AAA has room available but MS and CRO don't???

[akasleepingbeauty]

I am looking to book a Friday and Saturday night on cash at OKW between our two points nights on Thursday and Sunday. MS shows no cash availability (obviously no 25% discount either) and online/CRO shows no availability with either standard or AP bookings. So I was trying to decide if I should change our point nights to SSR since they show availability (online/CRO - haven't had a chance to check with MS). I wanted to go with OKW because of having extra space, extra seating, and mostly for the guaranteed 2 beds (rather than 1 bed and sleeper sofa) in the second bedroom. I was worried that booking at SSR on cash would lower or even eliminate our chances of getting a "dedicated" 2 bedroom villa.

So I happened to go to AAA's online booking service and they show 2 bedrooms at OKW (and interestingly enough not at SSR). The price is about the same as the AP Best Rate (and cheaper than the standard booking rate obviously) at $425+tax/night. This price is probably not as low as the DVC 25% discounted rate but that doesn't appear to be likely anyway.

So, has anyone had any experience booking this way? Should I worry that my reservation through AAA is a "real thing" since no one else seems to have this inventory? Is there a good chance we'll be able to keep our same room for the 4 nights even if we have to re-check in?

Any advice is appreciated!!!

 

[CarolA]

Disney like lots of hotels releases blocks to travel agents like AA. Those rooms are not always available for Disney to book although they may be returned to the Disney inventory. Also, sometimes online services lie... I have attempted to book via Travelocity a few times when Disney was showing full and when you get to the final screen it comes back with "can't confirm" If you get a confirmation you should be fine, but just seeing it there doesn't always mean it will confirm.

 

[Disney Doll]

If AAA "buys" a block of rooms from Disney at specific resorts, to offer AAA members at their discounted prices etc., then as far as CRO is ocncerned, those rooms are "booked" and off of their list.

 

[akasleepingbeauty]

Thank you both for your replies. As it turns out, Carol was right about the room not actually being available once I tried to confirm it. So, AAA doesn't have the room either. Guess I'll just keep checking and hope that someone cancels and I can get a room that way.

Thanks again,

 

[tjkraz]

If you're exclusively looking to pay cash, I really don't think your chances are very good.

The 25% member discount is completely out of the question. That is only offered when it appears all of the rooms will not be taken by members using points. A single cancellation certainly won't allow that discount to kick-in.

At 60 days out CRO has access to all unbooked DVC rooms. So that's a possibility, albeit a slim one. The biggest factor working against you here is that you can't do any sort of waitlist through CRO. You'll just have to call and hope you get ahold of someone in the amount of time between a cancellation and rebook by someone else.

More likely, with the resort already at 100% capacity, there are probably folks ahead of you on the DVC point waitlist. Getting your name on that waitlist (to use points for the room) may be your reasonable shot at this stage.