Anyone else being forced to change a booking at the Grand Floridian this January?

[Doingitagain]

Seriously? The same DVC* that turned 1 bd BWV reservations into a standard room at YC + $50 with no refund of points is going to pony up to that? Keep OP in the world of reality.

*not technically of course but overall, the same company

My thought was to have a huge ask so that the settlement was larger, kind of planting ideas in their head.

 

[Doingitagain]

ugh. Sorry I missed that.

I'd love to learn more about this at a DVC quarterly meeting. How is this supposed to go?
I feel awful for @bdrex28, but this hurts all owners too. We all might have a bit more doubt booking a difficult to substitute room category now. Also, where is the compensation (and @bdrex28 should get substantial compensation) going to come from? Points can't just be brought magically into existence. Is Disney (not DVC) going to give their points, or will compensation basically be cash based? If it's cash is this from dues?

It would be an interesting conversation at a quarterly meeting, I hadn't thought of that!

 

[bdrex28]

It would be an interesting conversation at a quarterly meeting, I hadn't thought of that!

Yea, the quarterly meeting would be interesting and I think I'd almost make it a point to go and bring it up if that happened to me.

There should be some kind of transparency if you're a DVC member and therefore part of the association/membership.

To me it's just the randomness and lack of information/transparency.

I'd want to know:

why was I the one chosen? What was the criteria?
Is this due to maintenance?
When did the issue that caused me to lose my reservation I've had for 11 months start? When did DVD first know?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Does anyone really believe that for 10 months and 14 days all was good but now they're "overbooked"? For one of only six?

I've got some fantastic ocean front I'd love to show you up in Arizona. It's truly a beaut Clark...

It’s blatantly obvious someone more important came along. People have reported being told it’s maintence when it’s a maintence issue, heck that was my experience with a cash booking at RIV “we have to move you do to a maintenance issue”, it was a slight downgrade so they had to offer a explanation, re-priced the res at the discounted rate and gave us a $100 for an apology. (I recall it all because I was thrilled, we didn’t want to spend the money on the view but standard didn’t open with the discount lol.)

 

[BlueGreen5]

Catching up on this story, but WOW! I'm so sorry!

I agree that sunshine is the ultimate antidote to just about any problem. This would have been such a better situation/less irritating story if the message was

"Hi OP, we have discovered a [maintenance issue] that requires extensive work to correct and, to do so, we will need to take 1 GV out of inventory for about a week. GVs have 100% occupancy, 365 days per year, so in any event, one or more parties are going to be inconvenienced by our need to complete this work. The work has now been scheduled during your reservation - maintenance scheduling involves coordinating a number of third parties and is beyond our control. Unfortunately, because of the way our booking system works, the most logical option - the one resulting in the least amount of parties being impacted - is to cancel your reservation. You are a valued DVC member, and we know our guests plan their lives around their reservations at WDW, so we would love the opportunity to try to make this situation more-than-right by you. We have a couple of ideas, but would prefer for you to contact us as soon as possible so that we can discuss them live."

It's just so easy. It really blows my mind how much corporate America trips over itself by its inability to message in negative situations.

 

[sndral]

So today I was contacted by member services because they could not honor our booking at our dream place, the 3bd villa at the Grand Floridian (booked almost 11months ago) for the end of January. Probably due construction?! They could not confirm the reason or if all units or just some would be unavailable, but instead offered a couple of options to split our party - none that we feel is comparable to our original room. Even though the cast members were gracious as ever, it was strange that this was done 100% over the phone, with no email, note, trace or record explaining the reason we were being forced to change, acknowledging what is happening, let alone apologizing for the inconvenience. Has this happened to anyone else at the Grand Floridian around this period or just us? We would really like to keep our booking (13 people in our family celebrating our 10 year anniversary). Bought this contract at the Grand 2 years ago specifically with this stay in mind. Thanks.

