Day by day....????

[dreamscometrue]

Hi there. I'm still new and have read about booking "day by day" in many of the posts. Could someone explain this??? Hate to sound stupid. I know you can book 11 months in advance of the day you check out, but am confused about booking "day by day". What if you are staying say for 9 nights--- 7 are covered by a weeks worth of points and then 2 more nights are needed, am I correct in thinking that you cannot just call up at book the whole trip or at least the whole week at one time?? Sorry to bother with these types of questions but everyone here seems very, very helpful and to a newcomer like me, that is a very welcome thing. Thanks in advance and have a great day!!!

 

[Coach Rick]

Don't feel bad, I don't know the answer to that one either. For that matter I never even thought about it. Like I tell my students in school, "the only dumb question is the one not asked"! I am sure someone will be along shortly to answer it. Thanks

 

[Jimbo]

Day by day means booking each day of your trip separately. In your example, that would mean booking 9 one day stays. (Since Member Services is closed on weekends, it would actually be more like 6 one day stays and one three day stay). MS links these individual reservations together, and it basically gets treated as one 9 day reservation.

People do this right at the beginning of their booking window. The advantage of doing it this way is that it virtually guarantees that there will be availability. The disadvantage is that you're making a whole lot of phone calls, and possibly wasting a lot of time on hold too.

Nothing says you have to do this. Most times people will call 11 months (or less) before their actual checkout day and reserve the 9 nights at once. But if you are staying during peak occupancy, like Spring Break or Christmas/New Year's, it might be worth doing. Or, if you want a hard to get room, like a standard view at BWV or a Grand Villa at those resorts that have GVs, you might want to go day by day. It's a way to make sure you get what you want.

But mostly, one phone call is enough.

 

[JR]

If you wait until 11 months before you check out you are taking the chance that the days before will be booked while you wait. This can easily happen when booking Grand Villas during busy times. Day by Day is booking 11 months ahead of your check in date and then adding on a day each day until you reach your last day. Member services is very familiar with this practice and if you tell them you are booking day by day they will hold your confirmation letter until you finish your booking.
Hope this helps.

JR

 

[DebbieB]

After the first day, it's pretty quick. The first day they have to take down all the info like usual. You should tell them what you are doing, they will ask for your final checkout date. Then on the next days, you just say you want to add a night, it pops up on the screen and that's it, only a couple minutes once you get through. When I did it in January for a 1 bedroom standard at BWV, the first days I didn't have to hold hardly at all, but when I called for my final dates on a Monday, there was a 10 or 15 minute hold time. No big deal to get what I want. I did it last year too and one night I was sitting in the living room at BWV and thought about it, it didn't seem like 11 months before!

For example, I booked Dec 6 to 12. On January 7, I called for Dec 6 (which would checkout on Dec 7), then January 8 for Dec 7, etc. If I waited until the 12th, there's a chance that people who were arriving earlier than the 6th may have reserved all the rooms for the early dates in the reservation (for example, people staying Dec 2 to 8).

 

[skelooch]

I've booked day by day for my last couple of reservations I like the piece of mind knowing that I'm going to get exactly what I want. It only takes a couple of minutes, plus you get to talk to a lot of different CM's. This morning I got one that used to live within a mile of my home, and went to the same High School as my kids. We had a great chat. It certainly is A SMALL WORLD.

 

[Pa@okw95]

For normal bookings it is not necessary to call day by day. Unless you belong to BWV where they have a special situation there, or you want a GV, it is really being inconsiderate of your fellow members to call day by day at 11 months out anyway. I did this only once in 15 different DVC vacations and that was when I wanted a GV.

 

[Caskbill]

Day by day booking is only necessary for a very few special occassions or special rooms (such as GV's as previously mentioned)

Christmas is one of those times.

Suppose you wanted Dec 22 through Jan 3rd, checking out the 4th. Your normal 11-month booking date would be Feb 4th.

Someone else wants Dec 22 through Dec 28, checking out Dec 29. Their 11-month booking date would be Jan 29th, ahead of your booking date because their vacation stay is shorter.

Now suppose there are many hundreds of people who want something in the Dec 22 through Dec 30 timeframe. ALL of them would have a booking date prior to you because they all would be checking out prior to you checking out on Jan 4th. Therefore using the 11-month window, they could all book their vacations by their 11-month checkout dates, and so by the time you could book on Feb 4th all the Christmas days are taken.

You definitely don't want to miss Christmas, so you book Dec 22 on Jan 23( 11 month prior to a theoretical Dec 23 checkout date).

On Jan 24th you book the Dec 23rd date.

On Jan 25th you book the Dec 24th date.

and so on. this is day by day booking.

It is ONLY required at very high holiday periods, and on hard to get rooms. Such as a Standard view Studio at BWV (because that's the lowest point room available at BW for that timeframe).

