When its all booked, but room has issues

[Club Cooloholic]

This is just a curious question, since DVC properties are often sold out, what does Disney do when they have a room or two that are out of commission, due to the previous guests or some other issue(plumbing problem etc...) I know it happens as it has happened to us with regular hotel room bookings, but there always seems to be a room or two available in those cases. What do they do with DVC?

 

[nickys]

This is just a curious question, since DVC properties are often sold out, what does Disney do when they have a room or two that are out of commission, due to the previous guests or some other issue(plumbing problem etc...) I know it happens as it has happened to us with regular hotel room bookings, but there always seems to be a room or two available in those cases. What do they do with DVC?

Disney own 3-5% of points so even though they rent rooms directly there will usually be an option to move guests to a different room.

Sometimes it might be a regular non-DVC room, or a different resort.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

This is just a curious question, since DVC properties are often sold out, what does Disney do when they have a room or two that are out of commission, due to the previous guests or some other issue(plumbing problem etc...) I know it happens as it has happened to us with regular hotel room bookings, but there always seems to be a room or two available in those cases. What do they do with DVC?

We had a 1 bedroom at SSR several years ago that just reeked of cigarette smoke. We couldn't even stand to be in the room - but they had a different 1 bedroom in a different building - still in Grandstand - that they were happy to move us to.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

We had a 1 bedroom at SSR several years ago that just reeked of cigarette smoke. We couldn't even stand to be in the room - but they had a different 1 bedroom in a different building - still in Grandstand - that they were happy to move us to.

I figured they could do that, now on say a Christmas week, I imagine this could be harder

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I figured they could do that, now on say a Christmas week, I imagine this could be harder

That's a good point. We always travel at slower times as we don't have young kids to worry about being in school anymore. Ours are in their 30's so if we do travel with them, they can just take vacation time.

 

[Phonedave]

In addition to DVC holding a percentage of the rooms (as they are required to by law) there are also rooms that come back from people trading out points for things such as cruises or ABD trips.

When somebody trades in 500 points for a cruise, DVC does not say "that's nice", and send DCL the appropriate amount of money. Remember, these are separate business units, with separate accounting and budgets. DVC "pays" DCL, but then DVC wants its' money back. It gets that by moving those points into cash only rooms. If all the points rooms are booked, and something happens to one of them, DVC can move that person into a cash only room.

This is different than breakage, which is where there are points only rooms left over. During the breakage period, DVC will release these rooms into the available for cash bucket as well. However when these rooms are rented, DVC collects only the operating costs (the portion of the cash price used to pay for front desk, pool events, maintenance, etc) the part of the rental rate that is "profit" actually goes back to the owners of the time share. You will see this on your annual report as "breakage income"

This is why you sometimes see rooms available for cash and not points, points and not cash, or both.

If it is breakage, it will be available for both cash or points
If it is something that came from traded out points, where DVC is trying to recoup their money, it is cash only (unless they have to use it to cover a defective room)

 

[Club Cooloholic]

In addition to DVC holding a percentage of the rooms (as they are required to by law) there are also rooms that come back from people trading out points for things such as cruises or ABD trips.

When somebody trades in 500 points for a cruise, DVC does not say "that's nice", and send DCL the appropriate amount of money. Remember, these are separate business units, with separate accounting and budgets. DVC "pays" DCL, but then DVC wants its' money back. It gets that by moving those points into cash only rooms. If all the points rooms are booked, and something happens to one of them, DVC can move that person into a cash only room.

This is different than breakage, which is where there are points only rooms left over. During the breakage period, DVC will release these rooms into the available for cash bucket as well. However when these rooms are rented, DVC collects only the operating costs (the portion of the cash price used to pay for front desk, pool events, maintenance, etc) the part of the rental rate that is "profit" actually goes back to the owners of the time share. You will see this on your annual report as "breakage income"

This is why you sometimes see rooms available for cash and not points, points and not cash, or both.

If it is breakage, it will be available for both cash or points
If it is something that came from traded out points, where DVC is trying to recoup their money, it is cash only (unless they have to use it to cover a defective room)

I guess my question, is more, do they keep a few rooms on reserve in case a room is left unusable so to damage or something not working properly? I imagine they would maybe move you to a hotel room or two to make up for say not having another 1bd available

 

[Doberge]

This past weekend I looked to extend my stay by one night. Member Sevices does not have information on available point rooms beyond what members can see on the website. However, individual resorts might have inventory that Member Services cannot see. To do this, call the desk from your room and they'll transfer to a different group to help. When at Jambo there was not another room at Jambo but they were able to find a room at Kidani. I was told I could pay cash or use points. I didn't book but called MS that confirmed (1) they did not see the room themselves and (2) that the resort would call MS to make booking on points. I was going to need to buy one time use points and to borrow for it to work, and the situation about MS not seeing the room and trusting desk to figure it out, I ended up too nervous and not risking buying one time use points some system error might come up and not let me use them. If I had currently available points and didn't need one time use and borrowed points I'd have given the AKL staff a shot to make it work.

MS also has cash rooms available if you ask. I was able to find some available but they were rather expensive, like $585 with tax for a Boardwalk standard studio. The day before needing the room there were a few options for 5 people but no cash options "same day."

