Are the Days of Walking a DVC Reservation Numbered?

[Tatebeck]

You already do have to call in to change a lead name so that's not asking for something new. For my part, though I'd work with it, we typically travel with multiple family members and it can change a lot from the time we book until actually stay. I'm allowed per the POS to both allow family and friends to use rooms and also to rent. You cannot place a name change restriction like that without violating the POS IMO.

FYI you can change the lead guest via chat as well. I did one a few weeks ago.

 

[BeachClub2014]

Reservation "walkers" are the evil twins of spec renters. Those practicing these nefarious practices should be identified, publicly shamed, and forced to ride the Skyliner in August until they sweat.**

**Unless they are in the new "DIamond DVC" club.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Interesting! I’m fully open to hearing a way to stop walking (without impacting on my ability to book 14 nights at a time!).

However, I rather like being able to walk. Particularly as international flights are released 355 days ahead and we need to book as soon as they open to ensure we get the reward seats. It’s nice to have a start on the room at that point if it’s a popular category which is not guaranteed at the 11 month mark.

I noticed that someone in the comments said (or I interpreted it as) she remembered a time when you could only book one day at a time at 11 months, meaning that for a 14 day reservation, you'd have to reserve 14 times! But I don't remember that situation, and we've been members since 2002, long before you could book on-line. Do I have a bad memory? Does anyone else remember that?

 

[BlueGreen5]

I'm all for possible solutions, but one name change per year would never work. They can't limit how you let others use the room/change the names on the reservation per current rules. And it would only work for those with just a few points. If anyone with a substantial amount of points wants to skip a year or two and rent, good luck getting all of those points gone in just one rental!

They would have to change something with the booking system, not the guest name change/update after the fact

I think my suggestion didn't come across right. Book as many reservations as you want under any name you want. Book for your family, friends, neighbors, renters, all good. But, have an idea who is going to fill the reservation before you make it (even people who rent their points know who they are booking for before they book). It's changing the name AFTER the reservation has been booked that, I think, should be made harder. Not impossible, but harder.

And maybe it's only harder for reservations booked outside of a 6 month window; book inside a 6 month window then change away because, at that point, everyone's had their shot.

Because that's what the pros are doing -- they're making popular reservations at popular home resorts at 11 months first then figuring out who will fill them later based upon who's willing to pay the most. IMO that's not what DVC was created for -- it wasn't supposed to be a platform to operate pseudo travel agencies. That's the practice that's making it hard for us folks who bought in for the purpose of enjoying a Disney vacation where and when we want. The whole concept of "confirmed reservations" that are more than 6 months out need to go.

And maybe my solution is still against unchangeable rules - I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, don't accuse me of such awful things!

 

[eandt]

When we did our ‘welcome home’ call a few years back the cast member actually explained the walking process to us … not sure Disney thinks it’s a huge issue or at least they didn’t as recently as 2021

 

[BlueGreen5]

forced to ride the Skyliner in August until they sweat.

Leave the Skyliner out of this! The last thing I want is to now not be able to get on the Skyliner too because of spec renters!

 

[CarolynFH]

I noticed that someone in the comments said (or I interpreted it as) she remembered a time when you could only book one day at a time at 11 months, meaning that for a 14 day reservation, you'd have to reserve 14 times! But I don't remember that situation, and we've been members since 2002, long before you could book on-line. Do I have a bad memory? Does anyone else remember that?

When we bought in 1997, yes, that was it. You called at 11 months from checkout date of the desired reservation, but you didn’t have to call every day. DH made the reservations then, and he’d call at 11 months from checkout day to book the entire week we wanted. One time we did what was the equivalent of walking then - DH called to book the day we wanted to check in, then called every day after that to add a day, because we needed a 2BR and a studio that trip. I can’t remember when they changed to booking at 11 months from checkin, for a max of 7 nights.

 

[DebbieB]

I noticed that someone in the comments said (or I interpreted it as) she remembered a time when you could only book one day at a time at 11 months, meaning that for a 14 day reservation, you'd have to reserve 14 times! But I don't remember that situation, and we've been members since 2002, long before you could book on-line. Do I have a bad memory? Does anyone else remember that?

