VGF Handicap/ADA studio room 1428-offered a $200 credit/no other room available

[Marionnette]

Oh I definitely know. But does Disney, lol?

Not sure about other resorts, but if you're booking a HA studio at GF, they have several different choices including roll-in shower or HA tub/shower.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

When we checked in last week, we were assigned a handicapped accessible room, which we did not request nor did we need. I visited the front desk and informed the cast member that we had no shower stall or drawers under the bed for our clothing. Our bathroom consisted of the shower/tub combo, vanity and toilet in one room. This was an issue for us as we were counting on the two showers and the separation each provided.

The cast member informed me there were no other rooms available and awarded me a $200 room credit. Yes, this was unexpected and welcomed. However, I was still bummed as I used my points for this room for the "bathroom benefit". I chose not to press the issue any further as I did not want to upset the kids or my husband.

Does anyone know if have any further action against DVC? i.e. point refund? Has anyone experienced a similar issue?

I firmly believe that those who whine about these rooms will be the ones whining in a few years when they need one and can't get it.(yes your post is a whining complaint)
Karma


I don't want my dues paying for this $200. What a waste of money

 

[sndral]

You don't even have to whine - I was in a 1 br @ the VGF and noticed the toilet was running, not being a plumber & not knowing how to make the constant running water sound stop, I mentioned it to the desk on my way out & suggested they send some one to fix it while we were out. Came back late that night & it wasn't fixed. Next day went to a park, came back, still not fixed. I sent my son down to let them know and specifically said to tell them - I'm not complaining, I don't want anything, I just think it's a trivial maintenance issue that should be attended to. All I had to do to not hear the noise was to close the bathroom doors, after all. Son came back up & reported that he couldn't stop them from putting the credit ($200, I think, maybe $100) on my account. Thinking back on it, I should have gone down and said please keep your money, but could you throw a couple of FPs my way

 

[GranJan]

On our very first stay at our home resort (BWV), we were assigned an HA studio that we did not request or need. It was a very inconvenient room -- no storage in the bathroom, no wall safe and a wardrobe instead of the usual large closet in the room. The wardrobe was fully loaded with the vacuum cleaner, ironing board, iron, and a pack'n'play. In order to hang up some clothes we had to unload all that heavy stuff and pile it up in one corner of the room. It kind of ruins the magic when you have a vacuum cleaner and ironing board sitting out in your room all week! We did go back to the front desk after first seeing the room and asked to be moved but it was early December and the resort was fully booked. I knew from reading these boards that we all must be prepared to "take our turn" in an HA room so we dealt with it. We improvised as best we could to make the room work for us and we didn't let it ruin our stay.

What did upset me was how poorly those rooms would work for someone who actually needs an HA room. No storage in the bathroom yet there was plenty of room to install a few shelves. No place to hang clothes without unloading a bunch of large, heavy items and even then, the hangers were too high to be reachable from a wheelchair. No safe. Why? There was nothing "accessible" about those rooms except for the roll-in shower. Everything else was awkward and inconvenient. I hope that in one of the recent refurbishments at BWV, Disney has made some improvements to those rooms. There is no reason for the HA rooms to be so undesirable.

OP, I'm sorry you didn't get the room you were expecting but as you can tell from the responses, it has happened to many of us.

I agree. We have to have HA rooms & I often wonder what they were thinking when they designed these rooms. Instead of warning people that they may unfortunately get placed in a HA room, they should design the HA rooms in such a way that people wouldn't feel it was so terrible to have to stay in one.

 

[Strikan]

We are at VGF right now and we're assigned a HA one bedroom on Friday when we checked in. I was surprised how different the bathrooms are. If you do not need a HA room, you really are getting a lesser experience. As we are here for a full week we asked to be switched and they were able to do that on the Saturday when many people check out. I understand someone has to get the HA rooms but I do think they could have done a better job with the bathrooms.

