Non-Vacation Club Members stay - OKW

[calker]

We "bought" points through a broker and will be staying at Old Key West for a week as non vacation club members.

I've tried to find info on this site about what to expect, but I must be using the wrong search terms as nothing seems to fit.

Will we have daily cleaning/bed making services? How should we expect to be treated? How do we arrange the dining plan? How do we arrange for one traveler to be recognized for a birthday celebration? How do we request birthday decorations for the room? How do we arrange groceries for the room?

So far the experience has not been great -
Disney won't answer any questions since we used a broker,
and e-mailing the broker
who then e-mails the vacation club member
who contacts the broker with a response
Who then passes the info along to us
Has been ore confusing than helpful!!!!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DebbieB]

We "bought" points through a broker and will be staying at Old Key West for a week as non vacation club members.

I've tried to find info on this site about what to expect, but I must be using the wrong search terms as nothing seems to fit.

Will we have daily cleaning/bed making services? How should we expect to be treated? How do we arrange the dining plan? How do we arrange for one traveler to be recognized for a birthday celebration? How do we request birthday decorations for the room? How do we arrange groceries for the room?

So far the experience has not been great -
Disney won't answer any questions since we used a broker,
and e-mailing the broker
who then e-mails the vacation club member
who contacts the broker with a response
Who then passes the info along to us
Has been ore confusing than helpful!!!!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Since you rented points, you will not have daily housekeeping included. You can pay extra for it when you are there. The DVC member still owns the reservation, so any transactions have to go through them (adding dining, requests, etc).

Housekeeping
Trash & Towel Service
For stays of seven or less nights, Trash & Towel Service is provided on day four, regardless of whether you're using Member-discounted cash, Vacation Points or a combination of both.

With Trash & Towel service, Housekeeping will:

Empty trash and replace liners in trash bins.
Provide fresh bathroom linens.
Replace shampoo, facial soap and bath soap.
Replenish facial tissues, paper towels and toilet paper.
Replenish coffee, sugar, cream and sweeteners.
Replenish dishwashing liquid, dishwashing detergent, sponges and laundry detergent as needed in one-, two- and three-bedroom Vacation Homes.

Full Cleaning Service
For stays of eight or more nights, Full Cleaning Service is provided on day four and Trash & Towel Service is provided on day eight. After that, the cycle begins again on day 12, regardless of whether you're using Member-discounted cash, Vacation Points or a combination of both.

With Full Cleaning service, Housekeeping will provide everything included with the Trash & Towel Service, plus:

Change the bed linens.
Vacuum and dust the Vacation Home.
Clean the bathroom(s).
Clean the kitchen/kitchenette and wash the dishes.

Pay As You Play
With Pay As You Play service, you'll be provided with the following amenities free of charge at the start of your stay. After that, you may purchase more for the following fees:

Toiletries Package, $5.00 - 1 facial soap, 1 bath soap, 1 shampoo, 1 conditioner, 1 shower gel
Coffee Package, $3.00 - 1 package of coffee, 8 sugars, 8 creamers, 8 artificial sweeteners
Towel Package, $6.00 - 4 bath towels, 2 hand towels, 4 washcloths, 1 bath mat
Laundry Detergent (only in One-, Two-, and Three-bedroom Vacation Homes), $1.00 - 1 box

Additional Full Cleaning Rates:


Studio/Inn Room - $30.00 per day requested
One-Bedroom - $45.00 per day requested
Two-Bedroom - $60.00 per day requested
Three-Bedroom - $75.00 per day requested

Additional Trash & Towel Rates:


Studio/Inn Room - $15.00 per day requested
One-Bedroom - $20.00 per day requested
Two-Bedroom - $25.00 per day requested
Three-Bedroom - $35.00 per day requested

Room Change Fees:
Room change fee will apply for Member requested room changes after check-in for a different view or room location.

