Non Smoking Request, Has anyone had this denied?

[eileenfk]

Has anyone ever had a request for a non-smoking room denied.

I now remember that this was one of the reasons I did not join the DVC 8 years ago when I first considered it.
Every other major hotel chain, in the country, knows how many smoking and non-smoking rooms they have, and can accept reservations based on this.
Why can’t Disney?
There have been times, when I choose NOT to book a Disney Hotel near DisneyLand due to this very issue.
I suspect there are others who book outside of Disney owned property due the “Non Smoking” being treated as a special request that my not be granted.

I almost booked the Dolphin for my next trip, because they use the “non smoking” request, when they search for availability.

Almost every hotel chain treats non-smoking the same as they treat other elements of the room type such as number of beds and room size.
If Disney can come up with a Doll “Pal Mickey” that has a sophisticated interaction system, I would think that they could have their reservation system know how many smoking/non-smoking rooms are available, and treat this just as they treat the room type.

[ I still have 6 days to exercise my cancel option on the DVC package I am purchasing ]

- Eileen

 

[Simba's Mom]

Yes, I had requested non-smoking at HHI once, and got smoking )although there was no smoke odor at all). This had also happened to us previously at POFQ. Although I'd requested non-smoking both times, I didn't make the request for medical reasons, and there was no odor.

 

[wdwstar]

we just got back and when we were at vb i had a request non smoking, well they gave us a non smoking room and they just got done painting with laquer paint, OMG ! it hit you right in the face when you walked in, so i went down to the desk and told them i need a different room that my family and i wouldnt wake up with headaches, well they said they only had one room left and it was smoking and i couldnt have it because i had requested non smoking, i told them they better do something and they told me to just stay where i was and leave the slider door open, i said the room faces the pool, what about the noise, finally i said i want to smell the smoking room and it didnt smell to bad, you could tell a little bit but then they fumed the room and it was fine for our stay. this was the first time we had to fight for the smoking room, lol.lol.

then we went to bcv and they had three rooms for us, we only needed one, and our keys didnt open any of the room doors.lol.lol
we called and ever time i called they gave us a different room number, finally a cm met us up at one of the rooms to open the door and it was a smoking room and it was bad, i told her no, i requested a non smoking room, she said this is all they had and i had to go down to the desk to have my room keys printed again, when i went down the cm that check us in the first time said, no i have a room for them and told me that is were we will stay in the non smoking room, and printed up new keys.

the best news we then went to the poly and had no problem, i was lucky if i stood in front of the check in desk 2 mins. before
i had my room keys and the room was ready at 11am. lol.lol
and it was the best room and non smoking !

 

[jaysue]

So far they have always been met

If it is a medical issue for you, I think a DR's certificate/note can help bump from request to needed

You are right though on the reservations part - I think it should be a category as well - in other words, there is non-smoking available or there is not and it is guaranteed at time of reservation

thanks
jaysue

 

[Duckielucky]

We have never had a problem getting a non-smoking room. However, one time a person at the pool, who was using his parent’s points, that he requested a smoking room and got a non-smoking room so he felt entitled to smoke in his room. What a jerk!

 

[DVC-Don]

Never got a smoking room at Disney or DVC. But we recently got a smoking room (refused to stay) at a Best Western in Massachusetts. Had a non-smoking reservation, but was told that is was just a request and that's all that was availible.

 

[Chuck S]

We took a smoking room once (at our option) because it was available when we arrived at 8:30am.

However, as to why DVC does not specifically reserve non-smoking rooms, there could be many factors...1) Off-site hotels that guarantee non-smoking rooms do so betting that there will be last minute cancellations and the hotel won't be filled to capacity...I'll bet the percentage of cancellations is much lower with DVC. 2) With the high occupancy rates of DVC villas, a unit could go down unexpectedly for emergency rehab, thus possibly taking a "guaranteed" non-smoking room out of service. 3) Non-smoking medical has priority over a simple non-smoking request.
4) If they start "guaranteeing non-smoking room, what else should htey guarantee? I mean, it would be just as easy to "guarantee" a view, a specific room, close to pool etc.

From the start DVC is honest, stating that requests (including smoking preference) are NOT guaranteed. What would you want DVC to do if a non-smoking unit goes down for some reason and all that is available is a smoking optional room? Should they transfer you to another Disney resort? Kick out someone else? What?

The chances are excellent that you will get your non-smoking request honored...we'd all be millionaires if Vegas offered the same odds of hitting a jackpot.

If, however, a non-smoking room guarantee is of absolute importance to you, then I would cancel my contract.

 

[crisi]

We've only had one trip down, but had a single request - non-smoking - and got put in a smoking room. But it didn't have an odor so we didn't mind.

So I wouldn't agree that the chances are slim - we are one for one.

Almost every hotel chain treats non-smoking the same as they treat other elements of the room type such as number of beds and room size.

Keep in mind DVC isn't a hotel, its a timeshare. As such it operates pretty much to capacity all the time and has some different operations than a normal hotel. There are other features of a hotel that you won't get with DVC - besides no guarentee of smoking/non-smoking rooms, you won't get regular housekeeping. If you are going to compare DVC with a hotel, you may end up disappointed.

I have checked into a hotel, with a guarenteed non-smoking confirmation and not had a non-smoking room to check into (a influx of convention attendees and an overbooking of non-smoking rooms) - guarentees are not exactly guarentees even in the hotel business (though the hotel would have put me up in a non-smoking room in a nearby hotel - it wouldn't have been convienent for convention attendence.)

