Room Requests - Is there a "strategy" to submitting a request?

disneyfan1992

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 23, 2008
Messages
109
I hope its OK to ask this and my question is not out of line.

I know a request is just a request and not a guarantee.

If request is granted, we will be happy. If not, we'll still be happy because we are at the most magical place anyway. Its a win-win either way.

Just wondering if there a "right way" to submitting room requests?

Does one route / path / set of actions seem to result in request being granted more often? :confused3

Or is it just sheer luck and good fortune if you end up with room / location you wanted?

Is there anything that you can do to help get some pixie dust thrown your way at check in? pixiedust:

Some things I thought of that might influence the process, but I don't know if these steps have any bearing at all. What are your thoughts?

1. Does Disney prefer to receive requests via phone or email or fax? Or does it not matter?

2. Should requests be for specific room # (ex: Room 1234 first choice and Room 5678 second choice) or just general descriptions (ex: high floor away from elevator) or both?

3. Does it help to make request early at time of reservation or wait until closer to trip (say a month out) and request then?
Are requests date & time stamped on the ressie, so the assigning CM can see that you requested said room /location months prior vs. someone else who just called 2 days ago to request the same room / location?

4. Is it helpful to follow up via phone a month and then the week before check-in to reconfirm requests are on ressie? Or what is the best time frame to reconfirm requests?

5. If you do online check-in, are you less likely to get desired room? Does checking in at resort desk give you better ability to change rooms on the spot talking face to face with CM?

Any other tips / thoughts to help the assigning CM grant your request? Or do you just wish upon a star and hope for the best? :wizard:
 
I hope its OK to ask this and my question is not out of line.

I know a request is just a request and not a guarantee.

If request is granted, we will be happy. If not, we'll still be happy because we are at the most magical place anyway. Its a win-win either way.

Just wondering if there a "right way" to submitting room requests?

Does one route / path / set of actions seem to result in request being granted more often? :confused3

Or is it just sheer luck and good fortune if you end up with room / location you wanted?

Is there anything that you can do to help get some pixie dust thrown your way at check in? pixiedust:

Some things I thought of that might influence the process, but I don't know if these steps have any bearing at all. What are your thoughts?

1. Does Disney prefer to receive requests via phone or email or fax? Or does it not matter?

2. Should requests be for specific room # (ex: Room 1234 first choice and Room 5678 second choice) or just general descriptions (ex: high floor away from elevator) or both?

3. Does it help to make request early at time of reservation or wait until closer to trip (say a month out) and request then?
Are requests date & time stamped on the ressie, so the assigning CM can see that you requested said room /location months prior vs. someone else who just called 2 days ago to request the same room / location?

4. Is it helpful to follow up via phone a month and then the week before check-in to reconfirm requests are on ressie? Or what is the best time frame to reconfirm requests?

5. If you do online check-in, are you less likely to get desired room? Does checking in at resort desk give you better ability to change rooms on the spot talking face to face with CM?

Any other tips / thoughts to help the assigning CM grant your request? Or do you just wish upon a star and hope for the best? :wizard:

Your requests should be placed on your reservation. You can make requests at the time of booking up until about 5 days before check-in, when CRO rolls over the reservations to the resort. Use standard terms like close to transportation, close to food court, close to pool. Try to list as few as possible and list them in order of importance. If you have three or four, and they can only accommodate the first two, than you are still ahead of the game.

You can follow up with reservations to make sure your request is on your reservation.

Online check-in does not have anything to do with room availability and fulfilling your requests. Neither does the time you call in your requests as well. Room availability, possible overbooking of the resorts, rooms take out of rotation due to maintenance issues or refurbishments, and how busy the resort is totally depend on whether they can accommodate your requests.

It is always a good idea at check-in, if they give you the first available room, that you reiterate that you don't mind waiting for a room is available that match your request. I do that all the time at POR, since I arrive on a very busy check-in day. I have always received my room requests, but I am not traveling on an extremely busy week.
 
