Why do they give out handicapped rooms to...

[Pennyguy23]

We have gotten handicapped rooms the past two visits. We aren't handicapped and I was just wondering why. We checked in at like 2:00pm at VWL the other week and asked to make sure that is wasn't a H-cap room when she was giving us our keys, she stated"No". Sure enough we get to the rooms and its H-cap. So we call down, mine you this at 2:30pm. They say to me "Were sorry but we don't have any studios available that aren't h-cap". I continue to be nice for what is about a 3 or 4 minute conversation. She said" Oh, well we do have another room on the 3 floor right under you, but its H-cap as well. I can put you in there, does that help?" So I finally ask her, "SO WE ARE THE LAST PEOPLE TO CHECK INTO A STUDIO FOR THE DAY." Then all of a sudden one comes available. Just wondering does this happen often? The last 2 out of 3 times this has happened to us.

 

[jerry557]

The American Disabilities Act I believe forces every hotel to have a certain number of handicapped rooms. When the resort is sold out and there are no guests with a disability, they have to put people who are not handicapped in those rooms.

Luck of the draw I suppose...

 

[Pennyguy23]

The American Disabilities Act I believe forces every hotel to have a certain number of handicapped rooms. When the resort is sold out and there are no guests with a disability, they have to put people who are not handicapped in those rooms.

Luck of the draw I suppose...

Yes I understand that but all of a sudden a Non Hcap room comes available after a 5 minute phone call. I am not one to complain very much. I usually take the good with the bad. But I make sure we got there early enough to make sure it shouldn't have happened. Last time we didn't get into SSR until 10:30pm and we got a H-cap room and I new that it was because we got there really late and there was nothing they could do. But when you get there in the afternoon, come on. Maybe its because we are a young couple. 23 and 21. So maybe they think they can just put that on us. I don't know.

 

[bababear_50]

This happened to me this past March (it wasn't at DVC but POP) I called down cause at first I thought this is nuts if someone really needs this room and I don;t,then I looked in the bathroom and thought No Way --Yep no bathtub.
Well I really like a good soak (arthritis ) and standing under a shower wasn't going to do it. Got moved the next day but shipped me from prime location over to the furthest room in resort--I could see the Welcome To Disney World sign.
But to me it was worth it to have the tub.
It would be nice to be told when checking in of the situation and then an alternate solution could be worked out. Hate starting a vacation feeling like I'm complaining.
Hugs and glad they found you a room .

 

[Pennyguy23]

This happened to me this past March (it wasn't at DVC but POP) I called down cause at first I thought this is nuts if someone really needs this room and I don;t,then I looked in the bathroom and thought No Way --Yep no bathtub.
Well I really like a good soak (arthritis ) and standing under a shower wasn't going to do it. Got moved the next day but shipped me from prime location over to the furthest room in resort--I could see the Welcome To Disney World sign.
But to me it was worth it to have the tub.
It would be nice to be told when checking in of the situation and then an alternate solution could be worked out. Hate starting a vacation feeling like I'm complaining.
Hugs and glad they found you a room .

Exactly

 

[BroganMc]

The American Disabilities Act I believe forces every hotel to have a certain number of handicapped rooms. When the resort is sold out and there are no guests with a disability, they have to put people who are not handicapped in those rooms.

Luck of the draw I suppose...

Gee, you make it sound like such an imposition. Why are folks so against a handicapped room? It has a higher commode, some grab bars and may or may not have a stepless shower. Is that such a tragedy? (Sorry but a pet peeve of mine is those damn useless low bathtubs. I have arthritis but with major joint contractures. Sitting under a good hot shower is heaven while a tub is just a glorified sink to me. I can't get in 'em so can't use 'em, but everyone can use a shower.)

More than likely what is happening is that VWL is so small and the number of studios smaller still that by 2:30pm all the studios are full. You get whatever hasn't been blocked off. (I presume the handicapped rooms are the last to be released, next to those rooms mousecleaning still has.) Or in my case, you get the one room I could have used, but the resort was full of other guests making it impossible for me to block and book a handicapped room.

