Inequities to owners of view preferences

[DeeP]

I still can't figure out why non-BWV owners would want to stay at BWV with those long hallways. You can work up a good sweat walking down to your room. You know that if anyone gets the BWview then the next complaint will be how far the room is from the elevators or gosh! it sure is noisey on this side

This is what amuses me also, so many have repeatedly stated their dis satisfaction with BWV, so why now are they upset over the new bw view booking policies? If you don't like the resort, obviously you would not want to stay there so why do you care what the booking policies are?
It appears to me, for many it is a case of "she got more candy than I did" and even that is not true. The only thing that has changed is that the bw view villas are not part of the first come first serve policy. All the other bwvs are on the first come first serve basis as are all the other DVC resorts.
I agree that all the DVC resorts have more desired and requested views but none of them compare to or are as coveted nor as requested as the bw view villas. This is just the way it is, as someone else said all DVC resorts have their golden rings and the bw view villas are definitely one of BWV's. Because of the vast popularity of the bw view villas and dealing with problems/disappointed guests resulting from these views, DVC made a decision to change the booking policy. Just like they made the decision to eliminate SAB pool hopping from all DVC members except those staying at BCV. So BCV owners have an additional pool advantage! All DVC members have the same chance to get a bw villa once the non BWV member window opens up, just like they always did except now you have the option of knowing ahead if you will get a bw view or not. No one's chances of getting a bw view has decreased at all it is still the same for both BWV members and non members. What has changed is how all the other DVC villas are going to a first come first serve policy, including 89% of the BWVs. Of course, I personally believe it has always been this way but now DVC is acknowledging it.

it was Dean and paults who think non BWV owners should not expect BW view if we don't own there- even those BW owners who are last minute travelers should get preference. Ouch!"

You need to read the post a little closer. I never said "even those BW owners who are last minute travelers should get preference." but that sounds like a good idea too.

Don't feel bad, I got blamed for saying this and I never even opened my mouth! LOL!

 

[Lyndarella]

For all of you NON-owners of BWV who think you will never get a Boardwalk view with the new policy, that is really not the case. I own at VWL and BCV and am staying at the BWV in two weeks. Today I received in the mail a confirmation of a Boardwalk view. Maybe it's just because not many people stay there in September, but it IS possible to get the view without being a BWV owner.

 

[ralphd]

I have not heard BCV members complain about the fact that BWV members (as well as VWL and OKW) should be able to use SAB facilities (???). We are members at BCV and BWV, so will be neutral.

ralphd

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by BEACHCLUBVILLAS
Jackie was pretty adament that 90% of BWV owners were dissatisfied. She quoted that figure a few times. She also quoted the 5% EPCOT view. I have no idea if any of these percentages are real. I assume that Jackie is speaking facts. I don't think DVC management sits around thinking of ways to just stir it up.

DoctorP restated my position best. And I agree with PamOKW that it will increase calls to member services to increase the chances of getting the BW view. Certainly not scientific but when I call MS I call usually call around the same time of day. Traditionally, my wait is about 4 minutes. This time it was 7 minutes. Standard View was also created for BW owners after it opened because of complaints about that view. Jackie said they are also getting complaints that rooms designated as preferred view are not really preferred view.

My point is ultimately the only way a change back to fairness will occur is if you make your opinion known during check in or when you fill out member satisfaction surveys. Fairrness in my opinion is defined one of three ways: create categories of most requested views at the other resorts giving owners first dibbs, or apply "room ready" policy to all resorts including BW viewat BW, or determine requests by reservation date. Jackie said it will not go back to reservation date because that created the most dissatisfaction. Therefore the only choices are either room ready for all resorts or establish view categories at the other resorts.

Oh, and DeeP, since you so strongly believe that I should never expect BW view at BWV unless I own at BWV, I see that you are going to BCV in about 10 days...me too. Will you be doing the right thing and accept that 1st floor service road view and save the EPCOT view for me should you arrive before me?

