Why make special request when making ressies anymore?

[timC]

Probably the only way to truly provide a guarantee would be to pay for it, ie. charge a service fee to get EXACTLY what you want... unfortunately, it's the world we live in.

Maybe they should do what the airline industry does. You can select exactly what seats you want at time of booking, from what's available...Although, again there is a cost to having this privilege. Cheaper fares are generally relegated to the back… and then there was Southwest Airlines.

In defense of Disney, they deal with this all-day-long, every day. If there was a perfect way to handle special requests I'm sure they would have implemented it.

For us, the only request we ever make is 1) non-smoking, and 2) flag family at VWL

 

[vernon]

As more people get more demanding over their room requests and getting into their room, I think it will become increasingly more difficult for Disney to accommodate their guests.

It makes sense, IMHO that a CM when faced with a demanding and aggressive guest will let them have a room that is ready, or will swap things around if a room doesn't suit an early booking in guest. It gets that person out of the face of the CM and it's likley that any later guest, not receiving their request, will get a different CM to deal with. Ultimately if you arrive late, even if it's not your fault, and they only have a couple of rooms left you have two choices, accpet the room or book something else.

Obviously at a holiday time if you're checking in late in the day and late in the holiday you run the risk that people who booked into the resort previously will have occupied all the "prime" rooms. It's unfortunate if it works against you, but not suprising.

 

[timC]

I want to make one more comment on this topic. Last year we tried out AKLodge... Beautiful resort. When we checked in, it was very very busy, and the check-in line was long and slow. Not a good way to start out a resort experience.

Anyway, the worst part was the group that spent about 30 minutes agruing with the CM's about their request for a king-sized bed... It was awful, listening to them carry on, for what seemed like hours.

I don't know if they got their way...but for some reason, the CM chose to upgrade us to a deluxe!

Whatever Disney does.... please make it so I don't have to listen to these people...

 

[KNWVIKING]

My sister booked a rental car. When she tried to book a convertible she was told "we only have three and we can't guarantee we'll have one availible". That baffled me. Look on your calendar,is the convertible rented for those days ? If not,book them for me. Why can't I be told yes or no right away. Sometimes I feel the same way about ressies. I call at 11 months. MS has the inventory on her screen. Give her dates:yes or no. Give her room size:yes or no. Give her location:yes or no. And so on. If she can see whats there, why can't she book it for me ?

 

[Dizzie]

We stopped making any special room requests other than NS. Then we plan for the worst view possible and we always seem to get something better then that so it is a great room! We just returned from HH. We got a room in a buildiing 30 that I would have put at the bottom of my request list but we actually really loved that location. We like the glass half full.

 

[vernon]

Viking, while that would be nice, the practicality of meshing bookings so that there is the least amount of "dead space" mean that it's virtually impossible work in the way you suggest. To use your car analogy lets use just the month of august. They have three convertables, one red, one blue, one green. Your request is the red car for Aug 21-28. The company have one car booked for the whole month and one booked for Aug 1-20th. A request comes in for a red car for the whole month. The rental company has the chance of risking a whole months business or a weeks, which are they going to risk? While DVC isn't under pressure to maximise profits, it does have a financial responsibility to the members to make sure the rooms aren't left empty, they also have the responsibility to covertheir primary duty to provide rooms in as efficient manner as possible. Giving too much consideration to filling requests/preferences risks peopple not getting the room type they wish without having to move rooms mid reservation. I'm sure that every member's primary concern would be to get a room that is adiquate for their requirements for the duration of their stay.
I'm 100% certain the policy of either the company or the individual CMS is not to inconvenience the members as much as possible.

