NEW POLICY: How Special Room Requests Are Honored

[Maistre Gracey]

Hmmm........ Perhaps I'll just slip the cast member a c-note.

 

[Luv2Dream]

I recently checked into VWL at 11:45am on a Thursday morning. It was not busy at check-in at that time. My only request on my reservation was non-smoking, top floor. I was told my room was not ready, given the card, and called back at 3ish and was given the number. I had top floor, non-smoking. Don't you think that if it was room ready first I would have been given just any floor that was open rather than having to wait for my top floor unit? I wonder when this went into effect.

 

[jodifla]

I think we've created our own problem here. It is clear in the DVC literature that these are requests, not guarantees. It must be a logistical nightmare for DVC -- or the resorts in general -- when people are so particular about the room location. And for people to stand at the front desk and berate cast members just brings the whole system down, and cuts in a great deal to the magic. No wonder cast members get cranky sometimes.

And as far as "the crappy rooms" comment -- I just don't think that's what DVC offers, although I can see that getting mismatched in a room could be problematic if you were a smoker or handicapped and needed a particular room.

But the "I want a top floor, boardwalk view, NS, NH, near the elevator, etc. etc." requests are getting out of hand. They're not building a house to spec for you to live in the rest of your life, you're spending a few days on vacation there, and stressing out over the exact location of the room seems counterproductive to the whole idea of vacation.

 

[disneyberry]

Originally posted by Maistre Gracey
Hmmm........ Perhaps I'll just slip the cast member a c-note.

haha. i've been researching a Vegas trip lately, and i keep reading about how people use the $20 trick to try to get free upgrades upon check-in at Vegas resorts.
anyway, are front desk CMs even allowed to accept tips?

while i was checking in to VWL this past June, another guest came up and thanked the CM who was checking me in, and he handed her a folded up bill (i didn't catch how much $ it was) and thanked her for her help.
i was surprised to see that.

it would be so weird if people have to resort to the $20 trick to get their room requests.

 

[childsplay]

I have stated on other threads dealing with this subject that what I wanted to see was an explaination of how rooms were assigned, if this new policy is truely how they are going to assign rooms.... fine (can't say that i agree with it, but I'm willing to wait and see)

As a side note, IMO, this "survey" of members that has been refered to is probably more likely the persistant and frequent badgering that the CMs recieve at check in by individuals who "really need" to get in before 4 pm. If you have to listen to that a dozen or so times a day, it begins to seem like that is what is most important.

 

[DisneyCrazy]

When we checked in last month at the Boardwalk, we were early and did not expect the room to be ready, but were pleasently surprised that it was. We were traveling with my mother, who is not CONFINED to a wheelchair, but does require it's assistance (and ours) during our trips to the park. We REQUESTED to be as close to the elevator as possible (so she could make her way to the lobby/pool/etc) without one of use to pushing her in the wheelchair. The cast member gave us 'the closet one that had' - well, I could have spit and hit MGM, that was how far from the elevator we were. This was our main concern, not view, so we called down and they told us they could reassign us to another room, but it would not be ready until normal checkk in tim (4PM). Since this was most important, we decided to wait for another room (which was ready about 4:45PM BTW) and it was MUCH closer.

Since she is not confined to the wheelchair we don't request an accessible room (I'd rather see them go to those that truely need them), but this is a 'medical' request none the less (she has the parking permit and all) - should this be noted on the 'request' prior to checkin? It would be impossible for her to enjoy herself if she were confined to the room when one of us was not available to assist her. We are staying at OKW in December - we always 'request' to be near the hospitality house for this reason - would this 'medical' request take priority over a convienience request?

 

[DebbieB]

Honestly though, I am not sure as a future DVC member that I want to get different treatment on the request front than cash paying visitors.

I have the feeling all WDW resorts will be going to this system, I don't think DVC would be alone in this. With so many people on the internet now, I think they are running into problems with too many requests and heightened expectations.

