SSR Nightmare!!!

[lugnut33]

DVC is not required to hold HC rooms waiting for one who needs them.

That's what I think stinks. Sorry, it's just my opinion.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

9 Pages, Wow!

Here's my 2 cents,

I check in, if room is ready fine (most of the time it is), if not we leave our luggage, head to parks, pool or DTD. The text thing hasn't worked for me so I just call or check back!

It an imperfect world full of imperfect people:

CM shouldn't have made the statement about when the room would be ready, the key should have worked, and the OP shouldn't have overeacted. I too, think SSR went over and above to compensate the OP, I think my post in your situation would have been, " SSR Comes Through in the End." None of the things that happened to you were done intentionally and unfortunately the only thing that may have caused you to look the "fool" as you say, is loosing your cool in the lobby! Maybe you all had a bad day, but SSR came through for you! Few people ever get compensated for what you described and many have endured worse! I think it has all to do with the unrealistic expectations of being a DVC owner! For me DVC is a way to vacation, I pack up my family, I bring my realistic expectations along with my tolerance and then Disney gives me a little sprinking of Pixie Dust when they "Welcome Me Home" and I've enjoyed every trip I've ever had! Better luck next time OP!

I couldn't work as a CM dealing with the public on a daily basis. I too was at SSR this THanksgiving, the noise level in the lobby was unbearable and these people for the most part deal with it on a daily basis with a smile on their face. Cut people some slack!

 

[Dean]

That's what I think stinks. Sorry, it's just my opinion.

I was not offering an opinion on what they should do, only what I understand the current situation is. However, one who needs a guarantee of a given time and HC unit should look at something that's a fixed week and fits their needs to be sure. That means staying off site at the present time or booking through cash, timeshares require flexibility. It actually gets even more confusing, convoluted and risky if you look at exchanging. I assume even HI, which is selling essentially fixed weeks, is not selling fixed units and thus would not bypass this problem either. You'd have to sell less points in order to accommodate such a system, likely by about 1 full week per unit per year on average, or you'd have to sell fixed week, fixed unit options. Currently there are almost always more HC units than needs though that is likely to shift as the population and membership ages.

 

[tjkraz]

That's what I think stinks. Sorry, it's just my opinion.

(RE: Handicapped as separate category)

Not to sound unsympathetic but I think that creates more problems than it solves.

If Handicapped rooms were a separate category, eventually they would all be reserved with the guests being a mix of those with a true need and those who simply take what is available. Many resorts wouldn't have the ability to keep excess HA rooms available for maintenance. So at a small resort like BCV or small category like AKV Value, when a HA room is taken out of service for maintenance, who gets bumped for a non-HA room?

Then consider guests who have special needs on relatively short notice. I booked a Non-HA room for Spring Break at 11 months. We've wanted to take grandma for a long time but health issues were prohibitive. Suddenly she decides she can make the March trip. Problem is, no more HA rooms available for booking on 2 months notice. Or you could have a situation where a typically healthy individual has a late-notice medical need (broken bone, recent surgery, etc.)

It seems that the law typically allows for more accessible rooms than are needed. That should give resort staff adequate flexibility to adjust to guest needs, even if the process isn't always flawless.

 

[lugnut33]

I'm not advocating for a seperate category, like "savannah view" or similar. All I'm saying is for someone who is handicapped there should be rooms for them. I realize it's an imperfect world, but it just seems non-sense to have HA rooms and then have none for people who really need them.

Hey, this thread kinda got off topic didn't it?

 

[BroganMc]

I'm not advocating for a seperate category, like "savannah view" or similar. All I'm saying is for someone who is handicapped there should be rooms for them. I realize it's an imperfect world, but it just seems non-sense to have HA rooms and then have none for people who really need them.

Hey, this thread kinda got off topic didn't it?

The best solution IMHO is to hold over those HA rooms for later in the day release. So when you get a guest at the front desk who is determined they want a room in Congress Park at 1:30pm check-in you do not automatically offer then one of the three HA rooms in that section. Instead those are held over for those requesting that particular type of room or after 6pm or whenever there are only a handful of rooms left in that section.

They do this with accessible seating at public attractions. The HA rows are the last to fill with ablebodied people and after those in need have shown up to request what they needed.

It's also a fairly easy thing for the resort to count the HA rooms as part of their inventory to avoid the "must be used up by point rentals".

When I call to book a room I must always pass 2 hurdles: do they have enough rooms left in my category and is there an accessible room in that category left?

Wanna know where it gets messiest? Now I have to actually book the room and hand over my points before MS will even call Special Needs and see if they have a HA room. So if I've had to borrow points to make that reservation or am using holding points, you know what happens? I get screwed over with a reservation I cannot use.

My first ever trip as a DVC owner I had to pony up double the points for a 1bedroom because that was the only HA room they had left in any category. I learned real quick to always book at 11 months.

The waiting list is also useless for those needing HA rooms. It never checks with Special Needs before switching rooms. I almost lost that HA 1bedroom to a non-accessible VWL room because the waiting list computer said it was what I wanted. (I had it on "call to confirm first".)

So when Dean or someone else insists Disney has more HA rooms than they need I get a little hot under the collar. Unless you are traveling in the least busy months of the year it simply isn't true.

This last time around Disney lost quite a bit of money trying to attend my needs. If their system was better at handling HA assignment it never would have happened. Now when I use my Marriott timeshare I rarely if ever have any problems. I call the resort directly a month or so before check-in, talk to a rooms coordinator onsite and block my room then. They also hold back accessible rooms for as long as possible on check-in day.

