Do you usually get a phone call confirming room requests before checkin?

[kboo]

We are coming up on our first DVC points stay in a week, and I got a phone call today from a CM at BLT confirming my room request, letting me know about OLCI, and giving me a little information about the location about the standard room categories (that at BLT, they only go as high as the 5th floor).

I had previously emailed a request and gotten an email confirmation, so wasn't really expecting further personal follow up. (Although I was also playing around on the touring plans site and ended up accidentally requesting they fax a request in, which coincided with the request I made over email, and I couldn't figure out how to undo the room request fax.)

I had also previously gotten a voice mail from DVC a few weeks ago expressing appreciation for our being DVC owners, etc etc.

Is this typical? Or were they perhaps trying to soften the ire from the announcement about the direct points threshold for perks? Or recognizing that we spend a ton of money while we are there (basically with 2 "princesses," we have the words "suckers" floating in little word clouds over our heads)? Either way, it doesn't matter to me, and it's not going to make me decide suddenly to buy a bunch of direct points, but I thought it was a nice touch.

 

[CarolMN]

Have never received a call prior to arrival.

 

[Wakey]

I've never heard of this. Wonder if it is a new customer care initiative?

 

[Spartan86]

Haven’t had a call. But I read of a similar experience recently for a SSR stay. We did get a heads up email about a week out for a 1 night VGF studio stay informing us of a HA room assignment.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

We are coming up on our first DVC points stay in a week, and I got a phone call today from a CM at BLT confirming my room request, letting me know about OLCI, and giving me a little information about the location about the standard room categories (that at BLT, they only go as high as the 5th floor).

I had previously emailed a request and gotten an email confirmation, so wasn't really expecting further personal follow up. (Although I was also playing around on the touring plans site and ended up accidentally requesting they fax a request in, which coincided with the request I made over email, and I couldn't figure out how to undo the room request fax.)

I had also previously gotten a voice mail from DVC a few weeks ago expressing appreciation for our being DVC owners, etc etc.

Is this typical? Or were they perhaps trying to soften the ire from the announcement about the direct points threshold for perks? Or recognizing that we spend a ton of money while we are there (basically with 2 "princesses," we have the words "suckers" floating in little word clouds over our heads)? Either way, it doesn't matter to me, and it's not going to make me decide suddenly to buy a bunch of direct points, but I thought it was a nice touch.

Well that's nice! Had our first DVC stay last week and the lady at check in was a real witch and seemed annoyed by having to write names on birthday buttons! And we got hit with a handling fee for the package we'd sent ahead (didn't realize that was a new thing). Nope! Nothing special for us! lol And while I don't have a lot of points, they are all direct and I've already had to buy OTU points. So, they're definitely getting my money!

That being said, we did get a great room location and hadn't put in any requests ourselves. I do believe the very nice CM that took my reservation over the phone may have added requests. She asked me if I wanted to make any room requests and I said "no" then she asked me a lot of questions about our stay and plans and basically the call seemed to drag on longer than it needed to. We ended up with a room with a view of DS and so close to the walking path at SSR. It was a very last minute reservation.

 

[BillPA]

This has happened for about 3 years now. They confirm, ask if any help with FP and Dining in required. I hope it keep going.

 

[kboo]

Well that's nice! Had our first DVC stay last week and the lady at check in was a real witch and seemed annoyed by having to write names on birthday buttons! And we got hit with a handling fee for the package we'd sent ahead (didn't realize that was a new thing). Nope! Nothing special for us! lol And while I don't have a lot of points, they are all direct and I've already had to buy OTU points. So, they're definitely getting my money!

That being said, we did get a great room location and hadn't put in any requests ourselves. I do believe the very nice CM that took my reservation over the phone may have added requests. She asked me if I wanted to make any room requests and I said "no" then she asked me a lot of questions about our stay and plans and basically the call seemed to drag on longer than it needed to. We ended up with a room with a view of DS and so close to the walking path at SSR. It was a very last minute reservation.

I liked your post because of the nice room location. I felt bad because I was basically mashing buttons at the touring plans site and couldn't figure out how to undo my fax request (and didn't want to "change" it).

 

[disneynutz]

The call probably came from the resort after the room assigner did their assignment. The resort and DVC are separate groups and each does their own thing. Often the different resorts will also do their own thing, changing policies as the management changes which is often. The resort might check you in at curbside, call you prior to your arrival, call you during your stay, or send a gift or card to your room.

Bill

 

[CMNJ]

We also received a call from BLT prior to our Nov stay. The man I spoke with was very nice and the call seems like it went just like yours. Not to get your hopes up but we had put in a pretty popular room request and we had a late arrival (approx 6:30 pm). We got exactly what we requested and had an amazing view-Bay lake in one direction and MK in the other. We were able to watch the MK fireworks from our balcony 2 nights. This was a lake view studio.
We have had several stays over the past few years and this was the first time we ever got one of those calls.