On the other hand, I think DVC members have alot of money invested in this program and should have an equitable system. No member should be stuck with a smoking room when they requested non-smoking just because of the fact that they arrived later. It would be more fair to give it to the member who reserved last.

 

[The VWL Five]

Just a few times in my DVC future would I love to get an EPCOT view at BCV or BWV. Not EVERY time. I'm a fair person. But with all this talk and policy changes, I have NO IDEA how to go about getting a decent view just ONCE. Sounds like such an annoyance to me that I have to plan ahead what I need to say to MS or the CM, what time I need to arrive etc. I guess it's all just a crap shoot. Maybe I'll get what I want on my NEXT vacation....or the one after that and so on. When do I say, ' I've been a member for so many years and I NEVER got an EPCOT view'? 'Can I have one now please'?

BTW, I've always gotten my Non smoking request. I guess that's my ONE per trip. I have not gotten my first floor request a few times. I have 3 small kids who like to climb.....hopefully they won't climb out of a 3rd floor balcony. They did grant me that ONE wish.......so I should be happy.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Chuck S]

I have to agree that some members are part of the problem. I've seen members argue with and berate the CMs at the resorts, simply because ROOM 1234 wasn't available and THEY requested it. They got the same general area (at OKW) but not THEIR room. Personally, I think having requests so specific is ridiculous, and expecting them ALL to be met even more so.

They should LIMIT the number of requests to two or three per ressie (medical/access needs exempt, of course), and require they be "general" requests, like "Near Elevator" or "Near Restaurant/check-in area", listing your most important preference first.

But gosh, 4th floor, boardwalk view, non-smooking, close to elevator, view of fireworks, and I want Room 4213, and I won't be happy with anything else is just going a bit too far.

 

[CK1]

Maybe room requests should be like rubbing the Genie's lamp... (and NO FAIR asking for 3 more wishes!!)

Cindy
(who wants a NS, non-HC room... and for my third wish, hey, knock yerself out....)

 

[vernon]

I'd love to know when this "member's poll" was done. Usually it seems the "bush telegraph" on this website let's us know if these polls are done and what they contain. I don't remember anyone posting they had received such a poll. IMHO it's the old "we've done a poll to justify our actions" comment. Whether the poll was actually done seems to be questionable. The statement "a majority of members" is plain wrong, perhaps they meant the majority of those polled ( but unless they skewed the questions I can't see how they got that result).

IMHO it's all very unsavoury. It appears we are all at the whim of the CM checking us in. It will favour the argumentative and aggressive to the detriment of the meek and the maliable.

 

[anniet]

Originally posted by vernon
It appears we are all at the whim of the CM checking us in. It will favour the argumentative and aggressive to the detriment of the meek and the maliable.

I agree we may very well be at the whim of the CM checking us in. But I've worked in customer service long enough to know, that if I am the one providing the service, it's NOT going to be the argumentative and aggressive customer that I'm going to try my hardest to please.

As my mother always taught me, a little bit of kindness and manners goes a long way!

 

[vernon]

Anniet you may not try your hardest, but if you have one customer that accepts what you give them then goes away and another customer that doesn't accept it and is prepared to make sure you check to see if there is something they'd prefer , who get's the room choice. As a CM you can not outrightly lie to a customer and say there is nothing available, because if they then speak to a superior and that superior finds there are rooms available it will be your butt on the firing line from an angry manager whose time has been wasted.

IMHO if you work in the service industry then you should know that in the majority of cases, people will give in to an argumentative customer just to get rid of them. What will happen is the "nice rooms" will be bagged by those customers that check in early and are prepared to argue their case. Those unfortunate enough to have flights that arrive late, or who accept what they are given, will be at the mercy of luck or get what's left.

 

[DebbieB]

From talking to Jackie yesterday, I don't think a poll was done. She made it sound like they got favorable feedback when they tested it.