 

[SnowWitch]

Before anyone jerks out their flame throwers and proceeds to flame me read my whole post.....please.

My DH still smokes and I have been quit for 2 years. I personally can't stand to smell it but I understand how hard it is to quit. We always and I do mean always reserve a smoking room so husband can smoke on the balcony guilt free! However, on more than 1 occassion at VB and the BWV's a smoking unit was not available and he was told smoke in the unit anyway. He did not.

So why name call towards another guest.........he was probably told the same thing.

And here's something I do find annoying w/ the smoking rooms at the BWV's. They are on the 2nd floor. Several years ago I had my best friend and her family join us for a vacation. They went out on the balcony of their smoking unit to smoke. A couple above them carried on about it like there was no tomorrow until my friend retrieved me from my unit. I politely stepped out and informed them the unit was a smoking unit and I would be calling the front desk to let them know they were harassing my guests.

So why don't they put the rooms on the 5th floor? The smoke could go up without irritating other guests.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by SnowWitch
Before anyone jerks out their flame throwers and proceeds to flame me read my whole post.....please.

..............................

When DVC goes totally non-smoking..........there won't be any problems.

 

[Dean]

Any CM who tells a guest to smoke in a non smoiking unit should be fired on the spot. Still, members shoudl be smart enough and reasonable enough not to do so, period.

 

[Timon@BWV]

The last 3 times at Boardwalk I have requested a smoking room because of guests of mine that smoke! I have never gotten that request, alway non-smoking!

You would think that would be a easy request to meet since it seems most requests are for non-smoking

I have a 2 bedroom prf reserved for the week of the 4th of July and the only request is smoking room! I guess we'll what and see what happens.

Maybe you would have a better chance of non-smoking room if you request a smoking room

 

[eileenfk]

Originally posted by Nick@ VB+OKW
When DVC goes totally non-smoking..........there won't be any problems.

[/B]

I don't think it would be fair to go all non-smoking.
As much as the smell irritates me, I understand that it is an addiction. People bought into the plan, with smoking rooms available, so taking them away would not be fair.
Also, if smokers can not get smoking rooms they are far more likely to break the rules and smoke in non-smoking rooms.

I think that a new non-smoking resort would be a good idea.

They don't allow smoking in the "Grand Californian" hotel in DisneyLand.
But they have other Disney hotels, very close to that one, that do have smoking rooms.

Where resorts have different buildings, it is easy to make some buildings non-smoking. They can even make sections of resorts non-smoking.
At Carribean Beach the "Preferred" rooms are non-smoking.
For a few extra dollars, one can make a reservation specifically for one of these "preferred" rooms.
While the non-smoking is only a request, if the reservation is for a preferred room at the Carribean Beach (which costs more then a non preferred room) one is pretty much guranteed a non-smoking room.

In DVC points the Carribean Beach resort is more then a studio at OKW. (At least for the week I was planning on traveling).


- Eileen

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by eileenfk
Also, if smokers can not get smoking rooms they are far more likely to break the rules and smoke in non-smoking rooms.

Thats where a $300 cleaning fee will be charged to there credit card comes in. They do this at a lot of hotels now. I think smokers would think twice before they let the $300 charge hits them where it counts. I think smokers would take a few steps to go outside for sure then before they light up.

 

[TOMAR@SSR]

Hi Everyone! ,
Honestly, I didn`t know that if you request a non-smoking room, It`s treated like your asking for a specific VIEW, or something like that!
I have Broncial Asthma, and I just assumed that by requesting non-smoking, that , that at least would be a given!!!
It wouldn`t be a problem for my Dr. to give me a letter, but that never happened to us before.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Originally posted by TOMAR@SSR
Hi Everyone! ,
Honestly, I didn`t know that if you request a non-smoking room, It`s treated like your asking for a specific VIEW, or something like that!
I have Broncial Asthma, and I just assumed that by requesting non-smoking, that , that at least would be a given!!!

It wouldn`t be a problem for my Dr. to give me a letter, but that never happened to us before.

If you request non-smoking--medical, it receives the highest priority in room assignment. Since so many of the rooms are non-smoking anyway, it is easy to satisfy this request.

Ralph

 

[eileenfk]

I asked Disney about this.
They told me to state that I had asthma, and that this would increase the probability of my getting the non-smoking room.
They did not say I need a note from a Doctor. I suppose if this reason starts to be used by everyone wanting to insure that their request is satisfied, they could get pickier about the letter.
Most of us who have asthma have semi-proof of this via the prescription medicines with our names on them.

The one time I did get in a smoking room, I didn't complain or say anything, so I don't know if they would have changed me.
It was in the all-stars resort many years ago, and before my asthma had developed (or at least before it had been diagnosed).
Compared to the smoking rooms in other hotels, it was not as bad. I suspect that if I hat gotten new pillows, blankets and bed spreads, it may have solved the problem.

However, if enough people express a desire to have the reservation system take non-smoking into account, as it shows what rooms are available, then Disney is more likely to consider doing this. They still might not guarantee this, because stuff can happen. But at least it would increase the probability of people getting what they request.

As for specific views and such, this could go into a system as well, however the more specifics in the system, the less likely the system is to show blocks of availability.

The fewer rooms the system has that meet the criteria of the reservation, the harder it is to accommodate more people's specific blocks of time.
I am certain this is the reason Disney will not treat "smoking/non-smoking" like they treat things such as room size and preferred views (the things that effect the price of the room).
It is about maximizing profit.
However, if Disney realized that people are booking off site, due to their failure to make non-smoking vs smoking part of the room availability shown when making the reservation, they might then find it worth doing.

- Eileen