Room Assignments - Are they done differently at DVC vs. other WDW resorts?

[pwoodham]

Do all WDW resorts assign rooms 3-4 days before arrival? I'm curious because I've seen advice saying the best way to get your room requests is to fax/call in the day they assign the rooms, while other posts indicate arriving early to check in is effective. Does the early check-in strategy work at DVC resorts? I would think not, if in fact the rooms are assigned a few days in advance.

 

[Terry S]

Actually, from what we have heard from various sources including a WLV room assignor, is that DVC assigns room a few days before check in based on when you made your reservation. So, in theory the earlier (11 months before check-out) you make your reservation the better chance you will have in getting your requests.

 

[ncligs]

We just got back yesterday for OKW and VB. We made ressies at 7 months out for VB (didn't have home resort priorty then). We did not fax a request before we left, and got almost exactly what we wanted at VB (2nd floor, wanted 3rd floor, direct ocean view,1BR, non-smoking)
I am sure if I would have made the ressies at 11 month window, we would have gotten the 3rd floor at VB.Also we arrived at 2:30 at VB and our room was ready. When we went up to OKW on July 3rd, we got there at 1:30 pm and our 1BR was ready also!!!!!

 

[CarolMN]

This was posted by 999ghsts who happens to be a room assigner for the WL/WLV:

Originally posted by 999ghsts


..(snip).. I am a room assigner at VWL and while I don't think the situation was handled correctly, I can tell you that we are required by DVC contract to block rooms in the order that they were created. Basically room blocking works like this. The room assigner runs a report showing the reservations that are coming in, this report runs in the order that the reservation were made by Member services (so the first person to book for that day is first and the last person is last) the room assigner then goes through the report and looks for room request (smoking, non smoking, water view etc.) they will block the reservations in order. So if the hotel is sold out you may not get your resquests based on when you booked and what is left after the requests ahead of you are blocked. If you requested non smoking, the very last non smoking rooms that are blocked are the handicap rooms (as we understand they...especially the studios which do not have closests or bathroom counter tops... can be inconvient to a family of 4). Obviously the room will have to be occupied by someone if the resort is sold out. I don't think the attitude that was given by the CM's was proper, but you have to understand that if the resort is sold out (which it usually is) they might not have another room that they can put you and that they are following the DVC contract in the way that rooms are blocked...(snip).....

Here is the link to the thread that the above post originally appeared in:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221452&perpage=15&pagenumber=5


So assuming that all the DVC room assigners operate according to the contract (and I'm sure they do), it shouldn't make any difference what time you arrive to claim your room. That said, there are always exceptions, but IMHO, they are a lot fewer in number than many believe. YMMV.