HELP-Our Christmas Reservation Got Changed!!!!!

[Tcsj]

In March after we got back from Aulani, we booked cash reservations for 2 weeks over Christmas, a week at 2 different villa resorts. We have subsequently canceled our second week cash, and booked thru points. No changes were ever made to week 1. Tonight we went on line and our 2 bedroom villa reservation at Beach Club has changed to a 1 bedroom. 1 bedroom will not work for our family size, OR medical requirements. All of our paperwork/printed confirmations show 2 bedroom, and on Nov 10 we did our on-line check in and it showed a 2 bedroom. So tonight I was on the phone with DVC Member Services over an hour, they acknowledge all of the above, but have no explanation why it changed to a one bedroom, other than the mention that IT or someone was in our account profile to make some changes for some reason, and maybe they made the change. We are extremely upset. Based on having the required and desired accommodations, we have purchased our annual passes, and have paid over $12,000 for our flights (non refundable). MS advise they have to wait till tomorrow to speak to all the departments to try and figure it out, but as of now there are no accommodations available ANYWHERE for us. Any advise??

 

[AmyB2006]

Any advise??

Don't take "no" for an answer.

That's messed up. If you have confirmation for a 2 bedroom and you did online check in for a 2 bedroom, and then by no fault of yours, they changed it to a 1 bedroom??? I don't care if they put you in the Castle Suite… LOL, they need to fix that. Don't take "oh sorry, we don't know what happened, but have a magical day" for an answer.

 

[robinb]

That is horrible! So you have 1 2BR villa for 1 week and a 1BR for another week? Sadly, Christmas is the busiest time of year and a 2 BR may simply not be available ANYWHERE. So, you are going to have to come up with an alternative that will be acceptable to you. Maybe an extra room in the hotel part of the resort for free?

 

[Tcsj]

We booked both weeks as 2 bedroom villas (same as our annual trips for the past 9 years). Week one cash at Beach Club Villas. Week 2 WAS cash but changed months ago to points at SSR. Nov 10 we completed our on line check in, and I printed the confirmations that show 2 bedroom at each. Since than I called MS and requested views, locations etc, but no changes made. TOnight we went onto our account and it was changed to a 1 bedroom for week 1 at BCV. Supervisor confirmed she sees it was a 2 bedroom all along, she confirmed our on line check in was for a 2 bedroom, but for some reason someone changed it to a 1 bedroom. She is going to do what she can tomorrow when all departments are open but realistically what can she do? it is the busiest time of year. We had to have a 2 bedroom for family size and medical requirements. Have extensive plans completed, and large cash outlay based on our original reservation… We are heart broken.

 

[tjkraz]

IMO, it's time to make lemonade out of lemons. By 8 am you need to have some idea of what you consider to be the best solution to the problem. (And unfortunately, demanding the original 2B villa may not be realistic. Have something else in mind.)

Ask them to put you up in two or three connecting hotel rooms at the Beach Club.
If you had planned on cooking in the room, ask for concierge access, or for a suite at one of the hotels that will accommodate your party size.

DVC can't make a villa suddenly materialize...but they can foot the bill for more expensive hotel rooms to cover for their mistake.

When you speak to them in the morning, I would just start out with "our family discussed it last night and have a solution to propose." Offer one or two different suggestions similar to the above and dare them to turn you down.

You could also go onto the Disney World reservation website now and see if any Two Bedroom villas are showing up for cash reservations on your dates. DVC rooms are rightfully made available to cash guests on a regular basis. But if there are any unbooked rooms as of tomorrow morning, just flat out tell DVC do "get them back."

IMO, worst thing you can do is go into the call blindly and just wait for DVC to offer suggestions. You probably won't be 100% satisfied with their suggestions, and you'll be scrambling to decide how to react.

Use the next few hours to decide what you believe to be an acceptable compromise, and see if they'll bite.

 

[Dean]

Don't take "no" for an answer.

That's messed up. If you have confirmation for a 2 bedroom and you did online check in for a 2 bedroom, and then by no fault of yours, they changed it to a 1 bedroom??? I don't care if they put you in the Castle Suite… LOL, they need to fix that. Don't take "oh sorry, we don't know what happened, but have a magical day" for an answer.

There may be no choice, they can't give them what's not available and they will not take it back from someone else, nor should they. We've been in the situation vacations scheduled and an exchange that vanished and could not be replaced. They will do what they can but getting a 2 BR for that week at this point is close to impossible and if they are able to do so, it's likely going to be within a couple of days of checkin. They will likely come up with something but it might changing resorts part of the time or rooms in a hotel with concierge access or even at another resort, likely a less desirable resort.

