Treatment of DVC members

[Doug7856]

I guess I don't see how going from one "first come first served" (room arrival time) to another "first come first served" (room reservation time) is any more "fair". They each benefit a different group of people: one group that has the ability to arrive earlier in the day or spend the night before somewhere else, another that has the ability to make plans far into the future and can easily call MS at 9:00 AM ET. Again, not sure why one group deserves special favors - and "you get your room when you show up" has been the standard practice for most commercial lodging for a long time now.....

Dr.Tomorrow, I generally agree with your comments with regard to room view and location; however, it is a common practice in the lodging industry today to guarantee non-smoking rooms. I think that most people with a smoking preference would appreciate a guarantee -- both those who prefer smoking and those who prefer non-smoking. I think that if the folks who manage DVC could guarantee the smoking preference at the time of booking, they would eliminate 75% of the check in concerns expressed by members. This biggest challenge for DVC is managing these room preferences. Hopefully the new system mentioned in other threads will enable DVC to better manage room inventory in the near future.

 

[MiaSRN62]

lllovell says : they are waiting have set themselves up for that wait since officially they should not be there until 4. It is not unreasonable to expect that people arrive at all different times of the day. Giving the advantage to those that arrive before 4 is probably part of the "DVC bad members" issue as well. They are encouraging people to try to check in early. Actually, they are rewarding people for it. Then, we are bad members when we are shocked or amazed that we are not in our rooms before 4 (we being quite generally used here - and does not represent everyone of course) and the rest of the members that arrive later AFTER 4 as they are supposed to are penalized. Doesn't seem like a fair system to me. First come first serve on the ressies makes more sense because then everyone gets a fair shot at it.

We usually book our vacation anywhere from 6-11 months in advance. We drive to FL and usually "check -in" around noon-1 pm. It's so much easier to do it then, so we can go to the parks at 1 and not have to worry about coming back by 4 to check-in. We'd rather just check-in around noon.....play in the parks all day and come back at the end of the day for our room assignment. We have thus far always gotten our requests met. Usually all I ask for is NS, maybe "water view" and a couple of times "ground floor" (at OKW) due to my mil who was undergoing chemo and radiation for 2-3 years. My mil passed away last summer so ground floor won't be a necessity for us any longer. But if I didn't get a water view, I'd be mildly disappointed but would not think of making an issue of it. OTOH, if I got a smoking room, I would try and see what I could do to get that changed (without getting nasty or naughty of course ).

I see Dr Tommorrow's point in that it's really not fair any way you look at it (those that make ressies first vs those that show up anc check-in first). I don't know what the answer is really ? I'm leaning towards whoever makes the ressie first catches the worm. And believe me, some years this would benefit and other years it would hurt us. I can't always know our plans 11 months in advance. This is same system as with PS and hard ticket events (i.e. MNSSHP) etc. Whoever has their finger on the phone at 7 am first gets the Cinderella breakfast at the castle. I'm also with those who agree smoking requests should be met especially for medical reasons.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Doug7856, IMHO, medical needs (NS, HA, lower floor, near elevator, etc) trump any other "requests" - so I have no problem with them being given highest priorities. Please note, however, that it has been correctly pointed out by others that not only does DVC run at a much higher average occupancy rate than most hotels, but many of the "guarantees" - given by Disney and many other chains - aren't really "guarantees" if they run out of that type of room.

It's funny; I often see this same argument (early planner vs. early arriver) when I read "debates" about flying on Southwest Airlines. You can't reserved a seat ahead of time, but the earlier you show up, the better seat you get....

 

[barb45]

I believe that first ressie should get the best chance of requests (in fact I think they should get the best overall room with their requests). If you book a cruise and they decide to hand out upgrades it goes by first booked. I also booked a luau when we went to Hawaii (18 months in advance) and they seat you by when you reserved - we were front row/center! Now I also know that when I book at the last minute, I have to take what I get. For that matter if you book at the last minute you may have to take a different resort than what you had in mind - it's that simple.

 

[Greysword]

It just doesn't seem fair to me that I do all that work and planning and someone that takes a last minute trip (which my family also does) could walk in right before me and take the last room meeting my request.

I would tend to agree with lllovel on this one. Dr. Tomorrow has some good points, yet has stated a fine example in the past that getting early to WDW is almost a nil option (unless a red-eye flight is in the planning).

Living in Colorado (as with my colleague's Arizona), it will take about four to six hours to get to Florida (depending on layover), plus I need to advance the clock two hours due to time zone. This is a significant disadvantage over some of our friends who live in Georgia, Virginia, or even Pennsylvania, since they can decide on Thursday to zip down to Disney for a long weekend and arrive before I even have a chance.

