TouringPlans sunsetting room requests

[SL6827]

IDK about that (charging specifically and solely for room requests)

But for DVC I could see them add preferred room requests to a tier of rewards of some sort. Either something like Membership Magic Beyond or if they start having tiered perks for those who have purchased more direct points as some have discussed here recently.

Very true. Great point.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Ok, I haven't read the thread, but I did mention on another thread, a soon to be charge for room request possible?

This is the DVC forum. They aren’t going to be charging for room requests for DVC. It’s gonna be available to request or no requests taken.

You always seem to love to automatically bring up Disney prices and Disney increasing prices.

 

[sndral]

…We wanted Paddock, for example, and I had to chat just to get that added.
…

Years ago, before MDE existed & shortly after online check in was created they had several options to choose from for location requests & some of the options offered didn’t apply to the resort they were listed for - the one I still chuckle about was ‘near Paddock’ which was an option at several non SSR resorts .

This is the DVC forum. They aren’t going to be charging for room requests for DVC. It’s gonna be available to request or no requests taken.
…

Agreed, one of the few things we are contractually guaranteed is first come first serve, allowing a cash or status based location upgrade or priority in location requests seems somewhat contrary to that.

…
Personally, I am okay if Disney is cutting back on this and I’d even be okay that changes by the front desk can only be for first available if your room that has been assigned is not ready.

We have different takes on this.
We do one long visit each year which we book at 11 months using home resort points & make our very general location requests. Because I fly in from the west coast I never arrive ‘early.’ AFAIK villas are assigned 8 days before arrival & presumably at that point room assigners factor in location requests for every guest checking in that day, why should my location request be ignored & ‘my’ preassigned villa be given to someone just because they showed up hours before check in & my preassigned villa happened to be one of the first villas housekeeping cleaned that day?
I’ve always thought Disney was too generous in allowing early check ins, I’ve stayed in many hotels that don’t allow check in before check in time. IMO it puts extra pressure on housekeeping & housekeeping is one of the biggest expenses our MFs cover.
I realize it’ll never happen, but I’d love if they let you select your villa when you made your reservation - that way the folks reserving their home resort at 11 months - the resort they pay the MFs to maintain - would have priority in selecting the location of their villa. They could limit location choice to home resort window bookings & still preserve flexibility by the ability to shuffle non home resort bookings.

 

[Sandisw]

Years ago, before MDE existed & shortly after online check in was created they had several options to choose from for location requests & some of the options offered didn’t apply to the resort they were listed for - the one I still chuckle about was ‘near Paddock’ which was an option at several non SSR resorts .

Agreed, one of the few things we are contractually guaranteed is first come first serve, allowing a cash or status based location upgrade or priority in location requests seems somewhat contrary to that.

We have different takes on this.
We do one long visit each year which we book at 11 months using home resort points & make our very general location requests. Because I fly in from the west coast I never arrive ‘early.’ AFAIK villas are assigned 8 days before arrival & presumably at that point room assigners factor in location requests for every guest checking in that day, why should my location request be ignored & ‘my’ preassigned villa be given to someone just because they showed up hours before check in & my preassigned villa happened to be one of the first villas housekeeping cleaned that day?
I’ve always thought Disney was too generous in allowing early check ins, I’ve stayed in many hotels that don’t allow check in before check in time. IMO it puts extra pressure on housekeeping & housekeeping is one of the biggest expenses our MFs cover.
I realize it’ll never happen, but I’d love if they let you select your villa when you made your reservation - that way the folks reserving their home resort at 11 months - the resort they pay the MFs to maintain - would have priority in selecting the location of their villa. They could limit location choice to home resort window bookings & still preserve flexibility by the ability to shuffle non home resort bookings.

We definitely don’t see it the same. That is why I said the only request is first available if you don’t want what you got.

They wouldn’t allow people who arrive early to choose. But, someone who is there at 1:00 pm and a room is sitting ready, that is the same type, should be given that room instead of having to wait.