Deluxe Studio - $30
One-Bedroom Villa - $45
Two-Bedroom Villa - $60
Three-Bedroom Grand Villa - $75

Note: Rates are subject to change

 

[Chuck S]

I've never seen them "decorate the room" for a birthday at OKW, only send a small flower vase or balloons with a card. I did order a Mickey cake through Member Services (a long time ago, like 1993 or 1994) and someone from Olivia's (the OKW Restaurant) delivered it. I don't know if that service is still available. It was $35 at that time and included the cake, noisemakers, paper plates and forks. If it is still available, I'm sure the price has increased.

As Debbie B said, all arrangements. including any dining plans, need to go through your broker to the owner to Member Services, it is simply the way a timeshare works since the owner is legally deeded the right to use the property, not the renter.

 

[Sammie]

If you want birthday things for the room you will have to do that yourself, the resort won't.

http://www.disneyflorist.com/

You can request a Birthday button at City Hall in the Magic Kingdom.

I am surprised your broker did not fill you in on housekeeping and dining plan, when renting.

When you rent you get a great bargain, but the member retains control of the Reservation until you check in and yes when using a broker that adds another person to the mix. You to the broker, broker to member, member to Disney and then reverse.

Groceries can be purchased through outside vendors such as Garden Grocer.

 

[SueM in MN]

We "bought" points through a broker and will be staying at Old Key West for a week as non vacation club members.

I've tried to find info on this site about what to expect, but I must be using the wrong search terms as nothing seems to fit.

Will we have daily cleaning/bed making services?

No
Members don't get daily Housekeeping Services. If you are staying 7 days or less, you will get Trash and Tidy on day 4. If you stay 8 days or more, you will get a full cleaning on day 4. And Trash and Tidy on day 8.
During Trash and Tidy, the Housekeeper will give clean towels, empty trash and replenish supplies.

You can purchase extra housekeeping if you like.

How should we expect to be treated?

I'm not sure what you mean by this.
The staff at OKW are very friendly.
There are things, like discounts, that DVC members have access to that you will not be allowed to use.
There are lots of other things available to all - like free parking close to your villas, free boat to Downtown Disney.

How do we arrange the dining plan? How do we arrange for one traveler to be recognized for a birthday celebration? How do we request birthday decorations for the room? How do we arrange groceries for the room?

I don't have any answers to those and suggest you contact the broker.
Some of those things are a bit more complicated with a broker/member situation.
We have never used the Dining Plan ourselves.

So far the experience has not been great -
Disney won't answer any questions since we used a broker,
and e-mailing the broker
who then e-mails the vacation club member
who contacts the broker with a response
Who then passes the info along to us
Has been ore confusing than helpful!!!!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

That is the way it has to work.
It's not that Disney won't deal with you or answer your questions; it's that they can't.
Only the member has the legal right to deal with Disney.

If you had rented directly from a DVC member, you would cut out one person - the broker. You would still need to have the DVC member deal with Disney for you.

 

[calker]

Thanks to all of you for the quick responses. You have given me more info in these posts than we received from the broker or the DVC member.

There are five adult women staying in a two bedroom unit. I think as a group we made a huge mistake in arranging a DVC rental without being owners.

Nothing is turning out as we were lead to believe.

 

[celerystalker]

Remember that it's like a timeshare - for instance, I own at Wyndham and actually enjoy not having housekeeping in and out all the time - you have much more space, so it's a lot easier to keep things neat and tidy.
You'll be treated with respect - I've stayed at Saratoga Springs using a friend's points and was treated no differently than a member would be.
Other than the person at checkin - I don't think anyone knows if you are a member or not.

 

[Sammie]

Thanks to all of you for the quick responses. You have given me more info in these posts than we received from the broker or the DVC member.

There are five adult women staying in a two bedroom unit. I think as a group we made a huge mistake in arranging a DVC rental without being owners.

Nothing is turning out as we were lead to believe.

You will have a full washer and dryer so not having towels will not be a problem just put a load on when you get up and put them in the dryer as you leave.

As to cleaning, there is a vacuum in the unit too, if you need it.

Dining plan for a group might be more difficult, you would get 5 cards with all the credits on each.

Good luck and hope you enjoy the trip.

