Reservations Nightmare at Animal Kingdom Lodge

[TheresaB]

We booked a two night stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge using our DVC points for last week. I received my DVC Confirmation Letter in the mail and everything was correct. Unfortunately when we arrived to check-in at the resort, they only had us listed for one night's stay. The resort tried calling Member Services but since we checked in over the weekend, they were not open. The manager on duty said the only way to resolve this and ensure that we had a room for the additional night was to give him our credit card and let him make another reservation using the card. They would try to call DVC Member Services during normal business hours and try to resolve it. We did have our original dvc reservation confirmation letter but they wouldn't accept that without talking to Member Services first. We ended up taking an inordinate amount of time to check in as we kept trying to get someone who knew how to handle a problem like this. We had to go downstairs the next morning and check out, check in again, get new room keys made, a new parking pass, etc. and try and contact member services before we could go into the parks that day. Member Services told me that there is no way to resolve issues like this during non-business hours if you are staying at a non-dvc resort. They do have emergency numbers for any DVC resort and Interval International but nothing if you are staying on Disney property at a non-dvc resort. She also said that there is no plan to correct this at this time.

In summary, I will always call the resort myself to confirm my reservations in the future. There is no way to contact Member Services outside of normal business hours should a problem arise. Thankfully, the resort had availability or we would have had to check into another resort. We have never had a problem like this before with any reservation but this was enough of an aggravation to make us think twice before staying at a non-dvc resort again. We have always had exceptional service at Disney resorts so we were disappointed that Animal Kingdom Lodge left it up to us to fix Disney's error. We were also disappointed at DVC's attitude and lack of attention. Thankfully, we were able to resolve the issues once Member Services opened on Monday at 9:00 a.m. They aren't sure what happened because the DVC computers still showed us booking two nights.

 

[sean-1966]

Maybe MS needs a number that manned 24/7 in case of a problem such as this. What would have happened if this happened during a holiday and there wasn't any availability?

 

[Simba's Mom]

What a horrible experience! I'd be anxious to know how DVC responded when you did get to talk to them on Monday. Hopefully, they were at least more concerned.

 

[byoung]

Glad it worked out for you.

 

[TheresaB]

The lady I spoke to in Member Services on Monday kept saying that everything worked out in the end so she couldn't understand why I was still aggravated at the whole situation. She told me that if I had stayed at one of the DVC resorts this wouldn't have happened since they can handle their own emergencies. She acknowledged that there is not currently a way to resolve these problems at the non-dvc resorts at Disney and she had no advice on how to handle similar problems should this happen in the future. We would have been in a worse situation had they been fully booked for our stay or if we had been checking out before Monday. We spoke to the manager at the Animal Kingdom Lodge as well as the DVC Salesperson stationed at the resort and they both had no idea how to get in touch with someone to verify our reservation. Funny but had we wanted to buy additional points, they could have found someone to handle the dvc sale but they couldn't help existing members with reservation issues. When I asked member services about that, she said that the sales people at the resorts can only handle sales.

Anyway, I hope someone else can avoid this nightmare in the future. I probably wouldn't have been so aggravated had I not had such positive experiences in the past with "Disney Magic". Normally, Disney goes out of their way to handle problems like this.

 

[Chuck S]

Hmmm. I wonder if DVC makes these reservations directly through their computers, or if they have to speak to someone at CRO when booking a Disney resort? We've always heard the computer systems don't talk to each other. If that is the case, I would surmise that the error was on the part of CRO, as DVC still had you listed as two nights. With a confirmation showing your two nights from DVC, and I assume showing that the points had been deducted, CRO should have honored the DVC ressie, and hashed it out with DVC when they opened.

Here is another question, do regular DVC resort ressies show up on the DVC member site like regular DVC ressies? If so, though I'm sure no one at CRO thought of this solution, you could have looked up your account online, proving that you were indeed charged points for a two night stay, and that the ressie was NOT changed or canceled by DVC, that the error was on the CRO side of the equation.

 

[polly p]

I am a DVC member and have an upcoming reservation at AKL. I was able to check my ressie online on the disney website. Maybe this will help with confirming all info is correct.

