Room Selection Priority for Owners?

[BlueGreen5]

Is there any evidence that owners who book in the 7-11 month window are given priority when it comes to room selections? I think the answer is "no, everyone is treated the same," but wondering if anyone has any different experience. For those who consistently book at your home resort and consistently make requests when booking, do you notice that your requests are honored more often than not?

Wouldn't that make sense? For instance, if I pay the premium to own at VGF, and book right at the 11-month mark, shouldn't I get priority room selection over someone who books VGF on SAPs 6 months out? Obviously, it's a game of tetris (and I literally have no idea how they manage this process every single day...it's truly mind-boggling when you think about it in connection with the DVC booking site...), but shouldn't my, the resort-owner's, "close to lobby" request officially be given preference over a non-owner's "close to lobby" request?

(FWIW, I get that "close to lobby" is not a popular request for VGF because of the way the building is laid out. I'm just using that as a generic example of a type of broad request that is common elsewhere. No need to set off the panic bells -- I'm not booking any "close to lobby" rooms at VGF!)

Side note: I wish they had more categories of points. Not all 1BR, standard view, rooms at a resort are created equal. I bet a lot of people would pay an extra point or two or three per night to be gauranteed to get the room they want.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Absolutely no evidence exists. Room assignors cannot see member status (direct/resale/home) and are really playing Jenga with the bookings and the check in/out dates.

 

[J-Dog]

I am a relatively new DVC owner, and own at RIV. Anecdotally, at RIV I have gotten "close to" my room request twice, and not at all once. Whereas I got exactly my room request at my one trip to Aulani, which we don't own at. So based on my own limited experience, I would guess that no such priority exists.

 

[CarolynFH]

Absolutely no evidence exists. Room assignors cannot see member status (direct/resale/home) and are really playing Jenga with the bookings and the check in/out dates.

This is it - the room assignors don't know that you're an owner. At best, they might go by date the request was made, or date the reservation was made, but as complicated as room assignments are with guests moving in and out on all different dates, I'm not surprised that it can be difficult to fill a request.

 

[Sandisw]

I think the reason they can’t guarantee things or priories is because too many variables in play.

People check in and out all the time and people modify trips all the time. They could have assigned you a room and then things happen and they have to scramble them again.

I actually wish the only thing that mattered was room ready and if you arrive early, you get assigned then and have no say.

We never request a because we always want first one that is ready.

 

[Mouseforward]

The only thing we know is that the earlier you book your reservations,the less chance you have of being bumped in a renovation situation. This was confirmed with the last boardwalk renovation.

 

[RuntheMouse]

We were upgraded to a 1bed from a studio reservation with no requests on rented points once. Also we were assigned the coveted village green room at BWV without a request on a 7 month reservation. Pretty sure the room assigners only know the dates you’re there nothing else.

I sometimes think people get a little too focused on room requests and you can miss a pretty great room.

 

[drusba]

As to any non-guaranteed location requests, my success at getting them over a 27-year period has generally been about the same whether I request at 11-months out or 7-months out, or even 3-months out. I guess when DVC says that any requests are not guaranteed, that is an absolute, because favoring those who make the requests at 11-months out, as opposed to 7, would arguably mean the requests are at least partly guaranteed. I have found that the broader the request -- meaning one that could be met by a high number of rooms -- the more likely I can get it, e.g., with a savana view room at Kidani my request for Sunset Savanna view has always succeeded. I have also found that when a request is not met, DVC does not attempt to find something close to what I requested, e.g., in the distant pass I twice requested near lobby for a savanna view room at Kidani and both times ended up very far from the lobby.

 

[BlueGreen5]

I have also found that when a request is not met, DVC does not attempt to find something close to what I requested, e.g., in the distant pass I twice requested near lobby for a savanna view room at Kidani and both times ended up very far from the lobby.

Ha! "How dare you make a request that we cannot accommodate?!? Go pay your penance in exile!"

 

[gmi3804]

Absolutely no evidence exists. Room assignors cannot see member status (direct/resale/home) and are really playing Jenga with the bookings and the check in/out dates.

I don't know about that, but they're absolutely playing Tetris with the bookings and the check in/out dates.

 

[jo-jo]

We were upgraded to a 1bed from a studio reservation with no requests on rented points once. Also we were assigned the coveted village green room at BWV without a request on a 7 month reservation. Pretty sure the room assigners only know the dates you’re there nothing else.

I sometimes think people get a little too focused on room requests and you can miss a pretty great room.

I've never heard of this. Details please, so I can be jealous too.

 

[Mouseforward]

I am pretty convinced it’s random at BWV and Poly. Right now, I have about a 33% average of my “ top floor” request being filled.

 

[RuntheMouse]

I've never heard of this. Details please, so I can be jealous too.