I believe the 5% view from DVC's standpoint, remember some of the BW views are pretty iffy as well. As to the 90% dissatisfaction, that makes no sense to me. As with any statistic, it could be controlled ad infinatum. If you ask members "would you prefer a BW view" as compared to "are you happy with your room", you will get totally different answers. And yes, I would expect the service road view as a non BCV owner staying there, as it should be. The order or unit assignement should be owners at THAT resort, cash renters (from Disney), non BCV DVC owners and lastly exchangers. This is the norm in the timeshare world and it is the appropriate course.

I still don't understand the fairness issue. I don't think non BWV members have lost anything, either at BWV or at their resort. So what is unfair for non BWV owners, the fact they didn't get something extra too? I still think the chances of a non BWV owner getting the BW view is at least as high now as it ever was, it just more certain up front. One can decide not to take the non BWV view or try for another time or resort.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by erikthewise
No thanks! I'm perfectly happy to see the squabbles over cheap rooms stay at BWV. I'd rather not see that mistake repeated at BCV. In any case it can't be done. If a significant block of rooms were reduced in point values, the nearly-sold BCV would then be oversold, almost certainly an illegal situation.

No legal situation needed, just either make different categories the same points or raise some and lower others, both options legal under the POS and other legal paperwork.

 

[PamOKW]

Actually, the most vocal BWV opponent hasn't weighed in on this thread. A vast majority of DVC owners love most or all the resorts and don't have an "us vs. them" mentality.

That is what I don't like about the combination of the "room ready" and this new policy. For some reason, DVC seems to be afraid to have BWV owners adhere to this policy that will be in place at every other DVC resort. They are obviously trying to head off an increased number of irate members at check-in.

A month ago, if you booked BWV at 11 months out and asked for BWV view, chances were good you would get it. If they went to "room ready' this was no longer necessarily the case. A VWL member or a BWV member who booked later could be given the room instead. I agree that BWV members should/would be upset with this. DVC took this into account and made accomodations for BWV members to directly book their favorite rooms.

However, at the same time, they took away this advantage from every other DVC resort. OKW has been around quite a few years. I'm sure MS knows which rooms are the most requested. Same with all the other DVC resorts, they know the most popular rooms. However, they have taken away whatever "edge" booking early (i.e., home resort members) might have had for getting these rooms.

I don't really care about getting a BW view. I do care about being given owner priority at my own resort if I have booked early. Boardwalk members can reserve the boardwalk views first, members should be given priority at their resorts as well. The most obvious case is the oceanview villas at Vero. Those should be put on this system tomorrow.

I'm willing to see how this works. But I will let DVC know if I see a drastic change.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

It is interesting the conundrum that the present situation at the Boardwalk is causing. Especially so, since it is artificial in its nature , created by a unique set of present conditions.

Each resort is going to have some rooms, or types of rooms, that are more "preferred" than others. OKW has the grand villas, and the areas around the hospitality house and turtle pond. VWL has the "woods" view, and BCV has the "epcot" view. Hilton Head has the beach houses, and "ocean view" at Vero. Boardwalk initially had the "boardwalk" view, and its few grand villas. However, in these examples we are talking about a catagory of rooms that were probably only a few precent of the total number of rooms available at that resort.

Fast forward to the present situation. According to my (often fallible) memory BWV has about 20% of rooms assigned as "standard" view, with lower points cost per night. It is well known that those are often booked at the 11 month window by BWV owners - as is their right. Now, for those BWV owners that were not quick or lucky to get those rooms, they can now be
guaranted a specific set of rooms in addition the standard ones - an addition 10 ~ 11 % of the available inventory.

Let's face it - if you are a BWV owner and you call MS to make your reservation your request will probably go like this : "Are there any standard view XXX type rooms available ... No ? ... Well, any Preferred Boardwalk view ... Yes ?!? ... Thanks, I'll take it." Between "standard" and "boardwalk" view requests you will have fully a third of BWV room inventory committed exclusively to BW owners before any requests from owners at other dvc resorts can be met. This amount of inventory that will effectively be restricted solely to owners at that resort exists only at Boardwalk, and no other dvc resort.

