“Welcome Home Reservation” voided

[Renee H]

When I did my phone orientation this week, the rep reinforced the rule about not booking anything online with my points and canceling or else I’d void the welcome home reservation booking with them. SO NOTED! They also told me in the phone call that there was sometimes a Dvc discount on cash rooms available, but to check for this discount you had to call MS directly. To make a long story short, a few days after my phone call with them I Decided I wanted to add one night to a cash reservation we had previously booked for an August trip. I called to see if there was a DVC discount for that one night and there was a small one ($10 I think!). I booked it anyway.

Well... come to find out... taking that discount on a cash room VOIDS the welcome home booking! Isn’t that RIDICULOUS?!? I’m posting this to let others know about this to not let this happen to them as well.

 

[CarolMN]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Kenneth Franklin]

May I ask what a Welcome Home Reservation is? I am looking to purchase and this is the first time I've seen that term. Google turns up empty...

 

[motherof5]

Thanks for letting us know. Also I had my phone call yesterday. Welcome Home Reservation has to be booked withing 6 months to work. That's a bummer as I want to book after that date, but then it doesn't count.

 

[Renee H]

Thanks for letting us know. Also I had my phone call yesterday. Welcome Home Reservation has to be booked withing 6 months to work. That's a bummer as I want to book after that date, but then it doesn't count.

You wanted to book after 6 months or travel after 6 months? As long as it’s booked you’re ok

 

[Renee H]

May I ask what a Welcome Home Reservation is? I am looking to purchase and this is the first time I've seen that term. Google turns up empty...

If you buy direct from Disney, they will help with your very first booking to help with availability. You also have to be somewhat flexible, but they have some special reserves they can pull from even though online says there is nothing available.

 

[Renee H]

Thanks for sharing.

Out of curiousity, as a moderator did you ever know this?

 

[supersnoop]

The “welcome home reservation” isn’t a documented benefit, as far as I know. It’s always been a bit of folklore; something that a guide will use to help close the sale, but the extent to which they can pull availability out of thin air is a mystery. To hear that there are documented restrictions seems odd. If it’s something your guide promised, then you should call your guide and have him/her take care of it.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

Usually these reservations are only for new resorts (Copper Creek Villas) and they can offer them because they release new units into inventory over time, so there is always a group of points coming on stream that has not been booked at the seven months point by other owners.

I agree with @supersnoop. Call your guide and see if they can help.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Thanks for letting us know. Also I had my phone call yesterday. Welcome Home Reservation has to be booked withing 6 months to work. That's a bummer as I want to book after that date, but then it doesn't count.

There's no point to the Welcome Home if you're booking in home resort, or even at 7 months. Welcome Home doesn't promise you'll get what you ask for, and it's not meant to circumvent home resort priority or give you appreciably better booking priority than other owners.

What it usually means is inside 7 months they'll claw back undeclared units or cash rooms for a booking. It's usually either an undeclared at the newest resort, or it's something at one of the big resorts (SSR/OKW/AKV), which because they are bigger tend also to have more cash rooms.

 

[pineapplepalms]

Interesting... I wasn't clear on the specific rules since I never scheduled my "welcome home" call, but our guide had said it could be for any DVC resort that had availability and did not have to be at the home resort. Soon after we bought and around 5 months from the travel dates, we booked our first reservation ourselves online, and about a week later I called MS to take advantage of the "welcome home" booking for the other half of our trip (we're doing a split stay) since there was no more availability on points but I could find cash availability on the Disney site (not at our home resort). They had a supervisor help them and didn't have any issues booking it for us. I guess we're just lucky we didn't accidentally void it by canceling or doing something else.

 

[crisi]

There's no point to the Welcome Home if you're booking in home resort, or even at 7 months. Welcome Home doesn't promise you'll get what you ask for, and it's not meant to circumvent home resort priority or give you appreciably better booking priority than other owners.

What it usually means is inside 7 months they'll claw back undeclared units or cash rooms for a booking. It's usually either an undeclared at the newest resort, or it's something at one of the big resorts (SSR/OKW/AKV), which because they are bigger tend also to have more cash rooms.