1. Does Disney prefer to receive requests via phone or email or fax? Or does it not matter? If you did not make your requests at the time of booking, you can phone the regular reservations line and have your requests added at any time up until about 5 days before check in.

2. Should requests be for specific room # (ex: Room 1234 first choice and Room 5678 second choice) or just general descriptions (ex: high floor away from elevator) or both? Keep your requests more general: first/second/top floor. Close to/away from pool area. And keep them realistic- no point in asking for a preferred room or a river view if that is a separate booking category. DO NOT ask for a specific room. If they can't grant it, they have no idea why you asked for that room, so can't try to fulfill your request with a similar room.

3. Does it help to make request early at time of reservation or wait until closer to trip (say a month out) and request then?
Are requests date & time stamped on the ressie, so the assigning CM can see that you requested said room /location months prior vs. someone else who just called 2 days ago to request the same room / location? All requests are dealt with when the rooms are assigned, and that is not until 3-5 days before checkin. You don't get bonus points for requesting early. The only advantage is in not forgetting to do it later.

4. Is it helpful to follow up via phone a month and then the week before check-in to reconfirm requests are on ressie? Or what is the best time frame to reconfirm requests? Your request is added onto your reservation notes when the request is made. Repeating the request a week before check in isn't going to help your chances of getting it. But if it makes you happy to double check that the request is still there, then go for it.

5. If you do online check-in, are you less likely to get desired room? Does checking in at resort desk give you better ability to change rooms on the spot talking face to face with CM? They say that online check in doesn't affect your chances of getting your requests one way or the other. I don't do it because getting my primary request is very important, so it would take MORE time at checkin to have to change all of my documentation and KTTW cards if I have to ask them to change my room assignment.

This is pretty much the same thing that Missytara said in her post. Just one more time for emphasis. ;)
 
DVC resorts do not accept faxes. If you booked on points through MS (I see you have a 2013 trip to DVC resorts), call or e-mail MS to add your requests. If you don't own the points used to make the reservation, the member who owns the points should call or e-mail MS to make the requests.

If you booked on cash through Disney Reservation Center, call them and add your requests.

Be general with your requests. If you request a specific room and it isn't available for you, they don't have any idea what you do want.
 

Will add to the previous responses:

Be as general as possible with your requests. If you are very specific, there is less of a chance that your request can be met. "Top floor away from pool" has more of a chance than "top floor on the west side of Building 3."

If one of your requests is extremely important to you, try to make that your only request. The longer the list of preferences you have, the less the chance that all of them can be met.
 
I've been told from the cm when doing reservation to NOT to an online check in if you want to have your request fulfill. Online everything is automatic so the system don't check for request. You will have a much better chance doing a regular check in at the hotel directly
 
I always make my room request when I book the trip, then I will call back about 3 or 4 weeks prior to arrival and make sure they have the request documented in the reservation. I call and ask them to READ TO ME the request that is in the notes. I don't tell them what my request was I ask them to TELL ME what my request was so I make sure they already have it in there and aren't just adding it as I ask about it the second time.

I have done online check in twice and gotten my exact room requests both times. Online check in has nothing to do with getting or not getting your room requests regardless of what a CM said. Online check in just makes your check in process take 2 minutes instead of 15 minutes. All of your stuff is already printed and ready, keys made, etc.

The only requests I have made were "ground floor" and "Calypso building"

I knew I would be in a preferred room because we were staying in a family suite but I asked to be in the Calypso building because it is closest to the lobby and food court.

They try to accommodate everyone's room requests if they can. If you show up and they haven't accommodated one or more of your room requests it is because that specific room was not available. They don't just pick and choose who they grant requests for. They try to fulfill all they can. SO if you choose not to do online check in, then that is ok, but don't not do it because you think it will help your chances of getting the room you requested. EVERYONE'S room is assigned days before they get there. If you check in the regular line they don't just assign your room right then when you check in they have already assigned it. So if you need to ask to have your room changed because they didn't grant your request it will not take any longer to make room changes no matter which line you initially check in to.

