Something stinks at AKV and its NOT the animals!

[Laurabearz]

If the old saying is true... the squeeky wheel gets the grease, you sound like you might have a shot at seeing animals from your room

Best of luck and keep us posted.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

True- here, value is not the points or the rooms-, but the information and the time rismon took to plan this vacation. Who's to say that they won't screw up next time for somebody else who wanted a 2 bedroom and ended with a 1 bedroom with such short notice... and so on. Who wants to plan their vacation the entire year to having to just ended up with " it is what it is and just be happy we got a room.

There is a big difference between going and getting a 1 bedroom instead of your reserved 2 bedroom and going getting the correct room size and just the wrong view.

I am not taking sides on this one, but I do see both points of view in this case. It sucks, yes, I know, but you can either drive yourself crazy over it or just take a deep breath and realize, its just one small piece of the entire package.

 

[Tozzie]

As I have stated before I don't see the original posters gripe as it has been posted on the website for months also. I honestly don't see this as a conspiracy against the original poster as it has been posted and for all of those that say he should get first dibs on the room well that is great but look at it this way say they have 4 Savannah view rooms in the size the poster wanted on the Savannah with the animals and they have 4 reservations for stays begining on the 17th and the op arrives on the 18th so they should move the people who arrive on the 17th so the poster who is arriving on the 18th can have a savannah view room. Or say they had five rooms available but they now have a problem with one of the rooms that can't be repaired immediately for whatever reason.


As for the late notification, the website does state approx 30 days that does not mean exactly 30 days it could mean 35 days or 25 days. There is also the possibility that due to the lack of communication ( and we all know how well the various departments communicate after the concierge fiasco of sept/oct) that the resort or MS was told that they wouldn't be closing the savannah until say the 25 not the 15th and then changed it back to the 15th an forgot to tell anyone.

I don't think it is a conspiracy and to the poster who stated we bought to use our points where and when we want, this is true but the notice was posted for months and there were no guarantees, and the notice even states if the terms were not acceptable to make other arrangements.

If the OP was notified at 30 days out and there was no availability at any other DVC ( which is a good possibility) then his points would go into holding if he cancelled iregardless of if the notification is 2 weeks or 4 weeks, which is one of his issues in the first post.

 

[rsimon]

There is a big difference between going and getting a 1 bedroom instead of your reserved 2 bedroom and going getting the correct room size and just the wrong view.

I am not taking sides on this one, but I do see both points of view in this case. It sucks, yes, I know, but you can either drive yourself crazy over it or just take a deep breath and realize, its just one small piece of the entire package.

Clearly there is a value assigned to the "view" of the room. That is why the "view" dictates the points it costs to stay there.. I see them as the same issue.. right along with the room size and conciege vs no conciege. It is something you plan for in your vacation. For example, I specifically had a special camera lens I was going to bring to take telephoto pictures from our balcony of the animals. Since I am an avid photographer, this is something that I planned on doing. The only reason we purchased at AKV was for the savanah view.

Reservations are a process of "reserving" what you would like. If they take the reservation, then you have a resonable expectation that it will be honored. At the time that the reservation cannot be honored for some unforseen reason, then the customer should immediately be notified not right before the customer is expecting to use the reservation.

In this case, some reservations are able to be honored and others aren't. The issue is fairness in that decision process and the early notification when it is first possible to notify the customer that their reservation cannot be honored. This is just simple customer service in the service industry and something you would expect Disney to be able to accomplish.

 

[toocherie]

Disney would NEVER treat a cash paying customer this way, so what makes it alright to treat a dvc member this way?

Unfortunately, I think they would treat cash paying customers just as badly.

With a fixed number of rooms available and lets assume near 100% occupancy, I think you have to award/reward those that arrive first with their preference, better one happy then 2 disappointed. If this is what has happened to you and you would unfortunately be left without a savannah view, you are disappointed/mad you didn't find out sooner? What would you have done had you found out 2 months ago? Would you have cancelled your reservation? If you can still, I'm sure member services will work with you to cancel your current reservation. If you would have accepted it as a bad break, simply do that now. You talk of DVC making things right, If your are hoping they will change your current reservation so that you can inconvienence another member on short notice, that's not very neighborly. If you are thinking they will change policy because you call every day, that's a bit arrogant. Either way doesn't seem like you have much of a vacation to look forward to and I'm glad we are pulling out of Animal Kingdom on the 14th before you arrive. I made reservations in August and was fully aware of the planned Savannah closure. When life gives you lemons....you know the rest.

