How can this happen? Walking at 11 months blocked

[magickingdomprincess]

Walking is pretty pointless at 7 months, unless you have loads of extra points.

Can you explain why this is? I would think it would be helpful for popular reservations. I'm still somewhat confused by the walking process though so I'm trying to understand. And how many extra points (as I how many nights worth of points) do you need to make it worthwhile? Thanks!

 

[supersnoop]

Can you explain why this is? I would think it would be helpful for popular reservations. I'm still somewhat confused by the walking process though so I'm trying to understand. And how many extra points (as I how many nights worth of points) do you need to make it worthwhile? Thanks!

There are only two room types twice per year that are popular enough to necessitate walking.

At your 7 or 11 month window, you can book up to 7 days. Walking is the "art" of using those days to secure days beyond your booking window. In my opinion, you need a fully 7 days worth of points available without any banking/borrowing. At 11 months, you could work with fewer points. At 7 months, anyone with home-resort priority could interrupt your walk, or those days might not even be open when you begin your walk. Look at availability for BWV or BLT standard studios in September. You can't walk if it's not available to being with.

 

[DenLo]

Why would MS know anything? The system isn't going to tell them. Looking that deep into the record logs is likely to take someone with a lot more access and a lot more database knowledge than an MS CM - if the system is even set up to record the events and rationale. And if the system did tell them, they don't have any obligation to tell us.

The room was in some sort of hold state.

Maybe I was hoping the CMs would know to report a systems problem. If no one every reports these things then how do they get fixed. IT doesn't care if you report something like this, it takes DVC taking action to get them to do it correctly.

 

[hakepb]

Walking is pretty pointless at 7 months, unless you have loads of extra points.

Although the PP was asking about one of the worthwhile categories. VGF standard view studios.

I'm glad I walked my July 9-18 VGF SV studio. The week after July 4th should be a DVC low period.
I started my walk on July 5th, and by the Dec 7th booking date, I saw that July 9th was gone... but with walking, I already had it.

And since I was booking 7+ nights it didn't tie up any extra points.

 

[crisi]

Maybe I was hoping the CMs would know to report a systems problem. If no one every reports these things then how do they get fixed. IT doesn't care if you report something like this, it takes DVC taking action to get them to do it correctly.

But I doubt its a system problem. I suspect that this is exactly how the system is supposed to work (though there should be a list of exception dates when you don't pull rooms - like Christmas - because you don't have staff for maintenance). Moreover, if it is a system problem, every IT department I've worked for over my 30 year career would consider any glitch or bug to be confidential - the CM could get fired telling you about the problem - members don't have a right to that information. They might report it, but they couldn't tell us about it. Any bug fixes get prioritized and addressed in priority order. "Sometimes, when a guest tries to walk a reservation (which is something we permit, but don't necessarily encourage or support), a room is missing in the middle of the period even eleven months out" even if it is a glitch in the system, would be really really low on the IT priorities list to fix - somewhere below planning the annual employee golf outing.

Whether this happens by design or by accident, we will never know more than we know, and it isn't realistic that DVC would expend resources to look into it or fix it.

 

[crisi]

Although the PP was asking about one of the worthwhile categories. VGF standard view studios.

I'm glad I walked my July 9-18 VGF SV studio. The week after July 4th should be a DVC low period.
I started my walk on July 5th, and by the Dec 7th booking date, I saw that July 9th was gone... but with walking, I already had it.

And since I was booking 7+ nights it didn't tie up any extra points.

Yes, but the seven month issue remains - if any room night is missing because its already been booked by a member, you'll be stuck - unable to continue to walk forward. So while the eleven month window is almost certain to bring success walking - if you start far enough out and don't run into any room holds - the seven month window is much less certain - when the room availability is tight, you are likely to run into a booked night sometime during the walking process - where it isn't tight, it isn't necessary.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Although the PP was asking about one of the worthwhile categories. VGF standard view studios.

I'm glad I walked my July 9-18 VGF SV studio. The week after July 4th should be a DVC low period.
I started my walk on July 5th, and by the Dec 7th booking date, I saw that July 9th was gone... but with walking, I already had it.

And since I was booking 7+ nights it didn't tie up any extra points.

Although this may simply be where walkers were causing the lack of availability thus giving an appearance of the need to walk. ie - you already had the room for the night you wanted. ie - your walking may have been the only reason it wasn't there right at 7 months and it would have been if you had just waited.