Now for the front desk staff not knowing they have inadvertantly assigned a handicapped room, blame rooms control and those blasted computers. You'd be appalled how badly some hotels mark their rooms. I've had front desk staff running through the resort looking for a room with a roll-in shower just cause the rooms aren't marked in the computer. (Some clearly marked with the wheelchair symbol by the door show them as non-handicapped on the front desk computer.)

 

[tjkraz]

Yes I understand that but all of a sudden a Non Hcap room comes available after a 5 minute phone call.

When the resort is at full capacity and there are no requests for HA rooms, somebody still has to be put in the room.

Why don't they mention it at the front desk? Either they don't know the room is HA or they know all too well. My guess is most people would respond exactly the same way you did and the CMs just tire of having to deal with it. Again, someone has to be in the room. By not informing the guest, hopefully they will be too tired / ambivalent to request a change after they trudge out there in the first place.

Why did a non-accessible room magically appear after you complained? Because you complained. Chances are all of the rooms in the resort were already assigned to inbound guests. As soon as you made an issue out of it, they found a guest assigned to a NHA room who had not yet arrived and flip-flopped the two of you.

 

[MdmMim]

I've been assigned a HA room several times, but I don't mind getting one. I am short, so I can usually reach everything in a HA room.

The walk-in shower is great, and I like the added security of the grab rails--yes, I'm aging, but it's better than the alternative.

I'll take a HA room anytime it's assigned to me. It makes things a little easier.

 

[gkrykewy]

We were on our honeymoon two years ago, which included some nights in a woods view room at Wilderness Lodge. We had to check in very late at night (again, lesson learned there), and were given a handicap room. I called the front desk, politely told them that we were on our honeymoon and preferred not to feel as if we were in a hospital, and were upgraded to the most superb pool/lake view room the next night. Gotta love the Disney honeymoon treatment!

Moral of the story is to arrive as early as possible.

 

[nbodyhome]

There are actually a lot of guests who don't mind getting a handicapped room - I don't mind one myself (as long as I don't need a tub, and I usually don't).

Rooms don't tend to be assigned in the afternoon, they are assigned (in instances I've seen) at least a few days before arrival. Of course, assignments can change - but that is why you see upgrades now sometimes kicked back in emails a few days ahead (now that there is an email capability with the CRS system).

It is possible that they try to give handicapped rooms to couples instead of families - I do not know the layout of the studios with a handicapped room, but in value/moderate resorts, it's a king bed room (not enough for a family in one room).

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Gee, you make it sound like such an imposition.

I don't think jerry557 was trying make it sound like an imposition. I think he was just stating the likely facts. We have once accepted a HA room. We didn't know there wouldn't be a bathtub. By the end of our stay DW and I agreed we would have enjoyed our room much more had we had a tub. We rarely use the tub at home and it is part of the luxury of being on vacation for us.

 

[NYMomof4]

For us it's mainly the matter of needing a tub for bathing the younger kids.

 

[psu4glory]

...and preferred not to feel as if we were in a hospital...

that's how i feel. we always request a non-HA room for 2 reasons. 1) i hate to be in an HA room knowing that there may be someone in the resort that day that actually NEEDS it, and 2) i hate to feel like i'm in a hospital when i'm on vaca.

i am concerned about our upcoming trip. we have a late flight and will not be arriving at BCV until 1100p or so. i'm afraid we may end up with an HA room - wouldn't be the end of the world...just not preferable.

 

[abeyst]

For us it's mainly the matter of needing a tub for bathing the younger kids.

For me, too.

If it's a trip without the little ones I can live with the HA room. I figure that I have to take one for the team once and awhile! There's so many people out there that need a shower or need a tub that I don't mind getting what's left over. But I guess it's all personal preference.

Since they pre assign rooms, I think it's just luck of the draw when you get a HA room. They'll match up HA requests first, then start filling the extra HA rooms. They certainly won't leave the room vacant because noone requested a HA room. It's not right that they didn't tell you at the front desk, though. Maybe it was a trainee "earning her ears"?

I've had enough fabulous trips to the World that now I'm just happy to be there. Now when I go in December for a family trip that includes kids, my little sister, my parents and grandparents (and it's my parents, sister and grandparents first trip to WDW), I'll be doing whatever I can to make sure they have the best first trip they can! And yes, that may mean that I have to a little extra "persuading" at the front desk....

