How specific can requests be?

[wballoni]

I was told that when making a reservation that one can also make requests. How specific can such requests be? Can I request a specific unit, or building, or floor? I'm sure I can ask for anything, but what can I reasonably expect to be honored? Note that I'm not talking about asking for something not within reason, such as asking for an ocean view when my deeded week is not for such a unit.

As a supplemental question, I see site maps of the resorts, but I don't see the details of what units and their views, by number, are present in the buildings. At best, some might show a range of unit numbers. If the answer to the above questions is that specific requests are often honored, I'd love a resource that can help me know what to ask for (unit-wise)!

 

[Steve Fatula]

I am not aware of a resource for all MVCI resorts that would tell you what to ask for at each resort. People do ask here all the time though, so, for a specific resort, I'd ask here. You can indeed request a specific floor. I always ask for top floor, and in 20 years, I think all but once I got it. I ask for specific buildings at my home resort, and, they have always honored it. I have yet to ask for a specific unit, seems unlikely. As far as what is best, that's really a question with no general answer as each traveler may have different needs. At DSV2, I used to hate Jasmine Court, never ever wanted to go there. Now, I find it's very quiet relatively and I like being there. Neither is correct, just opinion.

I asked a question as far as which building when I stayed at Newport coast and got some great recommendations based on my specific requests, turned out great,

 

[Fasttr]

Since you list Grande Ocean in your signature, here is how the views break down there…..

Here is the resort map.... https://owners.marriottvacationclub...M2YTdhYWM4YWUzY2M2OGEzZmNmNjUyMTY4YTA2NWZkZjM

If you draw a horizontal line below the Sea Horse and Sand Castle buildings, that is the dividing line between Ocean Front and Ocean Side. So the majority of the resort is Ocean Side. Only Sea Horse, Sand Castle and front 1/2 of Dolphin and front 1/2 of Starfish are "Ocean Front".

 

[jmhpsu93]

I spent 3+ weeks at Grande Vista back in March. I asked for darn near a specific unit not really knowing the layout of the building, so asked for building 100, high floor. I got the exact unit I asked for without me even knowing the unit I was asking for, if that makes sense.

One suggestion...be really, really nice on the phone. Greet the person by name, acknowledge your appreciation and not expectation. I've never had a bad unit assignment, though DC points, weeks, or II trades.

It's tough to nail down specific views because of trees, but if you get familiar with the N-S orientations of the resorts you can which units will be sunny on the decks in the cooler months, which overlook pools or golf courses or the woods or could have water views. For instance at SurfWatch, the Tide Mark building has every bit as good a view as the Ocean Dunes building even though they're different view categories, as long as you're at least on the 2nd floor.

 

[Lv2Trvl]

We travel primarily at two times of the year. November-December and April-May and depending on location a few other times thrown in. We go to the same locations a couple times a year so if looking for sunsets the locations we prefer change with the calendar.
For years we send a fax (or call) list our first requests of favorite rooms and then add "if none of those available the best you can do". It's been working for 20 years. Maybe not a first choice but 99% always good. We always try to book 12-13 months out.
The room assignment personnel have a tough job. I always hate hearing someone making a scene when receiving their room assignment.
Have fun when traveling!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[sea&ski]

I took the OP question to be that they want to know what to request when making the initial reservation, not when responding to the pre-arrival email or phone call. If it is the initial res, I think you can only check the boxes that are available. It was, ages ago, also the time to request things like vaulted ceilings and buildings. Now, you must be specific when asked at about 2 weeks prior to your check in day. Don't be shy, ask for whatever you want but make your priorities ahead of time so that you can answer appropriately. As far as I can tell, only the "foam pillows" has carried forward. Used to be that a high, quiet floor was automatically entered in our profile.

