Dropping a day in middle of ressie, when trying to switch resorts; Strategy?

[disneyberry]

(edited title of thread to be more appropriate to topic, as i steered it off-topic. my OP is still below, except right after i ranted, i wasn't upset anymore. it's good to get things off your chest, thanks for "listening" everyone. anyway, see other questions in later posts.)



sorry i just have to rant.
i sent MS a very detailed email requesting some reservations to be made.
i was trying to make ressies at OKW (my home resort) for the week before Xmas. i was trying to book 5 nights as 3 separate reservations, i.e. A) Night1, B) Nights 2+3, and C) Nights 4+5
so that i could drop nights one at a time for when i try to switch resorts at the 7mo window. i don't have enough points to hold ressies at another resort w/o releasing points from my OKW ressie. (i explained this in my email)

they wrote back and said i can't request day-by-day ressies over email. what? i wasn't trying to make day-by-day ressies. UGH.
and then also said that i had to wait until next week to make the ressie. i don't know where the heck they got that number but i'm well w/in my 11mo window so they must be really confused or totally did not read my email.

then they told me i don't need to book 3 ressies 'cause they can "easily modify original reservation to drop nights on either side" which of course doesn't address the reason why i wanted to do it that way: drop nights one at a time in the middle of stay if necessary. UGH!

and then they told me i should go use the form on their website to make ressie requests.
but my email included EVERYTHING on that form and ADDITIONAL info to help them make the ressies! plus, doesn't the Member Guidebook say you can make ressies by email, fax, OR that form?
there is nothing saying you're REQUIRED to use that form. (it's not such a great form anyway, no confirmation of what you entered so you can go back and edit it just in case you made a mistake.)

i'm just annoyed by this. i thought sending an email would be less confusing for them, 'cause they'd have all details in writing in front of them.
guess that's only the case if they actually READ my email.

 

[CarolA]

Well in their defense, this was kind of confusing for me to read. Maybe you should have just sent three emails each with one reservation request.

 

[PamOKW]

I'm not sure about some parts of your rant...the day-by-day and having to wait don't make sense to me either.

But, I do agree with MS that what you are doing, making little reservations strung together, isn't necessary. When you change your reservation in the future, you can just tell them which days to drop even if they were booked as one trip. They'll just modify your reservation.

Funny how when we think we are laying it all out, questions still come up! Good luck getting this set to your satisfaction.

 

[disneyberry]

*sigh* my original email was much more clear, my OP is more of a rant, so i was typing real fast heh

anyway, yeah, next time i'm just sending 3 separate emails.
actually since they told me to submit via the website, i just did that just now, 3 separate times.

hopefully they won't get confused by that.
i guess i'll just have to call them up later to have them link the ressies.

i'm most annoyed by the waiting till next week thing. that was ridiculous.

Pam, if i did have them do only 1 ressie, and later changed it, wouldn't it change the date of my ressie? thus put me back at the bottom of the list for priority that my room requests should be filled? also, isn't there no guarantee that all nights will still be available?

 

[Michelemouse]

I have heard over and over that requests are filled based on the date you make your reservation, but I don't believe it. We have made reservations right at the 11-month window, at the 7-month window at other resorts and even on just a couple of months notice. Sometimes we get our requests, sometimes we don't...but it doesn't seem to correspond to when we made our reservation. We've always made one reservation for the entire stay and then dropped nights as we switched to the other resort. Again, it doesn't seem to affect whether or not we get our requests.

 

[eva]

You can modify your reservation all you want. If you drop days (which we've done a number of times) you do not need to make a new reservation. They just drop the days. If you want to add days they have to check the waitlist first and if no one is on the list or there are plenty of openings you can add to the reservation. The only time that you have to make a completely new reservation if when you are trying to exchange points. For example, you make a reservation at BWV with BWV points at the 11 month mark, then you decide to pay for the reservation with some Vero points that you have at the 7 month window. You can only do this if there is availabilty. It is only a new reservation if you completely change the dates or try using different points for the reservation.

Man, I think that my post is about as confusing as the original.

 

[disneyberry]

okay, i was thinking about it again, and since i'd be trying to switch to a different resort, it shouldn't really matter if the date of the ressie is changed, because i wouldn't care that much about requests for my old ressies.

SO, the main concern i have is, when you ask MS to rebook your ressie to drop nights in the middle of your stay, aren't you essentially making a completely new ressie?

thus, the rooms are subject to availability?

so, if you had a ressie for Sun, Mon, + Tue nights.
you decide you want to drop Mon night.
you ask MS to rebook 2 new ressies: 1) Sun night, and 2) Tue night.
but, turns out those nights are sold out.
isn't that a problem?

