Renovations at VWL in October

[LVSWL]

Just a heads up, Member Services told me today that they just received the news that there will be renovations going on at VWL in October. They are in the process of trying to move some of the reservations to other resorts.
I found out because they cancelled a reservation that I had made for a friend at 11 months out and rebooked them at AKV. They were in a 2 bdrm at VWL and they were rebooked in 2- 1bdrms at AKV with a waitlist for at 2bdrm.
The most upsetting thing to me was that I received the confirmations by email last night, too late to call DVC and had NO idea what this was about. They did not contact me at all, just called the guest on the reservation and asked would they be willing to move. The guest said yes, but I had no idea about that until 12 hours later when I could reach DVC and ask what the heck was going on.
I would love to know if I am correct in believing that they should have contacted me. I will say that they have not taken any more points as a result of this, but I was very upset because I had no idea who was accessing my account and why these reservations were being cancelled/made.

 

[LauraLea]

wow. I would have been upset as well.

Laura

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

They are not working on the rooms so why would they be actively looking to move people?

 

[LVSWL]

They are not working on the rooms so why would they be actively looking to move people?

That is what I was wondering. The Cast Member said that they had just been notified that they would be working on them in October so they were trying to move people. I had not heard of VWL having renovations in October. I knew that BCV was supposed to. I can understand if that is really happening, but it did upset me that I was not involved in the process at all! I had no idea who could be making all those changes on my DVC account. Even the CM that I spoke with at DVC said that he would have thought that they (member services) would have reached out to me. I will be checking my account closely and often now!

 

[LVSWL]

So, upon closer inspection I realized that my points are all messed up. I have the number that I am supposed to have, but not the right amounts at the right resorts. Evidently Member Services can go in and add/subtract where ever they please! After printing out my information about all our contracts and going through them for an hour or so with my husband we finally figured out what the heck they did and now will have to call AGAIN in the morning to try to get this straightened out. Very upset that Member Services not only made all these changes without letting me know, but they did not ask me how I wanted my points handled. They just made arbitrary decisions which could effect our opportunity to book where we want at the 11 month window. Grrr

 

[wdrl]

They are not working on the rooms so why would they be actively looking to move people?

True, there are no plans to work on the villas in the DVC building. However, there will be a lot of construction -- and noise -- going on around the VWL quiet pool and surrounding area. Perhaps DVC has made the proactive decision to shut down some, or all, of the villas that overlook the quiet pool area while the construction is ongoing. With about half of VWL's inventory out of commission, DVC might have to move some of the pending reservations to other resorts.

The silver lining to all this -- assuming that my suppositions are near the mark -- is that DVC might limit VWL reservations to villas on the opposite side of VWL, the side away from the construction zone. Those who really want to stay at VWL after October 26, 2015, might not have to worry about getting a villa overlooking the pool renovation.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

True, there are no plans to work on the villas in the DVC building. However, there will be a lot of construction -- and noise -- going on around the VWL quiet pool and surrounding area. Perhaps DVC has made the proactive decision to shut down some, or all, of the villas that overlook the quiet pool area while the construction is ongoing. With about half of VWL's inventory out of commission, DVC might have to move some of the pending reservations to other resorts.

The silver lining to all this -- assuming that my suppositions are near the mark -- is that DVC might limit VWL reservations to villas on the opposite side of VWL, the side away from the construction zone. Those who really want to stay at VWL after October 26, 2015, might not have to worry about getting a villa overlooking the pool renovation.

Yes, my question was answered today when I received a call concerning one reservation at VWL at the end of Oct. The CM stated that they were letting people know and trying to move them. However he didn't seem to realize it was a DVC reservation and once that came up I was told I'd have to talk to the person I work with at DVC to attempt to move. Of course as is well know trying to change reservations this close is rather difficult especially during the last quarter of the year. I don't know how much luck their going to have in doing that. It is proactive for Disney but unfortunately very late in the game for DVC owners.

