Your Experience w/ AKV check-in has been.....

[global_mom]

Hi all: we are headed to AKV on Sunday for our very visit trip "home"! We are so excited

Can anyone share their recent AKV check-in experiences? I have been reading some threads tonight about horror stories with check-in at other DVC resorts and am now worried.

We will arrive about 1pm and I know that check-in is after 4pm and that will be OK for us. I am hoping that check-in will be smooth as AKV is so small and so new. We are going to MNSSHP the night of check-in and we really want to be in the villa prior to the party so that I can dress the kids in their costumes.

You can tell me the good and the bad! Thanks!!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I checked in on a Sunday in September, and needed 2 studios. We met friends at the lodge at 11...checked in, room wasn't ready, but the areas where the studios would be were circled for us. We went to the MK, and called around 3:30, the rooms were ready. It was a fast bus ride to AKV. At 4:30 our friends suggested we try to make dinner reservations, and we were lucky to be able to get a dinner ressie at Jiko's for 5 at 5:30 We were very lucky, very pleased with the service and accomodations at AKV.

I wish you the same.
Bobbi

 

[RLRDA]

We checked in around noontime (coming from SSR...we did a split stay). My DH didn't wait too long in line, room wasn't ready but we hung out by the pool, grabbed lunch, explored the resort a little. Room was ready before 4pm but not by much, maybe 3:50pm. We were happy with our villa and loved staying at AKV.....enjoy your stay there and MNSSHP!

 

[JimC]

We stayed in late September. Check-in at 3:45 pm. Clearly they had three challenges.

1. CMs not fully trained. AKV is on a separate system and the CM could not locate our reservation.

2. Housekeeping was slow turning rooms (CMs talking about it being an issue all day) and villas so there was quite a backlog of availability. They did get us in by 4:30 pm.

3. Generally unfriendly front desk CMs.

Could simply be opening snags that will sort out over time. And the attitude of front desk CMs could have been the weariness of a long day of frustration. I figured they deserved some latitude to get up and running, so I let it go at the time. But I will make note of it in my post trip survey so they will get the feedback.

The ability of housekeeping to turn rooms on a timely basis has been ongoing across property. I suspect this will require stricter enforcement of departure times, additional housekeeping staff and possibly an earlier departure time.

 

[global_mom]

We stayed in late September. Check-in at 3:45 pm. Clearly they had three challenges.

1. CMs not fully trained. AKV is on a separate system and the CM could not locate our reservation.

2. Housekeeping was slow turning rooms (CMs talking about it being an issue all day) and villas so there was quite a backlog of availability. They did get us in by 4:30 pm.

3. Generally unfriendly front desk CMs.

Could simply be opening snags that will sort out over time. And the attitude of front desk CMs could have been the weariness of a long day of frustration. I figured they deserved some latitude to get up and running, so I let it go at the time. But I will make note of it in my post trip survey so they will get the feedback.

The ability of housekeeping to turn rooms on a timely basis has been ongoing across property. I suspect this will require stricter enforcement of departure times, additional housekeeping staff and possibly an earlier departure time.

Yikes! Unfriendly front desk CMs is not a good thing. I would be happy if we were able to get in by 4:30 but would be even happier if we could get in earlier than that.

We have 4 DVC trips in the next few months (we joined DVC this past May) and the check-in time seems to be a recurring major issue. I hope that this will not interfere with our enjoyment of DVC.

 

[lagunn]

We stayed for a couple of nights in the lodge in Sept (not as dvc owners we bought while we were there) It was a fantastic experience.. We arrived at about 1.45pm and were checked into our room straight away, never came accross any unfrienliness at all, in fact they were very helpful..
Room was spotlessly clean.
It was such a good experience that it enticed us to buy our dvc points there.
Do dvc owners check in at the same front desk?
Lesley...

 

[wildernessDad]

We arrived on September 1. There were lot of people in the lobby waiting for their rooms. Our CM did not smile once. I look for smiles. Our room was not ready, so we went to the MK. Got the room later in the day.

 

[CarolA]

Rule one of the DIS boards. Take all horror stories and ignore them LOL!

REALLY remember that it's human nature to complain not praise (sadly) So what you read on ANY of these boards is generally skewed towards the "one bad" incident and you don't here the 1,000 that went fine. Most of us never post "My check in went fine, my room was clean etc" LOL!

Having checked into DVC accomodations MORE times then I can count, I have had ONE bad check in expereince and ONE bizarre. (Bad was BCV where I have stayed often they checked me in just fine however the "room ready" system appears to be a myth. Somehow between 8 am and 6 pm there was not one studio "ready"? And then they sent me to the wrong room! LOL!. The bizarre was OKW where a member at the counter brought the whole process to a stop when he threated to "break both legs" of the CM because "HIS" villa was occupied! For a lot of reasons all check in stopped while security dealt with the situation and the CMs were understandably rattled!)