I can hear Richyams now -
25% more dues,
25% more points,
25% smaller size, and
25% more of a pain in the *** to get a good room.

 

[Sammie]

ScottOKW2K, what view is a Beach House view at Hilton Head, the only beach there does not have rooms. You have Marsh View and Pool View and Marina View.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

Sorry for the incorrect info on HH - I've never stayed there and was relying on my (often fallible) memory. I thought I remembered some posts with individuals describing a "grand-villa" like accomodation there, and I thought it had been described as a "beach house."

They say that memory is the second thing to go -- and I've forgotten what the first thing was .

 

[spruce]

We own at BWV and have gotten a courtyard BW room twice, a standard twice and a pool view once, never a right on the BW view. When we book preferred we request a BW view but never really gotten it (I know, a courtyard view is a partial BW view). I like this new policy. We also own at BCV and OKW. We've had an EOCOT view at BCV once, always asking for it. At OKW we have always gotten a smoking room in either bldgs 19,12 or 25.which are close to the HH.
With this new policy at BWV, 2 weeks ago we booked a BW view for Fri/Sat and must move Sunday for next weekend. I think this is great and as it should be.
We own other timeshares as well and owners not traders always get first chioce and we have suffered that reality during trades. I don't see anything unfair about that. As owners at 3 WDW resorts, if this new policy is extended to all DVC resorts, we will utilize the advantage for our benifit and not feel guilty about it at all......spruce

 

[lucky_bunni]

I'm reading all these posts, and it is very interesting to me. I've never understood the limitations of the Disney reservations systems when staying at any of the resorts, DVC or non-DVC. It doesn't seem like their policies are molded around what makes sense for the guests, but rather because of sysetm limitations. It sounds very similar to the problems I face at my work place (G*P.com.. figure it out!)

Let me explain... when you call, Disney should have a system in place that always you to make a request down to the exact room you want to stay in. If it is available, it should be earmarked for your stay. Instead Disney has for years put spit out their discloser "requests cannot be guarenteed". Thats bull. Your request should be headed if available at the time you make you reservation. If not, they should be able to see if some other option is satisfactory and comparable, and give you that.

 

[InstImpres]

Originally posted by lucky_bunni
Let me explain... when you call, Disney should have a system in place that always you to make a request down to the exact room you want to stay in. If it is available, it should be earmarked for your stay. Instead Disney has for years put spit out their discloser "requests cannot be guarenteed". Thats bull. Your request should be headed if available at the time you make you reservation. If not, they should be able to see if some other option is satisfactory and comparable, and give you that.

As I said before it is a very purposeful limitation on the computer system. Room assignments are like fitting a fine puzzle together. guaranteeing specific rooms at time of reservation could leave many wholes in the puzzle. Individually, these wholes are useless, unrentable time, than resulting in lose of income (and in DVC case, inabilitilty for other members to use points and possible dues increase). By assigning rooms at check-in or on a weekly basis as they use to, the number of "wholes" is much smaller. Personally, yes, I would like to request (and be guaranteed) room x but it does not make good business sense. I also think people talk about time on the phone with MS increasing dues, I can only imagine if I got to keep naming room numbers until I found one I liked that was available how long I could be on the phone.

JMHO
Sandy

 

[DeeP]

For some reason, DVC seems to be afraid to have BWV owners adhere to this policy that will be in place at every other DVC resort. They are obviously trying to head off an increased number of irate members at check-in.

The only BWV rooms that are exempt from the first come first serve policy are the bw view rooms, all of the other 89% of the BWV rooms will adhere to the new policy.

A vast majority of DVC owners love most or all the resorts and don't have an "us vs. them" mentality.