I think the point here is that a DVC owner who booked at 11 months out (day by day in fact) should get what they booked. I would personally demand to know whether there is anyone in a savannah view 1 bedroom who booked at 7 months or less. Even if it was another owner--if they booked at 10 months, 9 months, or 8 months why should they get priority over someone who followed all the rules, just because their arrival date was a day or so earlier? That is not fair to me. Give the person who booked later a choice--a day or two in the savannah view room and then move to a non-savannah view. Or stay in a non-savannah view room the whole time. But no way should the owner who booked at 11 months be bumped for someone who booked later. I am not an AKV owner (I own SSR and soon GCV!) but I would be royally ticked off too like the OP--despite the notices--if someone made a reservation later than me and got the savannah view room.

I guess the difference is I see this as a small item and you see it as a big one, different strokes. The only way they can fix it is take the room away from someone else who also likely planned and anticipated and it would be even shorter notice. Someone they've already judged deserved it more than you based on the criteria they're using. Not having a reservation on such short notice would be a big item, to me this is simply a bump in the road. But I do understand that you plan, talk up and build up certain things and it hurts to have it pulled out from under you. It seems obvious they gave you half information and were just trying to placate you. The truth is likely that someone assigned all the rooms with little worry about this issue and only then did they start to look to see who would be displaced. BTW, you're likely going to meet someone there who made a reservation much later, likely with non AKV points, and is in SV where you were supposed to be. Just prepare yourself.

But Dean--don't you see the absolute inequity in that? I agree--I would not be surprised for this to happen too--but it is just WRONG. The only reason I would ever stay at AKV would be to have a savannah view room. If I made a reservation for a savannah view room at the beginning of my 7-month window--and got bumped for someone who made one much later--I would be angry too. It IS a big deal--if I wanted just a room anywhere I would have booked my 11-month priority at SSR (where I wouldn't get a choice as to anything other than room size anyway).

2 months ago would have changed things actually.. Even 30 days ago would have changed things.. We only recently made plans with other family members to meet them there otherwise I would cancel, but I don't want to mess up their plans as well.. DVC knew and AKV knew the situation well in advance as we did.. Yet they chose to wait until the last minute to notify us.

In all fairness, IF you had a reservation and knew that if you were not notified otherwise after the 30 day mark, wouldn't you figure that you were all clear? Know that you made the reservation at the 11 month window and no notification, wouldn't you think you were "safe"? I think that is reasonable to expect.

As far as being a pacifist as you seem to be, I'm sorry, that is not for me. I choose to try and change things when they don't make sense instead of just saying "oh well, it is just a small bump". I figure if things aren't brought to a company's attention, then they believe it is alright and things never change. I am NOT looking for freebies, or anyone's sympathy.. I am looking to provide others with information on how things are working in hopes that things can change and become better now and in the future for everyone.

I don't see that I am displacing anyone. I look at it as the people that booked after me, displaced me, so no I don't have a problem with AKV making changes to bring fairness back to the room allocation. Again, I had choices when I made this reservation and I had choices 30 days ago, now I feel they backed us into a corner where we don't have many choices.

I absolutely agree with your position OP. Yes, the other person may get bumped, but in the "pecking order" it would seem to me that the other person should have been the one bumped. I would also make waves. (and have). My first trip home I booked at 10 months out a handicapped accessible studio for my Mom with a roll-in shower. (I would have booked at 11 months, but didn't own prior to that time!)

When her studio was available, it turned out that her 'accessible' studio had a roll-in shower--but pretty much was otherwise non-accessible. (There was about 8 inches between the bed and the closet--not enough room to get her walker in to the closet and certainly not enough room for a wheelchair. So why they called this an accessible room I have no idea. Neither did the three DVC employees who came to see the room and claimed they had never seen a room set up this way. Their original solution? To unhook the bed from the wall remove the sofa bed and let her sleep in a room with holes in the wall. Uh no. (don't even get me started on the lizards in my studio that day!)