The maximum occupancy for the VGF GF is 12 - I assume one of your party is under age 3 & doesn’t count for occupancy purposes which is how you planned to fit 13 into the GV?
A couple of facts to keep in mind as you negotiate w/ a supervisor:
VGF GFs cost a lot of points - not even a 1 & 2 bedroom lake view villa combo costs as many points as a GV - make sure whatever replacement combo they offer you costs an equivalent number, & if not insist they return points to you & if you borrowed points insist they put them back into their original use year & that they waive holding & banking deadlines so that you can bank any current use year points. My personal goal here would be to salvage enough points to reschedule a GV sooner rather than later.
The VGF GF is 2800 sq. feet, I’d ask that whatever solution they offered total 2800 sq. feet, a 2 br. is 1232 sq. ft., so not even 2 2 br. villas gets you 2800 sq. ft.. Moreover, I suspect they won’t have 2 2 br. villas available to offer you, perhaps the ‘resort’ can find you a couple of suites w/ club access to make up for the loss of a kitchen & dinning table that seats 10?
I doubt that it’s a mechanical/room issue, since they are waiting 2 weeks before they fix it. There have been booking issues at other resorts, most famously the Grand Californian - twice, and overbooking due to refurb issues, most recently w/ the BWVs. Perhaps since you booked ‘almost 11 months ago’ the other 5 GVs were booked exactly 11 months ago? In any event I’d probably mention that the POS requires that DVC be operated on a first come first served basis & ask for confirmation in writing that this contractual obligation was followed in this case.
Frankly, the response that ‘the resort decided’ isn’t good enough IMO. Although WDW (‘the resort’) plays fast and loose w/ cash reservations a lot, overbooking popular rooms & then offering ‘upgrades,’ DVC as a timeshare is bound by it’s contractual obligations to you & Florida’s statutes regulating timeshares, thus, irrespective of what I was offered as a replacement I’d file a complaint w/ the appropriate regulatory authorities as well https://www2.myfloridalicense.com/lsc/timeshare/documents/TimeshareComplaintForm-English.pdf

 

[lowlight]

Catching up on this story, but WOW! I'm so sorry!

I agree that sunshine is the ultimate antidote to just about any problem. This would have been such a better situation/less irritating story if the message was

"Hi OP, we have discovered a [maintenance issue] that requires extensive work to correct and, to do so, we will need to take 1 GV out of inventory for about a week. GVs have 100% occupancy, 365 days per year, so in any event, one or more parties are going to be inconvenienced by our need to complete this work. The work has now been scheduled during your reservation - maintenance scheduling involves coordinating a number of third parties and is beyond our control. Unfortunately, because of the way our booking system works, the most logical option - the one resulting in the least amount of parties being impacted - is to cancel your reservation. You are a valued DVC member, and we know our guests plan their lives around their reservations at WDW, so we would love the opportunity to try to make this situation more-than-right by you. We have a couple of ideas, but would prefer for you to contact us as soon as possible so that we can discuss them live."

It's just so easy. It really blows my mind how much corporate America trips over itself by its inability to message in negative situations.

That’s what a company that cares would do, so that saying of “when someone tells you who they are, believe them” comes in to play. The reality is DVC has all the leverage in this situation. They are basically going to make an offer that is disadvantageous to the OP and he can take it or cancel. That’s what has happened the last few times people have reported on Disboards.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