Don't quite understand how this came into this discussion??? I have not read any posts on this thread where anyone was displaying this "mentality".

 

[crisi]

Let's illistrate this specific room example:

DVC builds the Villas Grand Floridian. They put in a single "honeymoon suite." The Honeymoon suite is just like any other one bedroom, except the master bedroom is the turret room and the whirlpool tub is larger. They charge a slight premium in points for this.

Four DVC brides are getting married Saturday, June 1st and would like the honeymoon suite. Bree, Diane, Shelly, and Kate. They all use the same strategy, calling eleven months out day by day. On day 1 Bree gets in first and books the room for checkin on June 2nd. Diane, Shelly and Kate go on the waitlist in that order. On day 2, Kate gets to MS first and gets the room (and that's fine she thinks, the first night we will save points and stay out at the airport), and Shelly, Bree and Diane are on the waitlist in that order. Bree gets in day 3, Shelly, day 4. Day 5 is a Friday and Frank manages to get in for an anniversary weekend with his wife - he doesn't even want the whole week, just Friday and Saturday nights.

Now, the chances of the waitlist coming through on this room are slim. And no one is going to be thrilled by having to move two or three times during their honeymoon.

This is an extreme example, but it shows what happens when you have a very small quantity of in demand rooms. The more rooms you have in a category (i.e. Grand Villas or BW View rooms) the more flexibility you have.

 

[sumessefui]

While a BW view does not matter to me, since we never stay at BWV, I think BWV owners should have first shot at it. I also think that owners at the other DVC resorts should have first shot at the rooms they want. While this cannot always happen, I thought that was the purpose of the 11 month window. That was the reason for buying where you most want to stay, to better your chances of getting what you want.

 

[PamOKW]

This is what amuses me also, so many have repeatedly stated their dis satisfaction with BWV, so why now are they upset over the new bw view booking policies?

I was just pointing out that not all people who are concerned about this ever disparaged BWV. In fact, those who have a reputation for pointing out what they see as BWV faults have not posted on this thread.

Actually, 100% of the BWV rooms will not fully be part of the "room ready" policy. All BWV rooms will be pre-booked as either Standard, Boardwalk or non-Boardwalk view. No other resort has any pre-assignment of view at all for any of the rooms with the exception of the oceanview Inn at Vero.

 

[DeeP]

Originally posted by PamOKW

Actually, 100% of the BWV rooms will not fully be part of the "room ready" policy. All BWV rooms will be pre-booked as either Standard, Boardwalk or non-Boardwalk view. No other resort has any pre-assignment of view at all for any of the rooms with the exception of the oceanview Inn at Vero.

But BWV has always been the only DVC resort that had different room views/pts. categories, this is nothing new. The only change is now you can be guaranteed a bw view.

 

[joepoe]

After reading this thread, I have come to the disgusting conclusion that DVC owners, as a whole, are pigs. We buy a timeshare interest and then think the world revolves around us. Sorry, but it makes me sick.

 

[Doctor P]

More room categories mean more work for MS and more complexity to the reservation system. Since this is pretty much strictly a BWV issue, why not charge BWV owners higher management/MS fees to make up for the additional cost being imposed on the other DVC owners?

 

[crisi]

Doctor P,

How many more room categories does BWVs have? (And if they want to prorate dues for MS by resort that's fine with me. I don't think BWV members cost that much more than any other member). Did we prorate the dues when the 2 Queen Beds issue at BCVs became a dedicated category adding complexity to that reservation system?

BCV does not have the view differences, but it does have dedicated two bedrooms, some with two Queen beds and some with a pull out. Also with guarenteed categories.

OKW has Grand Villas, and dedicated two bedrooms as well as lock offs. All their dedicateds have two beds in the second bedroom (as do the studios, IIRC?)

VWL also has the dedicated/lockoff difference.

I'm not sure, but it seems to me that BWVs does not have that many more room categories than the other resorts because of the lack of dedicated two bedrooms.