We wasted an entire day of our vacation dealing with this and missed Hoop Dee Doo as a result because we were so exhausted by the stress of the situation that we just couldn't deal with finding out way to Fort Wilderness and back. this was our first WDW trip. DVC offered to drive us there, but had no info on getting back--and my Mom was on a scooter when out of the rooms so we were nervous about our first sojourn in the dark leaving Fort Wilderness and not understanding the bus system, etc.

In return, DVC bought us a sandwich from Artist's Palette but had no other accessible rooms that night. so she stayed in the "non-accessible" studio. They did move us the next day to a two-bedroom dedicated accessible unit because that was all they had. (Now, that may sound great--but frankly I had booked two separate studios because I wanted my own "space" and to have time to myself during my first vacation in three years. so it wasn't what I wanted.) My Mom spent the whole next day in bed because she was so worn out by the situation. Two days of our vacation gone. DVC did refund some points but it didn't get those two days back--and it was not a pleasant start to the beginning of my first trip "home." And I didn't get what I had booked pretty early on. It was a very disappointing situation. and if I knew (and didn't just suspect) that there were probably other people in fully accessible studios who either didn't own at SSR or booked way after me I would be doubly aggravated.

 

[rsimon]

As I have stated before I don't see the original posters gripe as it has been posted on the website for months also. I honestly don't see this as a conspiracy against the original poster as it has been posted and for all of those that say he should get first dibs on the room well that is great but look at it this way say they have 4 Savannah view rooms in the size the poster wanted on the Savannah with the animals and they have 4 reservations for stays begining on the 17th and the op arrives on the 18th so they should move the people who arrive on the 17th so the poster who is arriving on the 18th can have a savannah view room. Or say they had five rooms available but they now have a problem with one of the rooms that can't be repaired immediately for whatever reason.


As for the late notification, the website does state approx 30 days that does not mean exactly 30 days it could mean 35 days or 25 days. There is also the possibility that due to the lack of communication ( and we all know how well the various departments communicate after the concierge fiasco of sept/oct) that the resort or MS was told that they wouldn't be closing the savannah until say the 25 not the 15th and then changed it back to the 15th an forgot to tell anyone.

I don't think it is a conspiracy and to the poster who stated we bought to use our points where and when we want, this is true but the notice was posted for months and there were no guarantees, and the notice even states if the terms were not acceptable to make other arrangements.

If the OP was notified at 30 days out and there was no availability at any other DVC ( which is a good possibility) then his points would go into holding if he cancelled iregardless of if the notification is 2 weeks or 4 weeks, which is one of his issues in the first post.

Your example of 4 rooms available doesn't make sense.. Of course they could decide that someone arriving on the 18th made their reservation before the people arriving on the 17th and so should get the preference on the room. That is possible and is done all the time with DVC in other situations where you call BWV and ask for BW view and are told that it is only available on Day X but Days Y and Z you can only get a pool view. So the people that reserved after me on but arrived on the 17th should be notified that they have a savanah view on the 17th, but it will not be available on the 18th-24th..

As for the points, if I cancelled at 30 days or now, MS has been working with people and the points don't go into holding but back into the regular pool so that isn't the issue.. The issue is more about plans that have been set and very difficult to change now because we figured being within the 30 day period and no notice to the contrary that we were good..

And finally, when we made our reservations, it is important for you to realize the issue with the animals and sunset savanah was NOT an issue. It became an issue after we made our reservation. However, every person making a reservation after they knew it was an issue was still allowed to reserve a savanah room as if the sunset rooms were really savanah rooms so they overbooked knowing that it was going to be an issue. When I booked, it was not a known issue so how can you say that we knew it for months. In fact, when we called after it became public knowledge, our reservation was specifically noted that we do not want sunset and we were also assurred that since we booked at the 11 month window, it shouldn't be an issue so we kept our reservations at that time because we considered moving to BWV at that time. That being said and after the 30 days passed, I still believe it is reasonable to expect that we had the room type we requested..

 

[Tozzie]

Your example of 4 rooms available doesn't make sense.. Of course they could decide that someone arriving on the 18th made their reservation before the people arriving on the 17th and so should get the preference on the room. That is possible and is done all the time with DVC in other situations where you call BWV and ask for BW view and are told that it is only available on Day X but Days Y and Z you can only get a pool view. So the people that reserved after me on but arrived on the 17th should be notified that they have a savanah view on the 17th, but it will not be available on the 18th-24th..