I guess this concept is a little disheartening more then anything else, since a trip to WDW is not very spur of the moment for us, and it is simply due to geography.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Everyone can have the same advantage though. Planning would be different for those who travel farther. That is why people do sleep over. Expectations is what it boils down to. I never expect to receive my request but I know my chances would be higher if we arrive earlier. We tend to arrive early so we can get an extra day to enjoy the resort or head off to the parks.

Also I always took the term Check in at 4pm to mean basically don't expect any room to be ready before 4. It doesn't mean that you cannot show up at the resort earlier. I actually had a discussion with a CM over this same thing when we went to HH. Due to my sister needing to work we came in on a midnight flight. I asked the CM that if we arrived at say 1am would that be considered the check in day and if the room was ready could we have it? She said that industry standard does not consider the "day of arrival" before 3am if it is then it is considered the night before. I was told that we could enjoy the facilities the entire day of check in if we wished.

So we booked something close to Savannah and spent the day there and checked into HH at around 7pm.

My point being that people who arrive in the morning are not technically checking in if they have to come back later in the day for their room assignment. I don't think that the resort industry would discourage people from arriving early since check in after 4 would be complete chaos if eveyone had to show up after 4.

I honestly see no way of doing it other than the first come first served. It has to be the most efficient way to assign rooms. How do we know that Joe Schmoe isn't going to stay in the room till 4:45 does that mean the person who is assigned to that room who booked at 11 months out has to wait for that inconsiderate person's room to be cleaned? Or just give them the available room and let the person showing up at 7 have Joe's room none the wiser and no one is 'put out' by waiting for Joe.

But this is where requests not guaranteed comes in.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

This year marked our 28th consecutive visit to Disney . We stayed at the contemporary the first year it opened and on site every year thereafter. It was also our 1st year as a DVC members. For the 1st 4 days of our trip we stayed at Riverside (at an annual pass rate) and as usual all was magical just as we had come to expect. The CM's were courteous, helpful and friendly. The stay was really wonderful -another great Disney experience. In the 28 years I have NEVER had one complaint. On the 5th day we transferrred over to SSR. We were in a great mood and really looking forward to our first experience as DVC members.I felt as though I had entered another dimension. The CM at check in was condescending and downright nasty. I felt like I was back in the 7th grade taking instructions from a particularly ornery math teacher I once had. At one point I was a little confused and I said "So I'll come back here at 4 for for the keys" and he said "NO YOU WON"T!! YOU ARE NOT LISTENING!! YOU ARE TO CALL THAT NUMBER ON THE CARD I GAVE YOU! I am dead serious. The whole check-in process was a nightmare and,unfortunately, things went downhill from there. No words are strong enough to express my disappointment. I can only say that the magic is gone. If you love Disney and are thinking of joinind DVC- DON'T

Oh my Gosh!!! I hope you did not let this slide. Did any other CMs witness this? I am sure he reprimanded!

We have been home (SSR) twice an nver experinced anything negative from the CMs thankfully they seem to be happy and excited to be working in a new resort.

I hope you reported this. What month did you go? Was it right after they opened or recently?

 

[MikeSquared]

I honestly see no way of doing it other than the first come first served. It has to be the most efficient way to assign rooms. How do we know that Joe Schmoe isn't going to stay in the room till 4:45 does that mean the person who is assigned to that room who booked at 11 months out has to wait for that inconsiderate person's room to be cleaned? Or just give them the available room and let the person showing up at 7 have Joe's room none the wiser and no one is 'put out' by waiting for Joe.

But this is where requests not guaranteed comes in.

I'd rather wait to get my requests met. Those that feel it's more important to get their room sooner can get the next available room as long as I don't get bumped, they can have the parking lot rooms. Heck, make "room ready" a request. We make our reservations 11 months out and request N/S, upper floor and Epcot view. I love my DVC, but my requests are more important to me than getting in the room sooner. Last October we waited until after 5pm and didn't have a problem with it because all our requests were met. I signed on the dotted line and make my payments because the system allows me to make requests. If a "room ready" policy is going to negate my requests a large percentage of the time, I'll put my money someplace else. So far we've only missed a single request, had a quiet pool room once but it was still upper floor and N/S which was fine, but I still missed my Epcot view. We'll see what the future brings us.

 

[DebbieB]

Myself and 3 friends checked into VWL last Wednesday (3/2) around 4:30pm. Our requests were top floor, water view, non-smoking. We had a very nice cm, she said she had a top floor available but it faced the bus stop area or a third floor with a water view. She showed us the room locations on the resort map. We took the third floor with the water view after verifying it was non-smoking and non-handicapped. It was a great room, we could see the quiet pool and the lake in the distance (mostly through the trees). It was in the atrium area, close to the elevators, room 3523. No complaints.

