Check in vs request success poll

[Louis morrell]

After my last resort room assignments and subsequent discussion with the manager about check in type and room assignment I wanted to gather a little data.

 

[R&RsMom]

deleted

 

[Chuck S]

I always make my requests through member services shortly after I make the reservation. And I get them about 75% of the time. I use online check-in, but I do not select any requests there, as that over-rides any requests you've made with member services.

 

[tjkraz]

Lot of variables missing from discussion. Most notably, a request for "rooms A, B or C" is a lot harder to fill than "upper floor room."

 

[Louis morrell]

To clarify, the question is more about the type of check in procedure you use rather than how you made a request or what you requested. I am wondering if online check in reduces your chances of getting your request or at least not getting the worst room in the resort. At this point the only data I have is my own experience over the last several years and what the resort manager shared with me during our conversation.

 

[sndral]

I voted, but I’m not sure you’ll gather the data you’re looking for because although I do online check in I never select any of the location requests they offer since doing so overrides the location requests I’ve made via phone/chat/email to MS.
I do online check in hoping to get my room ready text & thus not have to stop at the front desk when I arrive.
I am curious what the manager told you & which resort was involved, my belief is that room assignments are made at some central location mostly by computer w/ some human tweaking several days before arrival (I’ve read that it’s 3 days, 5 days, & a week before arrival - so ) & that each resort front desk can tweak things further on the day of arrival, but my sense is that some resort front desks/management are more or less willing to rearrange things on the day of check in depending on how things are done at that resort.
Also, what time of day you arrive may make a difference in how willing they are to shuffle things around, since DVC operates at nearly 100% occupancy there’s not a lot of room to maneuver.
I do know that a couple of years ago they did some rearranging of my room on the day of because when I landed at MCO I had 3 room ready texts in a row - the first was the 1 br. at Jambo I’d booked, the second was a studio at Kidani (which would have been a downgrade) & the third was back to another 1 br. at Jambo.

 

[CarolynFH]

I always make my requests through member services shortly after I make the reservation. And I get them about 75% of the time. I use online check-in, but I do not select any requests there, as that over-rides any requests you've made with member services.

This is what we do, too.

 

[drusba]

All our requests are made through MS, usually made a few months before arrival, which have succeeded at times and others not. We do not use the online request section during check-in online, including because it allows only limited requests and a number of them are ridiculous. For example, the online request section for Jambo offers "high floor" as a request, which request is 100% guaranteed to succeed because all DVC rooms are on the fifth floor (except for club level on the sixth). Likewise, you can request "near an elevator" for Kidani and again your chances of success are 100% because, with three sets of elevators along each the two wings, a near elevator request can be met by putting you in any room in the building.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I always make my requests through member services shortly after I make the reservation. And I get them about 75% of the time. I use online check-in, but I do not select any requests there, as that over-rides any requests you've made with member services.

This is us, too. Much better success doing it through MS than making requests online. The front desk has been helpful sometimes, too. But I didn't vote because we don't really use the options in the poll.

 

[Redheadprincess]

I have a 90% success rate in getting my room requests. I usually do through the chat feature and only make one request.

 

[Pens Fan]

We have pretty good success getting our requests which are made via email to MS a couple of months prior to our trip. We always do online check in but never add any requests there. I try to keep my requests as broad as possible in hopes that will make it easier to get what we want.

I'm also curious about the conversation the OP had with the resort manager that seems to have prompted this poll.

 

[ehh]

For a long time we did online check-in, no in-person check-in, and would get our requests. Then one day we stopped getting our requests fulfilled, even general requests.

My recent MO has been to do online check-in to get everything on file, but still go to the lobby and check-in in-person as soon as we arrive.

During our check-in conversations multiple CMs have noted that they see our request, it wasn't fulfilled, but the CM checking us in can fulfill it. One time at BCV the CM couldn't fulfill our request but gave us non-specific alternative options to choose from, which we appreciated.

I'm also curious about the conversation the OP had with the resort manager that seems to have prompted this poll.

Likewise!

 

[Sandisw]

I can’t answer because we no longer worry about requests. We want first available room so we do online check in, and when we arrive, we go to the front desk to see if something else is ready in our rooms category.

Sometimes they have something and other times not…but, they note it and we end up typically getting our room between 2 and 4 pm.

 

[tom1944]

One time request and we got what we requested

I think our request was not a request many would’ve made so it was probably easy.