 

[Cruelladeville]

When I checked into BWV a couple of weeks ago, it did not seem like rooms were blocked in like they did before. As soon as I handed the ressie slip to the CM, I asked about BW view room availability, and the CM said he had three available, one was actually clean now, so I took it, and it was just above the Screen Door! Last year I know the rooms were blocked in because I had to wait until 6 pm to get my room, and easily 100 people checked in after me who went cruising to their rooms immediately. So I think the new system is better for those of us who check in early--I really did not like waiting till 6 to get into my room. I had heat stroke by then! "The early bird catches the worm(a BW view)"

 

[KNWVIKING]

... I guess I view the room bookings the way I look at concert or sporting event seats. They range from front row center to nose bleed. If the day tickets go on sale I call, I'll get a better seat then if I called a week before the event. After a couple years of reading everyones experience with room selection the only conclusion I've been able to come to is that there is no system to it. No ryme or reason. The only constant seems to be that if you don't like what you got and you don't mind making a scene at the front desk, then you can get what you asked for. That makes no sense to me. With the computor technology we have today, the task of assigning room requests on a first come-first served basis doesn't seem out of the question.

As for the rental cars: Still don't buy it. In your scenerio the rental company is banking on a month long rental taking place rather then cash in hand for my one week. They could wind up with neither.

 

[crisi]

Lets continue with the car rental analogy.....

You book the red convertible for August 21 - 28th. But the guy ahead of you runs and red light and trashes the car on the 20th. So the car isn't available when you get there on the 21st.

Or you'd like the convertible on the 21st, but the guy before you wants to return it on the 18th. The rental car company can't afford to let the car sit idle for three days, and the chances of someone only wanting it those three days are slim.

Particularly in the case of DVC rooms, DVC can't let the rooms sit idle waiting for someone to book them. If I check out on Friday morning from the room you would like to occupy when you check in Sunday morning, and they guarentee you the reservation, it either needs to sit idle for two days, you need to find someone only going to be staying Friday and Saturday night to take the room, or you need to be willing to move the person who booked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday for Sunday and Monday when you get to your room (not at all practical - can you imagine "well, you can have a BWV for the first two nights of your stay, but the next three nights we'd have to move you.")

We already have this problem in availablity at late booking where a lot of members end up switching resorts to get the size room they are looking for. They end up with two days at BCV, two days at OKW, finishing off their vacation at VWL because that's what is available.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

First off, we've had excellent luck with room requests at HH, I believe they really try there.

At the WDW properties, it is different. I think the requests are often just blown off and you get what you get.
Since requests not guaranteed the whole system is just an illusion of service/hospitality. I think the resorts could do better on certain room requests/assignments. If your a late arrival and your "good" room was preassigned, it will likely be given away to some loudmouth lobby complainer who didn't like their preassigned room.

 

[laceemouse]

The one thing I don't understand here, the CM asking at checkin "What requests did you make?" We are making our first trip home to BCV next spring break. I called for ressies at the 11 month window. My requests were NS, dedicated 2 bedroom, top floor. Pretty simple, no specific view, room number, etc. Our requests were printed on the conformation when we got it. I would think when we check in and the CM types our name in the computer the request would be on the screen. I also don't think it is right to penalize late arrivers. We often drive and arrive VERY late, it is our perogative to do so, we have a reservation after all! We will be driving the 10 hours to Tennessee in 1 day for our next trip!!!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I am very upset with the request process.
Every time I visit either VWL or VB, I have ONE request, and it is NEVER fulfilled.
You would think that one simple request to have can-can girls in the living room could be met...... Go figure...

 

[KNWVIKING]

*** "You would think that one simple request to have can-can girls in the living room could be met...... Go figure..."****

So that's who those girls were in my room. I just thought DW was being open minded. I didn't realize MS just screwed up. Thanx Gracey.

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by Maistre Gracey
I am very upset with the request process.
Every time I visit either VWL or VB, I have ONE request, and it is NEVER fulfilled.
You would think that one simple request to have can-can girls in the living room could be met......

..............hope this helps.

 

[Muushka]

Originally posted by jodifla
I think these boards tend to fuel these very specific requests, and then fuel a lot of angst about something that isn't guaranteed, anyway. The logistics for DVC must be a nightmare. I agree with other posters that it seems to be setting yourself up for a bad time if you make a bunch of requests, and they can't fill all of them. Doesn't everyone want to be by the main pool, with a water view?

It's the nice thing about DVC...we have almost four more decades of vacations to look forward to, so if you don't have the room of your dreams, you have many many more chances to get it.

