How hard to book?

[julie-o]

I'm getting close to making an offer on a resale contract. I'm wondering is it a big pain to make reservations? Like hours of waiting on the phone? I have that idea in my head, but I'm not sure if it's true. Also, has it been hard to book at 7 month mark lately? I'm buying SS and would be happy to stay there but also want to stay other places. TIA!

 

[Sandisw]

The online system is great and works well 90% of the time for booking..

7 month booking is very dependent on travel time and room size wanted.

1 bedroom villas will have the most rooms available and studios pretty much the fewest.

Mid September to mid January is very busy for DVC. November and December especially so trading out at 7 months could prove difficult if you want a near park resort.

Other times of the year, it’s less busy. And to add that 7 month booking can be a lot different than 6 months too.

Using points outside Home Resort takes flexibility. I have luck swapping my SSR points at 7 months elsewhere but I do 1 bedrooms.

But I also own RIV and VGF to book what I want at 11 months. So I can’t ever be shut out of where I want to be.

 

[julie-o]

The online system is great and works well 90% of the time for booking..

7 month booking is very dependent on travel time and room size wanted.

1 bedroom villas will have the most rooms available and studios pretty much the fewest.

Mid September to mid January is very busy for DVC. November and December especially so trading out at 7 months could prove difficult if you want a near park resort.

Other times of the year, it’s less busy. And to add that 7 month booking can be a lot different than 6 months too.

Using points outside Home Resort takes flexibility. I have luck swapping my SSR points at 7 months elsewhere but I do 1 bedrooms.

But I also own RIV and VGF to book what I want at 11 months. So I can’t ever be shut out of where I want to be.

Thank you very much Sandi. I really appreciate your experience!

Julie

 

[CaliAdventurer]

If you are doing SAP, Sandi is correct in that 1 beds are last to sell out and 1beds in higher view categories are very last. The more points you have to spend on a given room, the more options you'll have. Buying enough points to book 1 beds if need be or 2 beds with view or even studios with higher points costs like a RIV preferred view or AKL savannah view will make life a lot easier. Always book your own resort during the home advantage window and then look to switch out so you're never left in the lurch is also the way to go when and if you can. You should have no trouble staying absolutely everywhere over the course of the next 40 years! : )

 

[kes601]

I'm getting close to making an offer on a resale contract. I'm wondering is it a big pain to make reservations? Like hours of waiting on the phone? I have that idea in my head, but I'm not sure if it's true. Also, has it been hard to book at 7 month mark lately? I'm buying SS and would be happy to stay there but also want to stay other places. TIA!

We bought at SSR in February 2021. We have had "good luck" getting to stay where we would like to stay but we do a lot of stalking of the website.....

March 2021- Poly (3 nights)
June 2021 - Bay Lake Tower (5 nights), Riviera (5 nights), Boardwalk (7 nights) (all studios)
September 2021 - Beach Club Villas studio (3 nights)
December 2021 - Boardwalk Villa 1 bedroom (10 nights) and Poly (4 nights) split
March 2022 - SSR studio (2 nights) (booked one day ahead of time)

Future bookings....
June 2022 - Grand Floridian (12 nights).....(simply because of the booking for the new rooms opening up on May 13)
November 2022 - Bay Lake Tower studio (5 nights)
December 2022 - BWV Boardwalk View Studio (7 nights)

You have to be persistent and have some luck, but getting what you want at 7 months can happen.....

 

[kniquy]

I'm wondering is it a big pain to make reservations? Like hours of waiting on the phone?

You don't have to book via the phone and you are better off actually booking online. Online booking starts at 8am where as MS doesn't open until 9am.

As for availability you will always want to book your home resort at 11 months in order to secure something. Then at the 7 month mark you can play the DVC roulette game to see what else is out there. You change resorts by modifying.

Availabily varies depending upon the time of year. Oct - early Jan = very busy DVC time, Spring and Summer usually has better availability unless you are looking at spring break or around a holiday.

Best advise is to book early.

 

[DVC Doctor]

You can always book SSR at the 7-11 month window and add a waitlist for another resort if you want to switch

 

[sethschroeder]

Things will be harder but its all done online for booking.