We're all curious as to the explanation. I wonder if the party size is for 5 or less even though the OP said a 1 BR wouldn't work for their situation. As for medical issues, unless a HC unit is reserved, that is not an issue on DVC's side per se as it might apply to other situations. The OP needs a back up plan of options, just pushing and being upset is not going to help.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Where are you coming from that your flights were over $12,000!!!!!????

 

[snarlingcoyote]

IMO, it's time to make lemonade out of lemons. By 8 am you need to have some idea of what you consider to be the best solution to the problem. (And unfortunately, demanding the original 2B villa may not be realistic. Have something else in mind.)

Ask them to put you up in two or three connecting hotel rooms at the Beach Club.
If you had planned on cooking in the room, ask for concierge access, or for a suite at one of the hotels that will accommodate your party size.

DVC can't make a villa suddenly materialize...but they can foot the bill for more expensive hotel rooms to cover for their mistake.

When you speak to them in the morning, I would just start out with "our family discussed it last night and have a solution to propose." Offer one or two different suggestions similar to the above and dare them to turn you down.

You could also go onto the Disney World reservation website now and see if any Two Bedroom villas are showing up for cash reservations on your dates. DVC rooms are rightfully made available to cash guests on a regular basis. But if there are any unbooked rooms as of tomorrow morning, just flat out tell DVC do "get them back."

IMO, worst thing you can do is go into the call blindly and just wait for DVC to offer suggestions. You probably won't be 100% satisfied with their suggestions, and you'll be scrambling to decide how to react.

Use the next few hours to decide what you believe to be an acceptable compromise, and see if they'll bite.

This!

I would also look for any 3 bedroom villas anywhere that are open and for any studios and one bedroom villas in your resort. (Disney can tag them onto your reservation.)

Figure out what they CAN do that would salvage the situation and stick to your guns until you get it. Use the broken record approach; be polite, but don't change from what you want. Go up the command chain if the first person can't/won't help you.

 

[Simba's Mom]

In March after we got back from Aulani, we booked cash reservations for 2 weeks over Christmas, a week at 2 different villa resorts. We have subsequently canceled our second week cash, and booked thru points. No changes were ever made to week 1. Tonight we went on line and our 2 bedroom villa reservation at Beach Club has changed to a 1 bedroom. 1 bedroom will not work for our family size, OR medical requirements. All of our paperwork/printed confirmations show 2 bedroom, and on Nov 10 we did our on-line check in and it showed a 2 bedroom. So tonight I was on the phone with DVC Member Services over an hour, they acknowledge all of the above, but have no explanation why it changed to a one bedroom, other than the mention that IT or someone was in our account profile to make some changes for some reason, and maybe they made the change. We are extremely upset. Based on having the required and desired accommodations, we have purchased our annual passes, and have paid over $12,000 for our flights (non refundable). MS advise they have to wait till tomorrow to speak to all the departments to try and figure it out, but as of now there are no accommodations available ANYWHERE for us. Any advise??

If it's any consolation, we had a somewhat similar experience (reservation cancelled inesplicably at sold-out resort) and things worked out. People DO cancel, sometimes that day. Call back MS, speak to a supervisor politely, that's what we did (although I'll admit that it took all the self-control I had not to scream, panic, etc.) At the time we were at Hilton Head, arrived to find that the last 3 days had been cancelled, and no one knew why (or so they claimed-MS got REALLY nice after they "reviewed the tapes") The resort was sold out but we'd flown so we were stuck there. I think it was us threatening to drag a mattress out under the trees to sleep that helped. However, we rarely knew from one day to the next where/if we had a room. But it all worked out, and although it took 5 years we can finally say we can laugh about it.

 

[robinb]

Any update OP?

 

[DisneyRegulars]

If it's any consolation, we had a somewhat similar experience (reservation cancelled inesplicably at sold-out resort) and things worked out. People DO cancel, sometimes that day. Call back MS, speak to a supervisor politely, that's what we did (although I'll admit that it took all the self-control I had not to scream, panic, etc.) At the time we were at Hilton Head, arrived to find that the last 3 days had been cancelled, and no one knew why (or so they claimed-MS got REALLY nice after they "reviewed the tapes") The resort was sold out but we'd flown so we were stuck there. I think it was us threatening to drag a mattress out under the trees to sleep that helped. However, we rarely knew from one day to the next where/if we had a room. But it all worked out, and although it took 5 years we can finally say we can laugh about it.