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I think it's the whole pre-assigned rooms vs room ready policy.

My first request was always non smoking, and my second has always been non HA. Thanx to the new policy, I now have a new first request.

MG

 

[Simba's Mom]

Why don't they mention it at the front desk? Either they don't know the room is HA or they know all too well.QUOTE]


Sorry, but I can't buy the possibility that they don't know. What if a guest checked in who needed a HA room? They'd better know which ones are! And to have the front desk CM lie to you and tell you that "No, it's not HA" that's inexcusable. I had that happen to me at BWV, where the CM told me it wasn't HA, and yet when I got to my room it was. I called the front desk and asked to speak to the manager. My argument wasn't that it was HA, but that the front desk CM had lied to me when I asked. If she'd told me nicely, "Yes, it is, I'm sorry but that's all we have available" I would have accepted it-it did have a lovely view. And I don't know how they decide who to give the HA rooms to, it's not age though. In our first several DVC trips, we got HA villas 3 separate times (at 3 different resorts)-all without being told. And as far as age, our children are in their early 20s.

 

[abeyst]

Simba's Mom-not sure what you meant by age. Are you talking about having kids, or something else?

I think the front desk CM's sometimes don't pay attention or are poorly trained. At OKW they told me it was a HA room and gave me a room #. Luckily I've stayed there enough to realize that room was on the 2nd floor in a bldg without an elevator. I politely had to explain to her that I cannot accept that room because I have a 2 yo (at the time) in a stroller and I couldn't go up and down the stairs by myself. Now if they'd read my reservation (which showed me, DS5 and DD2 as occupants), they would have realized I needed a bath tub and a room on the ground level!!

OK, maybe some parents do showers for kids at any age, but I still needed a ground level room or an elevator. A single mom and 2 kids and a stroller trying to climb up and down stairs - that would be quite a sight. ("Sorry DS, we can't go to the park today. It took us so long to get down the stairs from our room that the park is closed now.")

 

[CarolA]

We have gotten handicapped rooms the past two visits. We aren't handicapped and I was just wondering why. We checked in at like 2:00pm at VWL the other week and asked to make sure that is wasn't a H-cap room when she was giving us our keys, she stated"No". Sure enough we get to the rooms and its H-cap. So we call down, mine you this at 2:30pm. They say to me "Were sorry but we don't have any studios available that aren't h-cap". I continue to be nice for what is about a 3 or 4 minute conversation. She said" Oh, well we do have another room on the 3 floor right under you, but its H-cap as well. I can put you in there, does that help?" So I finally ask her, "SO WE ARE THE LAST PEOPLE TO CHECK INTO A STUDIO FOR THE DAY." Then all of a sudden one comes available. Just wondering does this happen often? The last 2 out of 3 times this has happened to us.

Perhaps you should be THANKFUL that those rooms will be there when you get older and NEED them.


Yes I HAVE had accessible rooms more then once and I have never called to complain or asked to move. I don't consider them inferior just different.

 

[crisi]

We've had one too.

With a studio, the lack of a tub with small kids (or for someone who takes hotel baths - I'm a bath person and I don't take hotel baths - the tubs are always too small and too shallow to make it worthwhile) - the HA can be a problem. The lack of counterspace in a HA studio also require more inginuity on vacation than a lot of people are willing to expend.

With a one or two bedroom, you still have the jacuzzi tub. The HA room still takes a little adjusting for, but, IMO, is much less of a problem.

I wouldn't feel guilty about taking the room from someone who needs one - if someone needs one, you wouldn't be in it, they would have given it to the person who needed it. Since they should know this at the time of booking, and know who is arriving, you aren't taking someone's room from them. (Now, sometimes I understand that people aren't able to book HA rooms because they are all full with other people needing HA rooms - but they aren't telling someone who needs one "no, there is an able bodied person booked there - but you can have a non-HA room.")

 

[SwhJess]

We were given a HA room at SSR on our Honeymoon last year, and went back to the front desk to ask to change. They did not give us any problems. Maybe there's a difference between calling to get it changed, and actually standing there in front of them and asking?

Now, we make sure that our first request is for a non-HA room.