 

[Louis morrell]

Ok, here is why I started this poll. I requested a room with a certain view. There are many at this resort that would fulfill that request. I used the online check-in a week or so before wecarrivved without adding any request that would override my initial request. We arrived at about 2pm but did Not get a room number text until after 6pm. The room was exactly the opposite of our single request. Furthermore it was most likely one of the worst room views at this resort. We were overlooking the laundry service area. I called the resort number and the manager called back in about 10 min. She said there was nothing she could do that day but would move us in morning. Before online check-in was a thing we got our requests 90 percent of the time. Since we started using online check in that number is about 0 percent.
Long story short, I asked her if there was a better chance of getting the room we wanted if we upon arrival checked in at the desk. She chose her words carefully but finaly came right out and said that your chances were much better if you check in in person as soon as you arrive. She also knew the room wecwere in very well.

 

[Chuck S]

Well, I had a similar experience at Kidani the one time I stayed there. Now we had a really good view of the Savannah, so no complaint there, but I requested near lobby and near elevator, and the room we got was about as far away from the lobby as we could get.. It was quite the hike from the lobby to the room. Its a good thing I had preordered a scooter delivered for my friend with severe RA. The front desk said there were no requests on file, which meant one of two things, either MS lied when I verified my requests prior to the trip (extremely doubtful) or the front desk for some reason cancelled and rebooked the room, which deleted any requests. It really messes everything up when the front desk does anythiing within the DVC reservation system.

Due to the possibilty of that, I won't book Kidani in the future if I know I'm traveling with someone that has mobility issues.

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

I call member services for my request shortly after making my reservation, I do the online check in about a month before I go and do ok. My request are vague ( savanna with Giraffes at AKV, south side ( facing Contemporary) even number ( outside) room at BLT ( They say most ask for North side facing Magic Kingdom) . First floor at OKW. Staying elsewhere I don't think I have ever put in a request.

 

[Mle8308]

Ok, here is why I started this poll. I requested a room with a certain view. There are many at this resort that would fulfill that request. I used the online check-in a week or so before wecarrivved without adding any request that would override my initial request. We arrived at about 2pm but did Not get a room number text until after 6pm. The room was exactly the opposite of our single request. Furthermore it was most likely one of the worst room views at this resort. We were overlooking the laundry service area. I called the resort number and the manager called back in about 10 min. She said there was nothing she could do that day but would move us in morning. Before online check-in was a thing we got our requests 90 percent of the time. Since we started using online check in that number is about 0 percent.
Long story short, I asked her if there was a better chance of getting the room we wanted if we upon arrival checked in at the desk. She chose her words carefully but finaly came right out and said that your chances were much better if you check in in person as soon as you arrive. She also knew the room wecwere in very well.

I agree. As discussed in another post, we make requests online prior to arrival, making sure we are familiar with rooms in our category and where we’d like to stay. If we get the room ready text before we arrive and the room number is not familiar, I use Touring Plans and look it up. If the location works, then we go directly to the room. If it’s not what we want, once we get to the resort we go directly to the FD to see if anything else would be available, knowing we may have to wait. If we arrive before we get the text, we stop at the FD to see if the room assigned (though they don’t reveal the exact room) meets our requests. They can usually give you some idea if it does. If it does not, we ask if there is anything else that will be available, again knowing we may have to wait. Generally, the earlier you get to the hotel, the more rooms they will have to “play Tetris” with, since fewer people have checked in. It’s more difficult now because of online check in. The FD doesn’t really know if the guests have actually arrived, so they can’t use those rooms that have been texted out to use to swap with. Then again, there are some days when there just aren’t any rooms checking out that will meet requests so it’s take what is available and arrange for a room change the next day.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I think other have said this, but I make my requests at time of book.

I don’t the the check in process matter since, the rooms are assigned 14 days in advance, according to a back of house manager at BLT.

I do use online check in because it is just easier, to me .

 

[Sandisw]

Ok, here is why I started this poll. I requested a room with a certain view. There are many at this resort that would fulfill that request. I used the online check-in a week or so before wecarrivved without adding any request that would override my initial request. We arrived at about 2pm but did Not get a room number text until after 6pm. The room was exactly the opposite of our single request. Furthermore it was most likely one of the worst room views at this resort. We were overlooking the laundry service area. I called the resort number and the manager called back in about 10 min. She said there was nothing she could do that day but would move us in morning. Before online check-in was a thing we got our requests 90 percent of the time. Since we started using online check in that number is about 0 percent.
Long story short, I asked her if there was a better chance of getting the room we wanted if we upon arrival checked in at the desk. She chose her words carefully but finaly came right out and said that your chances were much better if you check in in person as soon as you arrive. She also knew the room wecwere in very well.

I think the reason that you might have a better chance to get it at check in is because when you talk to a CM and ask about it, they very well may move you move you to a rooms that was given to someone else who had a similar request and that person, since they have not checked in, will be changed and now find themselves in the same position of not having a request met.

Not saying it happens all the time like this, but we always ask for first available room when we arrive and when they have switched us, for all we know, the same domino effect happens.