But 7 month walking is far from guaranteed. Owners at the resort you are trying to get still have the jump on the 7 month's and can suddenly put a break in the walk which means it was wasted time in doing it.

 

[CarolMN]

.......(snip).......... 7 month walking is far from guaranteed. Owners at the resort you are trying to get still have the jump on the 7 month's and can suddenly put a break in the walk which means it was wasted time in doing it.

Agree. IMO, it is even more likely that walking at 7 months will be blocked, due to rental activity. I think we would all be surprised at how much booking goes on just before that 7 month window opens, especially at the near-park resorts. Those who rent are getting a lot more saavy about booking windows.

 

[tjkraz]

Most likely, its a statistical removal of a unit count by the system to plan for maintenance - that they aren't going to do over Christmas so they pulled it back in.

This is a very overlooked aspect of DVC room maintenance. DVC isn't using its 2% holdings exclusively for major refurbs which are planned months in advance. A random selection of villas is removed from inventory on a regular basis so that maintenance crews can address day-to-day needs (carpet cleaning or replacement, painting, plumbing or electrical repairs, etc.) without inconveniencing guests.

If a resort has 400 rooms and 400 reservations and a plumbing leak floods one room, someone isn't getting a villa.

Not saying that's what happened here but it does happen...and the removals must occur prior to 11 months to keep members from booking the resort to 100% capacity.

 

[dclpluto]

Although the PP was asking about one of the worthwhile categories. VGF standard view studios.

I'm glad I walked my July 9-18 VGF SV studio. The week after July 4th should be a DVC low period.
I started my walk on July 5th, and by the Dec 7th booking date, I saw that July 9th was gone... but with walking, I already had it.

And since I was booking 7+ nights it didn't tie up any extra points.

I highly doubt that the week after July 4th is a dvc low period.

 

[hakepb]

I highly doubt that the week after July 4th is a dvc low period.

I took someone's word for it. It's not as difficult as July 4ty week.

We are now about 5.5 months out, and it's possible to book July 10-14 in:
Poly studio (lake and standard)
BWV 1BR standard
And quite a few other options.

That much availability at 5.5 months does not usually exist for the DVC busy time of Food and Wine through the Jan marathon

 

[supersnoop]

I highly doubt that the week after July 4th is a dvc low period.

It is. When it comes to booking, there are essentially two time periods; low: Mid-January to Mid-September, and high: the rest of the year.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I highly doubt that the week after July 4th is a dvc low period.

It is.

That doesn't mean though that every room type will be available at 7 months. It means that there will be lots of options though.

 

[drusba]

I highly doubt that the week after July 4th is a dvc low period.

Based on the tracking I have done for five years now, one of the lowest DVC demand periods of the year at WDW is July 7 to July 31.

 

[dismedvc]

I am interested to hear what MS says. I hope the OP and cory30 both call and let us know the answers. And good luck to you both in getting the reservations you want.

Never did call about the "glitch" and decided not to "walk".

Yes, that's how walking works. But I don't think you need to walk for those dates. As more people walk, walking appears more necessary, even when it isn't.

Plans changed by a day and attempted at 8:05 am ET on January 29, 2017 to book a 7 night reservation arriving Dec 29, 2017.
Tried to book a SV at BLT online at 8:05 am ET, but no SV were available, so I had to book a LV. Not a big deal given the relatively small difference in points, however, for those who really want a SV at BLT at that time of year, this may be one of the few instances where you might need to walk, since I could not get a SV at exactly 11 months (or more accurately 5 minutes after the 11 month window opened online)

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Never did call about the "glitch" and decided not to "walk".

Plans changed by a day and attempted at 8:05 am ET on January 29, 2017 to book a 7 night reservation arriving Dec 29, 2017.
Tried to book a SV at BLT online at 8:05 am ET, but no SV were available, so I had to book a LV. Not a big deal given the relatively small difference in points, however, for those who really want a SV at BLT at that time of year, this may be one of the few instances where you might need to walk, since I could not get a SV at exactly 11 months (or more accurately 5 minutes after the 11 month window opened online)

5 minutes can make all the difference though for a few of the room types.

 

[dismedvc]

5 minutes can make all the difference though for a few of the room types.

Agreed, but by walking you give yourself many days to try, to make sure you are at exactly 8:00 am ET, to the second)

 

[supersnoop]

Agreed, but by walking you give yourself many days to try, to make sure you are at exactly 8:00 am ET, to the second)

... while making it more difficult for people trying to book a legitimate reservation at 8:00AM.