Yes, I bought in 1999. It was 11 months from checkout date. Say you wanted 12/2-12/8. So on 1/3 you would book 12/2 -12/3. Then the next day, change it to 12/2-12/4, then next day 12/2-12/5, etc. This was before online reservations, so you had to call. Of course, you could wait for 1/8 and book the entire thing. But for that competitive first week of December, I was doing the day by day.

 

[BlueGreen5]

When we bought in 1997, yes, that was it. You called at 11 months from checkout date of the desired reservation, but you didn’t have to call every day. DH made the reservations then, and he’d call at 11 months from checkout day to book the entire week we wanted. One time we did what was the equivalent of walking then - DH called to book the day we wanted to check in, then called every day after that to add a day, because we needed a 2BR and a studio that trip. I can’t remember when they changed to booking at 11 months from checkin, for a max of 7 nights.

This response should go in the next iteration of Spaceship Earth.

"This is how humans lived before the internet - thank Al Gore, he invented it!"

 

[Steelers0854]

I think there are some easy fixes here. No matter what system you implement, someone, somewhere will find a way to exploit it, and someone will always be unhappy with how it works. I dislike walking, I think it’s unfair and annoying. I would rather lose a reservation because I am just too slow on booking day, then lose it because I cant dedicate time every day for a week or more to walk a reservation.

1) If you make a reservation at 11 months (or anytime between 11 months and 7 months), you cannot modify or cancel that reservation until 7 months and 1 day. Then you can do anything you want with that reservation. This still allows changes before the est of the masses get access, you can modify into anything that is still open and available. This would include modifying names, so it dissuades people from booking at 11 months for reservations they know they wont use just to try and market those weeks for sale. You can still book with someone else’s name on the reservation from the get go, but cant change it til the 7 month and 1 day mark. I don’t see this being a major problem for most people.

2) You can book as many days as you have points at Day 1 at the 11 months mark. You hav enough points and want to do a 3 week stay? No problem, book it. Option 1 protects against abusing this.

Just some thoughts, I look forward to the discussion about this idea, don’t come at me if you don’t agree but I would love to hear why you think this would or wouldn’t work.

 

[Tatebeck]

I think my suggestion didn't come across right. Book as many reservations as you want under any name you want. Book for your family, friends, neighbors, renters, all good. But, have an idea who is going to fill the reservation before you make it (even people who rent their points know who they are booking for before they book). It's changing the name AFTER the reservation has been booked that, I think, should be made harder. Not impossible, but harder.

And maybe it's only harder for reservations booked outside of a 6 month window; book inside a 6 month window then change away because, at that point, everyone's had their shot.

Because that's what the pros are doing -- they're making popular reservations at popular home resorts at 11 months first then figuring out who will fill them later based upon who's willing to pay the most. IMO that's not what DVC was created for -- it wasn't supposed to be a platform to operate pseudo travel agencies. That's the practice that's making it hard for us folks who bought in for the purpose of enjoying a Disney vacation where and when we want. The whole concept of "confirmed reservations" that are more than 6 months out need to go.

And maybe my solution is still against unchangeable rules - I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, don't accuse me of such awful things!

Okay that makes a bit more sense, but I still don't think it would work out well and would inconvenience a lot of members. Even though you can book 11 months out, a lot of people still cannot commit 100% that far out. I will book rooms that I think that I can/will use, but it ends up that I can't always use them. By the time some people would be cancelling those reservations they won't use, there may not be anything else before their use year is up that they are able to book themselves or book for renters to use up the points.

 

[Tatebeck]

I think there are some easy fixes here. No matter what system you implement, someone, somewhere will find a way to exploit it, and someone will always be unhappy with how it works. I dislike walking, I think it’s unfair and annoying. I would rather lose a reservation because I am just too slow on booking day, then lose it because I cant dedicate time every day for a week or more to walk a reservation.

