BLT Oversold and we got bumped :-(

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

I think that the poster who said this is an issue for the DVC member to straighten out is correct. If this happened to a friend I'd given my points to I would expect to have to take the issue on.

For the sake of simplicity, however, if this happened to me I would be upset and want to be compensated in some way that made me feel ok about the switch. I know lots of people love SSR, it doesn't happen to be my cup of tea.

If I used my precious points to "buy" a stay at BLT, then the idea that Disney can just switch me over to a resort I would not choose to stay in would really, really irritate me. Personally if I can't get reservations at a resort I want to stay in, I don't make the reservations. I change the dates around, not the resort. To get close to the time of departure, when all arrangements have been made, and then tell me I have no choice but to use my points to buy something I don't want because they made a mistake is really low. In my book it amounts to a kind of bait and switch.

I'd keep my temper and be nice about it, but I would think through exactly what mattered to me about the original reservation and decide what I could happily live with in a switch. Is it location? space? inconvenience? Then I'd explain specifically why "x" would work and "y" would not based on that criteria, and assume that Member Services and I would keep working together until we reached a solution that would genuinely work for both parties. As long as I wasn't asking for the moon, but had reasonable concerns and conditions, I would think something could be worked out.

 

[Missyrose]

OP, please keep us updated on what Disney says/does. Good luck, I hope everything works out for your vacation.

 

[Sammie]

I'm pretty new to DVC, but if I'm not mistaken, member services can't deal directly with the OP anyhow, right? Isn't this an issue that the DVC member who owns the points has to get straightened out?

Regardless, I hope it all gets figured out. As a fairly new member, this worries me, and I would be TICKED if that happened to me. Keep us posted, and I hope your vacation turns out to be magical no matter what resort you end up in.

You are correct the member is going to have to be the one to contact DVC and see what can be done.

 

[Inkmahm]

Seems to me that someone else posted on the resorts board a few weeks back that they were offered a 2BR suite at the CR because of overbooked villas at BLT. And as I recall they declined it.

I know I would not be happy with SSR over BLT, especially with small kids in the party. And OP, for what it's worth, IMO you deserve more than just a refund of the difference in points. If you were getting bumped from one view to another, that might be acceptable. I don't know what reasonable compensation would be, but it's definitely more than just the difference in points. Maybe what Sammie suggested...a GV at OKW or SSR (or any resort for that matter.)

This whole thread is making me nervous. I have my extended family going with us in 16 days to stay in a 2 bedroom villa at BLT. I booked this at the 7 month mark and splurged for MK view since it is family that we are taking with us. There is NO way that SSR would make up for losing that BLT booking.

I hope this gets straightened out for the OP and that whatever the problem is gets fixed before we arrive! On the other hand, I guess I would take a suite at the CR as long as it held 6 people comfortably and had a MK view. I've never been in a CR suite so I have no idea what the set up is.

 

[bookwormde]

Do you know for sure that the friend you rented the reservation from actually booked it on points? you should have a standard DVC confirmation that has an occupancy of 9.

There are a lot of RCI trade ins that are being sold without full disclosure. Having exactly 7 days that were specified by the renter is one of the "clues". If it is that my be why DVC choose to bump you.
If that happens to be the case then the person you rented from has little recourse since the reservation on close examination would be invalid.
If not the person you rented from needs to "stand up" for you.
bookwormde

 

[n2mm]

OP this is really sad. You choose a resort because that is part of your vacation planning. While I own at SSR and BLT, I select BLT for some vacations because of who is traveling with us....our grandkids.....It's not like you choose BLT because it was just available for your stay. Unfortunately the only person who will be (or may be) compensated here is the owner. Hopefully the owner will advocate for you by calling and trying to work something out prior to you arriving. It all makes me wonder how the selecting who is being bumped out lottery works. Were you the last to book or was there some other deciding factor involved. I hope something works out for your trip. I was upset when I stayed at OKW in August and had booked HH and got bumped out of HH and moved to a regular room and had held the HH reservation for 7 months....your situation makes mine look minor now, at least I got to stay at the same resort.

 

[kamik86]

If this would me I would expect: a refund of any difference in vacations points (BLT is more expensive in points then SSR) however in this case that won't help you much as that would go back to the member. Possibly also something like fast passes in addition to that. I wouldn't expect free dining as this change makes no change to your dining plans... Fast passes is the only thing I can think of that would compensate for the time of a less convenient resort.

 

[Canadian Disney Mom]

I hope Disney pulls through for you tomorrow!

