Problem with room on recent trip...

[MicheleC]

We just got back from our Halloween visit to the Boardwalk Villas. Overall we had a really excellent vacation, couldn't ask for much more. We did have one pretty big mishap which was quite upsetting and I wanted to share it with everyone so maybe I can save someone else the trouble. We booked our 7 nights using our points at the boardwalk. We then added on one night cash. I had never done that before and had checked all the boards here for advice. I was told to make sure the reservations were linked so that we wouldn't have to switch rooms. We certainly didn't want to have to switch rooms for one night. When the CM booked the cash night, she put in the comments, "continuation/stayover" and linked it to the points reservation. And to double-check it, when we checked in on the boardwalk, they had us checking out on the 7th of November which was correct and included the cash night. No problem, right? WRONG! Our last day was the 6th Nov. and MK was open until 11 p.m. so we were planning on being out all day. Long story short, MK was jam-packed and we had enough by mid-day and headed back to the room to refresh and head to Epcot. When we got to our room housekeeping was there, which struck me as odd since we shouldn't be getting any. Then my message light was on the phone and when I called for the message she was looking for someone else, she then asked my name and said I was in a different room number! I started to panic at that point and she said to stay calm and its no big deal, probably a mistake since we just checked in. I said no, we've been here a week already! And as I was relaying my fears to the CM on the phone, we heard a key in our lock and in walks total strangers with a key to our room! I don't want to go on forever about this, but it was realy upsetting. They wanted us to pack up our stuff and switch rooms, but by then we would have missed our last night at the parks. Somehow they checked us out of the room we were in and into another room without us ever physically doing anything! It was awful. After my husband argued with 4 different people, we finally spoke with a manager who told us we could stay where we were for our last night. Ugh...I won't be adding a cash day on anytime again soon. Sorry so long, had to vent.

 

[Minybear]

Thanks for posting. We have a resv 1/2 points and 1/2 cash. I hope we don't get room changed . We are not staying at a DVC resort but I don't want to room change. I will make sure we don't room change when we get to the resort at check in.

Thanks again for telling us what happened. Sorry to find out that the hotel room changed you without your permission. That is not good customer service. Sorry.

Minybear

 

[SueM in MN]

We have done combination cash/ points stays a lot of times. It's in their best interest not to switch you to another room if at all possible (switching involves cleaning your room just to move you into another cleaned room), so they would rather not move you.
They will say they will try not to move you, but can't guarantee. The part they apparently did NOT have you do that we have done every time is check out for the points part of the stay and then check back in for the cash part. I don't remember if we got new room keys last March, but I know in the past we have, even though we did not switch rooms.
Evven if they have changed things and no longer require a check in and check out, I'd still go down on the "switch" day from points to cash just to make sure everything is the way it's supposed to be.

 

[DebbieB]

Was your cash night with the member discount or through CRO?

Did they give you keys including the cash night? I'm surprised if they checked you out that your key worked to get into the room.

Did you have a boardwalk view? From what I've heard, they will not allow a cash night in a boardwalk view.

 

[Lexxiefern]

That is horrible!!

DebbieB brings up a good question though. Did your room key have you checking out on the 6th or the 7th?

Also, was your luggage still in your room when you went back? Or did they move that to your "new" room? Either way I would have been really upset - especially having new people walk in to my room with all my stuff there!

 

[MicheleC]

To answer some of the questions...we didn't know that our room keys didn't work that afternoon when we came back because housekeeping was in the room and the door was propped open. Our keys said through the 6th which I thought was because our length of stay was through the 6th because I dropped the 7th since we were just checking out that day. But when I checked in, they definiately said I was there through the 7th. They said nothing about switching rooms. They didn't move our luggage, I don't know how they could have, it wasn't packed! I would think if they expected us to check out on one reservation and check back in I would have had a bill under my door on the 6th which would have immediately alerted me to the problem. I made the reservation for the cash night through DVC but did not get the discount since boardwalk was sold out. Thanks for the sympathy, its over now, just be aware so it doesn'th appen to anyone else.