I always do online check in because we usually have late flights coming in and I don't want to be in line chit chatting and waiting for everything to be printed up. I don't need anybody to explain anything to me or hold my hand.

I always book the room I want to be in so there is no need for me to wish for pixie dust. There is nowhere to upgrade me to.
 
I've been told from the cm when doing reservation to NOT to an online check in if you want to have your request fulfill. Online everything is automatic so the system don't check for request. You will have a much better chance doing a regular check in at the hotel directly

Totally untrue. Unfortunately, this is another case where a CM has not been trained properly and is probably repeating something they heard and decided to repeat it.

Whether you check in online or regular check-in has nothing to do with room availability. It has to do with things that are totally out of your control.

It has to do with rooms being out of inventory due to maintenance issues or refurbishments; rooms that cannot be vacated on the date as originally booked because the occupants cannot leave due to bad weather at home (specifically cannot catch flights); overbooking of rooms at a particular resort; busy times of year when the resort is completely full, etc.
 
I've been told from the cm when doing reservation to NOT to an online check in if you want to have your request fulfill. Online everything is automatic so the system don't check for request. You will have a much better chance doing a regular check in at the hotel directly

We got exactly what we requested using online checkin.
 
When I last used online checkin, last week, I was able to get pretty specific about what I wanted. I was able to choose the bldg I wanted at ASMusic, and the floor I would like.
But, it also offered me a 'room ready' option that would possibly negate the requests if I wanted to get into any old room!
It would seem that now that the online checkin is done so much earlier than it used to be (10 Days), it probably allows for more room requests.

I would never consider calling the resort, since, well...you aren't calling the resort. You are getting a call center. And I wouldn't fax a request since the vast majority of resorts no longer even look at them. They got too many faxes so just stopped accepting them.
I make my requests when I make the reservation. I never ask for a particular room number. Rather, I ask for a specific area, or view. I also ask for a certain level...highest floor available for instance.
 
When I made my ressies this time there was no where online to add any requests. On previous trips I was able to do this. So I guess this time I will be calling to add it.
 
When I made my ressies this time there was no where online to add any requests. On previous trips I was able to do this. So I guess this time I will be calling to add it.

Unfortunately it seems like every time Disney does some kind of upgrade to their system, there are glitches. That is most likely one of them.
 
I am REALLY concerned about this topic. I am arriving at the Poly probably about 2AM on the morning of August 7. By some devine inspiration United decided to change my 8PM flight to 9:30 and now I am arriving in Orlando after midnight. I had only one request noted when I made my reservation...that they put us in the Tahiti longhouse. What does anyone think of this happening when I arrive in the dead of night? Do you think they'll still have a room for us period?
 
we check in tomorrow and I never put in a request. We will be at our resort around 7:00 am and was going to just ask then. Is it worth calling at this point and having it put on our reservation? I read above that it should be done 3 - 5 days before checking in.....missed that window! Thanks....
 
we check in tomorrow and I never put in a request. We will be at our resort around 7:00 am and was going to just ask then. Is it worth calling at this point and having it put on our reservation? I read above that it should be done 3 - 5 days before checking in.....missed that window! Thanks....

Your reservation has already been rolled over to the resort; and there is no direct line to the resort to place requests.

With check-in that early, I would tell them you don't mind waiting for a room in "such and such" area.
 
I am REALLY concerned about this topic. I am arriving at the Poly probably about 2AM on the morning of August 7. By some devine inspiration United decided to change my 8PM flight to 9:30 and now I am arriving in Orlando after midnight. I had only one request noted when I made my reservation...that they put us in the Tahiti longhouse. What does anyone think of this happening when I arrive in the dead of night? Do you think they'll still have a room for us period?

They won't give away your room; the computers do not roll over until 7:00 am, so your reservation will still be in the system.

They may have a room that is not ideal, but would offer if you want to move the next day when a better room becomes available. They can transfer your luggage to the new location.
 
i have several times requested the "area around Room 1234" and gotten exactly that. My last time at WL in February, I even got the room 1234 that I asked for! YAY!
 

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