As for the points, if I cancelled at 30 days or now, MS has been working with people and the points don't go into holding but back into the regular pool so that isn't the issue.. The issue is more about plans that have been set and very difficult to change now because we figured being within the 30 day period and no notice to the contrary that we were good..

And finally, when we made our reservations, it is important for you to realize the issue with the animals and sunset savanah was NOT an issue. It became an issue after we made our reservation. However, every person making a reservation after they knew it was an issue was still allowed to reserve a savanah room as if the sunset rooms were really savanah rooms so they overbooked knowing that it was going to be an issue. When I booked, it was not a known issue so how can you say that we knew it for months. In fact, when we called after it became public knowledge, our reservation was specifically noted that we do not want sunset and we were also assurred that since we booked at the 11 month window, it shouldn't be an issue so we kept our reservations at that time because we considered moving to BWV at that time. That being said and after the 30 days passed, I still believe it is reasonable to expect that we had the room type we requested..

I give up, I think you are being unreasonable and I do believe the manager at AKV would have told you anything just to get you off the phone and it is easier for him to Blame MS since he doens't work for DVC. You are so hung up on when you booked but A- you don't know when others booked and DVC is not going to give you that information. and B- DVC is not going to shuffle a bunch of people around who arrive the day before or two days before so you can get a room which you knew may not be available and chose to keep anyway, you keep saying it was noted on your reservation, well that is just a request and not a guarantee and since MS doesn't guarantee anything the "assurances" you received were probably a statement to the effect of "well, since you booked at 11 months you SHOULD be okay" . A lesson learned but to assume some big conspiracy is going on is ludicrious.

 

[toocherie]

I and B- DVC is not going to shuffle a bunch of people around who arrive the day before or two days before so you can get a room which you knew may not be available and chose to keep anyway,

actually, the OP indicated in the previous message that the issue of the savannah being closed was not on the radar when she booked. These threads are replete with messages from people indicating that they were able to book x view for so many days but have to move and are waitlisted for that view, etc. etc. I stand by my statement that the OP--booking exactly day by day at her 11 month window--should have been given first priority over someone who booked after an 11 month window--even if it meant moving the other people.

 

[rsimon]

I give up, I think you are being unreasonable and I do believe the manager at AKV would have told you anything just to get you off the phone and it is easier for him to Blame MS since he doens't work for DVC. You are so hung up on when you booked but A- you don't know when others booked and DVC is not going to give you that information. and B- DVC is not going to shuffle a bunch of people around who arrive the day before or two days before so you can get a room which you knew may not be available and chose to keep anyway, you keep saying it was noted on your reservation, well that is just a request and not a guarantee and since MS doesn't guarantee anything the "assurances" you received were probably a statement to the effect of "well, since you booked at 11 months you SHOULD be okay" . A lesson learned but to assume some big conspiracy is going on is ludicrious.

Its percisely people like you that allow things to continue as is until it effects them, THEN all of a sudden its a problem.. Well.. I'm sorry.. at this point I could careless what you think my motivation is.. but I will tell you and everone else one more time.. my motivation is NOT to get special treatment, freebies, or anything else like that that I have heard others on this board post about in the past.. My motivation is to have a process that is refined and clear for everyone involved going forward so everyone knows what to expect..

You must be one of those that think just because Disney does something, it must be okay because "Hey, its Disney! There can't possibly be anything done better!"

As I said before.. I'm not that kind of person to accept things as they are just because that is the way they are.. I guess that is the difference between a follower and a free thinker and doer..

 

[anna08]

I guess I don't see why upon knowing the sunset savana would be closed, DVC didn't immediately convert all those bookings and/or available rooms to standard view. They had to have an idea long before this that the savana would have to be closed. I do think the delay is a bit intentional, as they know that few would be able to cancel a trip to WDW with that short notice, and they are dependent on the park income that DVC members generate.

 

[DebbieB]

I guess I don't see why upon knowing the sunset savannah would be closed, DVC didn't immediately convert all those bookings and/or available rooms to standard view. They had to have an idea long before this that the savannah would have to be closed. I do think the delay is a bit intentional, as they know that few would be able to cancel a trip to WDW with that short notice, and they are dependent on the park income that DVC members generate.