 

[Best Aunt]

I got assigned a HA studio at BCV on a cash resie booked through Disney (used three years' worth of my points to put my brother's family in a 2 bedroom because I'm the Best Aunt in the world). I asked at the front desk before I went to the room if it was going to be a HA room. They said yes. I asked if anything else was available. They said no. That was the end of that. This was before the recent refurb. There was an armoire in front of the bed instead of a closet. The place where the closet would have been was a big empty space. There was no storage space in the bathroom. It seemed like the designer's only thought was that someone might need enough space for a wheelchair to turn around in the bathroom, and someplace to put a wheelchair at night.

 

[Chuck S]

I feel that it should be made known at time of booking there is a chance of obtaining this type of room.

For the record, there is a chance that ANYONE on any booking at any DVC resort, could receive an HA unit. They are part of the overall timeshare, points for them were included in the resort set up. As others said, if HA units are not reserved by those who need them, you could be placed in one. Plus if a unit goes out of service for damage or repairs, guests have to be placed somewhere.

As far as the bathrooms, the ADA requires a certain turning radius for wheelchair compatibility, and they really can't place storage higher than a wheelchair bound person can comfortably reach. Many have roll-in showers, and no bathtub, as well.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We've been assigned a HA studio several times and never been compensated. One time I asked at the front desk, before going to our room, "Is this a HA villa?" "Oh, No!" I was assured. Surprise! Once I was told, "Yes-you can move, but there's a $25 move fee" -this was after we'd been in the room less than 5 minutes, just long enough to figure out there was no tub.

 

[Dean Marino]

For the record, there is a chance that ANYONE on any booking at any DVC resort, could receive an HA unit. They are part of the overall timeshare, points for them were included in the resort set up. As others said, if HA units are not reserved by those who need them, you could be placed in one. Plus if a unit goes out of service for damage or repairs, guests have to be placed somewhere.

As far as the bathrooms, the ADA requires a certain turning radius for wheelchair compatibility, and they really can't place storage higher than a wheelchair bound person can comfortably reach. Many have roll-in showers, and no bathtub, as well.

Yup - glad you mentioned this. It actually points out a bit of a "room Request" problem.
WE (homed at BRV), would rather have room request choices that EXCLUDED certain options, rather than INCUDED certain options. Like...

1) No dumpster view.
2) No ADA rooms.

Look, savy DVC members are already DOING this, by trying to "guess" what category of room request will keep them OUT of these rooms. Would it not be better to just let us actually REQUEST instead of playing Request Roulette?

These, as always, are REQUESTS.... not demands. But at least WE would like HONEST requests, honoring WDS's ability to just say "No".

Oh - BTW - Wife and I have also lost the lottery, and gotten an ADA room . Didn't need it, and felt guilty because we may have taken this room away from someone that DID need it .

 

[disneynutz]

Changing someones reservation to an ADA room is done by the room assigner during the room assigning process just prior to check in. The reason that they are assigned is because they were not booked so they are not being taken from someone who needs it.

Bill

 

[_auroraborealis_]

No one WANTS the dumpster view. Come on. Every assignor already knows that.

Someone will get it.

 

[keaster]

In 2014 I booked a standard view studio at VGF for DH and I for our anniversary. About week before our trip, the reservation on the DVC site all of a sudden showed it as "Standard Studio HA". I called MS and politely asked them if we could change to a regular room as we were looking forward to the standard configuration studio and that we did not need or request an HA villa. They were kind enough to change it for us. Again, I was completely polite and said I would understand if they could not change it at that point.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Yup - glad you mentioned this. It actually points out a bit of a "room Request" problem.
WE (homed at BRV), would rather have room request choices that EXCLUDED certain options, rather than INCUDED certain options. Like...

1) No dumpster view.
2) No ADA rooms.

Look, savy DVC members are already DOING this, by trying to "guess" what category of room request will keep them OUT of these rooms. Would it not be better to just let us actually REQUEST instead of playing Request Roulette?

These, as always, are REQUESTS.... not demands. But at least WE would like HONEST requests, honoring WDS's ability to just say "No".

Oh - BTW - Wife and I have also lost the lottery, and gotten an ADA room . Didn't need it, and felt guilty because we may have taken this room away from someone that DID need it .

