Blacklisting those who didn't buy direct through Disney

[kydisneyfans]

Just a quick question.
We purchased DVC from a third party in 2013. We have stayed 4 different times, and all 4 times we have been sent to the boonies for our room, regardless of request.

Our stay last year at Kidani was a request for close to the bus as we took our nephew who has trouble walking due to RA and my wife was on crutches due to her knee being torn up. Our room was in the 3rd building from the end. This year was a split stay at the Poly and Kidani. There was only 1 room at the Poly further away from the main building. Kidani was a Pembe view 6 rooms from the end with a near front door request.

Are we low on the request totem pole since we did not buy direct or is it luck of the draw?

 

[wilkeliza]

Just a quick question.
We purchased DVC from a third party in 2013. We have stayed 4 different times, and all 4 times we have been sent to the boonies for our room, regardless of request.

Our stay last year at Kidani was a request for close to the bus as we took our nephew who has trouble walking due to RA and my wife was on crutches due to her knee being torn up. Our room was in the 3rd building from the end. This year was a split stay at the Poly and Kidani. There was only 1 room at the Poly further away from the main building. Kidani was a Pembe view 6 rooms from the end with a near front door request.

Are we low on the request totem pole since we did not buy direct or is it luck of the draw?

Just luck of the draw. The room assigners probably have no clue if you bought direct or not.

 

[LisaS]

Luck of the draw. We've had some great rooms, we've had some OK rooms, we've had some rooms with limited views. We own both resale and direct contracts.

Our stay last year at Kidani was a request for close to the bus as we took our nephew who has trouble walking due to RA and my wife was on crutches due to her knee being torn up. Our room was in the 3rd building from the end.

In this case, I would have explained the medical issues to the front desk CM and asked if there was any way to get a room closer to the bus stop. It doesn't hurt to ask.

In the future if you have a medical reason for making a particular request, have the MS CM make a note that the request was made due to a medical issue. That might improve your odds of getting what you requested.

 

[drusba]

I guess anything is possible but I have doubts there is resale issue in assigning rooms. It is my understanding that the resort, and its room assignment software, determines room locations and the persons who are involved in that would most likely not even know whether you are a purchaser from Disney or resale (or even a renter from a member).

A particular problem with Kidani is that it is now well-known that sadists likely had a hand in determining the length of the building, making the walk from the lobby or bus stop to end rooms on the wings so long that you need to pitch a tent halfway down the hallway and spend the night before completing the long, arduous journey in the morning. What has occurred is that huge numbers, including most of those who have previously suffered those long walks, are now requesting close to lobby or close to transportation, two requests that appear on the online check-in request page so that even all the cash guests, and not just members, can make one or both of those requests. The problem that has created is that there are now far more requests for those locations than can be met, and when the resort cannot meet a location request, there is no attempt to try to find something close to your request. Instead, the resort just places you in any available room, which for many ends up being those rooms near the end of the wings (rooms in a location no one has requested)

I am AKV owner and purchased my AKV interest from Disney. I am one of those who got an end room and then started requesting close to lobby to try to avoid the long walks. It worked a couple times but then it did not work twice in a row and both those times I ended up near the end of a wing. I have switched to making requests through MS for either close to the Timon elevator (it is on the south wing that runs toward Jambo and is between the second and third building pods from the lobby and gives a short walk to the door on the second floor that leads directly to the bus stop) or close to the Rafiki elevator (which is on the north wing between the second and third buidling pods from the lobby on that wing; down that elevator to the ground floor provides the shortest possible walk from the building to a gate entry to the pool area). Those requests worked our last three trips to Kidani. The caveat is that those requests may themselves soon become over-requested

 

[Dean]

Just a quick question.
We purchased DVC from a third party in 2013. We have stayed 4 different times, and all 4 times we have been sent to the boonies for our room, regardless of request.

Our stay last year at Kidani was a request for close to the bus as we took our nephew who has trouble walking due to RA and my wife was on crutches due to her knee being torn up. Our room was in the 3rd building from the end. This year was a split stay at the Poly and Kidani. There was only 1 room at the Poly further away from the main building. Kidani was a Pembe view 6 rooms from the end with a near front door request.

Are we low on the request totem pole since we did not buy direct or is it luck of the draw?

DVC tends to do better than most when it comes to qualified vs non qualified ownerships. What they don't do is a good job with requests in general.

 

[cvjw]

Luck of the draw. All 4 of our contracts were purchased on the resale market.

Our last stay at kidani village, we had the very last villa before the final grand villa. Long walk to lobby and hardly any animals made it over that far.

Our stay at bwv in July, we had the very last villa at the end of the very last hallway. I think we were closer to Hollywood studios than the lobby.

We had awful connecting studios at the poly. Right next to the construction which started at 7:00 am in the morning. Oh, and we also overlooked the parking lot.

On the flip side:

Great 2 bedroom villa on the 16th floor at BLT.

Great pool/garden view studio at bwv that overlooked the village green

Super great corner villa at Vwl. Still one of our favorite villas at Disney.

Hope it gets better for you. As pp stated, most people request the same thing. Not everyone will get the request. It does seem to even out over the years!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I have to agree with the luck of the draw on room requests, at least at Kidani. When I asked for "close to buses", I got the very last building/pod 3rd room from the end. And I have some points we bought direct.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

There are very common requests at certain resorts. At Kidani, everyone wants "near bus" or "near lobby." At BLT, people ask for higher floors for Lake and TPV. Poly, Tokelau high is the most common SV request, and "not first" is what everyone asks for with LV. Saratoga just realigned points to reflect the request patterns for Springs and CP.

