"advanced" waitlist questions

[cigar95]

Hi all. I haven't played the waitlist roulette game in a long time, and the rules spelled out on the DVC site feel a little ambiguous. So please bear with me. (Also haven't kept up to date here on the board, so I ask you to forgive a multitude of sins.) My inlaws are the owners, but they're not as well-versed on the fine-points as you folks are.

In particular, there's the language on the web site that says in the case of a waitlist coming through, "previously confirmed reservations for comparable dates will be canceled".

Desired plan is to stay 8 nights, split 4/4 between resort A and resort B. Presently have:
1-4 at A
5-6 at A (don't want, but it's a safety. These are Fri-Sat)
7-8 at C (because B not available at all right now.)

Have a "waitlist Alpha" for 5-6 at C, and planning to submit a "waitlist Beta" for 5-8 at B.

This is all about 6.5 months away, so there's a decent amount of time for things to open up in late January.

So if waitlist Alpha comes through, no problem, my 2-night at A gets canceled without penalty, but I'm left with two separate reservations at resort C with the possibility of having to move in between them and be "homeless" for part of a day.
QUESTION - How confident can we be in linking the two reservations at C in advance and avoiding a move out / move in?
QUESTION - If waitlist Beta comes through, will the system cancel *both* the 2-night at A and the 2-night at C without penalty since it overlaps with both?
QUESTION - the waitlist FAQ also seems to suggest that if one of these waitlist requests comes through, the other waitlist is automatically cancelled. Is this true if the dates overlap but are not the same dates?

And for the wrinkle, what if we made the reservation for 1-6 at A as a single reservation? If a waitlist comes through in that case, does the system automatically cancel the last two nights of the six-night reservation? (I wouldn't think so - members could easily have such a setup where they want to keep both.) Or would it allow dropping the last two nights without penalty?

We could also make waitlist Alpha for nights 5-8 instead of 5-6, but it seems that makes it less likely to come through.

The *last* thing we want is a strategy that risks leaving us with holding points.

(And none of these resorts are Riviera, Grand Floridian, or Beach Club, so waitlists are at least with a reasonable hope.)

Thanks and sorry about the verbosity - I just went into all the details to try and make things very clear. Any thoughts on this are welcome.

 

[sethschroeder]

For waitlist you choose if you want a reservation that will be cancelled if the waitlist comes through.

You also choose if they can borrow points or not.

There is nothing additional both waitlists could happen the same second. What you wanted cancelled would cancel if you have enough points (including if you said to borrow).

Whatever you want cancelled they cancel the whole thing.

 

[Sandisw]

If you want a waitlist to cancel two different trips, you need to call MS and have them make that note on it so the CM who actually processes it if it fills,

When you are online, you can only choose it to replace one of them. If one of the waitlist fills, the other waitlist will remain because it’s for different dates.

Normally, if they are for the same dates, it would then cancel the second one if one of them fills.

Just be sure that if your waitlist is less points than what you have booked, you have it cancel 31 days out or the extra points would end up in holding.

If the waitlists are more points, then set it up to cancel at 7 days.

 

[cigar95]

Really useful information - in particular, that waitlisting does not protect you from the "holding cell".