Poll regarding unit requests...what do you think?

[tjkraz]

If they book a room at 11 months out that fits my request (of course it's available it's 11 months in advance!) they should black it out as "booked". If I don't show up or show up at midnight it is my loss not theirs. They are going to charge me ANYWAY, same price as everyone else!!!! There is no refund the day of arrival so they should honor first reservation made gets first choice and so on. We all know when we can book a DVC home resort. If we aren't owners or hop in for a last minute trip we are happy to get anything that's left.

If you're implying that physical rooms should be booked at the time of the reservation like cabins on a cruise ship, that absolutely would not work. It works on a cruise line because you have a group of people all with the same itinerary--they all arrive and depart on the same days.

If you tried to do that with hotel rooms, you'd have orphaned blocks of rooms all over the resort that people would be unable or unwilling to utilize.

"OK, we have you confirmed for a Studio with check-in 12/1 and check-out 12/10. For 12/1 to 12/3, you will be in unit 2001. But someone else has that room reserved starting on 12/4, so we will move you over to 1090. You can stay in that room through 12/9. On 12/10, we will move you to room 5001."

Room maintenance isn't the only reason that rooms couldn't be pre-assigned.

For this same reason, I think it would be a mistake to assume (as is implied in the original post) that the Room Ready system is used 100% of the time. My guess is that Room Ready (getting guests into rooms upon arrival) is used when a resort is operating at a less-than-100% occupancy level. When occupancy is lower, there is more "wiggle room" to accommodate current guests, departing guests and incoming guests.

But, when the resort is near 100% occupancy, all of the pieces need to be assembled much more carefully to attempt to accommodate things like handicapped room requests and medical needs. In this case, pre-assignments are necessary to minimize the possibility that someone will arrive at 10pm and discover that their "non smoking for medical reasons" request was not met.

 

[LakeAriel]

If you're implying that physical rooms should be booked at the time of the reservation like cabins on a cruise ship, that absolutely would not work. It works on a cruise line because you have a group of people all with the same itinerary--they all arrive and depart on the same days.

If you tried to do that with hotel rooms, you'd have orphaned blocks of rooms all over the resort that people would be unable or unwilling to utilize.

"OK, we have you confirmed for a Studio with check-in 12/1 and check-out 12/10. For 12/1 to 12/3, you will be in unit 2001. But someone else has that room reserved starting on 12/4, so we will move you over to 1090. You can stay in that room through 12/9. On 12/10, we will move you to room 5001."

Room maintenance isn't the only reason that rooms couldn't be pre-assigned.

For this same reason, I think it would be a mistake to assume (as is implied in the original post) that the Room Ready system is used 100% of the time. My guess is that Room Ready (getting guests into rooms upon arrival) is used when a resort is operating at a less-than-100% occupancy level. When occupancy is lower, there is more "wiggle room" to accommodate current guests, departing guests and incoming guests.

But, when the resort is near 100% occupancy, all of the pieces need to be assembled much more carefully to attempt to accommodate things like handicapped room requests and medical needs. In this case, pre-assignments are necessary to minimize the possibility that someone will arrive at 10pm and discover that their "non smoking for medical reasons" request was not met.

At 11 months out I am sure they can see on a computer a room that will be vacated on such and such Sunday. Room 4035. They assign you that room for 5 nights. Can complications arise? Of course. Is this the way they used to do it? Yes. I for one, like the majority, would like it to go back that way. I wish there was a way only owners could vote, seeing as how "we members" supposedly already did People who rent would be dead set against assigned rooms! They would be more likely to get the leftovers which I think they should. They are not paying maintenence dues and are renting way below rack rate. I'm sure they would be more then happy to utilize "those" rooms. If they do plan way in advance and rent at 11 months out they would level the playing field a little. Even then, I think Members staying onsite should have first crack at room selections.

 

[tjkraz]

At 11 months out I am sure they can see on a computer a room that will be vacated on such and such Sunday. Room 4035. They assign you that room for 5 nights. Can complications arise? Of course. Is this the way they used to do it? Yes.

No, rooms have never been assigned to individuals 11 months out. What used to happen is that room assigners would give preference in granting requests to those who booked the furthest out. The actual rooms were assigned no more than 5 days prior to arrival.

 

[pmcpmc]

is how any hotel operates and is designed to have lower queues at the front desk by having people arrive at different times.
Your requests will be noted at booking and given if they are available when you check in.

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

is how any hotel operates and is designed to have lower queues at the front desk by having people arrive at different times.
Your requests will be noted at booking and given if they are available when you check in.

Yup.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I think that tjkraz hit it right on the nose and explained it well. They could assign rooms similar to the way they are assigned on a cruise ship if DVC was operated more like a cruise ship: DVC could only allow check in on Saturday and stays of exactly 7 nights. Because DVC members want flexibility, management also needs flexibility so that it can maximize the occupancy rate.

The bottom line is that with high occupancy, even the best intentioned management just doesn't have the flexibility to meet every reasonable request. Unfortunately, high occupancy must be considered a given at DVC resorts, especially popular ones.