Because DVC members don't understand the meaning of the word "request" When a request is not received a large portion of your fellow members turn into two year olds being told NO. They scream at Cast Members, they threaten to sue, they stomp their feet and otherwise act like spoiled brats. (I once saw one threaten to beat up a CM!)

 

[Chuck S]

Because DVC members don't understand the meaning of the word "request" When a request is not received a large portion of your fellow members turn into two year olds being told NO. They scream at Cast Members, they threaten to sue, they stomp their feet and otherwise act like spoiled brats. (I once saw one threaten to beat up a CM!)

Or the ever popular..."I pay your salary through my dues. Do you know how much I paid for this DVC thing?"

 

[_auroraborealis_]

"I'm a DVC member, you can't treat me this way!" in response to getting Pago Pago. I saw it. It was epic.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Because DVC members don't understand the meaning of the word "request" When a request is not received a large portion of your fellow members turn into two year olds being told NO. They scream at Cast Members, they threaten to sue, they stomp their feet and otherwise act like spoiled brats. (I once saw one threaten to beat up a CM!)

I'm sure that happens but it happens to the resorts too - the worst one's I have seen have always been cash rooms.

 

[kristenrice]

In 2010 (before Wi-Fi), we took an Easter trip with my parents to AKV-Kidani. I initially booked us into a "2BR" but then called back to request a lock-off. The CM told me that the lock-off is a separate booking category so she had to re-do my reservation. No big deal, but we needed the lock-off because my parents would be taking the studio portion and my dad needed the internet connection to get some work done. In the dedicated 2BR, the only ethernet port was in the master bedroom, which was the one I would need for my computer. Our confirmation said "2BR lock-off" on it and we were specifically told that it is not a request, it is a guaranteed booking category.

When we arrived at Kidani (after spending 2 nights in separate studios at Jambo), it was about 10pm because we'd spent the day at Epcot. We got to our room and found that it was, in fact, a dedicated 2BR...and a HA one at that. I went to the front desk and asked for reassignment to the correct room, which of course, was not going to happen over Easter week since they were full. We were offered a new, lock-off room as soon as one became available in the morning, which we agreed to take. We figure that someone checked in before us, found out that they were assigned a HA room and didn't want it, so they complained and were re-assigned to the lock-off that we were supposed to get. I don't blame anyone...the guest for asking or the resort for being accommodating. I think it was just a communication error. I was very upset because, like most of us, we want our vacation to be "perfect" and this was not what we had planned.

The next morning, I called DVC Member Services, not to complain, but more to advise them that there was a communication gap between MS and the resort itself. Assigning a room that does not meet the guaranteed criteria of what was reserved is not good practice, especially if it is not an upgrade. To be honest, I was still a bit upset, but I was calm and not accusatory or angry with the CM. The MS CM thanked me for my call and then proceeded to have a 3-way call with the on-duty manager at AKV. We were then given a $200 resort credit for our "inconvenience" and told that our new room would be "expedited".

After our trip, I received a call from Member Satisfaction. The gentleman asked me a few questions about our experience and I told him what had happened and that it was resolved to our satisfaction. He graciously offered to refund our points that were used for that night (a weekend night in a 2BR standard view during Premiere season!) and they would go back into our current UY. I was able to bank them and we ended up taking an unplanned trip to HHI the next year...and buying an HHI contract direct from DVD!

I agree that the HA rooms are not my favorite either. If I went to book a room and the only thing left at my preferred resort was a HA room, I would book at a different resort or in a different room type.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...I agree that the HA rooms are not my favorite either. If I went to book a room and the only thing left at my preferred resort was a HA room, I would book at a different resort or in a different room type.

But you don't know until you check in. If you need one, you can book one specifically. But if you don't, you can't not book one.

 

[littlestar]

Too bad DVC does not have it as a booking category. Wyndham does and you know ahead of time that is what you are getting.

 

[Dean]

Too bad DVC does not have it as a booking category. Wyndham does and you know ahead of time that is what you are getting.

Basically they do they just don't tell you