I hope they never go to people picking rooms unless those rooms get cleaned last

 

[sndral]

…
I hope they never go to people picking rooms unless those rooms get cleaned last

Works for me since I’m lucky if I get there by 6 pm - because that’s just the way flights work from my lovely regional airport .
I’ve always wondered how they balanced which villas were cleaned in what order - presumably they have a check list of which will be needed first based on the arrival times we give them w/ online check in & they try to prioritize the earliest predicted arrivals villas to be cleaned first - but who knows, maybe it’s based on start at one end of on one floor & just clean each villa as they work their way down the hall.
If they pivoted to a system where at 4 pm all villa numbers for check ins were sent out it seems to me some of the lengthy discussions/melt downs I’ve seen at front desks mid day would happen less because folks wouldn’t expect to get into their villas before 4 pm & would plan accordingly. I know a couple of years ago when I was staying in a cash room at the Grand Californian I arrived around 2 & they were pretty clear that check in wasn’t until 3.

 

[Mirabell Rose]

Housekeeping gets rooms done throughout the morning and afternoon. Not seeing how having everyone wait until 4pm makes any sense. Bell services would be crushed all at 4pm.

I don’t see a charge for room preference. If there becomes a preference that consistently overwhelms, then they can do like SSR and split the points chart into ‘preferred’ and ‘regular’.

 

[CarolynFH]

How far in advance should one request their room ? Closer to the date or anytime?

Rooms are assigned a week or maybe more in advance, so I've always submitted my requests as soon as I know what they are, even months in advance.

I do think it is in Disney's interest to keep requests as generic as the possibly can.

I agree. Maybe one of the issues was that too many of the TP requests were too specific. I'm hoping I can still request High Floor or View of Quiet Pool and leave it at that.

I’ve always wondered how they balanced which villas were cleaned in what order

At other timeshares where everyone checks in and out on Saturday or Sunday, maybe they do clean units in a given order. But with DVC people arrive and leave every day of the week and at all different times of day and night. So I've always thought that they cleaned villas as they were vacated. Many times we've checked out in the early morning to make an early flight home, and I can't imagine that they'd let our room stay dirty until some prearranged "starting time" for cleaning checkouts. At one time in recent years, when we could tell them what time we'd arrive, they called me on day of checkin right around our arrival time to say that the 2BR we were assigned wasn't cleaned yet, but they did have a clean one where the single Murphy in the studio side didn't work, and we could have that one if we didn't want to wait. The point being that they didn't clean villas in the order of expected arrival, they cleaned as they could get to them.

 

[NaptownMom]

Years ago, before MDE existed & shortly after online check in was created they had several options to choose from for location requests & some of the options offered didn’t apply to the resort they were listed for - the one I still chuckle about was ‘near Paddock’ which was an option at several non SSR resorts .

Agreed, one of the few things we are contractually guaranteed is first come first serve, allowing a cash or status based location upgrade or priority in location requests seems somewhat contrary to that.

We have different takes on this.
We do one long visit each year which we book at 11 months using home resort points & make our very general location requests. Because I fly in from the west coast I never arrive ‘early.’ AFAIK villas are assigned 8 days before arrival & presumably at that point room assigners factor in location requests for every guest checking in that day, why should my location request be ignored & ‘my’ preassigned villa be given to someone just because they showed up hours before check in & my preassigned villa happened to be one of the first villas housekeeping cleaned that day?
I’ve always thought Disney was too generous in allowing early check ins, I’ve stayed in many hotels that don’t allow check in before check in time. IMO it puts extra pressure on housekeeping & housekeeping is one of the biggest expenses our MFs cover.
I realize it’ll never happen, but I’d love if they let you select your villa when you made your reservation - that way the folks reserving their home resort at 11 months - the resort they pay the MFs to maintain - would have priority in selecting the location of their villa. They could limit location choice to home resort window bookings & still preserve flexibility by the ability to shuffle non home resort bookings.

I already feel like Disney rewards people who are "good at" Disney too much, which leaves less magic for the newbie and more casual Disney user. This would definitely make it worse for those groups.

 

[Brian Noble]

I already feel like Disney rewards people who are "good at" Disney too much, which leaves less magic for the newbie and more casual Disney user.

Agreed. Strongly.

