Issues with room requests??

[Dsnygirl]

Now, let me preface this topic with the fact that I know no one is EVER guaranteed a room request -- regardless of whether or not it is for a specific room, a specific view (unless you pay for it) or a specific bldg/area of a resort that has multiple bldgs (again, unless you pay for a preferred room/bldg).

But -- that being the case, in past trips, I have never had a problem at least getting the area I would like to be in, or a room near someone who is travelling with me. I have even been upgraded as a surprise, and was eternally grateful for that one, as it was at AKL. :cloud9:

My most recent trip, however, I encountered very unwilling CM's when it came to this. I was travelling with three friends, and we had our reservations linked in the system so we could be near each other. As each of us checked in, we were told they weren't able to accomodate the request, and one girl was even in a different building. At this point, this particular friend asked to speak to a manager, as she wanted to at least get into the same building my other friend and I were in -- we had already accepted that our rooms weren't even close to each other, but at least they were in the same building.

When talking to the manager, she was very nice and went backstage to look at the reservations and rooms. When she came out, she was able to move our friend into our building, although still in an entirely different area than where we were -- not close to either of us. Now, this took her 5-10 minutes.... and it had taken the CM's at the counter over 20 minutes to say they had nothing. My friend asked the manager how she had been able to move her, when the front desk CM's couldn't, and the manager answered that she has a "different computer screen" to look at than the front desk, and she has access to more rooms. ???

I have always known the CM's to be great about moving people, and this was January -- we had no tour groups at our resort, and there was no way they were at capacity. We certainly didn't expect to have 3 rooms right next door to each other, as we were all checking in at different times, but to have had such an issue just getting into the same building and still be so far apart was surprising to me.

Have many of you also experienced this as of late?? I am hoping it was just a "glitch", as we're headed back to the World in August, to CBR, and we've always been able to get into the "island" that we prefer (it's not a preferred area) w/o any issues. I'm really hoping there isn't any kind of new "standard" out there that leaves the CM's w/o the ability to work with guests and their room assignments, as we've just never had a problem before. We're always willing to wait and leave our bags, if necessary, for the area we prefer -- and the CM's have always been happy to help. This time, though, it almost seemed as if their hands were tied, and I'm hoping that doesn't become the norm....

[DizneyRox]

Here's my take...

Disney doesn't really trust their employees. As the job pool gets depleted, they are able to hire less and less qualified people to fill positions. By making their jobs easier, press a button, fill in the blank, press enter, they are able to fill the jobs with less qualified people. this also saves training time because they don't have to worry about teaching them how to re-assign rooms, etc.

By giving people less access, they don't have to worry about someone giving someone a room they didn't pay for, etc. This make speople pay for things they used to get for free, which in turn increases the revenue coming into the resorts.

I don't think what you experienced is a fluke at all. Is it by design? Well, sortof, but I don't know if the front line CMs are aware of it, or if they even care. It's pretty evident that lately policy changes are being forced down the throats of many of the employees, at least down at WDW.

And I'll say it again, it's all being driven by profit. I'm NOT against a company making profit, but I think that Disney has focused too much on the bottom line at the expense of their guests and future earnings. It will come back to bite them, and I think it will be pretty bad.

[Stickey]

It is likely to be a random event, depending on the particular CM. The day and time of check-in could also be a factor. Some CM's appear to work with the system assignments, while others will go above and beyond.

In the "traditional" slow periods, resorts may shutter sections of the resort, therefore making it more difficult to group mutiple rooms close together despite less than full capacity.

[brownie]

Cast members at Pop Century worked with our neighbors when we there after Thanksgiving to get them moved closer to our room. We both had to check in again because of the free dining package, and they had to redo rooms to have us stay in the same room.

[Ian]

It really is the luck of the draw when it comes to how CM's treat you. Obviously you had a cranky one who had no interest in being useful (a sadly not uncommon occurance these days).

I'm virtually certain the manager doesn't have access to "a different screen" than the front-line CM's do. My guess is that was just the manager's way for covering for the fact that her CM was being a jerk.

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . My friend asked the manager how she had been able to move her, when the front desk CM's couldn't, and the manager answered that she has a "different computer screen" to look at than the front desk, and she has access to more rooms. ??? . . .


1) OK - half crock, half truth.
2) The CM has a view of
. . . available rooms
. . . assigned, checked-in rooms
. . . assigned, non-checked-in rooms
3) If there are unassigned rooms
. . . they can call to the back for a room change
. . . some have permission to change assignments
4) If rooms are assigned and not-checked-in
. . . the CM has to call the back room looking for availability
. . . some CM's have the ability to swap rooms
5) SOMETIMES, the manager will ask the back room for a room change.

NOTE: Although it sounds confusing, it is not. What it amounts to is that some CM's can changes rooms and others can't. They all see the same screen(s).

[Tigerinvestigator]

1) OK - half crock, half truth.
2) The CM has a view of
. . . available rooms
. . . assigned, checked-in rooms
. . . assigned, non-checked-in rooms
3) If there are unassigned rooms
. . . they can call to the back for a room change
. . . some have permission to change assignments
4) If rooms are assigned and not-checked-in
. . . the CM has to call the back room looking for availability
. . . some CM's have the ability to swap rooms
5) SOMETIMES, the manager will ask the back room for a room change.

NOTE: Although it sounds confusing, it is not. What it amounts to is that some CM's can changes rooms and others can't. They all see the same screen(s).

Man Scupper never ceases to amaze me with all that knowledge. Thats why I look for his posts first! Tell the truth Scupper you are from Walt's bloodline aren't you? Seriously though thanks for the wisdom!

[Ksmith75]

The manager could have access to a different screen. I come from a hotel background and a manager can look up rooms of all status (vacant clean, vacant dirty, etc,) If the manager knows how housekeeping works,what sections may be done, they can call the housekeeping department to see if any of the vacant dirty rooms in the system are actually clean...and a non-manager usually cannot override this ( a dirty room to a clean room and most systems will not let you check in to a "dirty room". Also, a room change isnt simple. You would have to see what is in the area requested, unblock some else room (who many be linked to other reservations as well), move the person you unblocked to somewhere else, then move your room...if there is one available. I am sure Disney pre-blocks rooms so there isnt usually just a list to pick from to change rooms. Plus if they are not busy they will not use certain sections of buildings.

[waymickey]

[QUOTE=Ian;2139458]It really is the luck of the draw when it comes to how CM's treat you. Obviously you had a cranky one who had no interest in being useful (a sadly not uncommon occurance these days).

It is really disappointing to hear this. I always went to Disney instead of one of the closer theme parks because of the service. I don't want a cranky CM it is what they call "bad Show', I want magic . I am willing to pay the extra for the disney experience, I do not want to pay extra for service that i can get at any hotel, or theme park.