 

[disprincess2213]

I had no idea they could move you for construction! Do you think they would try and move us for a stay in December? What are the chances of that happening?

 

[DenLo]

I had no idea they could move you for construction! Do you think they would try and move us for a stay in December? What are the chances of that happening?

To another DVC resort, slim to none. December is one of the busiest DVC months and people have been posting for months that they couldn't get a reservation in a DVC resort.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

We are staying during Thanksgiving week and received a voicemail last night stating that they need to talk to us about our reservation VWL (2 bdrm lock-out). ACK!

 

[disneynutz]

I just reduced the number of nights at VWL for our December reservation. The CM that spoke to didn't mention moving guests and we discussed the construction at length.

Bill

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I got a call this morning about our 11/29-12/2 reservation...it was from Disney, not DVC about the construction. When I asked if I should call member services to see if there were any other studios open, he put me on hold and spoke with his DVC contact. We were then offered a BLT lake view studio for the same number of points as the VWL studio..we made the switch. I've checked our points online and they are correct.

 

[CarolMN]

LVSWL - No one should make changes to your DVC account / reservations without your OK. MS/Disney messed up. When you call, you have the right to have your account put back exactly the way it was prior to the change.

If your guests are OK with the change, and your account is put back correctly, I'd let it go with a request that in the future, NO ONE (other than you) make changes to your account without talking to YOU.

My understanding is that the guests being moved are in rooms that will be severely impacted by the construction - mostly the noise, so moving is probably a good thing. My guess is that whoever is contacting guests has no idea that any particular reservation is a DVC reservation and have been mostly dealing with cash guests. DVC reservations (whether cash or points) should have been handled by MS or at least someone who understands DVC.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

I just got off the call with Disney. They offered to move us. I told them we chose VWL due to it's close proximity to MK and would want a MK resort. They only offered us BW. We turned it down as we do not like the long hallways. They then offered us two free fast passes everyday for everyone in our room.

 

[Debby7]

I am keeping fingers crossed that they don't start early . We are at VWL 10/18-10/24 !!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

This just happened to me. My renters were contacted but not me. If it were not for that email I would have no idea what was going on. I spoke with a DVC MS manager at length and she admitted they were in the wrong and the process has been fixed. Thank goodness my accounts or reservations were not messed up. I am so sorry for the OP. I know exactly how you feel.

 

[CarolMN]

This just happened to me. My renters were contacted but not me. If it were not for that email I would have no idea what was going on. I spoke with a DVC MS manager at length and she admitted they were in the wrong and the process has been fixed. Thank goodness my accounts or reservations were not messed up. I am so sorry for the OP. I know exactly how you feel.

Does that mean that now the process is to contact the owner of the points? Hope so. Glad your accounts weren't messed up.

 

[Lyn07]

We were contacted also by GS and asked if we would like to relocate to another resort due to the construction ( our stay is in November in a 2 br.). We decided to stick it out and stay only because we would be away from the resort during much construction hours and with people moving to other resorts I'm sure we would be able to request a room away from the const. area. Disney also offered us a free memory maker for staying which I was happy about.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Does that mean that now the process is to contact the owner of the points? Hope so. Glad your accounts weren't messed up.

Yes as of yesterday they changed the process to contact the owners first. I sure hope that is actually happening. My renter was moved from VWL to BLT. They were very happy with the move so I hear. I rented my points through a broker so they , the broker, actually spoke with the renters. I don't know how it would have gone if they didn't like the options they had to choose from. From speaking with MS, my renters room was taken out of inventory so they had to move.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

LVSWL -

If your guests are OK with the change, and your account is put back correctly, I'd let it go with a request that in the future, NO ONE (other than you) make changes to your account without talking to YOU.
.

This is exactly what I had the MS manager do. And I also had her notate NO GUESTS can make any reservation changes. But really, isn't this a given? Why do we have to have a special notation made about this?