The maximum occupancy for the VGF GF is 12 - I assume one of your party is under age 3 & doesn’t count for occupancy purposes which is how you planned to fit 13 into the GV?
A couple of facts to keep in mind as you negotiate w/ a supervisor:
VGF GFs cost a lot of points - not even a 1 & 2 bedroom lake view villa combo costs as many points as a GV - make sure whatever replacement combo they offer you costs an equivalent number, & if not insist they return points to you & if you borrowed points insist they put them back into their original use year & that they waive holding & banking deadlines so that you can bank any current use year points. My personal goal here would be to salvage enough points to reschedule a GV sooner rather than later.
The VGF GF is 2800 sq. feet, I’d ask that whatever solution they offered total 2800 sq. feet, a 2 br. is 1232 sq. ft., so not even 2 2 br. villas gets you 2800 sq. ft.. Moreover, I suspect they won’t have 2 2 br. villas available to offer you, perhaps the ‘resort’ can find you a couple of suites w/ club access to make up for the loss of a kitchen & dinning table that seats 10?
I doubt that it’s a mechanical/room issue, since they are waiting 2 weeks before they fix it. There have been booking issues at other resorts, most famously the Grand Californian - twice, and overbooking due to refurb issues, most recently w/ the BWVs. Perhaps since you booked ‘almost 11 months ago’ the other 5 GVs were booked exactly 11 months ago? In any event I’d probably mention that the POS requires that DVC be operated on a first come first served basis & ask for confirmation in writing that this contractual obligation was followed in this case.
Frankly, the response that ‘the resort decided’ isn’t good enough IMO. Although WDW (‘the resort’) plays fast and loose w/ cash reservations a lot, overbooking popular rooms & then offering ‘upgrades,’ DVC as a timeshare is bound by it’s contractual obligations to you & Florida’s statutes regulating timeshares, thus, irrespective of what I was offered as a replacement I’d file a complaint w/ the appropriate regulatory authorities as well https://www2.myfloridalicense.com/lsc/timeshare/documents/TimeshareComplaintForm-English.pdf

Excellent advice!

 

[SL6827]

It’s blatantly obvious someone more important came along. People have reported being told it’s maintence when it’s a maintence issue, heck that was my experience with a cash booking at RIV “we have to move you do to a maintenance issue”, it was a slight downgrade so they had to offer a explanation, re-priced the res at the discounted rate and gave us a $100 for an apology. (I recall it all because I was thrilled, we didn’t want to spend the money on the view but standard didn’t open with the discount lol.)

Yes.

 

[gottalovepluto]

In any event I’d probably mention that the POS requires that DVC be operated on a first come first served basis & ask for confirmation in writing that this contractual obligation was followed in this case.
Frankly, the response that ‘the resort decided’ isn’t good enough IMO. Although WDW (‘the resort’) plays fast and loose w/ cash reservations a lot, overbooking popular rooms & then offering ‘upgrades,’ DVC as a timeshare is bound by it’s contractual obligations to you & Florida’s statutes regulating timeshares, thus, irrespective of what I was offered as a replacement I’d file a complaint w/ the appropriate regulatory authorities as well https://www2.myfloridalicense.com/lsc/timeshare/documents/TimeshareComplaintForm-English.pdf

Oh snap! Gold star to @sndral here, don't think anyone else's advice/opinions has matched this level of practicality.

 

[zavandor]

Have a lawyer participate in the next call. Have them tell DVC that f the replacement and compensation is not satisfactory they are going to request in discovery a trace for all the communication that happened related to this incident. When was the overbooking discovered? How have they decided who would be inconvenienced? Etc
A GV might magically appear.

 

[Doingitagain]