 

[maggiet]

This thread is making me crazy! How can they "overbook"? It's not like an airplane...we have bought into time at DVC. We don't get our money back if we cancel at the last minute. I would think the they would try to make things right for you. Otherwise things like this can hurt their reputation, and ultimately hurt their sales if it becomes commonplace. (I also don't understand why OKW HH would be "overbooked" making n2mm move.) This all makes me nervous!

I would be very upset. I hope they come through for you tomorrow. If it were me, I guess I would be happy if they refunded all the points used for the reservation and gave me comp points for the SSR reservation. I would probably be OK if I had to use my points for SSR (with refund for extra points) assuming they gave my party enough fastpasses to last for the duration of the trip.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you tomorrow...hope it works out!

 

[jagson]

Compensation should be an upgrade on the reservation, better than what you had, not just comparable; maybe the penthouse at the Castle, or maybe THV on the waterway with several electric carts at your disposal, for your group to get around the grounds, and access to TOTWL for you and your group. I suspect your bump was to accomodate some "blueblood", last minute interloper.

 

[rock_doctor]

See if they will tell you why you were bumped. If it was a maintenance issue, well you can't do much about that. It just means the people in the room last destroyed it. How about a couple studios? I suspect they can pull a couple out of cash availability for you. I also like the idea of moving you to CR or Poly. After all you are supposed to be able to use your points for stay at non-dvc disney resorts. Ask them to do a even swap your dead reservation for a couple rooms at the poly or CR. Personally (and i am not trying to say anything negative about SSR) i don't consider SSR to be a comparable choice to BLT. I would shoot that one down right up front. How about wilderness lodge villas? It is not a monorail resort but close enough to count. If we got bumped, i would blow a gasket, so i do want to say i think you are handling this very well.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Compensation should be an upgrade on the reservation, better than what you had, not just comparable; maybe the penthouse at the Castle, or maybe THV on the waterway with several electric carts at your disposal, for your group to get around the grounds, and access to TOTWL for you and your group. I suspect your bump was to accomodate some "blueblood", last minute interloper.

I was thinking the same thing. Some VIP DVC member wanted the BLT 2 bedroom with the view the OP had. So DVC decided to bump the member. You'd think they would bump a cash paying guest instead because there is more availability to bump them to. But if it is a DVC reservation that is causing the overflow, then DVC has to bump the DCV guest to a DVC reservation. So no CR or Polynesian or GF.

But electric carts at the THV? Those don't exist. Penthouse at the Castle isn't DVC either.

Do you know for sure that the friend you rented the reservation from actually booked it on points? you should have a standard DVC confirmation that has an occupancy of 9.

There are a lot of RCI trade ins that are being sold without full disclosure. Having exactly 7 days that were specified by the renter is one of the "clues". If it is that my be why DVC choose to bump you.

I was also thinking this one, too. If the owner is an RCI owner and not a DVC owner, did they purchase the guest certificate?

 

[bigtony777]

I would have to disagree about it not changing dining plans. I often make dining plans based on where we are staying. If I had several meals planned at monorail resorts, this would mess it all up.

If you do have dining reservations for morning or evening and planned on taking the monorail to or from, maybe ask for taxis to be ready at certain times if you are forced to stay at SSR. These should of course be covered by Disney. I would also ask for daily fastpasses to make up for the added transportation time.

Hopefully you will be place in a monorail resort and will not need to think about any of these things once they let you know the final situation.

 

[crisi]

They've bumped several times in the past. Early on, the VAKL conceirge villas had a maintenance issue and a whole bunch of reservations were bumped. Then there was the OKW Grand Villas over PGA time years ago, the pro golfers needed them so members - too bad, so sad, a two bedroom and a studio for you..... Lots of people got bumped from BWV during the siding replacement.

This happens, folks. Not too often. Sometimes DVC has been really good about it in terms of compensation, sometimes the lack of customer service has been astounding.

 

[DenLo]

I just shutter when I think of this happening to us when we have a family gathering scheduled next year at BLT. Often we make ADRs and tours based on where we are staying especially at BLT where so many restaurants are a monorail ride away.

And I can understand wanting compensation or even a better villa than the one you were bumped from, but who will pay for the better accommodation? DVC is not Disney. It's not like the DVC can just right it off as PR. DVD might have a PR budget but I doubt DVC does. So how would the cost of compensation be paid?

I understand that no rooms are available at BLT so that means looking at other DVC resorts. Rooms are available at SSR so they are moving them there.

This situation is freaking me out. I can't even imagine what the OP is going through. I hope it works out for you.

