Special Room Request Procedure

[CarolMN]

Front Desk/Room Asssignment CMs must be expressing concern about the number of guests who call or fax the resort as well as the number who do not exhibit adult behavior when their "requests" (aka demands) are not met.

Just noticed the following on the DVC Members Website:

Special Room Request Procedure

As a reminder, the established procedure and appropriate time for making special room requests is when you make your reservation with Member Services. If you have any additional requests, or changes to your original request, call Member Services directly. Please do not call or fax the resort where you'll be staying. To be fair to all Members, the only information we use when trying to honor special room requests is that which comes from Member Services.

With so many Members having special requests, it's important that everyone follow this established procedure. As you can imagine, the number of Members asking for particular rooms, views, floors, and buildings makes it impossible to honor all of the requests. We do our best to honor your requests, but please understand that we cannot guarantee them.

 

[JimC]

Thanks CarolMN. Their policy seems reasonable to me.

 

[DebbieB]

I e-mailed DVC last Tuesday when the above came onto the website. I asked what is the current procedure for assigning room requests. Pre-assigned by reservation date as they had said at the annual meeting I attended or first come, first served. I will post if/when I get a response. From CarolA's post, it appears they are pre-assigning. That seems fair to me - those who make their reservation first get first priority. It also would give an advantage to home resort members who book early. This first come, first served does not seem fair to me. It encourages people to arrive early in the morning expecting to get their requests.

 

[ralphd]

The 'new' policy seems fair to me. It is the procedure that I understood was in place when we became members.

ralphd

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by DebbieB
I e-mailed DVC last Tuesday when the above came onto the website. I asked what is the current procedure for assigning room requests. Pre-assigned by reservation date as they had said at the annual meeting I attended or first come, first served. I will post if/when I get a response. From CarolA's post, it appears they are pre-assigning. That seems fair to me - those who make their reservation first get first priority. It also would give an advantage to home resort members who book early. This first come, first served does not seem fair to me. It encourages people to arrive early in the morning expecting to get their requests.

ITA. Looking forward to reading your post with DVC's response.

 

[JohnathanS]

Thanks for the info!!

We've only made 2 requests for our first 2 reservations at OKW: a smoking-optional building (mom is a smoker) and preferably near the hospitality house. I doubt in the future we will even request a location preference and if we don't get it this time, no biggie. It seems each of the OKW areas has something nice to offer, and I'd love to stay in all the areas once!

The smoking room is fairly important, but if it doesn't come through, we'll certainly make do.

I figure, hey it's DVC, can you get a truly bad room?

 

[joepoe]

I think the policy is reasonable. We only ask non-smoking/turtle pond at OKW or just non smoking at BWV and take what we get. We have never had a problem in about 8 trips.

I just shake my head at some of the "high-maintenance" people and their list of requests being faxed, or being upset when they don't get them.

 

[BriarRosie]

Thanks, Carol, that's good to know.

The last trip I made a special request was in December, and the request was granted. I believe I did put in my request when I made the reservation with Member Services.

I loved the location so much, I put in a similar request last December when I booked my upcoming November trip.

I'll have to let everyone know if they were able to honor it.

 

[CarolA]

My personal fav is people who ask for a certain room. And this is not just DVC but for all the resorts. I think that is really pushing it. I guess Disney is suppose to throw the current occupants out so you will get your room????

I think the next step will be limiting the number of requests you can make. (DISCLAIMER! I HAVE NO INSIDE KNOWLEDGE). That way you would have to select the high priority requests as opposed to the 20 detailed items.

 

[DebbieB]

I just got a call from Jackie at DVC. They are no longer pre-assigning rooms. When you arrive, they will try to assign you to a clean room that meets at least 1 of your requests. I brought up the Boardwalk view room and how difficult it is to get them. She said that if someone walks up at 10:00am and requests Boardwalk view, they will not get it if there is not one clean, even if there is one that is scheduled to be open that day. If they still wanted to try to get one, they could stop back later to see if one was clean. So it basically comes down to luck. She claimed the members overwelmingly like this system better. I said what happens to people who arrive late, they have little chance of getting a popular request. She repeated that they try to meet at least 1 request and the most popular request is non-smoking.

 

[docsnort]

For our trip in Oct we were planning on getting in to Orlando late, staying offsite, and checking in early at OKW. Now with this new policy it doesn't make sense to do this early AM check-in any more. Lets say you arrive at 6:30 AM in hopes of getting a room in a location you prefer. Since there are going to be very few clean rooms at this time of morning, especially during the busy seasons, a person would be forced to return often during the day hoping to get a room that just became available in your prefered area. Maybe I'm not understanding this new policy, but I have visions of more congestion at the front desk as people frequently return in hopes of snagging their desired room location.

 

[Terry S]

The reason they changed to assigning rooms upon check in is that apparantly so many members were complaining that rooms were not clean upon arrival. I just don't understand this, the rules clearly states 4:00 PM. So now they feel they are making everyone happy by giving you a clean room upon arrival. Maybe somone should send DVC TroyWDWs Poll? I know that we at the DIS don't make up the whole membership, but it does give a good idea of what people want.

 

[CarolA]

Well, Jackie's story DOES NOT agree with what happened to me on Friday at OKW. The room was NOT clean when I arrived and the CM did not assign it I was assigned to it.He specifically said "you have been assigned" Plus I watched him and he never did anything but put in my name. I do know there were other non smoking studios given out about the same time and one couple was told the room was ready and one was told the room wasn't. The CM was willing to attempt to move me if the room was objected to which is why he told me it was handicapped. Now maybe the computer just pops the next one up, but I don't see how that would work since the request fields are free form entires.

 

[lisareniff]

We are getting in very late (11pm) on a Friday. With this procedure we will get the bottom of the barrel room. ...

-Lisa