Can you alter a reservation?

[sunryzez]

I know I have seen this asked before but I cannot seem to find it.

We are unsure of our dates by a day or two. Can I book a reservation and then drop or add a day? Or will that result in a new reservation putting me on a waitlist if others are waiting?

We are either staying a Mon-Thursday or a Sunday- Wednesday. I know it is going to be a hard reservation to get at exactly the 7 month window so should I book the earlier one just in case?
Book all the days and cancel the day out I don't want?

This is my first year owning DVC so I'm still learning....

 

[Marionnette]

I know I have seen this asked before but I cannot seem to find it.

We are unsure of our dates by a day or two. Can I book a reservation and then drop or add a day? Or will that result in a new reservation putting me on a waitlist if others are waiting?

We are either staying a Mon-Thursday or a Sunday- Wednesday. I know it is going to be a hard reservation to get at exactly the 7 month window so should I book the earlier one just in case?
Book all the days and cancel the day out I don't want?

This is my first year owning DVC so I'm still learning....

Yes, you can alter a reservation by calling MS. Just explain that you want to drop or add a day from the beginning or end of your trip.

If I were in your shoes (and I had enough points to do it), I would book all of the days and then call to cancel the night(s) I don't want once my plans are more concrete. But if I didn't have enough points or needed to borrow in order to get enough for the additional night, then I would book the nights that I would be most likely to need and then roll the dice, hoping that I don't need to change it.

 

[sunryzez]

I dont have enough points to add the 4th day. Should I book the earlier three days and in a few days call member services to change it if we decide to go with the later? Can I drop one day and also add another or is that not allowed?

 

[rlovew]

You can drop one day and add another if it is available- if not you can drop one day and then waitlist the other.

 

[sunryzez]

Nevermind, I literally checked at 7:55 and it was available and at exactly 8 am clicked again and the room was gone!

 

[wench]

I would waitlast the 1st night right away. Someone else could be walking a reservation, in which case the 1st night might open sometime tomorrow. If that's the case, you may still get all your nights depending on how far out their real dates are.

 

[DenLo]

I would waitlast the 1st night right away. Someone else could be walking a reservation, in which case the 1st night might open sometime tomorrow. If that's the case, you may still get all your nights depending on how far out their real dates are.

Won't they have the same problem with tomorrow disappearing at 8:00 am? It seems like daily every first date is gone. I would just wait list the all three days.

 

[Marionnette]

Won't they have the same problem with tomorrow disappearing at 8:00 am? It seems like daily every first date is gone. I would just wait list the all three days.

Yes, they could likely see the 2nd night disappear tomorrow. But if they were to waitlist all 3 nights now, they would run into the problem that night #1 may open up without nights #2 & #3 being available. If they waitlisted all 3 nights, they would not get just night #1 filled.

But if they were to waitlist night #1 today and then try for #2 & #3 tomorrow, they stand a better chance of getting night #1. They could still waitlist nights #2 &#3 tomorrow if they aren't successful. Shorter waitlists are always more likely to get filled than longer ones.

 

[rsjj]

I would waitlast the 1st night right away. Someone else could be walking a reservation, in which case the 1st night might open sometime tomorrow. If that's the case, you may still get all your nights depending on how far out their real dates are.

What does "walking" a reservation mean?

Won't they have the same problem with tomorrow disappearing at 8:00 am? It seems like daily every first date is gone. I would just wait list the all three days.

This is exactly the situation I'm encountering! So I should wait list my first day, one day at a time?

 

[Marionnette]

What does "walking" a reservation mean?

Walking a reservation involves booking a stay that actually begins before your expected stay but includes the first night of your intended stay. This blocks those nights from being booked by another member. You then call MS when the booking window opens up for your intended first night (which you already reserved) and ask them to alter your nights by dropping the first nights and then adding the rest. It's a way of securing a reservation at a peak period for a villa that is generally in high demand. When someone who is walking a reservation calls to make changes to their reservation, the dates that they originally booked go back into inventory. If the waitlist doesn't pick them up for someone else first, you might be able to book them online..

This is exactly the situation I'm encountering! So I should wait list my first day, one day at a time?

You can only have 2 active waitlists per membership. Waitlisting one day at a time would only be helpful if you were able to get the remaining days of the reservation by regular means or if you only wanted 2 nights anyway.

 

[rsjj]

Walking a reservation involves booking a stay that actually begins before your expected stay but includes the first night of your intended stay. This blocks those nights from being booked by another member. You then call MS when the booking window opens up for your intended first night (which you already reserved) and ask them to alter your nights by dropping the first nights and then adding the rest. It's a way of securing a reservation at a peak period for a villa that is generally in high demand. When someone who is walking a reservation calls to make changes to their reservation, the dates that they originally booked go back into inventory. If the waitlist doesn't pick them up for someone else first, you might be able to book them online..

You can only have 2 active waitlists per membership. Waitlisting one day at a time would only be helpful if you were able to get the remaining days of the reservation by regular means or if you only wanted 2 nights anyway.

So I can "walk" a reservation...book a reservation couple days (let's say 2 days) before my 7 month window...and call ms to "fix" my reservation at my 7 month window (2 days after I book my trip)...to drop the first 2 days of my trip and add 2 days at the end?

 

[wench]

So I can "walk" a reservation...book a reservation couple days (let's say 2 days) before my 7 month window...and call ms to "fix" my reservation at my 7 month window (2 days after I book my trip)...to drop the first 2 days of my trip and add 2 days at the end?

Yes, that's how it works.

 

[Marionnette]

So I can "walk" a reservation...book a reservation couple days (let's say 2 days) before my 7 month window...and call ms to "fix" my reservation at my 7 month window (2 days after I book my trip)...to drop the first 2 days of my trip and add 2 days at the end?

Sort of. The original reservation dates and the subsequent reservation dates must overlap by at least one night (you're booking "nights", not "days"). So, a 2-day reservation which involves a 1-night stay would not be walk-able.

Walking works best for members booking at their home resort between 7-11 months out. As a non-owner at the 7-month window, you still have owners at that resort who can book (or may have already booked) those nights before you reached the 7-month window for your actual reservation dates.

 

[rsjj]

Thank you for your detailed explanation!

 

[sunryzez]

Thanks everyone. I did not get the first night but by some miracle I was able to get a 2 bedroom villa for mid June at DGCV. I knew it was a long shot so I'm thrilled I at least got 3 of the 4 nights I was looking for!

 

[DenLo]

You can still wait list the fourth night.