1) If you make a reservation at 11 months (or anytime between 11 months and 7 months), you cannot modify or cancel that reservation until 7 months and 1 day. Then you can do anything you want with that reservation. This still allows changes before the est of the masses get access, you can modify into anything that is still open and available. This would include modifying names, so it dissuades people from booking at 11 months for reservations they know they wont use just to try and market those weeks for sale. You can still book with someone else’s name on the reservation from the get go, but cant change it til the 7 month and 1 day mark. I don’t see this being a major problem for most people.

2) You can book as many days as you have points at Day 1 at the 11 months mark. You hav enough points and want to do a 3 week stay? No problem, book it. Option 1 protects against abusing this.

Just some thoughts, I look forward to the discussion about this idea, don’t come at me if you don’t agree but I would love to hear why you think this would or wouldn’t work.

I don't think either of these would end up working out well.

1 would tie up points for far too long. I think with it some members would be stuck holding reservations they can't use and in effect hold their points past the banking deadline and strand points

2 would work way too well for large point holders (this probably includes a lot of the spec renters as well). Book longer stays, wait a few months, then cancel the days that a renter doesn't want

 

[eandt]

I don't think either of these would end up working out well.

1 would tie up points for far too long. I think with it some members would be stuck holding reservations they can't use and in effect hold their points past the banking deadline and strand points

2 would work way too well for large point holders (this probably includes a lot of the spec renters as well). Book longer stays, wait a few months, then cancel the days that a renter doesn't want

I’m not in favor of making this more complicated than it already is … have walked but not often but if you don’t like them then just beat them at their own game … it’s a few minutes every couple of days

 

[Tatebeck]

We had a very long discussion in another thread here-> https://www.disboards.com/threads/bwv-standard-view.3952132/ - about ways to limit walking. My best idea after mulling it over was that:

Any modification made to a booking moving that booking into dates in the 11+7 window makes that reservation now limited to pushing the check in date into the future only up to 14 days into any more dates in the 11+7 window, from the first time in which that reservation includes days in the 11+7 window.

Basically it would only allow you to walk your start date up to 2 weeks into the future, let you extend the check out date infinitely as long as you have the points, and have no effect if you aren't walking a reservation

 

[matt and beth]

It’s mildly annoying. Login to book at the 11 month window and rooms aren’t available. A few days later the availability appears… I book and move on.

 

[Steelers0854]

1 would tie up points for far too long. I think with it some members would be stuck holding reservations they can't use and in effect hold their points past the banking deadline and strand points

But it doesn’t tie up any points, you’re operating under the assumption someone made a reservation they don’t intend to use. This change is to help those that actually want to make a reservation they intend to use at 11 months, not ones they are spec booking. If you don’t know if you want to travel then don’t book until you want to travel. Or wait to book closer to the 7 month point.

 

[BlueGreen5]

But it doesn’t tie up any points, you’re operating under the assumption someone made a reservation they don’t intend to use. This change is to help those that actually want to make a reservation they intend to use at 11 months, not ones they are spec booking. If you don’t know if you want to travel then don’t book until you want to travel. Or wait to book closer to the 7 month point.

That's not true. Very often, we'll book a week at 11 months (say it's all of our points), with every intention of going that week, and then find airfare is considerably cheaper, say, the next week. We're at a place in life where a week this way or that way doesn't really matter, so we would change to the cheaper week. In your case, we wouldn't be able to move our reservation until 7 months and day (at which point, it's possible our cheaper week is now gone).

 

[DonMacGregor]

I always get a kick out of the “I have no idea how impactful walking is to other people, and in my mind it can’t be, but limiting it in any way whatsoever will it be impactful for me so I don’t like that idea” line of thinking.

 

[bdrex28]

My thoughts:

1. I don't like walking. But it's not against the rules and I understand why it is done by the normal DVC member. Now, I do not want it done by commercial renters as they already have enough advantages with bots, etc.

2. The only way I could see getting rid of it is to set up some AI Algorithm that watches how many times a reservation is modified for the same resort and the same room category in a period of time. If the reservation is being change multiple times to the same room category and the same resort but moving it one day at a time then it's being walked and should be flagged. (If they want to get rid of this happening)

 

[lilsonicfan]

Gotta love the pot stirring posts by DVCFan, I am here for it.