 

[BroganMc]

If Handicapped rooms were a separate category, eventually they would all be reserved with the guests being a mix of those with a true need and those who simply take what is available. Many resorts wouldn't have the ability to keep excess HA rooms available for maintenance. So at a small resort like BCV or small category like AKV Value, when a HA room is taken out of service for maintenance, who gets bumped for a non-HA room?

You do realize this is exactly what happens now? BCV has 15 HA rooms, 5 of which are studios. If a room goes down for maintenance it doesn't matter if it is HA or not. Things go out of service and have to be repaired. But a guest needing HA has less wiggle room to deal with. If a non-HA guest was blocked for room X at BCV and it goes down then they can shift to rooms A-W. HA guest only has rooms Y & Z to chose from and ONLY if they don't have a guest in them.

The solution often becomes guests get dispatched to another resort with an HA room. This last trip a family I met registered at Pop was sent to AKL when they didn't have the HA room needed.

On a previous visit to BWV a family checked in for a Grand Gathering with multiple rooms. There was no HA room for the grandfather as promised. He got sent over to SSR and had to leave his family behind.

Thing is HA rooms need to be held back for those in need over all other requests UNLESS it is late in the day and that is the only thing left to offer. At my football stadium they oversold all the HA PSL seats so now the team does not have adequate seating for those with special needs. They were greedy and didn't plan ahead. So now they have to pay extra to adjust. PSL owners must have a doctor's letter signed every year to prove they need the HA seats (or they get moved to non-HA seats) and the team buys back all tickets from HA PSL owners who chose not to go to a game.

It's just common sense here guys. Another thing that helps is for all Front Desk staff to be trained on what sort of rooms they are offering. SSR has a nice color-coded map but needs more detail over whether this is a room that has a "roll-in shower" or "tub with rails".

 

[Dean]

You do realize this is exactly what happens now? BCV has 15 HA rooms, 5 of which are studios. If a room goes down for maintenance it doesn't matter if it is HA or not. Things go out of service and have to be repaired. But a guest needing HA has less wiggle room to deal with. If a non-HA guest was blocked for room X at BCV and it goes down then they can shift to rooms A-W. HA guest only has rooms Y & Z to chose from and ONLY if they don't have a guest in them.

The solution often becomes guests get dispatched to another resort with an HA room. This last trip a family I met registered at Pop was sent to AKL when they didn't have the HA room needed.

On a previous visit to BWV a family checked in for a Grand Gathering with multiple rooms. There was no HA room for the grandfather as promised. He got sent over to SSR and had to leave his family behind.

Thing is HA rooms need to be held back for those in need over all other requests UNLESS it is late in the day and that is the only thing left to offer. At my football stadium they oversold all the HA PSL seats so now the team does not have adequate seating for those with special needs. They were greedy and didn't plan ahead. So now they have to pay extra to adjust. PSL owners must have a doctor's letter signed every year to prove they need the HA seats (or they get moved to non-HA seats) and the team buys back all tickets from HA PSL owners who chose not to go to a game.

It's just common sense here guys. Another thing that helps is for all Front Desk staff to be trained on what sort of rooms they are offering. SSR has a nice color-coded map but needs more detail over whether this is a room that has a "roll-in shower" or "tub with rails".

But they don't hold the rooms open and prevent someone else from reserving. Holding a reserved HC room is appropriate and standard procedure IF it's reserved. But it must first be open for reservation else they will tell you it can't be guaranteed. It's a 2 step process, basically you call and IF there's availability, then they see if there's a HC unit that can be blocked. IF there's no availability of anything OR if there's no HC availability, they have no options and have fulfilled their obligations. It's not really a separate booking cat, more of a subcategory.

 

[rentayenta]

I haven't read through the responses but the compensation seems more than ample for the headache.

 

[Dean]

So when Dean or someone else insists Disney has more HA rooms than they need I get a little hot under the collar. Unless you are traveling in the least busy months of the year it simply isn't true.

There's no reason to be upset. My assertion isn't that they can meet everyone's needs but rather that often that they have to force those that don't need a HC to take them most weeks of the year. It's not a number issue in terms of how many HC units they have total that causes the problems you reference though there may be management and assignment issues issues and it's possible that the units won't always match up to the needs of the individual since once size doesn't fit all in this situation. This will likely change at some point though as I noted above.

 

[lugnut33]

Remember one thing... I did not ask for compensation. I was notified via voicemail with an envelope left in the room.

I never expected to check in at any particular time. I was doing what I could to maxamize the time in the room by arriving early.

For all of you that have quoted the "rules" thank you very much, but I can read just fine. I understand how dvc works and what I expect from them.

The next time I am offered something for my headache, I will gratiously accept and not mention it on this board. I am sure that a lot of you are nothing more than jealous. Had you been offered, I am quite sure you would have accepted!!

What bothered me is eventually Disney will not even allow you to check on your room before 4 pm because of things like this. I suppose they could charge $25 to check and see if the room is ready before 4, and if it is they could charge an extra $50 to let you in early.

 

[nukker7]

What bothered me is eventually Disney will not even allow you to check on your room before 4 pm because of things like this. I suppose they could charge $25 to check and see if the room is ready before 4, and if it is they could charge an extra $50 to let you in early.