Drop part of lockoff

cuteinnocent

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
I have a 2 bedroom lockoff reservation in June. The other family can't go now, as the dad needs a bone marrow transplant. We might want to drop the studio part and keep the 1 bedroom for just the 4 of us left. Has anyone been able to change a reservation like that coming up soon? The problem is that we are still asking others to come so not sure yet if we need to try to change it yet or not.
 
It would be a cancel and rebook, so you would risk losing the entire reservation. I would personally only do this if there was still availability remaining for a 1 bedroom. Hope you find some one else to go with you. Good luck!
 
Under extreme circumstances as you described I would call Member services and explain your friend is undergoing life saving surgery. Bone Marrow transplantations are very delicate, painful and exacting. Talk to a manager. Say you can send a doctor's note if necessary.
 
It’s considered a different accommodation. Cancel and rebook.

At this late date, IF you cancel, part or all of your reservation will go immediately to the waitlist.

If you try to cancel to book a 1 br, you’ll certainly lose the reservation altogether.

I doubt MS will work with you. I’d be upset if they did. If you want a 1br at this late date, it’s only fair to get in line behind the other people waiting for a 1br.

Put another way, if MS allowed this, people would start booking 2br lockoffs at 11 months “just in case”, and cancelling what they didn’t need much later, tying up rooms. Or, if they allow this, then they’ll have to allow splitting the reservation into two parties (same concept as ‘I already have at least that much reserved’). Either way, I don’t want the law of unintended consequences that would result from allowing changes between categories at will.
 


I doubt MS will work with you. I’d be upset if they did. If you want a 1br at this late date, it’s only fair to get in line behind the other people waiting for a 1br.

Put another way, if MS allowed this, people would start booking 2br lockoffs at 11 months “just in case”, and cancelling what they didn’t need much later, tying up rooms. Or, if they allow this, then they’ll have to allow splitting the reservation into two parties (same concept as ‘I already have at least that much reserved’). Either way, I don’t want the law of unintended consequences that would result from allowing changes between categories at will.
If MS were to allow this to happen as a functioning part of the system, I was curious how you feel this differs from walking a reservation which I know you are a proponent of. Conceptually, it feels like the same idea: tying up rooms to serve your own need.
 
Under extreme circumstances as you described I would call Member services and explain your friend is undergoing life saving surgery. Bone Marrow transplantations are very delicate, painful and exacting. Talk to a manager. Say you can send a doctor's note if necessary.

This may help. Sometimes they can and will work with you. I would not be upset if they work with you.

I have 2 reservations for December, a 1 bedroom for us, a studio for friends. It’s more points this way, but if my friends can’t come, I will simply cancel their part. I ask for “traveling with” and hope we will be on the same floor or close.
 
If MS were to allow this to happen as a functioning part of the system, I was curious how you feel this differs from walking a reservation which I know you are a proponent of. Conceptually, it feels like the same idea: tying up rooms to serve your own need.
I’m not necessarily a proponent of walking. I don’t remember ever walking a reservation, although I wouldn’t rule it out with my new AKV points.

My main two points about walking are:

1. Since it’s a known and ignored loophole, it’s not morallly bankrupt to use it. I DO believe that in a “first come, first served” system, taking advantage of knowledge of the system is not only not wrong, it’s essential. I believe walking to be a morally neutral act, neither “right” nor “wrong”.

2. Any cure will almost certainly be worse than the disease.

But to your point, it’s not comparable. Holding a room for 10 days at 11 month isn’t comparable to holding one until the 30 day no penalty cancel, or to the last minute if holding doesn’t scare you.

In the first case, a home resort owner will eventually end up with the room. In the second case, the “extra” room could be held past any reasonable planning by anyone else.
 


It’s considered a different accommodation. Cancel and rebook.

At this late date, IF you cancel, part or all of your reservation will go immediately to the waitlist.

If you try to cancel to book a 1 br, you’ll certainly lose the reservation altogether.

