Room Requests via Touring Plans

How successful has Touring Plans been with getting you the rooms you requested? I have my TP account set to request rooms 0101 and 0102 in building 10 of Pop Century 70’s section. What are my chances of getting this? I know it depends on availability and all but I am curious about the success rate.

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There is a thread somewhere here where people were posting their room requests results. Not sure it has been kept up to date.

But, keep in mind that, as I understand it, SPECIFIC room requests tend to be less successful than room request preference “rules”, such as:

  1. 70’s section
  2. First floor room
  3. Closest to lobby

Or, that kind of thing. (I’m no expert on best way to word this, though.)

If you put a specific room, and it isn’t available, they don’t have the “reasons” built into the room number to make any educated guesses on.

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I did not post my results in the thread, but we requested a 4th corner room at pop near the skyliner - specifically water view.

We didn’t get that room or even building but did get 4th floor corner literally adjacent to to the lobby. So while we didn’t get exactly what we wanted (and were no where near the water) I was very happy with the result, as next to the lobby and not far from the skyliner turned out to be nice. I do think greater care than I guessed is put into selecting rooms based on requests.

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I have the Touring Plans registration sending the room request. I changed it a little. It is set up as follows:
70’s, first floor, closest to middle on courtyard side. No obstructions outside window.

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Most recent experience - not very. We requested a first floor in Aruba 55, got second floor in Aruba 54 (I was fine with the building but didn’t particularly want to have to carry a stroller up a flight of stairs), and then at the Poly we requested third floor Moorea and got first floor Moorea (since we had a lake view Moorea was really our only option), but we were able to speak to the front desk and get switched.

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My overall experience has been successful - I can only think of one particular time it was way off, and it was a stay at CSR when a huge dance/cheer event happening, so that was likely a factor. In general, I like to limit my requests to 2, 3 MAX. I list them in order of priority, which i note, and why i chose it. Something like:
My requests in order of importance are:

  1. Near the elevator - we have a child in a wheelchair, so elevator access matters.
  2. Niue building - to be central to pool, food and transportation

This way, if they can’t get exactly what I asked for, they know why i wanted it and can make alternate choices that will accommodate as best as possible.

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The TP request will look very specific. It uses “room assigner speak” to describe where the the room you want is located and give some examples. I wouldn’t change that part of the request.

You can then add text to explain perhaps more simply with the priorities of what you want, as @ryan1’s example.

If you’re not comfortable with the TP requests, then do what @ryan1 suggested but call it in or use Chat.

What you don’t want to do is both. One will over-write the other. And in neither case choose any options during on-line check-in.

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We’ve had success. I put in one request for a friend, she got the exact room. Once we got a couple of rooms down. Last time I said that being in the same building as my parents was most important (I put in a request for them too saying the same thing) and we were both upgraded to river view from standard because there weren’t 2 standard rooms available in any building. These were all at POFQ. We’re staying there again in July, garden view, just one room. I’ve kept the request quite broad so hopefully we’ll get a location we like.

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I have been very successful but there are many factors that can impact a resort fulfilling your request.

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Curious if anyone has experience/thoughts between using the TP room reservation finder (which has worked well for me in the past) versus the MDE one that pops up for online check-in?

The MDE one has crashed for three days so I can’t get too far and see what the options are.

The options have been few and general: near lobby

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I think last time my options were ground floor or upper floor. I like to make a slightly more detailed request than that!

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Our first trip in 2017, I had no idea about room requests. We were fortunate our travel agent booked all our family rooms in the same general area at Pop, without our request.
Once I found TP, I was interested to see our outcome on our second trip in 2021. I used the TP wording. I just picked a building and a view based off of the pictures that other TP members had submitted. We were in the Lion King suites at AoA. I left the wording, just added 4th floor with a water view. It was in the general area of where I found the pictures. We had a water view and were close to almost everything.
I’m going to do the same for our trip coming in January.

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I almost filled out one for my AKL room, but decided not to because I need a 2Q with ada-tub. There are not many standard rooms that fit that description, so I just will let them do their magic. I’m hoping that they have to upgrade me to a savanna view. The main thing I need is required. That said, there are NO bad rooms at Jambo. :smiley_cat:

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If you need a specific ada accomodation, that almost always a bookable category, not a request. Like if you need the grab rails. If you just need a tub, a request is fine, but if you need the rails, you really need to book that category, or you might not get it.

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Oh, I know. That’s how I am booked, which is why I know that I’ll get that. Past that, I’ll be happy wherever I’m put.

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Oh good. I just didn’t want you to end up with an unpleasant surprise!

Thank you. :). It’s also good for other people to hear, in case that applies to them.

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I’ve been next to what my request was - I requested corner and was next to the corner, but requested section and floor.

I’ve been the exact opposite of what I requested - that was the time I arrived after 1am and I’m fairly sure that I was changed to appease someone else who wasn’t happy with the room location I had.

I’ve been requested building, but not requested floor.

And I’ve been nowhere near, BUT the CM at the desk looked to see if there was a room she could put me in early in the morning when I just wanted to check that my Magic Bands were linked. I didn’t have the heart to say “No thanks” and ended up loving the room.

I guess I am just nervous because I want a 1st floor room as close as possible to the middle of the building facing the courtyard with no view obstructions (things attached to the building that block the view. I have all of that in my request but I am still going to stop by the desk when we get in that morning to check and see if they can move me to another room if they have us assigned to a room I do not like.