(btw, this thread is getting off topic now. of course, after i ranted earlier, i'm no longer upset, so now i'm getting back to my usual inquisitive self. )

 

[RobDoc]

Originally posted by disneyberry

so, if you had a ressie for Sun, Mon, + Tue nights.
you decide you want to drop Mon night.
you ask MS to rebook 2 new ressies: 1) Sun night, and 2) Tue night.
but, turns out those nights are sold out.
isn't that a problem?

In the case you describe- you will, in effect, be making a new reservation- since you will have to check out on Monday and back in on Tuesday- so you will have 2 reservations. However, since you already have those dates and room type reserved, you will have the availability locked up. If you used the same scenario and just dropped the Tues night, you would keep the same reservation number you originally made and you'd get a "modified" confirmation in the mail. You would not be making a new reservation and the nights would be available since no changes were actually made.

The same thing would apply to your question, but you would have 2 separate reservations and confirmations.

Enjoy!

 

[disneyberry]

thanks, Doc.
this is what i originally thought.

so, if you want to:

A. guarantee you'll have a room somewhere all 3 nights (Sun, Mon, Tue)
B. try to switch to a different resort on a day-by-day basis (assuming not all nights are avail, you have to waitlist some nights, and nights will become avail separately)
C. be able to free up points to book Resort#2 Mon night by dropping Mon night at Resort#1

the only way to do it is to book your original ressie at Resort#1 as 2 separate ressies:

Ressie#1 = Sun night
Ressie#2 = Mon + Tue nights

is this correct?
i know this is complicated, but that's what i get for having so few points. i don't have any other choice.

if someone has another solution (not counting adding-on, or rent points ), i'm definitely all ears
of course i would prefer to keep things as simple as possible, but i wouldn't want to be stuck w/o a room any one night.

 

[Dean]

Frankly MS frequently makes mistakes but I'm sure it must be difficult to take either the verbal or written word and put it into action and not make mistakes at times.

I'm a little confused so let me make sure I have your plan down correctly. From what you've written, I assume you want to make an OKW reservation and then change over to ??? when the 7 month window opens up (if available). I assume you are willing to change resorts if necessary since you plan on dropping days from your OKW ressie and don't have enough to have a duplicate ressie until you get the entire thing locked in. I further assume that you plan on dropping day 1, then 2 & 3 collectively then 4 & 5 together. I will base my answers on these premises.

You did indeed make life far more complicated for yourself and MS than need be. What you should have done was to make the reservation you wanted at OKW now. Then when the 7 month window opened up, you could make whatever ressies you need and drop the appropriate days. The assumption I think you made was that to do this you would either have to cancel and rebook (risking the waiting list) or lose your place in line on requests. Neither is the case. While you could end up with 2 separate ressies if you cancel days in the middle, it would be treated like you had 2 reservations all along.

I'd have to question whether you want to put yourself in a position of having to change resorts either once or twice in a 5 day stay. If you have enough points to make the OKW reservation then make the first few days of the one you plan to change to, you'll be better off. Say you only have enough for the OKW and 3 days at BCV. Keep the full 5 days at OKW and actually make the first 3 days at BCV, day by day if you feel you must. You can have pending reservations then cancel what you need to later. Then when it comes to day 4 you have to make a decision. Ask MS what the availability is for day 5. If there's plenty of availability for day 5, go ahead and make day 4 at BCV dropping ONLY the number of days from OKW to get enough points to do what you need. Then if you call back for day 5 at BCV and it's not available, you could add back in OKW if you wanted or wait list BCV and keep that needed days at OKW until you get it.

If you don't have enough points to do any duplicate ressies, you must make the decision up front whether to wait until you can check the days all at once or risk having to change resorts if the wait list doesn't come through.

Make sure you tell them to use any banked or borrowed points first and try not to miss any banking deadlines if it's important to you. I hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[RobDoc]

Originally posted by disneyberry

the only way to do it is to book your original ressie at Resort#1 as 2 separate ressies:

Ressie#1 = Sun night
Ressie#2 = Mon + Tue nights

is this correct?

You do NOT need 2 separate reservations. At 7 months, if the resort at which you wish to make a reservation is available- you can simply cancel the existing reservation and use those points for the new ressie.

If the new resort isn't available and you wish to waitlist, you have two choices- either an automatic day-by-day reservation (where they will reserve each day as it becomes available and cancel the corresponding original day) or have them contact you when/if the entire reservation becomes available at one time.

Good Luck!