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by MicheleC
I would think if they expected us to check out on one reservation and check back in I would have had a bill under my door on the 6th which would have immediately alerted me to the problem.

If you had chosen "Express Check out" (or whatever it is they call it), you should have had a bill uncer the door. But, I think you have to actually request to do that. I think the automatic option is the regular check out where you have to come to the desk to collect your bill or they mail it to you after the fact.

 

[Cora]

MicheleC,
Thanks for alerting us to this problem. We have stayed on cash & points and have not had a problem. We did not have to checkout of one and into the other ressie either. What I ask of you is to either forward your post to DVC or send them a letter. This is unacceptable. What if you hadn't come back when you did?

Glad it worked out for you...but how horrible.
Cora

 

[CarolA]

I think your BIG misstake was not going down to the front desk. Even if the rooms are "linked" you have to check in and out. When you didn't check in, the system checked you out... and the room became availalble.

Next time BEFORE you go anyplace go the front desk and do this. In theory the hotels can do this for you, but as one who does this a lot at various hotels don't count on it. Those folks are only human.

(And at lots of hotels you would come back to find your luggage "packed" by the hotel!)

 

[MicheleC]

CarolA, apparently you are not as sympathetic as some people. I'm just stating my experience, I don't need your capital BIG mistake comments. If I needed to check out and check in again, someone should have alerted me to that fact at check-in. I was told I was checking out on the 7th by the CM who checked me in so I had no idea to check out on the 6th. We've been in DVC for 4 years and have alwaqys received a bill under our door on the last morning. I disagree that it was our mistake, not one person anywhere down the line even hinted that my room would change or that I would need to do another check-out, check-in. But now I certainly know. But I would appreciate if you keep your negativity to yourself, most people on these boards are quite more understanding than you and I appreciate that.

 

[Kewz1]

Michele,

I'm so sorry for what happened! It's sounds like you attempted to cover all the bases and someone else dropped the ball. Thanks for giving the rest of us a "head's up" so, hopefully, this won't happen to anyone else in the future.

Kristen

 

[Chuck S]

MicheleC, CarolA was simply expressing her opinion, as were you. Now, as far as who is at fault, I would NOT blame this 100% on DVC.

While certainly, you should have been informed of the need to check-out and check-in, if your room key said "6th", it means that you are checking out on the 6th, regardless of what a CM at the front desk may have told you. Certainly this all could have been avoided if you had simply called the desk the morning of the 6th and inquired. After being a member for 4 years, being on the DIS boards for a while, and reading enough posts to know that the ressies had to be "linked", most post regarding cash nights also mention that check-out and check-in is required.

IMO This post serves as a reminder that even though ressies are "linked" you must still check-out and check-in (as has always been the proceedure).

I am curious as to why housekeeping released your room in the computer system if you and your luggage were still occupying it while they were cleaning it...and why, when you saw housekeeping in the room it didn't alert you to a potential problem.

I'm sorry you had this happen, but there were errors on the part of both parties, you and BWV front desk.

 

[kweaver]

If Disney/DVC can't get this kind of thing straight...then they need to stop telling people that they can link reservations and make a note on the reservations that state the check in/check out procedure. Come on...the technology is there to link the two systems...and the CMs should be able to read a note on the reservation...this is not rocket science!

The date on the room key should not be the final declaration of the check out date (certainly that is not industry standard). The person at the front desk was at fault. If they knew that Michelle was checking out on the 7th...they had both reservations in front of them.

If you ask me, Michelle did her homework about how to handle this ahead of time (much more than most non-Dis guests would have done) and did all the right things at check in.

This is a Disney problem that needs to be fixed.

 

[DebbieB]

My experience when I made a reservation through member services (with the discount) was we were given keys for the entire stay, we did not have to checkout/checkin. I booked Fri & Sat nights with cash and then Sun to Thurs on points. We got keys and a parking permit all the way through the following Friday. Our trash & towel day was Monday, day 4 of the combined reservation.