I agree with this post. These boards do place a lot of emphasis on view. There are posters who are renting points for 2 nights and want the best view! If it were not for these boards, people would probably not even realize there were other/better views.

I, for one, never respond to a post asking what the best view is.
It only encourages the requests.

 

[vernon]

Viking, again with your analogy of theatre tickets, usually people are only buying one night at a theatre, it's easy for the ticket sellers to sell the seats to order because, lets face it in a theatre seat you don't usually unpack 3 suitcases, leave you stuff all over the floor and a stock the fridge up with beer. It's no big deal even for those that do visit the theatre 3 or 4 nights in a row to be in a different seat, it is an issue if you've checked into a room and someone asks you to move out.

With the greatest will in the world no computer system can see into the future and tell what bookings are coming in over the next 4,5,6,11 months. For the system to run efficiently and I do believe they have a system, it can only be in the last 3 or 4 days that it would be possible to have an outline of which rooms get put to which booking, but that can be thrown out of the window if a guest that checks in at 3.00 has a major problem with the room he's allocated, if a room gets trashed, if a room has a technical fault or at times if the previous guest is just VERY slow getting out of the room. IMHO you're not being realistic as to the miriad of potential problems the CMs who are handing out the rooms can be faced with and I do think they make a pretty good try at honouring requests where possible.

I think much of the problem comes with the "entitlement mentality" that expects to be able to check in at midday and have their room ready (when that suits them), or expects to be able to check in at midnight and have a selection of rooms available for them to check which one they want, Get real !! if you check in late to a full resort the only way to keep a number of rooms open is to keep other guests in the corridors while you decide which one you want. I've learned through bitter experience that checking in late you run the risk of getting a less than ideal room, it's a potential problem at ANY hotel anywhere because the CM's checking in guests earlier in the day will reallocate a room if that guest complains about it.

 

[Dizzie]

As I tell my DS 8 and DD 4 (and now they tell me) "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit"!

 

[Tigger1]

The new system

Positive points

Room controller has lost most of the controll
Does this mean that we dont need him/her?
which would mean less maintenence dues.

Only rooms that are ready when you check in will be
offered at check in (unless no rooms are clean). No waiting for your room.

No need to worry about what request you desire until checkin.

If more guest check in early to get request, and rooms are not ready, more time is spent at gift shops, restaurants on site.

Clean rooms are not empty waiting for late arrival guest when
other guest are waiting for a room.

*************************************************
What if Disney did this

Request could be made in advance, honored in order that they are made as in the past. Room would be blocked, guest would risk having to wait for room to be cleaned if they arrived before 4 pm (and sometimes latter).

Those who arrive early could request to make no request until they arrived. They would choose there room from unblocked room list.

Housekeeping could clean rooms on the unblocked list first.

 

[CK1]

Personally, I miss the ol' 4 pm check-in, no sooner. It was mid-day -- it was fair. It gave the mousekeeping plenty of time to get a fair chunk of rooms clean. And I didn't feel like I had to bust tail to get to the resort at the crack of dawn to secure a NS room. Only positive aspect of this for me... I often switch my ressie at the 7 mos mark. Now I know I'm as well-off as the poor blokes who reserved at 11 mos for that resort. If someone wants a room early, let 'em do as the prior post suggested and pick from a room-ambivalent pool. Otherwise, get in the cattle que with me and wait 'til 4 like a good heifer.

(True confession time... we did show up at VWL last time at 2 pm, BUT FULLY PREPARED to wait until 4! However, when I asked if I could leave my bags with desk until check-in, the oh-so-nice guy at the desk said the room was ready (and it was absolutely the best in every way). Hope some poor soul who booked at 11 mos for vwl didn't show up at 4 pm and get S/hc dumpster view...)

Cindy

PS (I am still lobbying hard for S and NS and HC/non-HC to be room TYPES, not requests... join me in my crusade!)

 

[bicker]

I agree with those who have said that if you make a lot of requests, or put a lot of hope into getting your requests satistfied, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment, and making MS' job much more difficult than it should be.

Perhaps the best approach would be to refuse to take any special requests. That way no one can be disappointed when they don't get theirs.