 

[scooterP]

Wow, it seems to me from reading this thread that alot of you didn't read your contract before you bought into the DVC. I read mine and have known since day one any request will try to be met but nothing is Garunteed. I was told this on my tour and it is in my membershipe guide book I got when I originally joined. I have never had a problem there, but with anything in life you sometimes run into people that have had a bad day or are just rude. Most CM's will do their best to accomadate you, but if there is nothing they can do, that's it. Sorry read your contracts.

 

[DrTomorrow]

[...] I signed on the dotted line and make my payments because the system allows me to make requests. [...]

Hopefully, when you signed, you knew that none of those requests wold ever be guaranteed....

 

[DrTomorrow]

Myself and 3 friends checked into VWL last Wednesday (3/2) around 4:30pm. Our requests were top floor, water view, non-smoking. We had a very nice cm, she said she had a top floor available but it faced the bus stop area or a third floor with a water view. She showed us the room locations on the resort map. We took the third floor with the water view after verifying it was non-smoking and non-handicapped. It was a great room, we could see the quiet pool and the lake in the distance (mostly through the trees). It was in the atrium area, close to the elevators, room 3523. No complaints.

If I could be certain that I'd get to make some kind of choice when I check in, that'd be good enough for me; I'm pretty good at figuring out which option would be best for me. However, I'm new enough at this (actual DVC check-ins) that I don't know how realistic it is to get this level of CM helpfulness when the lines start to form.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

If I could be certain that I'd get to make some kind of choice when I check in, that'd be good enough for me; I'm pretty good at figuring out which option would be best for me. However, I'm new enough at this (actual DVC check-ins) that I don't know how realistic it is to get this level of CM helpfulness when the lines start to form.

I agree...it would be nice to be given a choice. For our last stay at SSR, we were given a room choice. They showed us both on the map and we went from there. It was very nice. Stark contrast from our first SSR checkin.

 

[chainkid]

I usually don't complain about views or location but being put in a smoking room would be unacceptable to me as I get instant headaches and sometimes tighness in my chest. This would make my stay miserable. If this is now considered to be not guaranteed then DVC is not for me. I don't frequent restaurants that have lax smoking policies, I don't allow people to smoke in my home, office or car. I know people who smoke feel this is being unreasonable but frankly I could care less. Its my health and I choose to protect it by not being around second hand smoke. So far I haven't run into this problems in all my stays. I've had rooms that had bad views but someone has to have those rooms and its my turn. I never let that ruin my vacation as long as it is reasonab;yclean and I have hot water. My recent trip was unacceptable and my complaints were totally ignored. It seems hot water is optional too as far as DVC management is concerned especially if they are full and they can;t move you.

I pay hefty dues each month, for that I expect hot water, non smoking clean room anywhere in the resort. if this is too much to ask then DVC is really going downhill since 1999 when I first became a member. I also would expect to get a letter in response from member services when a complaint that is legitimate is sent to them.

 

[Greysword]

Planning would be different for those who travel farther. That is why people do sleep over.

I can see your point, yet I'm sure you can understand that although I could get a room at another resort just to stay one night in, I was hoping that buying into DVC meant I would not need to spend money on lodging at WDW for quite some time . Thus, I have personal concerns with staying the first night in another resort since I have points ready to go. Just me, though

Wow, it seems to me from reading this thread that alot of you didn't read your contract before you bought into the DVC. I read mine and have known since day one any request will try to be met but nothing is Garunteed. I was told this on my tour and it is in my membershipe guide book I got when I originally joined.

Scooter, I agree with you that the contract and all of the DVC literature (virtual and paper) makes it known that room requests are not guaranteed and this is not refutable. I am hoping, however, that policies can be changed to accommodate those wishing room ready and those hoping to get room reservations.

That said, I do have concerns with this argument above, and this point has been made before, because when my wife and I took the tour, we were only presented with the model rooms at SSR, which are very pristine accommodations. Also, I am not sure what the member guide says about the different room types we talk about on here. I have not seen anything there or the website, but I may have missed it. If anyone can point me in that direction, I would appreciate it.

I guess my argument here is that we come to WDW with certain expectations and bought into DVC expecting these ideas to remain firm. To have them invalidated because we live across the country would be a great disappointment and I am not certain I would be willing to accept a blanket ideology that 'because we signed and can not arrive earlier we get what we get', especially since the policies are able to be changed.

Thank you for listening! Any thoughts?

