Online check in

[disguy22]

Are there any major advantages of doing online check in or waiting to check in until arriving at the resort?

 

[LadybugsMum]

You can go straight to your room and not stop by the front desk. Right now, they prefer that.

 

[CarolynFH]

Also, when you do online checkin you can tell them approximately what time you expect to arrive. Several times we've received the "your room is ready" text around that time, before we arrived, so we knew when we pulled up to the entrance that we didn't need to check our luggage - we could tell Bell Services which room to bring it to and go straight there. We've also received texts around our estimated arrival time telling us our room was not ready yet, too, so I think they use that information when making room assignments and/or possibly assigning Mousekeepers to rooms.

 

[Yinn]

Are there any major advantages of doing online check in or waiting to check in until arriving at the resort?

Generally speaking, shorter waiting time too. I've had a wait - sometimes minor, sometimes longer - every time I've used the front desk. When I check in online, I find my rooms are generally available by the time I arrive and they can usually accommodate my non-specific requests.

 

[MMSM]

Stupid question. We have a unique situation where our first night is in a Lake View at Grand Floridian followed by 4 nights of Standard View Studio (ALL DVC). Our flights had changed and we needed to add a day to the front and the standard view was sold out. I am hoping that when we get there we can talk to them to see if either one of the category was now open and we didnt have to move after one night. If I have a special request is it best to wait to front desk? In other words, when I do online check-in, do I lose all chance at pixie dust?

 

[CarolynFH]

Stupid question. We have a unique situation where our first night is in a Lake View at Grand Floridian followed by 4 nights of Standard View Studio (ALL DVC). Our flights had changed and we needed to add a day to the front and the standard view was sold out. I am hoping that when we get there we can talk to them to see if either one of the category was now open and we didnt have to move after one night. If I have a special request is it best to wait to front desk? In other words, when I do online check-in, do I lose all chance at pixie dust?

Online check-in does not negate your chance for pixie dust, and you should probably not say anything and just hope for pixie dust.

If you are renting this stay, and you ask and are upgraded from standard to more expensive lake view, it's possible (likely) the owner would be charged the additional points needed, and that would be a violation of your contract, right? There is no way for you to pay the additional amount - no such thing as paying the difference in cash at time of check-in. And what if you are downgraded from more expensive lake view to standard view for that first night? Is the owner going to get their points back?

If you are the owner, and you want to ask, then you are taking the risk that any changes in points needed would be at your expense, and front desk staff (of any resort, not just VGF) are notoriously bad at adjusting owners' points. But that's up to you.

Whether renting or the owner of the points, I wouldn't ask.

 

[glencoe]

Has anyone done the online check in, noted a room request (ex. highest floor, ground floor, king bed etc) and then went back to that page to update something else and your room request was not there and not even a request anymore? I just noticed this today on a trip for this weekend- I had noted "highest floor" and now it shows no room requests and highest floor is not even a choice, just ground floor or king bed. I would have thought this was a one time issue, however this is not the first time this has happened.

 

[Yinn]

Has anyone done the online check in, noted a room request (ex. highest floor, ground floor, king bed etc) and then went back to that page to update something else and your room request was not there and not even a request anymore? I just noticed this today on a trip for this weekend- I had noted "highest floor" and now it shows no room requests and highest floor is not even a choice, just ground floor or king bed. I would have thought this was a one time issue, however this is not the first time this has happened.

It's happened to me before, but I still got my request.

 

[Luvmyfam3]

Every time I go to the online check-in page and try to request a room, it's grayed out. Are they still allowing room requests at this time? This is for the Boardwalk in March. Too soon?

 

[CarolynFH]

Every time I go to the online check-in page and try to request a room, it's grayed out. Are they still allowing room requests at this time? This is for the Boardwalk in March. Too soon?

If you’re a DVC owner, the best way to make requests is to chat or email MS via the links on the member website. You can call too, if you’re okay waiting on hold. I usually send in my requests as soon as I book, on the theory that if multiple people request the same thing, the earliest request gets it. But of course, no guarantees!

 

[SomDayMyPrnceWillCom]

What's the earliest you need to do on-line check in? 24 hours before? 48?

 

[LadybugsMum]

What's the earliest you need to do on-line check in? 24 hours before? 48?

Earliest? When you make the reservation. You can do online check in right up to the time you arrive at the resort.

 

[SomDayMyPrnceWillCom]

interesting. Would it be necessary to do it more than 48 hours out?

 

[Chuck S]

Stupid question. We have a unique situation where our first night is in a Lake View at Grand Floridian followed by 4 nights of Standard View Studio (ALL DVC). Our flights had changed and we needed to add a day to the front and the standard view was sold out. I am hoping that when we get there we can talk to them to see if either one of the category was now open and we didnt have to move after one night. If I have a special request is it best to wait to front desk? In other words, when I do online check-in, do I lose all chance at pixie dust?

I would try my best to not have them change anything at the resort front desk, even if it means moving. The front desk people are not DVC trained, and they tend to mess things up accidently. For instance, if you change rooms types. they will need to cancel and rebook the reservation. Sometimes they miscode it as a cash room, and bill the cash room cost out to the credit card on file. Sometimes they will use DVC points, but they may put the points from the canceled room in holding and borrow points for the new room, and so forth. It always fixable, but...a cash refund to your card can take days. and fixing the points would involve calling member services.

 

[DVC-Don]

We did online check in for our stay at the Poly Bungalows in late Jan. Never got the text about the room and had to go to the check in desk twice to get the door to open.

 

[CarolynFH]

interesting. Would it be necessary to do it more than 48 hours out?

I don't think so. All it does is link your CC to your resort account and give them an idea of when you'll arrive so that they can send the room number and you can bypass the front desk. As LadybugsMum said, you can do it as you're arriving, if you want, although I don't think I'd wait that late! 48 hours before checkin should be fine.

Online checkin does allow you to request things like "high floor," but given that they're generic requests and don't always match what's available in a specific resort, especially for DVC, you can ignore that section. Room assignments are made 4-5 days before arrival, so any room requests should be submitted before then but don't have to be via online checkin.