We had our first stay at BWV last month and were not "wowed" by our boardwalk view room assignment. I really did think about whether DVC was the right choice for us. But then I had to realize that one of the reasons we bought into DVC was that all the WDW resorts appeared to be much busier this year, so not getting requests may well be more of an issue at the other resorts than it has been in the past. And, of course, by the end of our stay, we were already planning our next stay at the BWV!

The good thing to realize is that, for most people, DVC is not a prison sentence. If DVC can't provide the kind of vacation experience that you want, at this time many owners are able to sell without suffering a significant financial loss. At many other timeshares, this is simply not true.

Best of luck to all. -- Suzanne

 

[TheBeast]

Sounds like a case of Disney not having a sophisticated enough computer system.

- If no one had special requests, everyone would get a room as soon as it was available
- If everyone had special requests, they'd be assigned before hand and Disney would know who goes to what room (or "type" of room) in advance
- If some people have requests and some don't, then those without requests would more likely get rooms sooner since they aren't putting special stipulations of what room and therefore have a larger pool of rooms likely to be open for them. That is, having a request will likely cause you to wait longer (seems reasonable).

But right now Disney is saying they can only do one or the other - either get it quick or get what you want. But with a better real time room management system, seems they could offer both - the room you want as quickly as possible.

 

[sigillaria]

I only request no smoking and 1st floor-medical reasons (bad knee).

 

[TDC Nala]

I'd rather have the room. I'm never in it long enough to care where it is and what I can see from it. My only concern is really that I get nonsmoking. I kept a smoking room at Pop Century earlier this month (checked into it at 1:30 AM after waiting an hour in line, so I wasn't going to bother trying to change it) and my suitcase still smells like smoke just from the residual odor in that room.

 

[Beca]

Bumping because I was just wondering....does Carli have an email address? Is there anyway to get this to her.

Or....will there be anyone at the member's meeting that I could show this poll to....and, more importantly, would they even care??



Beca

 

[Cruelladeville]

I agree with Beca, wa-a-a-ay back when she said members should get priority on getting their preferences met. But I can not see any reason why they don't do what the restaurants do: "smoking, non-smoking, or first available?" Why does MS even ask if they don't block out rooms that way? At Marriott, smoking preference is guaranteed, and they will tell you if all they have is a smoking room for the week you wanted. Members get preference for requests. They will accommodate non-members only after trying to meet members requests. I have always gotten requests, but as a non-member at that particular resort, I know that requests are iffy. Of course, Marriott charges for cancellations, so they probably don't have nearly as many rude people just taking up space as DVC does.

But when OKW told me to transfer to a different resort if I wanted a medical request met, that's rudeness to the nth degree, and there is NO excuse for that! Was there something in the fine print of the DVC contract that said only the able-bodied need apply for membership????

 

[DrTomorrow]

Bumping because I was just wondering....does Carli have an email address? Is there anyway to get this to her.

Or....will there be anyone at the member's meeting that I could show this poll to....and, more importantly, would they even care??



Beca

IMHO - they wouldn't even care. They would politely say "Thank you" and give the standard Disney line about always taking their guests' suggestions into consideration and then "file" it.

Two things. First, as I say on every thread that I can we here at the DIS DVC forum are not typical DVC owners. We're a fanatical bunch of people who disect each line of the dues statements - while we're waiting for the full budget! We actually have members who write software to help us use our DVC points (thanks, CB!) I liken us to rabid car owners who actually replace their cars' computer chips with optimized ones to get a drop more performance out of them; which is great, but not representative of most car owners who avoid opening the hood unless they have to. So what we have to say doesn't really matter all that much.

Second, so far 289 people have responded to the poll. If there are 90,000 owners, then the poll represents .32% of all owners: less than one-third of one percent. And even then, it's only a 70-30 split....

Don't get me wrong - I find the polls very interesting and I participate in them. But they are for fun, and not something that will make DVC rethink their policies....

IMHO - YMMV

 

[Donna]

I always thought they did go by resort ownership somewhat. I've always had my OKW requests met (NS & golf view) but NEVER had a BW request met. my one and only time at BW where i used my points, i asked for BW view, non smoking and got a tree view, could barely see the pool around the bend and it was a smoking optional room that smelled so bad you couldn't stand it, writing on the walls, damaged table, broken doors, cigarette burns all thru the unit. room was not ready until 5 and was told resort was sold out and i could not be moved! all i wanted to do was go back to OKW!

 

[JimC]

...Two things. First, as I say on every thread that I can we here at the DIS DVC forum are not typical DVC owners. We're a fanatical bunch of people who disect each line of the dues statements - while we're waiting for the full budget! We actually have members who write software to help us use our DVC points (thanks, CB!) I liken us to rabid car owners who actually replace their cars' computer chips with optimized ones to get a drop more performance out of them; which is great, but not representative of most car owners who avoid opening the hood unless they have to. So what we have to say doesn't really matter all that much......

IMHO - YMMV

Yea that's us!