 

[Epcotkids]

I have four children and when we arrive after a full day of traveling, and stopping to buy groceries, it is always late afternoon or evening when we arrive at check-in. The option of staying somewhere else one night, just so I can check in early the next day is absurd, for too many reasons to list!! I am not sure why they had to change the check-in policy from rooms assigned two days before, to room ready. I have never complained about location or view. In my opinion, smoking and/or HA are not standard rooms and should not be in the standard inventory. THey are special rooms for a small percentage of guest. If they were kept in a separate "special" inventory count; when we call to make a ressie and all the non- HA; non--smoking rooms are filled they can tell us then. Some people may not mind, but some of us do. They should go back to room assignment, if you check in early and there is a room, (NOT ALREADY ASSIGNED TO A DVC MEMBER) available, by all means take it if you want, maybe “room ready” is more important than your preferences. I do understand and accept that view and location are not guaranteed, but non-smoking; non-HA should be able to be guaranteed if it is important to you, no matter the reason. Cash paying customers can book years in advance if they want, someone please remind me, why did we buy into DVC if we are limited to 11 months out and are request are ignored until the time of our arrival?

 

[Doug7856]

WOW, this thread has taken on a whole new life! I just read the OP and it was about ATTITUDE! I think these comments are great and a helpful part of our growing "community"!

I'd like to comment about scooterP's post:

Wow, it seems to me from reading this thread that alot of you didn't read your contract before you bought into the DVC. I read mine and have known since day one any request will try to be met but nothing is Garunteed. I was told this on my tour and it is in my membershipe guide book I got when I originally joined. I have never had a problem there, but with anything in life you sometimes run into people that have had a bad day or are just rude. Most CM's will do their best to accomadate you, but if there is nothing they can do, that's it. Sorry read your contracts.

I for one read my documents to the very last period; but, I don't think these posts are because people did not read the contract. I feel that we are expressing legitimate concerns on how we would like to make DVC better. No need to be preachy. We are told that "membership is magical". That is what Disney sold to us. The reality is that if we only got what the contract entitles us to, many people would be very unhappy. Really, there is no magic in a contract!

This thread, while heated, is about making our investment better. Behind every DVC check-in counter is a castmember expected to project real magic -- even when reality may not be so magical.

The OP was about attitude. I think we can all agree that while we are looking for our magical experience during our break from everyday life, attitude goes two ways. Just because the attitude we receive may be negative, that doesn't mean that we have to return it. Disney sells magic and I don’t think it is wrong to expect what we purchased. I do think the best approach is to encourage the magic and reward those castmembers who provide a magical experience by sending letters of compliment to the DVC management. Conversely, a note about poor service and bad attitude is appropriate when it is extreme and severely impacts the magical membership we purchased. Just my $.02!

 

[tjkraz]

I think that if the folks who manage DVC could guarantee the smoking preference at the time of booking, they would eliminate 75% of the check in concerns expressed by members.

...or, more likely, would create a whole new set of problems.

What happens when a member who has reserved a guaranteed "non-smoking" room gets to their unit and discovers that they have inadvertently been assigned to a smoking room? Family has children with asthma--simply no way they can stay in a smoking room. Their NS room was inadvertently given to a family that checked-in hours ago and has since left for the theme parks.

(And saying that this would never happen isn't an option. We've all heard stories of guests being sent to rooms that hadn't been cleaned or even rooms occupied by another party. Mistakes DO happen.)

What happens when a NS room must be unexpectedly taken out of service due to maintenance issues? A plumbing leak in the bathroom has left the carpets soaked and ruined some furniture. The only unreserved room for the night is a smoking room.

IMO, leaving requests as non-guaranteed means that the resort has the flexibility to deal with the unexpected without having to deny guests something that was guaranteed at the time of booking. The more you guarantee, the higher the expectations. Who has more right to be upset: the guest who wanted a NS room and didn't get it or the guest who was guaranteed a NS room and didn't get it?

Take a look at this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=755209

Sure it's unscientific, but a 2% chance of getting a Smoking room when requesting NS is pretty darn good if you ask me. Most of this discussion appears to be much ado about nothing.

And, to specifically address the comment about eliminating check-in concerns, if the percentage of members getting their smoking request fulfilled is as high as it appears to be, guaranteeing smoking preference would have little impact on reducing check-in complaints. If people are getting their smoking preference as frequently as the above thread indicates, then complaints largely related to more incidental items such as view, floor or room location.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

agreed Doug. But IMO the attititude must go both ways. Starting a vacation off being upset over a view or lack thereof is unmagical also. I hope that I can get requests but I don't let it ruin my vacation if I don't.

Smoking is another issue. I agree there should be N/S as a guarantee and if given a HA room and need to change because of a tub not being there for a child there should not have a fee attached to change that room.

But I was the one who wanted the resorts to go smoke free

 

[SoCalKDG]

Here are the current numbers from that unscientific poll.

276 visits
22 HA (7.9%)
6 smoking (2.2%)

Just remember you can just as easily get a non-smoking room that was smoked in.