When everyone requests the same thing, most people won't get it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Years ago I had contacted MS with the complaint that we always were assigned furthest room and gave them the room numbers and the resorts for our last 4 stays. I got a call from a member of the satisfaction team and she agreed with me! Some of our next visits had us in better located rooms, but that did not last, as our last stay in BWV had us in a 1 bedroom by the Attic, we could not be any further away from the bus stop or lobby!!!

 

[GoofyDisneyDaddy]

There'd be no benefit to them doing this unless they made it a policy. The entire point of treating resales different from direct sales is to push people to buy direct through the added perks of buying direct. This can't sway behavior unless people know about it. Disney has no desire to punish people for purchasing resale unless they can translate that into more direct sales.

 

[disneynutz]

The resort and DVC barely talk, they are separate business units so how the request was formatted, the CM assigning the rooms and luck determines that request success rate. Matching a request to a room that is vacating the same day that you are checking in, the odds are against you.

Bill

 

[LisaS]

Some of our next visits had us in better located rooms, but that did not last, as our last stay in BWV had us in a 1 bedroom by the Attic, we could not be any further away from the bus stop or lobby!!!

This is why I think it's good to make requests and why I hope that the room assigners do their best to honor them when possible. We never request to be close to the lobby (or an elevator) because there is more foot traffic going past the room. Whether it's rope droppers running down the hallway at 6am or EMH'ers talking loudly in the hallway at 2am, the noise often wakes me up. If the room assigner can put you in your preferred room near the lobby, it leaves a room open for me further down the hallway, making us both happy!

On our recent stay at BWV, when the front desk CM told us our room number was 5001 (top floor, next to the Attic), she seemed apologetic. I told her I knew exactly where that room was and I was thrilled! It was a very long walk from the bus and the lobby but the view of the boardwalk and the Epcot fireworks was fantastic! It was also one of the quietest rooms we've ever had.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We will often request rooms that are far from the lobby etc. It usually elicits some laughs from MS as they don't hear that often. Close to lobby etc is a popular request especially in resorts that are spread out. That means that not everyone can be assigned that or you all will be sharing rooms.

 

[DenLo]

We usually get the long walks at AKV whether we are staying at Kidani or Jambo House. I think it is because we usually stay for 10 - 12 nights and no one wants those rooms and the closer ones are all taken with people with shorter reservations.

But I agree that you should always ask MS to add a remark that the location is needed because of a medical condition. I understand that those are assigned first. However the assigner still could have problems because of all those overlapping check ins and outs.

 

[bobbiwoz]

This is why I think it's good to make requests and why I hope that the room assigners do their best to honor them when possible. We never request to be close to the lobby (or an elevator) because there is more foot traffic going past the room. Whether it's rope droppers running down the hallway at 6am or EMH'ers talking loudly in the hallway at 2am, the noise often wakes me up. If the room assigner can put you in your preferred room near the lobby, it leaves a room open for me further down the hallway, making us both happy!

On our recent stay at BWV, when the front desk CM told us our room number was 5001 (top floor, next to the Attic), she seemed apologetic. I told her I knew exactly where that room was and I was thrilled! It was a very long walk from the bus and the lobby but the view of the boardwalk and the Epcot fireworks was fantastic! It was also one of the quietest rooms we've ever had.

Glad you liked the Attic area. We had pool view, no firework viewing.

 

[BillPA]

We have been members, purchased direct almost 24 years ago, if I get my requested location on the next trip it will be my first.
So it's not just resale buyers, it just the un-luck of the draw.

 

[CarolMN]

I also think the room assigners do the best they can. Keep in mind that a large majority of guests request the same thing at a particular resort. In addition to that limitation, there also has to be guests checking out from those limited desirable rooms for them to be available for the arriving guests.

Room assignments have to be one of the most thankless tasks a CM can do. Even if one does a fantastic job, guests & front desk CMs can mess it all up (and I think they often do) & the assigner is blamed.

 

[com_op_2000]

...In the future if you have a medical reason for making a particular request, have the MS CM make a note that the request was made due to a medical issue. That might improve your odds of getting what you requested.

If you have MS place a request on your reservation - do NOT do online check-in; this overrides any request MS may have placed on the reservation.

 

[DenLo]

I also think the room assigners do the best they can. Keep in mind that a large majority of guests request the same thing at a particular resort. In addition to that limitation, there also has to be guests checking out from those limited desirable rooms for them to be available for the arriving guests.

Room assignments have to be one of the most thankless tasks a CM can do. Even if one does a fantastic job, guests & front desk CMs can mess it all up (and I think they often do) & the assigner is blamed.

I agree and of course the CMs at the front desk are making the changes because guests don't want to wait for the room or they don't like their room location etc. I think the later you arrive the higher chance you will not get any of your requests, because someone has changed their room at the front desk and probably taken your requested room.

We don't always make a request anymore, but when we do we sometimes have multiple requests like at BLT when doing lake view, we will request even numbered room, high floor. We might be lucky enough to one of them and often it is the first one. At Kidani we always ask for a low floor and usually end up on the 4th floor often 2 beads from the end or further along. At SSR we often ask for Congress Park and near a laundry room since we are in a studio (2017 or later the Congress Park request will only be for those guests staying the Preferred room category).

 

[Hopefully]

We have been direct purchase members at BCV for 8 years and I have never gotten my request. I make very generic requests like water view etc, and have never gotten one.
I don't expect it and I have never been miserable in the room I have been given.
I totally believe it is the luck of the draw etc.