The maximum occupancy for the VGF GF is 12 - I assume one of your party is under age 3 & doesn’t count for occupancy purposes which is how you planned to fit 13 into the GV?
A couple of facts to keep in mind as you negotiate w/ a supervisor:
VGF GFs cost a lot of points - not even a 1 & 2 bedroom lake view villa combo costs as many points as a GV - make sure whatever replacement combo they offer you costs an equivalent number, & if not insist they return points to you & if you borrowed points insist they put them back into their original use year & that they waive holding & banking deadlines so that you can bank any current use year points. My personal goal here would be to salvage enough points to reschedule a GV sooner rather than later.
The VGF GF is 2800 sq. feet, I’d ask that whatever solution they offered total 2800 sq. feet, a 2 br. is 1232 sq. ft., so not even 2 2 br. villas gets you 2800 sq. ft.. Moreover, I suspect they won’t have 2 2 br. villas available to offer you, perhaps the ‘resort’ can find you a couple of suites w/ club access to make up for the loss of a kitchen & dinning table that seats 10?
I doubt that it’s a mechanical/room issue, since they are waiting 2 weeks before they fix it. There have been booking issues at other resorts, most famously the Grand Californian - twice, and overbooking due to refurb issues, most recently w/ the BWVs. Perhaps since you booked ‘almost 11 months ago’ the other 5 GVs were booked exactly 11 months ago? In any event I’d probably mention that the POS requires that DVC be operated on a first come first served basis & ask for confirmation in writing that this contractual obligation was followed in this case.
Frankly, the response that ‘the resort decided’ isn’t good enough IMO. Although WDW (‘the resort’) plays fast and loose w/ cash reservations a lot, overbooking popular rooms & then offering ‘upgrades,’ DVC as a timeshare is bound by it’s contractual obligations to you & Florida’s statutes regulating timeshares, thus, irrespective of what I was offered as a replacement I’d file a complaint w/ the appropriate regulatory authorities as well https://www2.myfloridalicense.com/lsc/timeshare/documents/TimeshareComplaintForm-English.pdf

@sndral, you provided the most practical assistance of all, I will remember this if it ever happens to me!

 

[Flash_Sloth]

I remember reading a similar story here a few years ago, but couldn't find it with a search. It was a grand villa at VGC that was booked around the same time that the superbowl was in LA. They booked it at 11 months and had a big family reunion planned, but got bumped.

And with grand villas, there really isn't a comparable replacement. All the other options are significant downgrades.

If DVC isn't going to honor your booking because some VIP (I assume) decides to make a last minute trip, the whole system is flawed. If they want to do that on the hotel side, fine, but on the DVC side where we're owners and we're booking around every other owners' reservations, that should be a foul play with a stiff penalty.

 

[FlyingDonut]

If DVC isn't going to honor your booking because some VIP (I assume) decides to make a last minute trip, the whole system is flawed. If they want to do that on the hotel side, fine, but on the DVC side where we're owners and we're booking around every other owners' reservations, that should be a foul play with a stiff penalty.

This is my concern. There is a fundamental diference between the hotel side and DVC. DVC inventory is not owned by Disney. Additionally whatever it takes to "make it right" is being paid for by owners out of dues. If it somehow provided by Disney instead, that's great in the any specific instance, but even further from how things are supposed to be at the DVC system-wide scale.

 

[paults]

If it happened to me I would want a DVC room at the same resort so I can check every day each GV to see if someone is living in all of them. You don't need to do this all day. Just quick checks and then do your parks. When you come back for the parks go by the GV on each floor. If one is being worked on your done.

 

[Genie+]

Supervisor said that there was overbooking and the "resort decided" that I was the one who would have to give up. Member services was only in charge of getting in contact with me. But I can only talk to member services. Their policy is to do this over the phone. They only send emails to set up a time to call. When in summary I mentioned that it seemed informal and didn't leave any record of the reason for the change, he basically said that it was company policy. What is the point of booking a room 11 months out if a little over a week DVC finally finds out that they sold an extra room.

Any update?

 

[DVC Deac]

NFL Pro Bowl festivities start on January 30th in Orlando. Not sure if the dates line up, but that’s going to bring some VIPs into town toward the end of the month.

 

[bdrex28]

Any update?

@Augusto Saboia Neto any updates?

 

[TheDailyMoo]

It's just so easy. It really blows my mind how much corporate America trips over itself by its inability to message in negative situations.

Disney Corp is not immune to the Peter Principle. In fact it seems like more and more Peter's are filling the C-Suite there!

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

How can they overbook? Unless they put in a last minute VIP?

Sounds like a VIP scenario to me! What a shame!