Booking/Waitlist Question

[jsrowdon]

Hello, soon to be new DVC member here. in the process of buying resale now.

This may become obvious once I get access to my account and can see the tool but as I wait for that I was wondering how some of the tools work related to booking.

For example, if I book a week while in my home resort booking window and once the 7 month window opens I want to change to a different resort for only part of that week so we have a split stay how does that work? Do i have to cancel the whole week and rebook both parts separately? Can I choose to just drop the days from the original reservation that are being booked at the new resort?

Same thing when waitlisting, if I am waitlisting days that I have booked at a different resort when that waitlist is filled will it only drop the corresponding days or does it cancel the whole other reservation?

 

[supersnoop]

You can drop days from a reservation by calling, but not only. You can't change a reservation at all online. If you need to free up points from one reservation in order to book its replacement, then you have to cancel first.

 

[jsrowdon]

Wow, I am surprised, not sure why given the reputation of Disney IT, that the web UI for booking and modifying reservations is so limited.

So, when you are planning to book a possible split stay but want to make sure you at least have your home resort if nothing is available at 7 months, do you book your home in 2 separate reservations so that 1 can be canceled and replaced and the other stays as is?

 

[supersnoop]

Wow, I am surprised, not sure why given the reputation of Disney IT, that the web UI for booking and modifying reservations is so limited.

So, when you are planning to book a possible split stay but want to make sure you at least have your home resort if nothing is available at 7 months, do you book your home in 2 separate reservations so that 1 can be canceled and replaced and the other stays as is?

I'm under the impression that Disney IT has a pretty terrible reputation.

If you book two separate reservations, it's likely that Member Services will combine them. So, that won't reliably work. Split stays aren't exactly a focus for Disney.

 

[jsrowdon]

I guess I understand them not being a focus, just surprised that the booking/modifying reservations features are so limited.

Thanks you for the info though.

 

[icydog]

Disney's IT is better than it was but is still limited. But I don't know any timeshare system that would allow you to do what you want online. It's best when doing a complicated request to call Member Services, 1-800-800-9800 prompt 1, directly.

 

[supersnoop]

Also note that the DVC reservation system is paid for by members via annual maintenance fees. I doubt members want to spend too much to address a rare scenario.

 

[jsrowdon]

I agree that there is no reason to spend a lot of money adding features for rare scenarios. With that said I don't know that I would agree that modifying an existing reservation is that rare, it is certainly not done every time but it seems like it would happen often enough. Just from reading these boards it seems like people are always dropping days and changing things around.

Doesn't really matter though, it is what it is. I have a better understanding of how it works and will just have to deal with the limitations that it has.

 

[com_op_2000]

OP, you can make two reservations one with your name as the lead person on one reservation and either use another owner or your middle/nick name on the second reservation.
DVC will "see" the reservation as being for two different people and not auto-combine them.
That way you only have to cancel one reservation when looking at the switch part or you can call MS have the reservations combined within the 30 days before arrival.

 

[jsrowdon]

Great idea! Thanks for the tip.