Room not ready by 7pm after mobile check-in?

[StarLime]

Hi, I got back from my trip a few weeks ago but I wanted to post this on here to see if anyone else ever had this experience. We did mobile check-in for our room at Port Orleans Riverside. We chose the check-in time at 6pm because our that's when our flight was arriving, and we requested a preferred room via the app. When we arrived at MCO, I received a few emails saying the room wasn't ready yet and by the time we got to the resort, around 7pm, the room still wasn't showing up on the app. We went to the front desk and they said the room wasn't ready and the guy had to go speak with a manager and came back a few minutes later giving us a different room and told us to wait around a bit. We didn't get our room till a little after 8pm and it was a room way farther than I expected.

I'm not complaining, I understand things happen, and we did go at a very busy time (I've never seen the parks that crowded before). But is this a common thing or did we have bad luck? This was our first time using mobile check-in instead of checking in at the front desk - could that have been the issue?

 

[HopperFan]

Hi, I got back from my trip a few weeks ago but I wanted to post this on here to see if anyone else ever had this experience. We did mobile check-in for our room at Port Orleans Riverside. We chose the check-in time at 6pm because our that's when our flight was arriving, and we requested a preferred room via the app. When we arrived at MCO, I received a few emails saying the room wasn't ready yet and by the time we got to the resort, around 7pm, the room still wasn't showing up on the app. We went to the front desk and they said the room wasn't ready and the guy had to go speak with a manager and came back a few minutes later giving us a different room and told us to wait around a bit. We didn't get our room till a little after 8pm and it was a room way farther than I expected.

I'm not complaining, I understand things happen, and we did go at a very busy time (I've never seen the parks that crowded before). But is this a common thing or did we have bad luck? This was our first time using mobile check-in instead of checking in at the front desk - could that have been the issue?

I've never run in to that issue when doing mobile check-in but I always tell them I'm arriving much early than I expect to give a buffer.

Question ~ You say you requested a preferred room via the app, did you book & pay for a preferred room? Confusing since it is a Room Category and I didn't think it was a request.

 

[Narcoossee11]

Some thoughts:

You book a Preferred room, not req. That cat is more expensive. If you got that cat, it was a win. Sounds like they had a 'good' room , it just wasn't clean.

Never put a time that late. Doesn't matter if your plane lands that late, 4:00is the latest time to state arrival. FD now knows they can keep pushing your res/room back.

 

[StarLime]

I've never run in to that issue when doing mobile check-in but I always tell them I'm arriving much early than I expect to give a buffer.

Question ~ You say you requested a preferred room via the app, did you book & pay for a preferred room? Confusing since it is a Room Category and I didn't think it was a request.

Good to know for the future, thank you. And, no I didn't pay for the preferred room, just a garden view room. The option it gave us on the app was to request a room closer to the main lobby, I believe. Could be mistaken.

 

[Mango7100]

Agree about giving the buffer. In May when we did mobile checkin at AKL we gave our arrival time as 5 thinking it would be helpful that they don’t have to rush to get our room ready by 3. Arrived at 530 but it was after 7 before we had a room. Now I tell them a good 3-4 hours before my actual arrival time.

 

[HashberryOTG]

Good to know for the future, thank you. And, no I didn't pay for the preferred room, just a garden view room. The option it gave us on the app was to request a room closer to the main lobby, I believe. Could be mistaken.

In that case, the requests are just that: requests. When they are able to, they will fulfill those requests. When I end up at the front desk to check in, or because my room assignment looks totally miserable, I'll often give 2 or 3 requests, and tell them it's based on preference. If they can't give one, is something for one of the others available? I also only do this if it looks quiet tho, cuz I feel guilty asking if they're swamped (that's totally a personal thing tho; I know that's exactly why they're there).

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Hi, I got back from my trip a few weeks ago but I wanted to post this on here to see if anyone else ever had this experience. We did mobile check-in for our room at Port Orleans Riverside. We chose the check-in time at 6pm because our that's when our flight was arriving, and we requested a preferred room via the app. When we arrived at MCO, I received a few emails saying the room wasn't ready yet and by the time we got to the resort, around 7pm, the room still wasn't showing up on the app. We went to the front desk and they said the room wasn't ready and the guy had to go speak with a manager and came back a few minutes later giving us a different room and told us to wait around a bit. We didn't get our room till a little after 8pm and it was a room way farther than I expected.

I'm not complaining, I understand things happen, and we did go at a very busy time (I've never seen the parks that crowded before). But is this a common thing or did we have bad luck? This was our first time using mobile check-in instead of checking in at the front desk - could that have been the issue?

Just bad luck. They don't force, or default, you to get a room at the time you put on the arrival.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Hi, I got back from my trip a few weeks ago but I wanted to post this on here to see if anyone else ever had this experience. We did mobile check-in for our room at Port Orleans Riverside. We chose the check-in time at 6pm because our that's when our flight was arriving, and we requested a preferred room via the app. When we arrived at MCO, I received a few emails saying the room wasn't ready yet and by the time we got to the resort, around 7pm, the room still wasn't showing up on the app. We went to the front desk and they said the room wasn't ready and the guy had to go speak with a manager and came back a few minutes later giving us a different room and told us to wait around a bit. We didn't get our room till a little after 8pm and it was a room way farther than I expected.

I'm not complaining, I understand things happen, and we did go at a very busy time (I've never seen the parks that crowded before). But is this a common thing or did we have bad luck? This was our first time using mobile check-in instead of checking in at the front desk - could that have been the issue?

Bad luck but it’s my rule of thumb to not tell a hotel I’m checking in late unless I’m checking in at 10pm or later. When I’ve told them I’m coming later I realized I get some of my worst hotel rooms. And because you can be put at the end of the list for rooms to be prepped that day your room still might not be ready as expected.

That said, 8pm is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable. There is 0 reason for that. I would have been at the desk requesting to speak to a manager myself.