I doubt MS will work with you. I’d be upset if they did. If you want a 1br at this late date, it’s only fair to get in line behind the other people waiting for a 1br.

Put another way, if MS allowed this, people would start booking 2br lockoffs at 11 months “just in case”, and cancelling what they didn’t need much later, tying up rooms. Or, if they allow this, then they’ll have to allow splitting the reservation into two parties (same concept as ‘I already have at least that much reserved’). Either way, I don’t want the law of unintended consequences that would result from allowing changes between categories at will.
The procedure the OP is talking about is a last ditch LIFE saving measure. My friend went through it and the amount of time spent in a hospital, and the pain associated with the transfusing of new red blood cells, is excruciating. My friend died in May of last year after his second bought when this horrible cancer took him.

My point is it will not take anything away from a waitlist since waitlists are filled before 30 days in most instances. Why not cut the OP a break!

This may help. Sometimes they can and will work with you. I would not be upset if they work with you.

I have 2 reservations for December, a 1 bedroom for us, a studio for friends. It’s more points this way, but if my friends can’t come, I will simply cancel their part. I ask for “traveling with” and hope we will be on the same floor or close.
. Ask them to add the studio reservation number to your one bedroom reservation number and have them add the one bedroom reservation number to the studio. On both reservations request the rooms be assigned together making it a two bedroom lockoff. I have done this numerous times. Then call the booking cast member about 3 days before you leave home to reiterate what you need.

Thanks for your support in a very dire situation for the OP.
 
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I have a 2 bedroom lockoff reservation in June. The other family can't go now, as the dad needs a bone marrow transplant. We might want to drop the studio part and keep the 1 bedroom for just the 4 of us left. Has anyone been able to change a reservation like that coming up soon? The problem is that we are still asking others to come so not sure yet if we need to try to change it yet or not.
Historically it has been a cancelation and rebooking but there have been reports of this exact thing being allowed the last few years. I'd at least all and ask.
 
You must be young and uninformed. The procedure the OP is talking about is a last ditch LIFE saving measure. My friend went through it and the amount of time spent in a hospital, and the pain associated with the transfusing of new red blood cells, is excruciating. My friend died in May of last year after his second bought when this horrible cancer took him.

My point is it will not take anything away from a waitlist since waitlists are filled before 30 days in most instances. Why not cut the OP a break!

. Ask them to add the studio reservation number to your one bedroom reservation number and have them add the one bedroom reservation number to the studio. On both reservations request the rooms be assigned together making it a two bedroom lockoff. I have done this numerous times. Then call the booking cast member about 3 days before you leave home to reiterate what you need.

Thanks for your support in a very dire situation for the OP.
I’m not unsympathetic to the friend.

But the friend doesn’t have a reservation. The OP does. And that’s why travel insurance exists. Honestly, the point difference isn’t as great between a 1br and 2br as most other distinctions. The OP should just enjoy the 2 br and be done with it.

If DVC starts making exceptions for friends of friends, then everybody deserves the exception. If everybody gets such an exception, it would do serious damage to the concept of “first come, first served”.
 
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Historically it has been a cancelation and rebooking but there have been reports of this exact thing being allowed the last few years. I'd at least all and ask.

I have found MS to be extremely helpful in emergencies. When my husband died they let me cancel all the vacations plans I couldn't use even though my use year was in March and the reservations were in February. In other words they banked my points into the next use year because of the extreme circumstances. I think they try to have a heart when they can. But you will have to escalate to at least a first level manager.
 
Disney has rules and they generally enforce them. But Disney is not in the business of enforcing rules. Their business is creating magic.
I have found that you have to give Disney some space to create magic. Rather than requesting a certain solution, tell them the problem you are dealing with and ask them if they can help.
 
Disney has rules and they generally enforce them. But Disney is not in the business of enforcing rules. Their business is creating magic.
I have found that you have to give Disney some space to create magic. Rather than requesting a certain solution, tell them the problem you are dealing with and ask them if they can help.
I totally agree. Give MS a chance to fix it. Offer, and then send, a doctor's note. But the OP must be willing to take the time to escalate this to higher management. Often the CM who answers the phone will get her supervisor to weigh in. If that doesn't work ask for a call back from a manager.
 
