Problems with my 3 resort stay...part 1

[ctc917]

Well we had a nice DVC vacation planned at the end of Sept but my son rebroke his ankle so we decided to move it to Oct when I called I found out not much was available. I finally did get to book something but we had to move between 3 resorts and so many people had done it in the pass and had fun I thought we could give it a try.

At our first stop which was AKL Kidani Studio I requested a 2nd or 3rd floor near the lobby and when I got there I had a 3rd floor but not near the lobby so I asked him to look and see if you had anything closer(the other room was the farest away you could be)so he found me one, I thought great got my keys moved my car, took a few bags up the elevator to our room and low and behold someone is coming out of it so the bell hop says you need to go back to front desk, so off I go back to my car to put my luggage in back up to front desk, I get a new person tell her my story she says "sorry" but looks in system and the only room available it my orginal option so I say "I'll take it" she gives me the room number and directions to the room and where to park my car, so off I go, move my car to the other side of the building up the elevator with stuff(not as much this time) and guess what no room!!!!I stop some employees in the hall ask them if they can help me and they say "oh that room is on the other side of the lobby(where I was just at) and I say you have got to be kidding so they were very nice and helped me carry my stuff to the front desk again and get a manager for me and i tell him my story and he says "sorry" and he doubled checked my resevation and told me that the room is really where those employees said and he tells me to move my car again and shows me where and says hes sorry again and asks if he can help me with tickets or room service or something else to conpensate me for all my running around and so the end of this story is I got a $75 room credit which was nice..

Second stop was Vero Beach which was nice but ended up with a first floor room really close to the bon fire place so when they were doing that we could hear it really well in our room, the only problem with that is that our son goes to bed really early so I will ask for a different room nest time...

Last stop OKW and there we ended up having to go back to the front desk for our parking pass and the CM never wrote our room number on our key holder or anything else so we got the the building and realized I didn't have the room number so I had to call the front desk and get put on hold and get transfered somewhere so they could look it up for us, we did get it but once again it took time...

ctc917

 

[ctc917]

Sorry this is so long but what I really wanted to know does this usually happen when you move between resorts?
I also put in room requests and while I understand that they are only requests at two of the three resorts I asked if my request was in the system and was told no so how can they fill my requests if they are not even posted with my reservation? does this happen alot with DVC where requests done even make it into the system?

Any ideas on how to get a request on my resevation? or double check to see if its there? call resort?

And lastly do resort moves always involve alot of your time like mine did? or was I just the unluck one?

Thanks for reading and again sorry so long

ctc917

 

[Sammie]

I just think when you move you always increase your chances for check in problems, simply because you are experiencing more check ins.

We do not do it anymore unless there is absolutely no way to avoid it. Certainly with a late booking you really don't have much choice.

I personally would however always choose to stay at one resort even if it is not my first choice over moving.

If you make your requests with Member Services when you book your room, they are there. I think sometimes the front desk CMs simply say that they are not there, especially when they have not been able to grant the requests.

Calling the resort will not help as you will never get to speak to the resort directly, only the Disney Call center, where they will tell you that if you gave them to Member Services that is the best you can do.

However we all know requests are never a guarantee and if a resort is full your chance of getting them greatly diminshes.

And Yes I feel moves do require a lot of time, we really dislike moving and avoid it.

How to increase your chances of getting a request, make them very broad. When you ask for a 2nd or 3rd floor near the lobby you are limiting your chances. Decide what is most important, do you want near the lobby, then only request that, do not ask for a specific floor. If you want a specific floor do not ask for anything else.

If for example I want an upper floor at OKW, that would be my only request. I would not ask for upper floor in a specific area.

Resorts with long hallways, near the lobby and near the elevator is always going to be a frequent request which makes it harder to get. They can't give everyone the same rooms.

 

[Sandisw]

We have done a split stay on two vacations so far and did not have the problems that you experienced.

And, each of the times, my requests were noted on my reservatins and there was a sticker on my Welcome Home packet that stated 'check requests' so it sounds like maybe yours just didn't make it to the resort.

I hope the other aspects of your trip were good but it is frustrating to start out that way.

 

[Chuck S]

Given that DVC policy is that rooms are available "after 4pm" anytime you change room there is probably going to be wasted time. As far as the room requests, they may have been lost in the transition to the new reservation system, when existing reservations were issued new reservation numbers.

You should not have encountered so many problems, but you were compensated $75.

There seem to be some gitches in the reservation system transfer.

 

[TisBit]

Room changes definitely take some time, you are packing up and moving so it will kill a lot of time by checking in, etc. We didn't have major issues with our split stay, but I think we were expecting it too. I don't think any of your issues are necessarily related to your split stay, but just normal check in stuff. Sometimes you get assigned to an assigned rooms, rare but it does happen. The directions stink, but what can you do? As for the OKW, I am surprised you got the buidling number but not the room number, but it doesn't sound like it was that time consuming.

Most people will just go to parks between rooms, etc. We got up early on move days and were ready to go....checked in, then did something else until the room was ready and didn't notice a huge issue.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I've found check ins to be the most stressful part of using DVC. So many things can go wrong. Not all the time, but as you found, when things go south, it is not a good way to start a vacation day.
We've btdt with getting to the villas, dragging all our stuff up and find no tub for instance. Call MS, and find we as members are not guaranteed a tub, the resort is full and you can try again tomorrow.
or pack up and forget something in the villa and panic or stress over that. I truly try to limit my check ins and like our September trip that involved 3 moves, I called MS even after we arrived and got it down to 2 moves. I'd rather upgrade villas than move everynight.