 

[TravelTime]

I took the OP question to be that they want to know what to request when making the initial reservation, not when responding to the pre-arrival email or phone call. If it is the initial res, I think you can only check the boxes that are available. It was, ages ago, also the time to request things like vaulted ceilings and buildings. Now, you must be specific when asked at about 2 weeks prior to your check in day. Don't be shy, ask for whatever you want but make your priorities ahead of time so that you can answer appropriately. As far as I can tell, only the "foam pillows" has carried forward. Used to be that a high, quiet floor was automatically entered in our profile.

I have been able to request things in the initial reservation, not just check boxes

 

[dougp26364]

In general, I’ve found the majority of my requests have been met, although we’re pretty easy when it comes to unit placement. We’re not horribly particular and we tend to pay for the view we want when that’s possible.

I have found that there are some variables that make a difference.
1. Number of deeded owners staying on their deeded time.
2. Status within the Marriott system
3. Check in day and total resort occupancy (if you check in on Wednesday and only a few units are u occupied).
4. Time stamp on your reservation (low value but earlier gets a little more priority).

In the past we would book mid-week to mid-week. We’d get acceptable placement but not always exactly what we asked. An example would be higher floor but not the building(s) requested. Lately we’ve been arriving more often on standard check in days and our requests are closer to on target for our requests. My assumption is there is a higher percentage of guests still needing to begin/end travel on weekend days than midweek.

So what do we ask for? Depends on the resort. In Palm Desert it would be Mountain View first, Golf course view second and pool view last. At Ocean Pointe, Crystal Shores or Oceana Palms it would be high floor. In Branson I prefer to be facing the pool. In Breckenridge I prefer to be facing Maggie Pond. Vegas would be a high floor. It just depends.

 

[Dean]

I was told that when making a reservation that one can also make requests. How specific can such requests be? Can I request a specific unit, or building, or floor? I'm sure I can ask for anything, but what can I reasonably expect to be honored? Note that I'm not talking about asking for something not within reason, such as asking for an ocean view when my deeded week is not for such a unit.

As a supplemental question, I see site maps of the resorts, but I don't see the details of what units and their views, by number, are present in the buildings. At best, some might show a range of unit numbers. If the answer to the above questions is that specific requests are often honored, I'd love a resource that can help me know what to ask for (unit-wise)!

I think what's reasonable varies with the resort, view type and whether one is using their week, points or an exchange. To understand what's reasonable and appropriate you need to do some investigation on the resort. It's also helpful to have an understanding of the assignment priorities which will include in general, one using their owned week, II exchangers (including DC points reservations), cash guests, and other exchangers. Some resorts addd wrinkles and separate them out further. Those using multiple concurrent or consecutive weeks will have priority within their group. Some put points reservation over exchangers and some micromanage based on if you own there. For direct reservations view type should be guaranteed but not for exchanges. Now that II doesn't transmit your MVC information, the resort may not know you are a Marriott owner. MVC status, Bonvoy Status and when you make the reservation will generally have little or no effect.

Since MGO was mentioned, I'll use it as an example. We own several weeks, go there most years, will be there soon and will have a number of units including owned, points and exchange with both view types. I generally don't put in requests with Customer Service when I reserve but do a few weeks out with the resort. MGO also states they give you a higher floor one year and a lower the other for owned weeks. In reality this means 4th or 5th alternating with 3rd floor. Since MGO follows the basic assignment schedule, I know that I'll likely have owned units on floors 3, 4 AND 5 and points/exchange units on floors 1 & 2. I also know that I may be in 2 different buildings (15 units this year, 14 last year, 12 the year before that). They have a difficult job trying to please most everyone esp when some people simply can't be pleased. I generally take the approach of asking for good but reasonable and being satisfied with most anything that's functional and clean. The only time I've felt a MVC simply missed the mark was Ko Olina in 2018 and that was because of groupings with 5 units, not the specifics of a given unit.

Once you know what you want, I'd call the resort 2-3 weeks out and make your requests. I'd only make general requests when I made a reservation.