 

[DVCjj]

Never, ever received a call even though I've asked MS to enter a (general) location request and also called the resort 10 days prior. Though with the latter, I really presume it's reached the 3rd party call center and not the resort. (except for one time when the call definitely reached the BWV front desk).

I get what I request about 50% of the time. For me and DH, we really don't care.....much prefer early check-in anywhere. I try to make a request for the DD & DD/SIL.

The one time I actually requested a specific room(s). Will never do that again. It was the only time we waited til well after 4:00 to get in. Definitely not worth it for us.

 

[kboo]

The call probably came from the resort after the room assigner did their assignment. The resort and DVC are separate groups and each does their own thing. Often the different resorts will also do their own thing, changing policies as the management changes which is often. The resort might check you in at curbside, call you prior to your arrival, call you during your stay, or send a gift or card to your room.

Bill

Thanks! I thought it was a nice, more personal touch. Though now that they called, if we don't get our room request, I'll feel like they made the call just to make sure I know they got my room request and then chose to ignore it. Oh well, I'll be at Disney, on a much-needed vacation. As long as we have a room that is the size we requested, and everything essential works, I will be happy.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Yes, we've received those type of calls 1 or 2 times. It's MS who does the calling and they started doing this periodically a few years ago.

For me - it just took up my time to answer the phone! I'm sure a nice touch but they had nothing to tell me I didn't already know. Really was just checking off a list they had I believe.

On the other hand I have also received a similar call directly from GC/VGC about a request. That was nice and I appreciate the call to discuss as it had a few questions that came about because of the particular request.

 

[southerngirl528]

This has happened for about 3 years now. They confirm, ask if any help with FP and Dining in required. I hope it keep going.

Interesting. I stayed at VGF twice last summer and didn't get a call either time.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Interesting. I stayed at VGF twice last summer and didn't get a call either time.

It seems to be completely random and rare. But then last year people were getting gifts from the resorts at times - chocolate etc. We had never gotten that but finally at VGF while there in April for the Darkside we got a little acknowledgement. It would be nice if it weren't so random but not my decision to make.

 

[southerngirl528]

It seems to be completely random and rare. But then last year people were getting gifts from the resorts at times - chocolate etc. We had never gotten that but finally at VGF while there in April for the Darkside we got a little acknowledgement. It would be nice if it weren't so random but not my decision to make.

Thanks for that input, Kat4!

 

[kboo]

I think the randomness is calculated - something back in my psychology studies about how subjects "learn" the best and retain that "learning" when the reward only comes at random times (as opposed to every time the test subject does a behavior you want them to do). I would not try this at home, LOL.

 

[Sleepy425]

Whoops can’t quote Kboo, I posted before I remembered to quote -
I think that a lot of the fancy chocolate was given out after the hurricane of 2016 (I remember there were quite a few threads about people at Bwv or BCV getting some) - it was hypothesized here on the boards that it was made for private events that had to be canceled due to the storm messing up people’s travel plans.
So if you want a better chance for free stuff, you can hope a hurricane hits before your trip

 

[kboo]

Whoops can’t quote Kboo, I posted before I remembered to quote -
I think that a lot of the fancy chocolate was given out after the hurricane of 2016 (I remember there were quite a few threads about people at Bwv or BCV getting some) - it was hypothesized here on the boards that it was made for private events that had to be canceled due to the storm messing up people’s travel plans.
So if you want a better chance for free stuff, you can hope a hurricane hits before your trip

Hmmm... that's not likely to happen in the next ... 5 days...

Also I was reading about the hurricanes canceling peoples' trips last fall. While in the general scheme of things that is a small(ish) thing to deal with considering other people who lost their homes or their lives, it would still suck and I would not ever wish that on someone for anything.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Whoops can’t quote Kboo, I posted before I remembered to quote -
I think that a lot of the fancy chocolate was given out after the hurricane of 2016 (I remember there were quite a few threads about people at Bwv or BCV getting some) - it was hypothesized here on the boards that it was made for private events that had to be canceled due to the storm messing up people’s travel plans.
So if you want a better chance for free stuff, you can hope a hurricane hits before your trip

The majority I read about were around the first of the year but continued for awhile. It was a program that was announced for DVC and members were getting thank you's for a certain number of visits to the resort or for lengths of their membership.

 

[Wakey]

I'm in UK and don't even get bloody Disney Files aka DVD sales magazine.
I do get the dues demand though- unsurprisingly that one makes it across the Atlantic.