Overbooking in the MS system

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

It is my opinion, but it sounds like DVC provided a good option for LousianaDisneyFan's guest.

I don't think this is in question... I believe we all agree that it was a reasonable solution to the overbooking in my case. I also think, from reading the other thread regarding this Aulani snafu, that we all agree that the DVC owner who now has to stay in two hotel rooms instead of her booked 2-bedroom villa is ending up with the short end of the stick.

I think the discussion has moved on to more general discussion about overbooking in general... a practice that has been mentioned in many threads here on Disboards. In this thread, we have accounts of it happening at both BWV and VWL, and I recently read a thread about it happening at AKV. Disboard membership is just a small percentage of the DVC owners. With this many reports here, it is certainly happening to others that do not get reported here. Whether Disney offers an equitable substitution is not the issue; the issue is that owners should not have to deal with the stress of their reservation being changed due to overbooking in the first place.

 

[yitbos96bb]

i guarantee you, we will get our home resort @ 11mos., &
wil not tolerate being relocated to a place like ssr. we
are not ssr owners, & it has nothing to do with the resort.

however, after reading ssr owners posting how they will never
stay there, only brought to go elsewhere, & to save money-
remains a dvc problem requiring some redirecting measures.

the above observations, has to do with special/few rooms
inside the resorts + high demand seasons. that is understandable,
among owners trying for the rooms.

from what i have been reading here, ssr is also used for upgrading
value rooms as a sale potential, rci trades & because it is so
large, it has the potential for short-notice trips.

but if there 's an overbooking problem, then it begins with non-owners,
who booked @ 7mos., not the owners booking @ 11mos..


we didn't pay extra $, to be in line behind non-owners. now if we
wanted to go to ssr, i would expect to be behind the owners @
ssr. [ like the treehouses or the prefer locations.]

Do you have a prejudice against capital letters? This makes my eyes and head hurt.

 

[Longhairbear]

When reserving a villa with a kitchen I always have a weeks worth of groceries ordered and awaiting delivery. I could not take the hotel room. I'd ask to be moved to another resort. However that's not an option at Aulani, or at GVC.

 

[dbs1228]

The only thing I am surprised at (especially the 2 bedroom going to 2 rooms) is that the owner was not comped for the entire stay. I worked in the Travel industry for years including a hotel (resort) and on rare occasions when we overbooked we not only found another room for the guest we also paid for it!

 

[dbs1228]

While reading my new Disney Files I thought of this thread and a similar one about over booking! Jim Lewis says in the files: It is important to note that we comply with strict industry laws and don't over-sell our resort inventory This was in response to a question about not being able to get accomodations for desired travel dates. He says "Simply put book early" I think several out there did just that! Interesting

 

[hakepb]

While reading my new Disney Files I thought of this thread and a similar one about over booking! Jim Lewis says in the files: It is important to note that we comply with strict industry laws and don't over-sell our resort inventory This was in response to a question about not being able to get accomodations for desired travel dates. He says "Simply put book early" I think several out there did just that! Interesting

Sure does sound like they only expect, say, 25% of Aulani to be ready at opening, but sold more, say, 30% and now they are overbooked selling a product not expected to exist.

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

While reading my new Disney Files I thought of this thread and a similar one about over booking! Jim Lewis says in the files: It is important to note that we comply with strict industry laws and don't over-sell our resort inventory This was in response to a question about not being able to get accomodations for desired travel dates. He says "Simply put book early" I think several out there did just that! Interesting

I think Mr. Lewis was just addressing the issue of why someone could not secure their preferred dates. That's not the same as having the confirmed reservation and then being bumped.

We did book early, and I'm sure many others who were bumped booked early as well. It's interesting that Mr. Lewis claims that Disney doesn't overbook, yet we continue to have these types of reports. The thing is, if Disney books at 100% and a room must be taken out of service, then someone will be displaced. And, honestly, rooms can and do have to be pulled from service due to unforeseen circumstances. For our last trip, we stayed in a room at BWV that should have been pulled prior to our arrival. It was obvious that someone before us had jumped on the bed repeatedly. The mattress had huge indentations and the box spring and frame were broken in four different places. It was absolutely impossible to sleep on this thing! It took several days for a new bed to arrive, and we were pretty cranky from restless nights by then.

I would really like some hard figures on how many members ARE displaced with the current booking practices. Is there a way we could, as a membership, get an honest answer to this question? If it's a large number of owners, then it would be reasonable to ask DVC to reduce booking to perhaps 98 or 99%... or whatever percentage would accommodate all guests in the resort they originally reserved.

 

[hakepb]

Per our contract, DVD must own at least 2%(I think) of the points at a resort, so we do, in fact pay DVD to manage a maintenance inventory. But, 2% really only results in 1 week a year to fix all maint issues that happen throughout the year, plus any general resort-wide refurbishments, so problems can occasionally happen.

I do think DVD should do a better job of coordinating any resort-wide changes at 12 months so members don't get hit with a last minute change. Remember this is ownership, and with anything you own, there will be times it has to be unavailable while it's fixed...
.

 

[dbs1228]

I think Mr. Lewis was just addressing the issue of why someone could not secure their preferred dates. That's not the same as having the confirmed reservation and then being bumped.

Yes you are correct he was addressing why someone could not secure their preferred dates, but then he adds if you book early enough you will get what you want in a confirmed reservation since we do NOT over sell our properties! Not exact wording but this is the way I took it. Others posted about showing up at VWL and being told there was "no room at the inn"! I just had to chuckle since this has been an issue the past week or so on the boards!

 

[csharpwv]

I just want to be clear - as DVC owners we are NEVER guaranteed to be able to get what we want at 11 Months. The chances are high that you will get what you want (for the most part) at 11 months - however - we are NOT guaranteed to get a reservation at 11 months at our home resort.

If there is a large number of bookings that extend into your week from the previous week - if there is no room, there is no room.

As I said - the chances of that happening are slim - but there are no guarantees, unfortunately.

 

[dbs1228]

Sorry wrong wording yes I know even at 11 months there is no guarentee! What I meant was IF you get the reservation it "should" be a good confirmed reservation since they do not over sell the resort.

 

[tidefan]

Sounds to me like at opening for Aulani, all the hotel rooms will be ready, but not all of the villas may be ready.

 

[slowly]

well, you can call it anything you want. your choice. [ & i have
heard that before]. but dvc isn't the same to us, & there are
those working in management that are willing to back it up.

we were already put to this test, and it was resolved. however,
i don't have the expectation that disney has to be prefect.
if mistakes are made, & they do problem solving then i
would be happy with the outcome.

i don't see ever ssr owners having first choices over blt owners
for blt or vice versa.

I like your style from your post(s). I am the same way in regards to not tolerating less than expectations. There are those who roll with the punches but I am one that has to give it back harder because I for one bought into DVC for the quality and service that comes with it. We all worked hard to be owners so why would anyone want to compromise when it was their mistake?

Trust me I am easy to please but also easy to upset when things go wrong because I am fighting for my family. Yes, we were bumped at Aulani but looking at the numerous threads I saw why our confirmation was bumped. We live in HI and we are guests booked by an Aulani owner. We own DVC at the Grand. If I didn't have past issues or I wasn't a DVC mbr I probably would not have punched too hard. Without getting into details, we are satified but not 100% happy if that makes any sense.