When I booked a cash night through CRO, I did have to checkout/checkin and get new keys. On that trip, I booked Sun-Thurs on points and then Friday night on AP rate. I got new keys on Friday morning (without DVC member on it), had to pay the non-member rate for dialup calls that night, but we had full housekeeping that day.

Sorry you had problems, thanks for alerting everyone.

 

[SimbaCub]

I have had 2 "mixed" ressies with points and cash at OKW and HH. I remember needing to go down to get new keys for OKW as it was booked full and the CM at the front desk wasn't sure if they would remember to read the comments under my room number. At HH I didn't need to check out and check back in as they gave me all my keys at one time and told me to have a nice stay. I just went off of the CM at the front desk when I checked into the resort. If the CM tells you not to come back then it's fair to assume you don't need to come back to the front desk.

I'm sorry you had problems on this trip. I guess from now on I will double check if I mix cash and points on a ressie. Thanks for sharing your story to remind us things may sometimes change. . .

SimbaCub
VWL/SSR Nov/Dec 04

 

[MicheleC]

Thanks again everyone for your comments. To GaryA, yes I did get very suspicious and nervous when housekeeping was in our room and everything happened right after that, I didn't have time to check into anything before it all spiraled. I just got kind of upset at the previous response because I did everything I could to make sure my reservation was connected and had no reason to think it was a problem, but live and learn. And by the way, my neighbor just returned today and has already told me that she had 5 nights points reservation and 4 nights cash at the beach club and didn't need to change rooms, change keys, or do anything. It was a seamless thing. But enough debate, I don't want to defend myself or argue back and forth over fault, just wanted to make others aware of the potential problem. Everyone enjoy their vacations...we had a blast either way!!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

MicheleC -- Thank you for posting...glad you were able to keep a positive attitude and enjoy your vacation in spite of a stressful situation that really didn't need to occur. Kudos to you !!!

 

[Stimpy]

Thank you for posting! It's definately something I will remember in the future!

I'm really surprised housekeeping didn't call someone and say that the previous guests haven't left yet??? Wouldn't they notice that all their stuff was still there? And why on earth did they release the room to the next guests? Sounds very disorganized.

 

[OneMoreTry]

Originally posted by CarolA
I think your BIG misstake was not going down to the front desk. Even if the rooms are "linked" you have to check in and out. When you didn't check in, the system checked you out... and the room became availalble.

I've linked reservations several times and never had to check out and check in again. As I recall, though, the dates on my card INCLUDED the cash dates.

To the OP. You didn't make a BIG mistake. I think CarolA meant "what might have prevented this from happening." I think your precautions should have been adequate, and I agree the mistake was NOT YOURS.

Now we all know to get more reassurance than the word of a front desk attendant in this situation. Especially if the room key doesn't include the cash dates.

 

[CarolA]

I am sorry you took my comment the wrong way.

I think it was a big misstake considering how upset you are at what happened. My comment was that you really should not trust the front desk to take care of these things. It could easily have been a lot worse (they could have packed your stuff for you, I have seen it done)

Hotels make misstakes and the people at Disney are not perfect.


I was in a Crowne Plaza a few weeks ago. After my first night I got a bill. I went to the front desk. They had checked me out in error and they would have packed me up if I had not checked back with them. At another hotel I had two reservations. When I went down to "recheck" in they were getting ready to throw me out because they were trying to charge an invalid credit card. (The first reservation was a Priceline bid and they wanted to charge night two to the Priceline card instead of the card I had left on file the night before. And this was a 4 star hotel in DC that had exceptional service otherwise!)

I would never trust the front desk on something like this no matter what my reservation form said since the MS people tell you that there is no gurantee you won't have to move even though things are linked. If you have two reservation numbers you always need to treat them as two reservations.

While the misstake may not be yours, you will have to deal with the consequences of any misstakes others make.