Weird call with CRO today

[lark]

So, I am holding a reservation with my points at DVC. I'm thinking about renting the points out and booking instead through CRO at a non-DVC resort for the same dates and paying with cash.

I called CRO today to check on availability and to see what the price would be. The CR I spoke to noted that I had a duplicate reservation and so wouldn't book for me. In fact, she wouldn't even run the totals for me other than to tell me the price per night and the tax rate to let me calculate it myself. What I was really interested in was seeing if there was an AAA rate, but it didn't even get that far. She basically said I needed to cancel my DVC reservation before I could book a CRO reservation. I explained that I didn't want to do that until I actually had a confirmed reservation, but it seemed we were at a stalemate. She said that since she couldn't cancel the DVC reservation -- only MS could -- I'd have to do that first and call back. I thought about asking for a supervisor but then I figued I'd just hang up and try again with another rep.

Anyone else run into this? Seemed weird, but I'd kind of like to know what I'm dealing with before calling back.

 

[rlduvall]

Actually, I did have this happen to me a couple of years ago. I got so frustrated about it, but all the CRO CM would say is to contact MS. One way around this, at least for the current discounts - not a AAA discount, is to go online and do it.

 

[Sandisw]

You can call Disney back and tell them that you are booking a room for someone other than you. You can not be lead on two reservations, but you can be listed.

So, if you are lead on your DVC reservation, make the reservation with CRO in the name of someone you are traveling with as the lead. This will allow you to secure what you want before canceling out DVC.

If asked (which I doubt), you can simply say that the person wants their own room.

Good luck!

 

[lark]

Thanks. I'll give that a shot.

I thought about saying, "we want two rooms so we can go back and forth." But then I figured it wasn't worth it until I knew the rules.

 

[JimMIA]

With many things Disney, simply hanging up and calling back usually works like rebooting a computer. The CM you spoke to probably had some sort of a CRO overload and just didn't want to be helpful.

 

[lark]

Thanks all. I just booked online and then called and had them look for and then apply the AAA discount. Worked just fine. Now I have a couple of days to figure out whether to perhaps do a split stay and just cancel part of my DVC trip.

 

[william1375]

You can call Disney back and tell them that you are booking a room for someone other than you. You can not be lead on two reservations, but you can be listed.

So, if you are lead on your DVC reservation, make the reservation with CRO in the name of someone you are traveling with as the lead. This will allow you to secure what you want before canceling out DVC.

If asked (which I doubt), you can simply say that the person wants their own room.

Good luck!

This is good information to know!

 

[Alexander]

We've held two reservations at the same time and I was the lead on both. We had a 1 bedroom at OKW booked the same week we had a room at All Star Sports booked. I stayed at OKW with the kids and my mom stayed at the All Stars. We all were on the All Stars reservation for the free dining--I know, I know...but too bad--it's water under the bridge!

 

[Sandisw]

We've held two reservations at the same time and I was the lead on both. We had a 1 bedroom at OKW booked the same week we had a room at All Star Sports booked. I stayed at OKW with the kids and my mom stayed at the All Stars. We all were on the All Stars reservation for the free dining--I know, I know...but too bad--it's water under the bridge!

That's good to know that sometimes, one can secure a reservation even if you are lead on another.

As PP mentioned, many times you simply have to find a CM who knows or is willing to book things the way you want.

 

[lark]

That's good to know that sometimes, one can secure a reservation even if you are lead on another.

Now that I think about it, we've actually done it too. We booked a studio for the day at BCV while staying for the week at a different resort to have 2 days at storm along bay. It was kind of an extravagant use of 15 points or whatever it was, but we always wanted to try SAB.

 

[TisBit]

I think this can also be more problematic if you are being a little too forthright in telling the CM what you are doing. If you call for rates, there is a pretty good possibility they will just start looking for you. But you tell them you are just looking to decide what to do with a DVC ressie, etc etc...I could see some CM's just feeling like you are wasting their time.

 

[Anal Annie]

So, I am holding a reservation with my points at DVC. I'm thinking about renting the points out and booking instead through CRO at a non-DVC resort for the same dates and paying with cash.

I called CRO today to check on availability and to see what the price would be. The CR I spoke to noted that I had a duplicate reservation and so wouldn't book for me. In fact, she wouldn't even run the totals for me other than to tell me the price per night and the tax rate to let me calculate it myself. What I was really interested in was seeing if there was an AAA rate, but it didn't even get that far. She basically said I needed to cancel my DVC reservation before I could book a CRO reservation. I explained that I didn't want to do that until I actually had a confirmed reservation, but it seemed we were at a stalemate. She said that since she couldn't cancel the DVC reservation -- only MS could -- I'd have to do that first and call back. I thought about asking for a supervisor but then I figued I'd just hang up and try again with another rep.

Anyone else run into this? Seemed weird, but I'd kind of like to know what I'm dealing with before calling back.

This happened to me a couple of years ago when I was trying to decide if we should book with the member discount or wait to book with an AP discount. Since I already had a room with the member discount they wouldn't do the AP one for me until I cancelled the first one. I tried the old hanging up & calling again thing too to see if it was just a CM being a rule stickler but got the same response from the next CM too. I was frustrated with the process as I didn't feel they were connected issues. One was DVC & one was AP. They wouldn't even tell me if the room type I was interested in with the AP discount was available or not!! I ultimately decided to just keep the DVC room but was not pleased with not even being able to get some answers from them for an alternative room.