 

[SL6827]

This is the DVC forum. They aren’t going to be charging for room requests for DVC. It’s gonna be available to request or no requests taken.

You always seem to love to automatically bring up Disney prices and Disney increasing prices.

Well they do seem to go hand in hand.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Is requesting first floor an option in MDE? If not, what are people with reservations at OKW who use an ECV supposed to do?

 

[Mirabell Rose]

I already feel like Disney rewards people who are "good at" Disney too much, which leaves less magic for the newbie and more casual Disney user. This would definitely make it worse for those groups.

Maybe, but not everyone who knows cares. We usually don’t make requests. I like to try different rooms. Most places have ‘frequent shopper’ rewards. But I agree there needs to be balance.

 

[CarolynFH]

Is requesting first floor an option in MDE? If not, what are people with reservations at OKW who use an ECV supposed to do?

Chat/email/call MS and request first floor for medical reasons - an ECV. Or book an HA room so it’s a guarantee instead of a request.

 

[Cfabar1]

I've never felt "rewarded" by Disney for being loyal to them with the modest exception of DVC Receptions on DCL, and the Castaway Club... which are both modest...

I hope the room request feature does continue, but I agree in the meantime some notice of the change was nice...

I do not know Mr. @lentesta personally, but he has an outstanding podcast with Jim Hill I heartily commend to all DVC Owners... It is engaging and enjoyable and contains lots of great Disney History and News.

 

[tx911]

I've never felt "rewarded" by Disney for being loyal to them with the modest exception of DVC Receptions on DCL, and the Castaway Club... which are both modest...

I hope the room request feature does continue, but I agree in the meantime some notice of the change was nice...

I do not know Mr. @lentesta personally, but he has an outstanding podcast with Jim Hill I heartily commend to all DVC Owners... It is engaging and enjoyable and contains lots of great Disney History and News.

One of the best Disney podcasts out there for sure

 

[J-Dog]

I already feel like Disney rewards people who are "good at" Disney too much, which leaves less magic for the newbie and more casual Disney user. This would definitely make it worse for those groups.

I totally disagree that they reward those people "too much".

If you're referring to perks of DVC or AP-type stuff, those are pretty minimal and most newbies have no clue that they are missing out anyway. Or, if you're referring to experienced people knowing how to hack the system, well that's going to happen in any situation like this, not just Disney.

I'm in the medical field, and I absolutely tend to give price breaks to ongoing/loyal clients who come in for preventative medicine, when compared to people that show up once every few years for emergencies and nothing else.

 

[NaptownMom]

I totally disagree that they reward those people "too much".

If you're referring to perks of DVC or AP-type stuff, those are pretty minimal and most newbies have no clue that they are missing out anyway. Or, if you're referring to experienced people knowing how to hack the system, well that's going to happen in any situation like this, not just Disney.

I'm in the medical field, and I absolutely tend to give price breaks to ongoing/loyal clients who come in for preventative medicine, when compared to people that show up once every few years for emergencies and nothing else.

Yes, I am referring to hacking, not formal loyalty programs. Actually Disney is very weak on loyalty programs.

Of course people are going hack whatever system you release them into. And then the system managers (Disney) are going to do things like cracking down on room requests when the hacking starts to distort the system. Which I think is good.

 

[Brian Noble]

Exactly so.

The change from Fastpass to G+/LL was at least in part to level the playing field between the "information haves" and the "information have-nots." It was much easier to tour efficiently in the Fastpass era---and that was true even after they started enforcing return times. Before that enforcement, I would regularly return from an afternoon break with FPs for all three MK Mountains plus another 2-3 attractions. We routinely threw away FPs that we never got a chance to use.

 

[VGCgroupie]

So I was at the front desk complaining about a real issue and there was someone there very upset they didn’t get their room view request. DVC not cash. CM were trying to accommodate them and they were not happy. These types of people will be the reason why if room requests are terminated completely.

Ridiculous.

 

[tx911]

So I was at the front desk complaining about a real issue and there was someone there very upset they didn’t get their room view request. DVC not cash. CM were trying to accommodate them and they were not happy. These types of people will be the reason why if room requests are terminated completely.

Ridiculous.

This is why we can’t have nice things