How can I prevent Member Services from merging two reservations?

[bluecruiser]

I booked two reservations at AKV. Since the dates overlap the end of my use year, I had to book them as two separate reservations - one for 3 nights at the end of my use year (11/28-30) and one for 6 nights at the beginning of the next use year (12/1-6). Both reservations are for a 1BR Savanna view at Kidani. I have a waitlist for a different room at Jambo for the first 3 nights, set to replace the first reservation if it fills, and set to cancel 31 days prior to the first night.

My worry is that Member Services won't see the waitlist and will merge my two reservations, which will cause havoc if the waitlist fills and they cancel the entire merged reservation. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening?

 

[SLThomas318]

They will only merge a reservation if you ask them too, they don't automatically merge.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

MS shouldn’t merge them without your request to do so.

However… you never know. I would add an extra guest to the first reservation so that they’re not the same. Just to be safe. You can always modify and remove that extra guest later.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Yes, make sure guest count is different— very different.

 

[Sandisw]

I have never had them merge reservations without my request. I think the know that many members do separate ones because they want to split stay and doing it like that from the start makes it easier to change at 7 months.

But, one option is to simply make the lead guest different.

 

[EYL]

I just wanted to put out a different experience. MS has definitely merged my reservations without me asking them to do so. This happened when I had a wait list for the last 3 days (of a 1 week trip) come through. I had 2 distinct reservations, but a couple of days after they were merged into one. No harm, no foul for me. My guess was to ensure that I didn't have to move rooms.

Your options were given by previous posters, so I won't repeat.

 

[kes601]

I just wanted to put out a different experience. MS has definitely merged my reservations without me asking them to do so. This happened when I had a wait list for the last 3 days (of a 1 week trip) come through. I had 2 distinct reservations, but a couple of days after they were merged into one. No harm, no foul for me. My guess was to ensure that I didn't have to move rooms.

Your options were given by previous posters, so I won't repeat.

I've had it merged when a waitlist came through, but the OP is worried about it being merged BEFORE the waitlist comes through.

 

[sab53085]

I had 4 separate AKV Jambo reservations and after a waitlist came through, they were automatically merged into one reservation but at Kidani! I called as soon as I saw, and MS was able to get me back to Jambo but they couldn’t split up the reservation to the way it originally was. They told me to call back if I needed to modify dates.

 

[TomorrowlandOfYesterday]

Use a different primary name on the reservation. That way they might see them as different.

Reservation 1) John Doe (primary), Jane Doe
Reservation 2) Jane Doe (primary), John Doe

 

[bluecruiser]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I added an additional person to the second reservation, hopefully that will prevent any merging by MS.

 

[EYL]

I've had it merged when a waitlist came through, but the OP is worried about it being merged BEFORE the waitlist comes through.

Agreed. But OP was worried about an auto-merge by MS and I have experienced that without asking for one. I'm not sure if a waitlist coming through was the trigger, so thought I'd dole out my experience.

 

[LSchrow]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I added an additional person to the second reservation, hopefully that will prevent any merging by MS.

That's how i do it (we keep our first night separate to use the DDP), & haven't had a problem. Btw, we did have them merge separate reservation without asking prior to my doing that.

 

[RoseGold]

I've had them merge things I didn't want merged. Adding another person won't help. The only solution I have is to change the lead guest to someone else, even someone fictional, wrong first name, whatever.

You can also call and ask for more complicated notes to be added on the waitlist. They are manually processed, but I wouldn't bank on that one.

 

[SLThomas318]

This is an eye opening thread.... so when I reach out to member services and ask them to merge my reservations it takes weeks to process, but then other people are having member services just randomly merge reservations? As in someone at member services is just randomly checking on reservations and decides to merge them?

 

[RoseGold]

As in someone at member services is just randomly checking on reservations and decides to merge them?

If you are playing with waitlists, you might have 3 x 2 day reservations. The middle 2 days fill, and then they merge it with the last two or something. Maybe most people want that, I don't.

I've actually had them do it to me before the waitlist fills, and then I have to call and fix it, because the waitlist is only 2 days, so this doesn't make sense.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I just wanted to put out a different experience. MS has definitely merged my reservations without me asking them to do so. This happened when I had a wait list for the last 3 days (of a 1 week trip) come through. I had 2 distinct reservations, but a couple of days after they were merged into one. No harm, no foul for me. My guess was to ensure that I didn't have to move rooms.

Your options were given by previous posters, so I won't repeat.

I had a similar experience with a waitlist come through. They merged without me asking. In my case too that was what I wanted anyway so no harm no foul.

 

[bluecruiser]

After reading more replies on this thread, I decided to go the extra step and change the lead name on one of the reservations. Member Services confirmed they don't merge unless requested, but the person I spoke with agreed this should help to ensure the two aren't merged. So I have one reservation in my name and the other in my cat's name (with a different last name). I haven't put any guests on either reservation, so hopefully this will prevent any merging.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

Is it possible to have 2 reservations merged when they cross the end of one use year and beginning of the next use year? That's a scenario I haven't seen addressed before. AFAIK, merged reservations are just like any other reservation and that you can modify them, which could get messy with points & use years if they allowed them to cross your use year.

A few months ago, I had a waitlist come through. I had a matching room type reservation immediately before and after, but I still had to contact member services to request them to merge the 3 into a single reservation.

 

[kes601]

Is it possible to have 2 reservations merged when they cross the end of one use year and beginning of the next use year?

Deleting my post as it was incorrect. See Sandi's response below.

 

[Sandisw]

Is it possible to have 2 reservations merged when they cross the end of one use year and beginning of the next use year? That's a scenario I haven't seen addressed before. AFAIK, merged reservations are just like any other reservation and that you can modify them, which could get messy with points & use years if they allowed them to cross your use year.

A few months ago, I had a waitlist come through. I had a matching room type reservation immediately before and after, but I still had to contact member services to request them to merge the 3 into a single reservation.

Yes, MS can combine them for you, They have the ability to book one reservation across two UYs. We can not do that ourselves.