a few years ago, we requested connecting rooms and didn't get them. Fortunately, my in-laws decided to accompany us at the last moment; so dh and I didn't have to sleep in separate rooms to be with our son. Last fall, we requested a king room at AKL for our anniversary trip. No king, but we were upgraded.

 

[cindyfan]

As I am reading through these responses and thinking about our own experiences.....
It really is hit or miss!!

All the times we've been there I would say about 40% of the time we had our requests honored right off the bat. Things like non-smoking, etc...the easy stuff to honor.
But room location, view, etc...is tougher.

But there were other times that I had to point out to the CM at check in that we requested something and then I had push a little....then got the request. So overall....about 75% of the time we ended up with what we wanted.

The worst one was before CBR had "preferred" rooms that cost extra. I had requested "anything EXCEPT" Trinidad South (as big as that place is...not an unreasonalble request). They tried to give us TS!!! and I just wasn't going to settle for that. It was not a busy time of year.....and the resort wasn't full.
I just could not be so far from the food court with my DD. So when he tried to convince me there wasn't anything else. I just politely asked for the phone so I could call another resort so I could move. And I told him....."in the meantime....could you get your manager so he could take care of moving us to another resort!"
We ended up at Martinique.

so it really is hit or miss!