 

[Chuck S]

I'd rather upgrade villas than move everynight.

I hate moving, too. I might start off at a value resort for a couple of nights, then move to a week or so DVC reservation, but moving more than once in a trip is just not my style. And I avoid any move, when possible.

 

[ctc917]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and ideas....And while I'm pretty sure I will never move 3 times again unless I have no choice even with all our problems it was nice to see 3 resorts in 1 trip..

Also never even thought about the fact they changed over their reservation system and our requests could be oops out of the system so maybe next trip I'll just call before I leave and double check they are in the system...

Again thanks

ctc9171

 

[cemeb4dk]

We just got back from a split stay at BLT and BCV. There was no issue at either check in or move. We first stayed at BLT, got there at 10am asked for a specific room location got it, room was not ready, but they set my keys up and said they would text me the room number. They dont write the room number on the key holder for safety and your exact room number may not be known yet. I got the text at about 3:30 saying our room was ready and what room number. We had left our bags with Bell services ( we drove down) and once we got to our hotel stopped at bell services asked them to bring the bags up in a half hour as we were going to grab a snack before going to room. They arrived about when they should. We loaded our own bags back to our car on check out, then drove over to BCV checked in and again room not ready, they texted me room number, and we moved in ourselves later that night.

I am sorry you had issues, this was our first time switching and I enjoyed it, except I found myself comparing resorts and missing some things the other offered.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Sorry this is so long but what I really wanted to know does this usually happen when you move between resorts?
I also put in room requests and while I understand that they are only requests at two of the three resorts I asked if my request was in the system and was told no so how can they fill my requests if they are not even posted with my reservation? does this happen alot with DVC where requests done even make it into the system?

Any ideas on how to get a request on my resevation? or double check to see if its there? call resort?

And lastly do resort moves always involve alot of your time like mine did? or was I just the unluck one?

Thanks for reading and again sorry so long

ctc917

OMG, sounds like you were so unlucky! I've moved several times between resorts and never had any problems that would compare to this. Things have usually gone fairly smoothly. Just once, my luggage didn't get to my new resort until after 6:00, but that's once out of many split stays. My requests have always been on the reservation, but that hasn't always meant I've gotten my requests. Like others, I'm not fond of packing and unpacking again, but generally I don't mind split stays, and occassionally I've actually wanted to split my stay-like two vacations.

 

[disneynutz]

I just think when you move you always increase your chances for check in problems, simply because you are experiencing more check ins.

That's what has happened to us and to be honest, took away some of our DVC/Disney magic.

We went through a period of going to WDW 4 times a year and last December we did a DDP split stay and also moved to 2 other resorts. That was 5 check ins during a 3 week period.

If you only vacation once per year and you have a problem, you write it off as a isolated incident. If you vacation several times per year and check in many times and have a 80% problem rate, then you realize that the problems aren't isolated, they are the new norm.

Bill

 

[DenLo]

Sorry that you had so many problems with your split stay. We did a split stay in September/October with stays at BLT (3 nights), BWV 1 BR (4 nights), and BWV studio (3 nights) with a cash stay before and after a value and then moderate Disney resorts. Then we we drove to HHI and stayed there for two nights. We did not have near the problems you had. The only discouraging experience we had was that our initial DVC check in at BLT was at 7:30 AM but we didn't get into the room until 4:30. And that is considered a normal check in time at a DVC resort.

However after being homeless three times during that vacation, I think in the future we will limit our split stays to be no more than once per stay and preferably with at least 4 nights before and after the split. Otherwise you just get settled in and it's time to move. We actually left a tote bag behind in one resort that Bell Services found for us later. We couldn't remember for sure where we left it days later.

 

[ctc917]

The one great thing about our stay was that at all the resorts our room was ready when we arrived which was mid morning, that I loved and it was great. The thing that really brothered me at AKV Kidani was that the CM didn't even know where to send me to get to our room and she did send us in the wrong direction with great wrong directions thou.....

Thanks for all your input....

ctc917

 

[lisaviolet]

You might already know this but when you don't get what you want - ie. a split stay keep trying seven days and under from check-in.

No one is on the waitlist during that period so if anything pops back in or there is a release on rooms for some reason - everyone has a chance. Since there is not a WL you can phone whenever. A "nothing" could be voila a phone call later.

You would be surprised what one can get. I guess more people cancel right before vacation than one would think (plus released rooms). I've received some wondeful finds under seven days - BCV, BW Standard, AKV Savanna and busy early December. I've used it about five times and each time it has worked. I have been very fortunate.

 

[LIFERBABE]

You might already know this but when you don't get what you want - ie. a split stay keep trying seven days and under from check-in.

No one is on the waitlist during that period so if anything pops back in or there is a release on rooms for some reason - everyone has a chance. Since there is not a WL you can phone whenever. A "nothing" could be voila a phone call later.

You would be surprised what one can get. I guess more people cancel right before vacation than one would think (plus released rooms). I've received some wondeful finds under seven days - BCV, BW Standard, AKV Savanna and busy early December. I've used it about five times and each time it has worked. I have been very fortunate.

Ditto!
That is why I call MS after our check in, the availability opens up