 

[quirty30]

Agree with all the posts who find this a little disturbing, especially if it's truly a points reservation. If it was an RCI exchange, then it would make a little more sense. Regardless of the type of reservation, I agree that getting bumped should involve equal or better accommodations. And location wise, there's just no comparison between BLT and SSR. I think SSR is a lovely resort, but, we had really serious transportation issues the one time we stayed there. Like I stated before, I am sure someone with a cash reservation at BLT in the last few weeks was offered a 2 BR concierge suite at the CR (but turned it down because they really wanted the kitchen and washer/dryer.) Me personally, I'd have asked them to throw in a few bucks so I could do my laundry at the CR and gladly accepted the suite.

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

Reading this is freaking me out as well. We go to Disney once a year and really, really look forward to our BLT.

I am still curious as to how the OP was chosen as the one to be bumped. Were they the last to book the 2 bedroom. That would be the fairest way I guess.

Another way that DVC could solve this problem in the future is by offering better accomodations along with some fast passes to all the people who have bookings in the type of room that needs to be bumped (2 bedroom unit in this case) and allowing owners to step forward as first come first serve to make the change.

This would allow some owners who do not mind making the switch to step forward and leave everyone happy. I know in our case, if we had people coming with us, I would not want to give up my BLT for ANYTHING!!. If it was just my DH, 2DDs and myself, we might be inclined to try something different if it included similar or better accomodations along with many fast passes. Some people go multiple times a year and would have no problem making the switch.

Seems like a better alternative to just picking someone and saying "Sorry, but you have to move to another resort".

I remember years ago when I was working in reservations for an airline, people would call and ask to be booked on flights that were the fullest. This was because they were hoping for an overbooked flight where they could volunteer to get off, wait for the next available flight and get a free travel voucher for future use.

Some people will happily make the move if the right compensation is offered. Others just want what they asked for.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have friends with DVC points so I'm not a member personally and am using their points.

I'm pretty new to DVC, but if I'm not mistaken, member services can't deal directly with the OP anyhow, right? Isn't this an issue that the DVC member who owns the points has to get straightened out?

I don't even know how they are talking with the OP, since it isn't their points. If we'd booked for my cousin and this happened with their room, I would have expected that WE would be hearing about it and relaying the message on, and WE would be the ones wheeling and dealing.

Do you know for sure that the friend you rented the reservation from actually booked it on points? you should have a standard DVC confirmation that has an occupancy of 9.

There are a lot of RCI trade ins that are being sold without full disclosure. Having exactly 7 days that were specified by the renter is one of the "clues". If it is that my be why DVC choose to bump you.
If that happens to be the case then the person you rented from has little recourse since the reservation on close examination would be invalid.
If not the person you rented from needs to "stand up" for you.
bookwormde

That's what I was thinking, too. Well, not in certain terms, but in an amorphous "huh?" sort of way.

 

[Dean]

This has happened before due to overbooking and closings settled after some reservations were made. It happened at BCV due to being overbooked. At BWV due to refurbishment and at AKV several times for various issues. Things happen and someone has to be affected. They should make some type of allowance due to the situation.

 

[kmezick]

A BIG thanks to everyone for your thoughts/support! I'm sure I'll be up all night thinking about that phone call tomorrow with the outcome of our resort!
A few responses for some of you:
-We did rent the points from a DVC member who used her points and she is the one who is dealing with them (and is just as upset as us!)
-We did book our 7 day stay later than normal (we go ever other year at least) but due to extended family coming with us with a baby we didn't have as much flexibility so we booked in late Nov. Not sure if this makes us the last in/first out? They claim it was a random bump and if they move us back there, they will be bumping someone else out.
-When I look online at disney booking site for room availability, the CR, GF, and PR all don't have availability for 7 nights nor are there any other 2BR or 3BR Villas at any DVC resorts (with exception of 2BR at SSR).
-We did book the dining plan and paid for it already (however it was credited to our credit card this week which tipped us off that something was wrong - this was the start of the bad news!).
-I did make dining reservations (a few character meals!) based on our location because we are bringing a sitter with us to stay in a few nights with the children. Now I will have to try to change some of our meals based on the new location and this will be hard since a free dining promo is on!
-OK so much for trying to stay positive - but I am because we were engaged in MK in private area rose garden beneath castle and fireworks. I was going to try to book something special for my husband this trip one evening since it's also our 10 yr anniv! Hmmmm it may be a trip to the SSR spa instead to relieve some of this stress instead...
I'll give an update tomorrow on our destiny!