They are P/G view rooms that overlook the village green so you may have a partial boardwalk view. We even had one of the giant balconies! We loved it.

ETA: I believe most of these rooms are studios.

 

[bookbabe626]

Not only is there no request priority, but there’s not even any bumping priority. We got bumped from our BCV one bdrm in July, and it’s our home resort and the reservation was booked on points at the 11 month mark.

 

[The_MT]

There's no priority. They assign rooms based on who is checking in and out and the length of each stay. If they can easily accommodate a request then they will.

 

[DMKEDM]

Agree that there's no apparent priority for any reason w/room requests (altho years ago I read that requests made for medical reasons might get a higher priority--but since I don't have (thankfully) medical requests I don't really know if that was or is true)....but I have an amazing track record w/my requests. I pretty much always, at every resort (except, of course, at AKV), request ground floor and at SSR I usually ask for "near pool" (sometimes at Grandstand, sometimes at Paddock)....I haven't "counted," but I'd guess I get my request 9 times out of 10. Those are pretty "wide" requests, tho, which may account for my success rate?

 

[zackiedawg]

I doubt there's any great advantage in getting requests based on when you book - as mentioned many times, it's quite a chore squeezing in all the bookings as is, without accommodating all requests. But in my experience, they do a nice job of trying - there may be times when it's just impossible, but my requests are accommodated with a pretty good hit rate, either with the exact request I made, or an attempt to get me as close as possible.

I had requested 6 specific room NUMBERS for my trip last month - booking was made about 6 months prior. The rooms were all on one wing of the Boardwalk, floors 3 & 4. They couldn't get me the exact request, but ended up getting me a 5th floor room exactly above the room number I requested...that was a pretty goof faith effort I thought. That kind of request is obviously very difficult, but it never hurts to try - I get the actual room numbers requested maybe 20-30% overall - some years I scored 80% of the time, other years 0%. If I make an 'area' request, I tend to do pretty well - maybe 90% or more of the time (Congress Park section, close to lobby, or high floor for example).

On the very rare occasion that the request couldn't be met at all - they will usually work with me at the desk by showing me a few different room options to pick from - ie: at Saratoga I was offered choices between two different Paddock buildings and a Grandstand building - and was allowed to pick the one I favored the best.

In June this year I wanted specific room numbers again at Boardwalk, OR high floor as the backup request - didn't get my room number request, but got a nice 5th floor room closer to the elevators. In February this year, I requested Congress Park at Saratoga, and got it - even a lake-view room vs parking lot view. Note: I rarely book at 11 months - usually between 3-7 months. I never use online checkin - I prefer to hit the front desk to see about my room requests, so I can rework or pick something else if I don't like what they have me booked in. I never mind waiting for an available room to get what I want - I generally arrive for checkin between 1-3pm, so if I need to wait until 5:30pm to get a specific request vs having an available room in a location I don't like, I'll wait.

 

[BlueGreen5]

The rooms were all on one wing of the Boardwalk, floors 3 & 4.

4th floor at Boardwalk?? Curious what you were looking for. I typically hope for anything other than the 4th floor. I feel like most of the awkward rooms are on 4.

 

[zackiedawg]

4th floor at Boardwalk?? Curious what you were looking for. I typically hope for anything other than the 4th floor. I feel like most of the awkward rooms are on 4.

I'm odd that I actually like the balconies with the solid wall...I find them very private - not so much because the balcony fronts are solid, but because they have solid walls between the next room - so if you're sitting out there, no other rooms can see you. If picking garden view, there are 15 rooms that have that fully boxed-in balcony, down the end of the wings that surround the pool. 3 face the main pool from either end (6 total), and 3 face the quiet pool from either end (6 total)- then 3 more face the little garden. All are corner rooms with windows in the living room on the side that face the river. So I always put in a request for those particular room numbers, though I often skip floor 2 because it's too close to ground level and so noisier if facing the pools...so all my requests are on 3 & 4. I also tend to skip the ones on the far end of the quiet pool just because they are the absolute farthest away from the elevators - at the dead-end of the hall.

Floor 5 is the one I got, directly above one of my requested rooms - facing Swan and Dolphin and on the river - and it's a nice room too - BUT the rooms on the 5th floor don't have the boxed balconies - there's no separation between the balconies of other rooms, so not quite as private as I'd like. But lovely view, so it was an acceptable alternative...I even had that same room last year!

 

[CarolynFH]

I've never heard of this. Details please, so I can be jealous too.

This is the bank of BWV rooms that look out onto the Village Green. As you can see, there's only one 1BR per floor, and none of them are lockoffs.

Edit - forgot the link! https://www.disboards.com/media/bwv-courtyard-preferred-view.62897/