Its really designed to close the sale on "but we are coming back in six months, and there isn't availability at our home resort - otherwise we'd buy" - because you are buying in a timeframe that makes that sometimes makes that first reservation tricky, Disney can step in with some magic (which is generally using undeclared rooms or moving cash availability - they can not kick out a guest who has already reserved a room or make rooms appear out of thin air).

If its any resort with availability, then there isn't any reason to call your guide, the resort has availability. If there is availability on cash but not points, then you MIGHT get a guide to claw one back, but it takes the cooperation of accounting and finance to do it (two different subsidaries, two P&Ls, transfers of value between them must follow certain rules), and they may not be willing (if its the wrong time of a fiscal year, for instance).

 

[motherof5]

Its really designed to close the sale on "but we are coming back in six months, and there isn't availability at our home resort - otherwise we'd buy" - because you are buying in a timeframe that makes that sometimes makes that first reservation tricky, Disney can step in with some magic (which is generally using undeclared rooms or moving cash availability - they can not kick out a guest who has already reserved a room or make rooms appear out of thin air).

If its any resort with availability, then there isn't any reason to call your guide, the resort has availability. If there is availability on cash but not points, then you MIGHT get a guide to claw one back, but it takes the cooperation of accounting and finance to do it (two different subsidaries, two P&Ls, transfers of value between them must follow certain rules), and they may not be willing (if its the wrong time of a fiscal year, for instance).

When I did my phone call yesterday as a new direct member they stated it was for any resort, but had to make the reservation within the first 6 months. I asked if I can do it at the 8 month and she put me on hold, came back and told me no. This is sad since I am going in Feb, but can't make reservations until I first get airline tickets and those are not out yet.

 

[Renee H]

Usually these reservations are only for new resorts (Copper Creek Villas) and they can offer them because they release new units into inventory over time, so there is always a group of points coming on stream that has not been booked at the seven months point by other owners.

I agree with @supersnoop. Call your guide and see if they can help.

It wasn’t just the guide though, the rep on the new dvc orientation call told me about it as well. And member services knows about this too. It’s not a question of “what or if” it exists. I voided mine by taking the cash room discount

 

[Renee H]

O

When I did my phone call yesterday as a new direct member they stated it was for any resort, but had to make the reservation within the first 6 months. I asked if I can do it at the 8 month and she put me on hold, came back and told me no. This is sad since I am going in Feb, but can't make reservations until I first get airline tickets and those are not out yet.

oh ok... what will you do when booking dvc at 11m or 7m though?

 

[supersnoop]

It wasn’t just the guide though, the rep on the new dvc orientation call told me about it as well. And member services knows about this too. It’s not a question of “what or if” it exists. I voided mine by taking the cash room discount

When did you buy? Can you still rescind?

 

[CarolMN]

Out of curiousity, as a moderator did you ever know this?

No, first I've heard about it. I knew guides often helped first time buyers get a reservation, but didn't know about the nuances you cited. Our last direct purchase was in 1999, though.

 

[Renee H]

No, first I've heard about it. I knew guides often helped first time buyers get a reservation, but didn't know about the nuances you cited. Our last direct purchase was in 1999, though.

Oh ok

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

When I did my phone orientation this week, the rep reinforced the rule about not booking anything online with my points and canceling or else I’d void the welcome home reservation booking with them. SO NOTED! They also told me in the phone call that there was sometimes a Dvc discount on cash rooms available, but to check for this discount you had to call MS directly. To make a long story short, a few days after my phone call with them I Decided I wanted to add one night to a cash reservation we had previously booked for an August trip. I called to see if there was a DVC discount for that one night and there was a small one ($10 I think!). I booked it anyway.

Well... come to find out... taking that discount on a cash room VOIDS the welcome home booking! Isn’t that RIDICULOUS?!? I’m posting this to let others know about this to not let this happen to them as well.

Yep, ridiculous. A fine Welcome Home!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

When I did my phone call yesterday as a new direct member they stated it was for any resort, but had to make the reservation within the first 6 months.

They mean "having bought into any resort." They do not guarantee you will get your home resort, or any other resort, or especially specific unit/view types. It is based on what inventory THEY can claw back. They won't kick one of the 5 people to have booked AKV Club Studio out for you at 5 months, for instance, just because you bought AKV and asked for Club as your Welcome Home.