Website chat can check point availability but must call for cash availability.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I guess my question, is more, do they keep a few rooms on reserve in case a room is left unusable so to damage or something not working properly? I imagine they would maybe move you to a hotel room or two to make up for say not having another 1bd available

If you have paid for a 1 bedroom with points, I don't think they can place you into a regular hotel room (or 2). If they were to do that, they would also have to refund the points I would think, as you are missing the full kitchen and washer/dryer that your points paid for. Unless it is an extremely busy time, like Thanksgiving or Christmas week, I would think that they would have a 1 bedroom available at a different resort. They might even just move you to a 2 bedroom if nothing else is available.

 

[nickys]

If you have paid for a 1 bedroom with points, I don't think they can place you into a regular hotel room (or 2). If they were to do that, they would also have to refund the points I would think, as you are missing the full kitchen and washer/dryer that your points paid for. Unless it is an extremely busy time, like Thanksgiving or Christmas week, I would think that they would have a 1 bedroom available at a different resort. They might even just move you to a 2 bedroom if nothing else is available.

They do though if they have to.

Often during a refurb they find they have to move people. And the options may not be like for like. During the Boardwalk refurb they were moving people from a 1-bed to a regular room at other resorts. It seems they simply looked at options where there were enough beds. Sometimes they gave gift cards to make up for food that could not be used, but their policy was that the cost of that regular room was about the same as the cash cost of the 1-bed.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

They do though if they have to.

Often during a refurb they find they have to move people. And the options may not be like for like. During the Boardwalk refurb they were moving people from a 1-bed to a regular room at other resorts. It seems they simply looked at options where there were enough beds. Sometimes they gave gift cards to make up for food that could not be used, but their policy was that the cost of that regular room was about the same as the cash cost of the 1-bed.

If they tried that with us, it needs to be concierge level or we will not be happy.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

If they tried that with us, it needs to be concierge level or we will not be happy.

And at least half my points back.

 

[Doberge]

The Cabins at Fort Wilderness, Saratoga Treehouse Cabins, and Copper Creek Cabins were all closed for the hurricane last month. I'm unsure what they did with people but some probably shared stories somewhere online.

 

[nickys]

If they tried that with us, it needs to be concierge level or we will not be happy.

And at least half my points back.

People weren’t happy. But it was take what was offered or cancel.

I would argue for the dining plan to cover the meals we would have cooked - we always do breakfast in the room unless we booked one elsewhere. Plus dinner maybe every second night.

And we would need 3 beds.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

The Cabins at Fort Wilderness, Saratoga Treehouse Cabins, and Copper Creek Cabins were all closed for the hurricane last month. I'm unsure what they did with people but some probably shared stories somewhere online.

It's different with a hurricane coming. We would be much more understanding about where they move us to in that situation. People are reporting that regular hotel bookings are down, so there was probably plenty of rooms to move everyone to - even if they had to split larger parties into multiple rooms.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

People weren’t happy. But it was take what was offered or cancel.

I would argue for the dining plan to cover the meals we would have cooked - we always do breakfast in the room unless we booked one elsewhere. Plus dinner maybe every second night.

And we would need 3 beds.

That would help with the sting, but I'd still want some sort of points refund as well. They can and have done that in the past for people that they have had to move.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

That would help with the sting, but I'd still want some sort of points refund as well. They can and have done that in the past for people that they have had to move.

I once got some points back because my room was right next to a construction site that started at 7:00 a.m. when it wasn't supposed to start till 9:00

 

[Phonedave]

I guess my question, is more, do they keep a few rooms on reserve in case a room is left unusable so to damage or something not working properly? I imagine they would maybe move you to a hotel room or two to make up for say not having another 1bd available

I don't know if they do. I do know of cases where there was an issue with rooms, and they moved people to an other resort to get them a place to stay. I don't know if there is ever an "all DVC units in WDW are booked at this time" situation.

 

[nickys]

I don't know if they do. I do know of cases where there was an issue with rooms, and they moved people to an other resort to get them a place to stay. I don't know if there is ever an "all DVC units in WDW are booked at this time" situation.

Given that people can and have been moved to non DVC rooms, then there must be times when there are no more rooms which they consider an acceptable option available.

It does seem like they have been more stingy recently….. But to be fair, we don’t know whether someone moved from BWV 1-bed to a regular room at BC turned down a move to a 1-bed at OKW or SSR, insisting on staying in the Epcot resort area.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Given that people can and have been moved to non DVC rooms, then there must be times when there are no more rooms which they consider an acceptable option available.

It does seem like they have been more stingy recently….. But to be fair, we don’t know whether someone moved from BWV 1-bed to a regular room at BC turned down a move to a 1-bed at OKW or SSR, insisting on staying in the Epcot resort area.

I think that some would rather move to a regular resort room over completely changing resorts, and that would be their choice. For us, if we are at BWV and they have to move us to SSR or OKW to stay in a similar room (only assuming a 1 bedroom or higher - not a studio), we would definitely move. Now since the points are usually lower at both of those resorts, we would expect a refund of the points difference. If it is just the 2 of us in a studio, then a regular resort room would work for us - as long as it is still in a deluxe resort.