Just be prepared for split stays and you can find something likely. Additionally year by year we should see the COVID excess of points slowly leave the system.

Also if you are flexible with dates it will help as well.

 

[julie-o]

Thank you all for sharing your experience! This newbie appreciates it

 

[DVCanadian]

You don't have to book via the phone and you are better off actually booking online. Online booking starts at 8am where as MS doesn't open until 9am.

You can book 24/7 via the web site.

The opening times above apply more directly to the 11 month and 7 months marks.

 

[Suzabella]

I've never had any issues getting the room or week we're want to travel when I plan 11 months out or so. I usually have a couple weeks in mind to travel so the odds are in my favor. I've had a couple times lately that I've had to be a little more flexible but I attribute that to the points that people couldn't use during the pandemic.

Once you get to 7 months, your need to be ready to book within weeks if not days of that window opening. This year I stalked the people who were 'walking' their reservation to get the dates they wanted and was able to book a room at BCV and CCV cabins inside the 7 month window.

In the past, we've been able to book 3-4 months out at SS but I haven't looked lately to see if that's still an option. As others have said, it depends on the time of year.

My strategy is to book at my home resort as close to the 11 month window as possible. Then I keep my eyes open inside the 7 month window if I'm interested in changing my room location. That doesn't happen often since we bought where we want to stay.

If you aren't one to plan that far in advance, you may have issues booking your desired location or room size with DVC.

Good luck!!

 

[buzlite]

I think it very much depends on what you want. We just closed on a VGF2 contract and I made reservations for the first week of November during foot&wine. We ended up choosing 4 nights gf studio, 3 nights riviera studio!

 

[gharter]

We have owned for about 7 years. Never had an issue booking any type of room at 11 months.
If you want a value studio, almost never available at 7 months. 1BRs tend to be easier to get.
However, once you do a 1BR, you won't want to go back to a studio (know from experience).
If we want to switch at 7 months, that has been hit or miss and often involved a wait list. It really depends on when you travel. We travel during Food & Wine which is one of the heaviest occupancy times (other than Holidays) for DVC.

 

[zavandor]

Flexibility is very important to play the SAP 7 months game. DVC has reallocated points to try to balance demand, increasing the cost of the fall and lowering other seasons. So what is true now might not be true in the future. For example, May is now the second cheapest season, will it become the new October? If you buy planning to often stay a month that is now slow season, there's the risk that booking patterns will change. If you're flexible and happy to change travel times to the slowest DVC seasons, then you can have good success at 7 months.

 

[minnik35]

My first time posting but I just bought dvc in Dec 2021 and just stayed 3 days/2nights at Vero beach. Also, have reservations for riviera resort (5days/4nights) and gvf studio 2 nights in October.
My home resort is BWV.

 

[sndral]

If you are doing SAP, Sandi is correct in that 1 beds are last to sell out and 1beds in higher view categories are very last. The more points you have to spend on a given room, the more options you'll have. Buying enough points to book 1 beds if need be or 2 beds with view or even studios with higher points costs like a RIV preferred view or AKL savannah view will make life a lot easier. Always book your own resort during the home advantage window and then look to switch out so you're never left in the lurch is also the way to go when and if you can. You should have no trouble staying absolutely everywhere over the course of the next 40 years! : )

If OP is buying resale points they can’t use those to book @ Riv can they?

 

[CarolMN]

If OP is buying resale points they can’t use those to book @ Riv can they?

Correct. Currently, only grandfathered resale points, points purchased directly, and Riviera points purchased via resale are eligible to book Riviera. And once those non-Riviera resale contracts are sold, the associated points are not eligible to book Riviera.

Eventually, only points purchased directly (or any Riviera resale points) will be eligible to book Riviera.

 

[DisWeaver]

I’m new to the DVC world, just purchased my first contract last Aug (now up to 4 contracts ). My family will be taking our third trip this year, coming in July, and we have never used priority booking (11 month).

Split stays will make it much easier. We have stayed at VGF, BLT, BCV, Rivera, and BWV booking all of those a just a few months in advance. Then again, I get a kick out of stalking the site and rebooking with preferred rooms when they are available.