 

[sheryl0521]

from Pa@okw95
it is really being inconsiderate of your fellow members to call day by day at 11 months out anyway.

Hi Pa@okw,
just wondering why you feel it is inconsiderate to book day by day at 11 months out?

Sheryl

 

[Pa@okw95]

Sheryl--This should be self evident-it would take 5 phone calls to make a 5 day reservation instead of one if you wait like you should. Let me say this--I don't mean for anyone to take this personal, but this day and age it does not surprise me that some do not see this as a problem. It is a sign of the times,people fail to think of the whole situation. Calling day by day at the 11 month window causes the phone line to be tied up. The is no need to do this but if you do what can I say other than it does not surprise me. Like I said there are exceptions. The phone lines are often busy. It is a selfish act as far as I am concerned and is not necessary.

 

[Richyams]

I agree completely, it ties up the lines, costs us more money, all of that and it is selfish and thoughtless to do so....most of the time.

Do you agree that there are times and situations that require day by day calling?

Xmas, SV at BWV anytime of year, GV almost any time of year.

What I do for the GV is call the first day, aske to reserve ten units for the previous week, if they are available, I will reserve the first day, wait four or five days, call and ask again about ten untis being available, if so, wait till the last day and make the rest of the ressie.

First two weeks of December, need to call every day. First weeks of November, two calls, one on the first day and one on the last day.

I actually don't like the BWV SV situation. All members at all resorts must pay the extra MS costs associated with the extra calls needed to book these. I think that is unfair. I think BWV owners should have a MS surcharge just because of this.

 

[chainkid]

call me selfish then because when I'm planning my yearly trip using alot of different rooms for my family, I want to be sure I get exactly what I want. Especially if you want to save points and get extra nights in a standard view, I can guarantee if you wait you will lose out...it happened to me one year....never again.

 

[sheryl0521]

I understand your point, but I do feel that with my membership dues being paid each and every month, I have the right to make my reservation anyway I choose to.

May I add that I have only done the day-by-day ressie one time, and once my initial set up was completed, I made my daily phone call in the afternoon, after prime calling time. I think I only waited on hold for a couple of minutes the first day and after that the call was picked up immediately. So I don’t think I was tying up any lines.

Rich - I like your idea for booking that GV. I will keep it in mind when I book my family reunion for 75 people over Christmas 2005.

 

[Richyams]

Hey, I specifically said SV at BWV needed day by day calling.

I also think BWV owners should pay an MS surcharge because of all the extra calls needed to book these.

 

[Pa@okw95]

When this subject comes up someone always chimes in from about the BWV situation, if you read the other posts we all recognize this situation.

 

[ceejay13]

We've been planning to take 11 members of my family for over 3 years. We needed 2-2bdrs and a studio. We wanted SV at the BWV. After all the planning, banking and borrowing we didn't want anything to happen to this long awaited trip next January. Actually MS recommended it when we called for advice, as the Sunday we wanted was the annual WDW Marathon. It is the first time I have ever called day by day but I also had 10 other people rearranging their schedules, so I felt it was called for. I do understand that it takes up the castmembers time but I do think there are occasions it is appropriate.

 

[paults]

its OK to call day by day for GV's at OKW but people get mad when you call day by day for SV at BWV.

Solution: discontinue day by day booking altogether and lets see how that works.

As far as saying its inconsiderate (hogwash). I plan my vacations to best utilize my pts and I just did my first day by day booking at BWV for April 2004 and it took all of maybe 4 min each day calling at 4 pm

Why don't we discontinue WAIT-LISTING too because that takes up MORE of the CM's time because people are waitlisting at more than 1 resort and tying up the phones so US DAY BY DAY BOOKERS can't get through to book day by day or put a $1 surcharge per waitlisted resort.

 

[DeeP]

its OK to call day by day for GV's at OKW but people get mad when you call day by day for SV at BWV.

paults,
I know, isn't it funny how there are double standards? It just cracks me up how some people have self appointed themselves the DVC monitoring police and like to make statements and offer their half baked opinions regarding what is inconsiderate, what is a disservice to all other DVC members, yadda, yadda.
Give it a break, every DVC member owns their own pts and can do whatever they wish with them including calling MS as often as they like, avoiding weekend pts., etc.!!

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Originally posted by Pa@okw95
...it is really being inconsiderate of your fellow members to call day by day at 11 months out anyway.

Agreed. Artificially and unnecessarily increasing the volume of calls to MS increases our due payments.

Deep, it looks like we may dissagree on this one. Not trying to be the DVC police, just sharing my opinion. Reasonableness and balance with use of resources helps us all, in my opinion. Excessiveness costs.

 

[crisi]

If its unnecessary, which in some cases it isn't.

And it doesn't waste any more time than people who call MS to switch their reservations at seven months, or switch their requests, or call every day to see if their waitlist has come through.