Yes, same thing happened to me a week or so ago. All of a sudden the first day of my reservation got deleted. After an evening of panic I called MS in the morning and they were able to fix my reservation with 25 minutes or so of me waiting on hold. Like the OP I had also already done online check-in for the cancelled night. The whole thing was just weird, and has left me nervous about all future reservations. I think my original problem stemmed from them incorrectly linking two reservations that I had, and instead of linking them, they just deleted the first one by accident.

OP I hope they come up with something for you. In my mind before I called MS I was coming up with options that I felt were acceptable. If you end up with a room without a kitchen be sure to request to be comped a dining plan.

 

[dgaston]

Any updates?

 

[tjkraz]

Where are you coming from that your flights were over $12,000!!!!!????

Maybe typo? $1200?

Seems like you could fly to Florida from the North Pole for less than $12K in early December.

 

[Tcsj]

UPDATE: Flights are actually over $12000 for family of five from northern Canada to Orlando over Christmas and New years

I called late morning and the Supervisor I spoke to last night was on the phone working on it. She called me back early aft. She confirmed she has two additional levels of Disney management involved, several other departments, and they are all working to make us 100% happy. She assured me we will have the 2 bedroom villa as promised, and confirmed management has one with our name on it. She said we can be fully confident in continuing to plan the trip etc. She is also extremely professional, and empathetic to our situation. It won't show on our profile until they sort it out internally. We are Ok (but little nervous) with this - and I did have my wife listening in as back up…. BUT….the Supervisor is starting 5 days vacation today. She again assured me there are several levels (mentioned an Executive position) that have taken an interest in getting this fixed….Nothing is easy. Will continue to wait.

 

[dianeschlicht]

UPDATE: Flights are actually over $12000 for family of five from northern Canada to Orlando over Christmas and New years

I called late morning and the Supervisor I spoke to last night was on the phone working on it. She called me back early aft. She confirmed she has two additional levels of Disney management involved, several other departments, and they are all working to make us 100% happy. She assured me we will have the 2 bedroom villa as promised, and confirmed management has one with our name on it. She said we can be fully confident in continuing to plan the trip etc. She is also extremely professional, and empathetic to our situation. It won't show on our profile until they sort it out internally. We are Ok (but little nervous) with this - and I did have my wife listening in as back up…. BUT….the Supervisor is starting 5 days vacation today. She again assured me there are several levels (mentioned an Executive position) that have taken an interest in getting this fixed….Nothing is easy. Will continue to wait.

Sounds like you got their attention anyway! WOW to that airfare! That would be a deterrent for me to travel at this time of year.

 

[murcor]

UPDATE: Flights are actually over $12000 for family of five from northern Canada to Orlando over Christmas and New years

I called late morning and the Supervisor I spoke to last night was on the phone working on it. She called me back early aft. She confirmed she has two additional levels of Disney management involved, several other departments, and they are all working to make us 100% happy. She assured me we will have the 2 bedroom villa as promised, and confirmed management has one with our name on it. She said we can be fully confident in continuing to plan the trip etc. She is also extremely professional, and empathetic to our situation. It won't show on our profile until they sort it out internally. We are Ok (but little nervous) with this - and I did have my wife listening in as back up…. BUT….the Supervisor is starting 5 days vacation today. She again assured me there are several levels (mentioned an Executive position) that have taken an interest in getting this fixed….Nothing is easy. Will continue to wait.

I know its not cheap to fly from many small areas in/out of Canada

 

[TriMom]

Seems like you could fly to Florida from the North Pole for less than $12K in early December.

UPDATE: Flights are actually over $12000 for family of five from northern Canada to Orlando over Christmas and New years

So they ARE flying from the North Pole!

I am glad you have management working on the case, and pixie dust it all works out seamlessly!

 

[myzel]

No idea where they are, but I just did an Expedia search from Edmonton AB and flights ranged from 6500 to 15000. Wow for Five adults return.

 

[Tcsj]

Yup, we fly out of Edmonton. Booked our flights this summer, and got the best possible deal, even split between 2 airlines, one each way. We travel to the US extensively and estimate airline costs to be close to triple due to the time of year. In the past we have flown to Orlando for under $4000. But….After 8-9 years of annual DIsney trips, and our first trip to our home resort Aulani Feb 2013, we really wanted to make the effort to get our family to WDW over Christmas at least once while we could.

By the way, we really do appreciate the support of our on-line "families" that we could vent to and seek advise. THANK YOU.

 

[Tcsj]

Should also mention that it feels like the north pole. With wind chill tonight we are at - 45 celcius, - 49 fahrenheit………..