DVC Availability Questions

[vpsurf]

We just joined DVC and we can't wait to start using the membership! I have a few questions though.
1. When you make your reservation; do you get what you ask for or do you find that the availibility is low and you have to settle?
2. Has anyone used the Interval International accommodations and if so do you get what you ask for?
3. Has anyone used the points for a cruise?
Thank YOU!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Planning is the key. For the DVC resorts, use your 11 and 7 month booking windows and you will mostly have little trouble unless you are trying to book extrememly popular times like early December, all holidays, Food and Wine festival, or (the most popular) New Years!

As for Interval International...You need to make a request for an exchange, and then they try to match it and let you know. Remember that someone at the place you wish to exhange to must be trading out for you to get in, so it can be hit or miss. We have only traded out once, and that was to Hawaii. We made our request 2 years ahead and left it very open to ANY resort ANY island except Oahu. Our exchange came through very quickly because of the very open and flexible request we made.

We don't do curises, so I can't speak to that.

 

[J and R's mom]

Booking at your home resort 8 to 11 months out can be pretty good.

Booking at 7 months (or later) out at any other resort is really starting to get tough. If you call right at 7-months out (booking day-by-day), then your chances improve.

It will also depend on the time of year, but I'm finding it harder and harder to get what I want when past the 7-month window.

In 2006 I was able to book 2 (out of 3) nights at three weeks out at BWV--boardwalk view. I had to book preferred view for the 3rd night and then waitlist for the boardwalk view. The 3rd night came through 3-days out.

 

[jodifla]

We just joined DVC and we can't wait to start using the membership! I have a few questions though.
1. When you make your reservation; do you get what you ask for or do you find that the availibility is low and you have to settle?
2. Has anyone used the Interval International accommodations and if so do you get what you ask for?
3. Has anyone used the points for a cruise?
Thank YOU!!

The smaller resorts are harder. The bigger resorts are easier...simple supply and demand.

Luckily, OKW is our favorite so we're all set.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Mostly, if you are reserving at you home resort at 11 months you can get what you want.

Reserving at other resorts at the 7 month mark depends on the resort and time of year. Mostly the time of year.

We have used points for a cruise. It is not the best use of points, but for us it made it possible to take the cruise. We probably won't use points for a cruise again, but are glad we did to take that first one.

 

[Donald is #1]

I only bought DVC in May and so far I have booked 3 vacations and I have had good luck so far. Here is what I booked:


Long weekend in October during F&WF: I booked this trip in July i.e. only 3 months before the trip. Since I didn't have too much flexibility in dates and was looking for a 2 bedroom, I booked what was available: OKW. I am excited to stay there because although I plan on spending most of my trips at AKV, I do want to check out the other resorts.

5 nights at VB: I booked this trip in July for Feb 08. The trip is for my sister & her family and goes from Sunday -> Friday. I booked this trip just after the 7 month mark and was able to get my first choice.

4 nights at AKV in May 2008: I booked this trip in July. I booked this trip at the 10 month mark. I tried for concierge level but it was full. So I booked savannah view which I love and went on the waitlist for conceirge. By mid to late August, the wait list came through and I was booked for the conceirge level.

1 night at AKV in May 2008: I decided to add another night to my May trip. So I called tonight (8 month mark) and asked for either the night before or the night after my planned trip. I was able to get the night at the end of my trip in conceirge.

For all of these trips, I picked the dates and then called without changing dates. So, I am very happy so far. My long turn plan, is to try to book in the 10-11 month period and then if I want to try a different resort, call back at 7 months to switch.

 

[KLEONARD]

We own at SSR. We have stayed there 3 times with no problems. 1bdr and studio. We will stay there again 12/30/07 to 01/06/08 in a 2 bdr. We have also stayed at OKW (May 07) ane VWL (Oct 06) with no problems or waitlists.
We have not used DVC points for the other 2 options.
My experience with trying non-home resorts (only twice) has been all good.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We used points for the 4 night DCL cruise several years ago and we had a great time. However, the number of points to cruise continues to go up nearly every year. DVC has to negotiate the deal with DCL and if DVC can't sell those rooms via CRO, they have a difficult time paying DCL.

There are some category of villa that require home resort advantage (you need to own points at that resort) or you are not going to get that reservation. Such as BW view at the BWV. The dedicated two bedroom at BCV that has two queen beds in the second bedroom. The standard view at BWV. The Grand Villa at BWV or OKW. The Concierge view at AKV.

 

[Tiggery]

The only time I "had to settle" for a resort was when I booked it 8 days out. The resort was OKW. It turned out to be a good "settle" as it became our favourite DVC resort

 

[crisi]

Check the current waitlist threads for October, December and April. That will give you a good idea of when which resorts filled and how well the waitlist works.

There are lots of success stories. But I want to plan so I'm not disappointed.

 

[Anal Annie]

We had no problems getting a studio at OKW in Aug. at the 7 month window for our first DVC trip. We banked the rest of our points into next year and booked a 4 n cruise on the Wonder with them. Would it be cheaper to pay cash for the cruise? Maybe by a few hundred dollars - but since we didn't have $3,200 just laying around that we didn't need the points came in awfully handy for us! We decided to buy AP's and then decided we should try to use them again over the winter but since we're out of points we were able to use the DVC member cash discount to book 4 n at VWL over Martin Luther King weekend...but I'm still watching the room code thread to see if a better AP discount gets released 'cuz there MIGHT be a better deal - but if not, we'll take the 25% off and be happy with it!

I'm anxious to see how the booking at the AKV turns out for 2009 as we'd like to plan a Grand Gathering type of trip & I would like to be able to get a combination of diff. size units there if we can.... If we can't get enough units there then we'll probably either just go to SSR or OKW since they're also large resorts. But AKV would make a special trip for our families (it will be my parents 50th anniversary and AKV is so unique).