 

[Dean]

Thanks to all of you for the quick responses. You have given me more info in these posts than we received from the broker or the DVC member.

There are five adult women staying in a two bedroom unit. I think as a group we made a huge mistake in arranging a DVC rental without being owners.

Nothing is turning out as we were lead to believe.

You should have investigated more before committing, I'd treat it as a learning experience. Timeshares are different than hotels in general but less so for DVC than most. As far as the room is concerned, you should expect to be treated the same as any owner of a timeshare. The limited to no housekeeping has been discussed. You will not get member discounts but sadly DVC doesn't give owners a priority on room requests, you could use this to your advantage though it likely doesn't make as much difference at OKW as some others. I really don't know what you need so if I give you info you don't need or know already, I apologize.

Roughly half of the 2 BR units don't have access directly from the LR to a BR so if you're planning on using the pull out, you should request accordingly. I'm not 1000% sure on the building number that's the cutoff but I'm thinking it's those buildings under 30 that don't have the direct access. The buildings closest to the Hospitality House (check in area) are a separate booking category which almost certainly means you are booked further away.

There will be a bus that circles the resort and goes to Downtown Disney as well as a bus for each of the parks which you can also use to get to the HH. The kitchens are well stocked from a cooking standpoint and will include some coffee but not enough if you're big drinkers and little cream sugar. ALL of the units including balconies are non smoking and no pets are allowed on property. There are several pools about the resort and most have charcoal type BBQ grills. You'll have a W/D, but as noted, you may want to bring detergent. They will supply some soap, small shampoo/conditioner and Dish Washing needs. Depending on the length of your stay, they may replenish these items during your stay (Dish detergent/DW powders are always complementary). For stays of 4 nights or more, they will give you a trash and towel as noted above which means you'll have to either reuse or wash the towels or else pay extra to get extra towels.

Possible requests would be closer to HH, close to bus stops, close to pools, or certain view types. There are maps of the resort available here on DIS and many other places. IF you're thinking the Dining Plan, you'll have to get it for all in the room for every night of the stay.

 

[DebbieB]

Thanks to all of you for the quick responses. You have given me more info in these posts than we received from the broker or the DVC member.

There are five adult women staying in a two bedroom unit. I think as a group we made a huge mistake in arranging a DVC rental without being owners.

Nothing is turning out as we were lead to believe.

What were you lead to believe? Did they tell you that you would have daily housekeeping? Did they tell you that you would be able to contact Disney directly?

 

[calker]

We thought we had done our research - we were told by the broker that it worked exactly like a hotel reservation. We would receive all the same benefits as if we had reserved directly through Disney and once the reservation number was associated with my account we could make arrangements for Dining, Magical Express, Pre-checkin for one member who will arrive in WDW about 10:00 am and the rest of us at 2:00pm.

If we had known it was in some ways like renting a condo unit we wouldn't be as confused now. It wasn't until after we made the final payment, received a reservation number, and tried to register the number on the Disney site that the issues began. After the number was input, a small banner appeared saying something like "contact the original booker for any changes". From then on trying to get answers from the owner through the broker has been very stressful and very time-consuming. As I previously posted, We received more help and info from one post here than we have in weeks of e-mails and phone calls between us and the owner.

So now we have a few more questions - what kind of coffee machine is in the unit? Does the washer use liquid or powder detergent? Does the refrigerator have an ice machine?

Is there a page, site, or thread that would be helpful to us while trying to plan our trip?

Thanks for the help it is sincerely appreciated.

 

[Dean]

We thought we had done our research - we were told by the broker that it worked exactly like a hotel reservation. We would receive all the same benefits as if we had reserved directly through Disney.

If we had known it was in some ways like renting a condo unit we wouldn't be as confused now. It wasn't until after we made the final payment, received a reservation number, and tried to register the number on the Disney site that the issues began. After the number was input, a small banner appeared saying something like "contact the original booker for any changes". From then on trying to get answers from the owner through the broker has been very stressful and very time-consuming. As I previously posted, We received more help and info from one post here than we have in weeks of e-mails and phone calls between us and the owner.

