Unavailable resorts showing up only

[AllieV]

I've been going through the dvc member site to get used to it. I can't book my May trip till October but I don't want to be fumbling around at the 7 month mark. I'd read that when your choice is not available, it will show you alternate resorts. I picked a date I knew would be booked -- october 2012 for beach club, 1br -- so I could see what alternative it showed. Oddly enough, it showed about four alternatives, all of which also said, "no availability". I didn't have time to punch in more resorts, but I'm thinking that at least the SSR should have had an opening, right? And it should have displayed this alternative?

[tjkraz]

Are there any openings at SSR for the dates you entered?

Going back several months I was already reading reports that all resorts were booked up for dates in October and November. Very popular time now with Food & Wine Fest, Halloween parties, Marathons, etc.

[Meggysmum]

TBH I have always found the resort alternatives that they offer a bit random. Sometimes I have had it bring up alternative units at the same resort eg 1-bed instead of a studio or a different view which is still unavailable and other times it has bought up available options so really you need to be prepared to check all the things you might want as it could bring up anything.

I would check the day before you want to book as you will see which ones are definitely not available for you and can concentrate on looking at the ones that might be available.

[DannysMom]

No availability is no availability. If you pick dates only 4-8 weeks out during a very busy season, why is it surprising that there is no availability? Members typically book Oct 7-11 months out.

I did a dummy search in Oct and only found available 1 BRs for 3 of the 6 nights I was looking for at best. This was the 3rd week in Oct.

Maybe try using January or February for your trial searches.

[AllieV]

Ah, well that makes sense. I'm trying to get an idea of the best way to use the system. If everything was booked, then it would show only waitlistings. I'll try another timeframe when I get more time to poke around and see what alternatives it shows.

[KAT4DISNEY]

I have had the system show me unavailable resorts in the same area rather than all open options - for example I ask for BWV standard and it shows me SSR as available and then BCV and BWV pool/garden views as also unavailable. Then I go look at AKV and there are rooms available there. So I'd say the system does some assuming that you want to see what else is in the area you are looking at rather than just rooms that are available. It seems you can get most options to show by searching specific areas (Epcot in one search, MK resorts in another, AKV in another and OKW in another). It is pretty consistent in showing SSR though!

But sometimes there just aren't any rooms available and the time you selected was probably one of those.

[karrit2000]

Sometimes it shows alternate choices & sometimes it doesn't. Lately it seems it doesn't show alternative choices at any other resorts but once in a while if SSR is available for the whole time frame it will show that. Usually I only get another booking category for the same resort. My understanding was it should show resort availability for the two resorts closest together. BWV & BCV, AK Kidani & Jambo, SSR & OKW, or VWL & BLT.

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Disney's idiot IT shop in action. What it SHOULD do, and what everyone else does, is show you the options you can book. But instead it shows you stuff you can't book. If you keep messing with it you eventually discover that "viola" OKW has a room. Of course that is after you try three times while DVC tells you BWV are sold out.

[wdrl]

Originally Posted by OrangeCountyCommuter

Disney's idiot IT shop in action. What it SHOULD do, and what everyone else does, is show you the options you can book. But instead it shows you stuff you can't book. If you keep messing with it you eventually discover that "viola" OKW has a room. Of course that is after you try three times while DVC tells you BWV are sold out.

But showing accommodations that are not available can also serve a useful purpose. Sometimes, a member might be willing to take almost any accommodation at a resort. If their initial request for a BLT Lake View Studio is unavailable, the system can show also show that a Standard View Studio, a Theme Park View Studio, and a Lake View one-bedroom are not available. Some members may want to know that nothing is available at BLT before they check other options.

Just a few weeks ago someone posted that she didn't like that the Online Reservation System showed SSR as an alternative to her first choice when she had no desire to stay at SSR. I guess this is an example where Disney is darned if it does and darned if it doesn't.

[Song of the South]

My wish would be that if your selected search criteria was not available the computer would just show you everything that was available in that size room or at that resort. So you could select in the search criteria "show all room size" or "show all resort" and viola! Also, a message stating that everything is currently sold for those dates that occurs would be awesome too.

I think I have figured out that the computer won't show you smaller options but will (maybe? sometimes?) show the next larger option. Also, for resorts with multiple 2 bed options I think the way to get it to show more 2 bed options is to select the last choice rather than the first.

I'm trying to do a search for Columbus Day weekend (last minute work thing will probably pay cash at AP rate instead) for a studio or 1 bed and not finding anything in the multiple iterations I have done. It gets old though!


SotS

[Meggysmum]

I do find it a time consuming system but it is so much better than just having to phone MS. At least with online I can tweak dates and places and eventually find my preferred option from what is available.

I do wish you could just enter dates and a room type eg 1-bed and then it would show what was available rather than trawling through resorts and views, esepecially with things like AK where you have several views as well as the two sites!

[fmer55]

Originally Posted by AllieV

I've been going through the dvc member site to get used to it. I can't book my May trip till October but I don't want to be fumbling around at the 7 month mark. I'd read that when your choice is not available, it will show you alternate resorts. I picked a date I knew would be booked -- october 2012 for beach club, 1br -- so I could see what alternative it showed. Oddly enough, it showed about four alternatives, all of which also said, "no availability". I didn't have time to punch in more resorts, but I'm thinking that at least the SSR should have had an opening, right? And it should have displayed this alternative?

The default setting, if you will, is to show similar resort choices and areas, in my experience. If you search BWV it will show comparable BLT rooms with different views, then it will show VWL. If you are llooking for BWV, it will sho different views and also BCV. When searching for epcot area rooms it will often show AKV or SSR only if there is availability. None of this is fact just observations from much playing around

[maburke]

Originally Posted by Song of the South

I think I have figured out that the computer won't show you smaller options but will (maybe? sometimes?) show the next larger option.

I have had it show me smaller options. I think maybe it won't show you anything too small for your party, so if I enter 2 people, and ask for a 2BR, it will also show me 1 BRs, but if I entered 6 people, it wouldn't.

Maybe?