I am interested in renting a 3BR presidential next spring. I have read the entire thread (well, at least the 3rd thread lol) and I have a few questions.
1) I understand that some renters (eg Ken Price ) seem to charge a bit more, but that is because he is considered a VIP owner? That way if we had a request (water view), it might be possible to grant?
2) In your opinion is there a bad view, (or alternately) a prime view from the 10th floor and above from tower 6? We all really enjoy sitting on the lanai at night so a nice view/fireworks is a plus for us.
3) Also, we are planning on staying 8 nights. Is it really possible that we would have to change rooms (since this is mainly a 7 day rental property)?
1. VIP benefits are non-transferable. That means that even if a VIP owner makes the reservation, their VIP benefits are not granted to a person staying in a room unless the owner is present. As such, the VIP request benefit isn't passed along.
The reason for different costs has to do with the way the individuals and companies have their business structured. Ken Price for instance is an owner who owns his own points. Vacation Strategies however I believe is a broker who pays owners a small fee to use their points. As such, VS's costs can be lower since they pay their owners a lower Price-per-point than the owner is paying in MF's.... and they don't have the upfront costs associated with aquiring the points.
You will also see different policies regarding customer service, cancelations, etc between the different owners. Sometimes you will pay a premium for that extra security. (Example... When the resort first announced the additional charges for the shuttle, Ken Price was offering his existing reservations a refund off their nightly rental to cover the charges because he advertised and contracted his rentals as 'no additional charges'. Vacation Upgrades however was not offering any sort of credit to existing reservations because it was a new fee instituted by the resort itself which they had no control over.)
2. I Haven't stayed in a presidential unit yet, but based off the building's locatoin and angles, I can't see there being a bad view that high up. You will either be looking out over the lake, or high enough looking out over the surrounding vegetation that you can see Typhoon Lagoon and Downtown disney.
3. It is possible you could be forced to switch rooms since the system can only support a maximum of 7 nights in a single reservation. However, it is EXTREMELY unlikely you will need to switch rooms as the resort itself accounts for the inventory control system limitation in room assignments and tends to merge your multiple reservations and tries to keep you in the same room. (It costs more to clean the rooms if you are forced to switch than it does for the mid-week refresh.)