 

[LakeAriel]

How did you do this? I was on the members site earlier and logged in. They now let you check your available points but I didn't locate my reservation
I wanted to add the dining plan which I did by making a phone call. I would love to check the reservation online? Any suggestions after I log in?
Do you mean reservations outside of the DVC resorts and on the regular Disney site?

 

[Chuck S]

How did you do this? I was on the members site earlier and logged in. They now let you check your available points but I didn't locate my reservation
I wanted to add the dining plan which I did by making a phone call. I would love to check the reservation online? Any suggestions after I log in?
Do you mean reservations outside of the DVC resorts and on the regular Disney site?

Go to My DVC, then points, then My Vacation Details

 

[polly p]

I wasn't on the DVC site, just disney.com, logged in then put in my ressie number.

 

[LakeAriel]

Go to My DVC, then points, then My Vacation Details

Wow! Thanks Chuck! Something else to add to the excitement as I count down to our next trip home!

 

[rocketriter]

I'm flabbergasted that they made you run up a temporary credit card hold and do a dry check-out-and-in when you were holding the confirmation letter. I'm not sure I would have handled this any better than you, but I know I would have gotten mighty firm with the night manager. The least that factotum could have done is checked you in for the night without the credit card hold (every hotel has a few discretionary rooms available even when they say they're full). In the world of customer service, there is no excuse for turning an internal problem into a problem for the customer; when there's an internal problem, the customer should not be allowed to sense that it is a problem at all.

 

[manning]

The manager read the confirmation letter and couldn't come up with the correct solution? Amazing!!!

Let upper management know they hired a monkey!!!

 

[MinnieGirl33]

I don't understand why, if there is an emergency contact for the DVC resorts why can't any of the Disney hotel managers have access to this number/person?

I do agree that the manager at AKL failed customer service 101 if you presented a confirmation letter. THEY should have been the ones jumping through hoops not you & ITA that a letter to GS would be appropriate.

 

[jodifla]

The manager read the confirmation letter and couldn't come up with the correct solution? Amazing!!!

Let upper management know they hired a monkey!!!

Yes, this is incompetence of the highest order! I'd keep calling back member services until you got someone to understand why this was "aggravating". Hello....checking in and out? losing all that vacation time for THEIR MISTAKE?

You can't have them touting DVC perks like staying in other resorts, then have stuff like this happen with no way to resolve it.

 

[Doctor P]

Yes, this is incompetence of the highest order! I'd keep calling back member services until you got someone to understand why this was "aggravating". Hello....checking in and out? losing all that vacation time for THEIR MISTAKE?

You can't have them touting DVC perks like staying in other resorts, then have stuff like this happen with no way to resolve it.

The problem is that the issue is with AKL and/or CRO, not DVC. Think of it this way: this is an external exchange and DVC is basically acting as your travel agent. The reason the DVC resorts can handle this is that they are linked into the same system and can actually do and look at points reservations (in fact, I was able to do a points reservation on the spot on Labor Day one year when MS was closed). I agree that this should not have happened, but, IMHO, the beef is with AKL and they should make good with at least a profound apology. This would really tick me off--they should have been able to do better in dealing with this internally.

 

[Paul in CT]

The manager read the confirmation letter and couldn't come up with the correct solution? Amazing!!!

Let upper management know they hired a monkey!!!

I would be upset with such a mix-up on their part, too, but, technically, the confirmation letter might not be enough since the ressie could have been modified and a later updated confirmation letter might exist. They would have no way of knowing without checking with DVC.

 

[manning]

I would be upset with such a mix-up on their part, too, but, technically, the confirmation letter might not be enough since the ressie could have been modified and a later updated confirmation letter might exist. They would have no way of knowing without checking with DVC.

If it is true what Doctor P says, they are linked and it can be checked out. Sounds more like the manager took the easy way out.

 

[DebbieB]

Perhaps DVC should have a rep in the sales office trained to handle this type of emergency on weekends (internal only). They would just need reservation systems access.

 

[Olaf]

And it's not as if paying with points is such a great deal, for the member, anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you used quite a few points to stay there, didn't you? I would have been extremely annoyed as well.