Historically it has been a cancelation and rebooking but there have been reports of this exact thing being allowed the last few years. I'd at least all and ask.

From reports I've seen it's been more likely to be done if someone submits a written request. That's the route I'd try first.
 
In the first case, a home resort owner will eventually end up with the room. In the second case, the “extra” room could be held past any reasonable planning by anyone else.

That's not necessarily true although I do understand your stance on this. It's a bit catch-22 though as what it does is free up a room that could be used by someone else. And especially if it was the studio section I have little doubt it would go. There are still people that plan last minute trips - or would at least like to. They may have had something come up in their lives and had to cancel something previously booked. Plus - with essentially a free cancellation policy as long as it's done 31 days or more in advance there are lots of opportunities for people to hold rooms until the last minute which really isn't any different than this.

Above all I like the flexibility of DVC and don't have an issue if this exception was done. Considering people get points restored to full, unrestricted status for far less this seems quite minor. Now should it be a common rule for all? Probably not but I don't believe I'd be upset if it was that way. I do have a difficult time understanding the whole bit where they require more points for individual studio and 1BR bookings vs a 2BR lock-off. It just seems like it ends up requiring more points then rooms and that would mean a plus for DVC where they would get the cash from renting the room. I thought that 2BR lock-offs are declared into points as 2BR's so it's never made complete sense to have the difference.
 
That's not necessarily true although I do understand your stance on this. It's a bit catch-22 though as what it does is free up a room that could be used by someone else. And especially if it was the studio section I have little doubt it would go. There are still people that plan last minute trips - or would at least like to. They may have had something come up in their lives and had to cancel something previously booked. Plus - with essentially a free cancellation policy as long as it's done 31 days or more in advance there are lots of opportunities for people to hold rooms until the last minute which really isn't any different than this.

Above all I like the flexibility of DVC and don't have an issue if this exception was done. Considering people get points restored to full, unrestricted status for far less this seems quite minor. Now should it be a common rule for all? Probably not but I don't believe I'd be upset if it was that way. I do have a difficult time understanding the whole bit where they require more points for individual studio and 1BR bookings vs a 2BR lock-off. It just seems like it ends up requiring more points then rooms and that would mean a plus for DVC where they would get the cash from renting the room. I thought that 2BR lock-offs are declared into points as 2BR's so it's never made complete sense to have the difference.
I can book a 1br and cancel at 31 days, but not without losing the whole reservation.

Honestly if DVC did agree to split the reservation at this point, they’d be within their rights to send the studio straight to breakage.

I’m glad the issue was resolved by the OP.
 
I can book a 1br and cancel at 31 days, but not without losing the whole reservation.

Honestly if DVC did agree to split the reservation at this point, they’d be within their rights to send the studio straight to breakage.

I’m glad the issue was resolved by the OP.

Of course as you had only one room held but you would have held a room that another member might otherwise have been looking to book which was part of your argument against splitting the reservation. And if UY's and points etc. line up correctly there's been zero penalty to you also. Both are rooms held until close to check in that others might book.
 
OK thanks! We did find someone to come along, although I don't know how crazy it will get with twin 1 yr olds and a 4 yr old and all (including parents) their first time at Disney. :headache:
Glad you found a family to fill in.
Have fun introducing the first timers to WDW - and good luck w/ the twin 1 yr. olds - sounds like a handful!
 
If MS were to allow this to happen as a functioning part of the system, I was curious how you feel this differs from walking a reservation which I know you are a proponent of. Conceptually, it feels like the same idea: tying up rooms to serve your own need.
With walking, the walker usually drops the first night a week after they made the reservation. They are always dropping the first night until they get the nights they need. If members booked a two bedroom lockoff and then drop the studio portion, it would probably be a lot longer than a week later. Maybe even months later (like no later than 31 days out).
 

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