I agree. I recall in the past when they created the boardwalk view at BWV, they went through the reservations and converted those who would get it (by those who had put boardwalk view for a request) and sent out new confirmations . They did the same when they created the HH category at OKW, they looked at requests and sent out new confirmations for those who were guaranteed. Then they took waitlists for others who called and wanted it. That's what they should have done here. I think part of the problem is they don't like to deliver bad news so they just sat back. But they don't realize that it ticks off people even more.

 

[kruegeme]

Early in your post you gave a good explanation on how the actual assignment of rooms is affected by the time of the day that you check into the resort. Did anyone that you talked with mention if the advanced online check-in program that goes into effect this month will have any relation to which room you are assigned?

 

[JSTX]

I guess I don't see why upon knowing the sunset savana would be closed, DVC didn't immediately convert all those bookings and/or available rooms to standard view. They had to have an idea long before this that the savana would have to be closed. I do think the delay is a bit intentional, as they know that few would be able to cancel a trip to WDW with that short notice, and they are dependent on the park income that DVC members generate.

That is the point here. They knew exactly how many Savannah view rooms would be affected when the animals were removed off of the Sunset Savannah. As soon as the dates were set 1/15 to 4/15, they should have temporarily converted the Sunset Savannah rooms to standard view and determined who would be affected. Then they could have notified everyone else that was affected at that point. There could have still been a waitlist for cancellations of rooms on the other Savannahs, but everyone who would not be getting a Savannah View (with Animals) would have been notified in plenty of time to switch accommodations , dates, etc. There is NO good excuse for waiting until only 14 days prior to check-in to notify people that were affected, especially when this was not a last minute issue - DVC/AKV has know this was going to occur for months.

 

[rsimon]

I guess I don't see why upon knowing the sunset savana would be closed, DVC didn't immediately convert all those bookings and/or available rooms to standard view. They had to have an idea long before this that the savana would have to be closed. I do think the delay is a bit intentional, as they know that few would be able to cancel a trip to WDW with that short notice, and they are dependent on the park income that DVC members generate.

Exactly! That would seem to have made sense..

 

[rsimon]

Early in your post you gave a good explanation on how the actual assignment of rooms is affected by the time of the day that you check into the resort. Did anyone that you talked with mention if the advanced online check-in program that goes into effect this month will have any relation to which room you are assigned?

They didn't specifically address that, but I would guess it wouldn't have an effect since they assign you a room at some point closer to your reservation based on the reservations they have.. So your early check-in would only be to the room they have already assigned you. Its actually based on the day you check in and then on that day it goes in the order of the reservations.

 

[disneynutz]

If we as members wanted to buy into a poorly run timeshare, there are plenty to pick from.

We chose the DVC because it's Disney and we expected a higher standard from them. Sadly I see things getting worse and Cast Member mistakes are increasing and accepted as, "things happen".

During the past two days I have spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone with MS trying to get them to fix mistakes that MS made to our points. All three senior Advisers made additional mistakes which resulted in us losing our reservation for next December. Yes we are now on the waiting list, but that's not the point. If MS did their job correctly, we would have our December reservation.

This afternoon I made the comment to a MS Manager that DVC is becoming "not fun anymore" and for the first time we are actually thinking of selling our contracts. The reply was "do what you need to do", not we will fix it or as good as we try to be, mistakes happen.

I get the feeling that with all the new members, DVC has lost the need to keep us happy and satisfied.

Not at all like the Disney that we all remember.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Ah, for the days when there was just OKW, BWV, VB and HHI.

 

[DebbieB]

During the past two days I have spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone with MS trying to get them to fix mistakes that MS made to our points. All three senior Advisers made additional mistakes which resulted in us losing our reservation for next December. Yes we are now on the waiting list, but that's not the point. If MS did their job correctly, we would have our December reservation.

What type of reservation/resort did you lose? You had to be right at 11 months.

 

[kruegeme]

Thanks for the clarification on that. I read it originally as room assignments being based on the day you made the reservation and then by when you check in on that day. If you were the first to reserve at the 11 month window but the last to check-in for the day, you would be given the last room available in that specific category. This would basically give those that booked late in the day but checked in first a potentially better view room then those that checked in late in the day.

 

[disneynutz]

What type of reservation/resort did you lose? You had to be right at 11 months.

AKV Concierge.