 

[Terry S]

I was there during the "test period". I know this because when I checked in I had not been assigned a room and ended up getting a room that didn't match our requests of non-smoking, top floor, we checked into our room and later in my trip I went down to the front desk to speak with a manager. I did not ask to speak the manager to complain, I just wanted an explanation and/or confirmation as to what the room assignment policy was since my understanding as a newbie was that rooms were preassigned giving preference to those who booked first and I figured for future trips it would be good to know the policy. Well, the manager and I had a really nice chat and at the time he told me they doing a "test" where they would assign rooms upon check-in so that members could get in to their rooms more quickly since one of the biggest complaints that DVC Members had was not getting into their room quick enough. He told me at the time that there was a favorable response from the members to getting into their rooms quicker. I agree that most people undoubted liked getting into their room quickly, but I don't think they realized that the trade-off was not getting a room pre-assigned. I let him know that I liked the previous way that rooms were assigned better and he told me he would forward my comments to the powers that be.

 

[bcvillastwo]

I'm not taking sides with Disney or its employees but I think it would be pretty difficult to honor every request.

Our only demand is for a non smoking room other than that we've made our requests, the CM's have attempted to honor them depending on availability and sometimes we get some of what we want. The only thing we ask for when we make reservations is for a non smoking room.

I'm sure it's frustrating for those of you who want very specific things but frankly it seems a bit childish to me. Oh yes, I'm sure that sometimes the way the CM's parcel out the rooms seems unfair but after all you're fortunate enough to be a DVC member and I'm sure that you have many other things to be thankful for so take a deep breath and just be glad that you can take a nice vacation at WDW in very nice accomodations.

Others are not as fortunate as you and I suspect many of the less fortunate include many of the CM's you deal with when dickering over room requests.

 

[lisareniff]

From the sounds of it, I will get the worst room in the house! I hope I at least get NS and everything works!!!

I liked the preassigned room system better! I felt like the need to say (or yell) the right thing was gone with this system. I never got the impression you would get what you requested but at least you had an equal shot.

 

[elgerber]

I only made a couple of requests on my December reservation, as I am not that picky, and I can imagine what a nightmare some of these requests must be. Let me ask you this though. We will be at the All Stars on Friday night, then moving to BWV on Saturday, so we could feasibly check in at any time. Our friends, who are joining us on rented points in their own room, are flying in from Portland, OR, so they may not arrive until 8 pm or so. What is the best way for me to try to get our rooms nearby? Do you think mentioning it if we check in early will work?

Thanks.

Erika

 

[DebbieB]

Lisa,

I would have your reservation noted that you will not be arriving until 11:00pm. I would call the front desk earlier in the day before you leave home and let them know you willn't be arriving until late, maybe they could hold something for you, at least they would be aware of it. Wouldn't hurt! Good Luck!

 

[LisaR]

Originally posted by Chuck S
I have to agree that some members are part of the problem. I've seen members argue with and berate the CMs at the resorts, simply because ROOM 1234 wasn't available and THEY requested it. They got the same general area (at OKW) but not THEIR room. Personally, I think having requests so specific is ridiculous, and expecting them ALL to be met even more so.

While I agree that this all started due to the ridiculous requests some people make and expect to be honored, there is a very simple solution to this. When someone makes a reservation, the following info should be given and adhered to:

#1: Every guest should be allowed to make only 2 requests, period.

#2: The requests CAN'T be specific requests for buildings, room numbers, etc. You can specify a location (near elevator, near quite pool) but that is it.

If MS had the above two rules in place and didn't allow anyone to abuse it, then they could still assign rooms and probably have a better chance of meeting everyones requests.

By the way, this isn't just a DVC issue. I have read the resort boards and I can't believe some of the requests people make. The difference seems to be that when someone on this board asks about a specific room request, most people discourage that. On the resort board, it seems to be encouraged that they do whatever it takes to get a specific room. I think this is a problem throughout WDW and their solution is first come, first serve. While I agree something needs to be done, I do not think this is a fair way of handling it.

Lisa