So now we have a few more questions - what kind of coffee machine is in the unit? Does the washer use liquid or powder detergent? Does the refrigerator have an ice machine?

Is there a page, site, or thread that would be helpful to us while trying to plan our trip?

Thanks for the help it is sincerely appreciated.

Many of the DVC resorts do no have ice makers but do have ice machines, OKW does have ice makers. There has been some variations over time but I think currently OKW has basket type coffee machines and one pack of lose coffee that should make maybe 2-3 pots, they will replace that on the Trash and towel day if you're 4 nights or longer. They will provide one powder single use box which they should also replace on the T&T day but rarely seem to. You can use powder or liquid. I'd take either powder plus dryer sheets or the 3 in 1 sheets if you can find them. You can read about the resort on Disney's website, here on DIS and a number of other sites.

As for being misled, I doubt it was intentional. Generally the main difference is the housekeeping. If you care to post the broker info, I'm sure additional feedback and experience could be shared.

 

[DebbieB]

You were definitely mislead if you were told it was like a regular hotel reservation and you would be able to make direct contact. I'd be curious who the broker is.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Can the OP call and book Magic Express herself?

 

[Chuck S]

I'm at OKW right now. The washers are standard top load General Electrics, so powder or liquid is fine. You receive a single load box of ALL detergent. I actually generally use it for two loads because the water is pretty soft here.

The coffee maker is a Mr. Coffee that requires basket-type filters. Upon check-in and housekeeping day, I received a filter pack that made one full pot of coffee...since it is just me, I drank a cup, then put the carafe in the fridge and reheated a cup in the microwave for a couple of mornings, giving me sufficient coffee without buying any.

As far as Magical Express, I really don't know if you can call for yourself...I've always made the call when I've let others use my points. I used Magical Express for the first time myself this trip, as I usually drive. Be aware that it took about 6 hours from my arrival for them to deliver my suitcase....but I arrived on a Sunday which is a very busy check-in day for DVC. With the exception of the limited housekeeping, DVC is very much like any other Disney resort stay...and you should be able to look up your reservation online and do online check-in, if the reservation was put in your name at www.mydisneyreservation.com/dvc but try the last names of the others in the traveling party if you can't find it. Sometimes the lead name on the reservation gets changed to someone else in your traveling party because of some glitches when DVC and Disney tried to make their respective separate reservation systems play nice with each other.

OKW is a lovely resort with large, relaxing rooms...I hope the initial problems work out and you have a wonderful Disney vacation.

 

[Deb & Bill]

One thing to be aware of before you leave. DVC asks members (and their guests) not to decorate the outer side of the door. No decorations should be seen on the outside of the villa. I see you have cruised before where they do allow door decorations.

One more thing - another poster referred to Trash and Towel service as Trash and Tidy. There is no tidy in this service other than emptying the trash. They do not make beds, they do not do the dishes, they do not vacuum or clean up after you. They only replace the towels and amenities
that need replacing (shampoo, soap, laundry detergent). You will not get unlimited supplies each day. You will get a single bottle of shampoo for each bathing area, single bar of soap for each sink, etc.

Members don't get the freebies hotel guests get because members pay for everything they get.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I hope you have a wonderful time, and that as your questions are answered here, you can relax an enjoy your vacation. You probably paid a lot less than Disney would charge for the same accomodations! The 2 bedrooms at OKW are spacious, and get rave reviews from many people!

 

[Chuck S]

Deb and Bill are correct about Trash and Towel. Many, many years ago, DVC referred to it as Trash and Tidy, but changed it to Trash and Towel to better clarify the limited housekeeping service. Some early members still call it Trash and Tidy, since that is what we knew it as originally.

 

[paults]

could you tell us your broker

 

[Queenie122]

I hope you have had your questions answered and you have a lovely trip! I am certain once you get to Disney you will find OKW a very relaxing and friendly resort. You won't feel like you don't belong there. Before we were members there we stopped by to use the bathroom once and even THEN we felt like we were home!!