 

[disneyberry]

Originally posted by Dean
The assumption I think you made was that to do this you would either have to cancel and rebook (risking the waiting list) or lose your place in line on requests. Neither is the case. While you could end up with 2 separate ressies if you cancel days in the middle, it would be treated like you had 2 reservations all along.

wow, i did not know this. i did indeed think dropping a night in the middle would mean rebooking + risking the waiting list. in fact, that is what i was asking before, and i thought Doc's answer meant that you would have to rebook dependent on availability.

so, using the simplified example from above:

let's say i book one 3-night ressie, OKW Sun, Mon + Tue nights.

at 7mos, i try to switch to BCV.
only the Mon night at BCV is available. Sun + Tue are sold out.

the only way i have enough points to hold BCV Mon night, is if i cancel my original OKW Mon night to free up some points. (this is an extreme simplification of my situation just for discussion purposes)
this involves dropping 1 night in the middle.

so, i can tell MS to change my 1 ressie into 2 ressies: OKW Sun night + OKW Tue night. even if Sun + Tue are sold out at OKW, they can make this change no problem because i originally reserved those nights before?

then, i would proceed to get on the waitlist for Sun + Tue nights at BCV.

is that how it should all work?

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by disneyberry
so, i can tell MS to change my 1 ressie into 2 ressies: OKW Sun night + OKW Tue night. even if Sun + Tue are sold out at OKW, they can make this change no problem because i originally reserved those nights before?

then, i would proceed to get on the waitlist for Sun + Tue nights at BCV.

is that how it should all work?

My understanding is yes. The problem with this is if the wait list does not come through you would be changing resorts twice on a short stay. This is just another example of why it's helpful to have an appropriate use year where one can wait until after the 7 month window to decide about banking points.

 

[disneyberry]

hi everyone, i just wanted to update on this.
i emailed MS to verify the info from this thread, and they told me the following:

if you drop days in the middle, yes, they would have to change the original 1 ressie into 2 ressies.
taking my OKW Sun, Mon, Tue night example:

what they would do is MODIFY the original ressie, dropping Mon and Tue nights.

then they would make a new ressie for just Tue night.

what would happen is that the original ressie would keep its original booking date, so you would still have the original priority for room requests.
BUT, the new ressie for Tue night would drop back down in priority because it is a new ressie dated much later.

also, if Tue night were sold out at the time you did this change, it is still okay because you had previously reserved that Tue night, so guaranteed availability that way.


now, this gets me thinking... when they modify the original ressie to drop Mon and Tue nights, do those nights go back into general inventory?
so if another MS CM happened to be booking rooms for the same dates, could they snatch up that Tue night before your CM got a chance to book it again for you?

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by disneyberry
hi everyone, i just wanted to update on this.
i emailed MS to verify the info from this thread, and they told me the following:

if you drop days in the middle, yes, they would have to change the original 1 ressie into 2 ressies.
taking my OKW Sun, Mon, Tue night example:

what they would do is MODIFY the original ressie, dropping Mon and Tue nights.

then they would make a new ressie for just Tue night.

what would happen is that the original ressie would keep its original booking date, so you would still have the original priority for room requests.
BUT, the new ressie for Tue night would drop back down in priority because it is a new ressie dated much later.

also, if Tue night were sold out at the time you did this change, it is still okay because you had previously reserved that Tue night, so guaranteed availability that way.


now, this gets me thinking... when they modify the original ressie to drop Mon and Tue nights, do those nights go back into general inventory?
so if another MS CM happened to be booking rooms for the same dates, could they snatch up that Tue night before your CM got a chance to book it again for you?

Unless someone from DVC/MS happens to post here, none of us can claim to know for sure exactly how the reservation system works. However, many of us here have modified reservations multiple times and no one has ever reported anything even close to what you are postulating. And since MS told you it wouldn't happen, I think you need to relax and quit "thinking" so much! Just keep telling yourself that worrying about the fact that you might have to stay at your home resort (which you love, right? ), is kind of silly! It is, isn't it????

Good luck!

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by disneyberry
now, this gets me thinking... when they modify the original ressie to drop Mon and Tue nights, do those nights go back into general inventory?
so if another MS CM happened to be booking rooms for the same dates, could they snatch up that Tue night before your CM got a chance to book it again for you?

I know they have a way to hold those so they won' get snatched up but they could always make a mistake. They will fix it if they do some way or the other.

 

[luv2vacation]

I wanted to drop dates in the middle of my stay and I was told by MS today that you CAN NOT drop dates in the middle of your ressie. You would have to cancel the whole ressie then rebook, with the possiblity that some of the night you want at the begin and end you could lose. They would go to the wait list first, if there is one. So I was afraid of losing all the days so I did not drop any.