I DESPISE DVC's Booking System!!!

[pixie921]

Wow ... I didn't expect my vent to cause such a discussion!

Just to clarify a couple of things that were mentioned:

1. I didn't waitlist because we have a *small* amount of flexibility in our dates. If dh and I are unable to get the rooms we need when we both call tomorrow at 9 a.m., then we will have no choice but to waitlist for any unavailable nights and hope for the best.

2. I'm not blaming my inability to get a reservation specifically on other members walking their reservations. It's just my opinion that it, along with the new 7-day booking policy, contributes to an unfair booking situation. I had no issue with booking day-by-day because everyone had an equal shot at the reservation they wanted.

3. Standard views are indeed limited at BLT, but because we are booking 3 villas total for our group (and using 3 years' worth of points to do it), we need to make our points stretch as far as possible, and getting standard views for each room is our goal. We do understand though, that it's not likely we will be totally successful in this.

I agree with the poster who said that this newer 7-day booking policy really only benefits those with large amounts of points who can afford to book and drop nights when walking a reservation without any borrowing or banking issues.

I realize that a lot of people say they can't be bothered with calling more than once to make a reservation, but I wonder how many of them would hold to that position if they really needed a certain room type or dates for specific celebrations (our vow renewal next year, for example) and they were unable to get them, even calling first thing at their 11-month window.

 

[castleri]

I don't know BLT well, but doesn't it only have a few standard rooms - kind of like AKV. Could that be part of the problem as well?

You are correct - When I went on a waitlist for BLT for a studio or 1 BR the CM told me to do it for LV as there are only 14 villas in each of the categories I was interested in that are standard view. I think that holds true for 2 BR also. It did seem like a very small amount to me. I wonder if that is because there is so much of the resort that has not been declared into DVC inventory yet.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You're only missing the first day of your reservartion? Book what you can and waitlist the missing first days, the chances of them coming through are extremely, extremely high. I wouldn't be stressing about it at all.

But that's the problem. If the first day is missing, you don't have a reservation that starts until the next day. So you can't book the remaining days.

 

[pixie921]

But that's the problem. If the first day is missing, you don't have a reservation that starts until the next day. So you can't book the remaining days.

Yup! That!

 

[dis-happy]

But that's the problem. If the first day is missing, you don't have a reservation that starts until the next day. So you can't book the remaining days.

Hitting self on head. I totally missed the germaine part of the vent. But I guess she could have at least waitlisted the first day. At 11 months out and not booking a major holiday it seems likely to come through.

Wishing you the best on getting the rest of your reservation OP!!!

 

[pixie921]

Hitting self on head. I totally missed the germaine part of the vent. But I guess she could have at least waitlisted the first day. At 11 months out and not booking a major holiday it seems likely to come through.

Wishing you the best on getting the rest of your reservation OP!!!

Thank you!

 

[dmoore22]

I guess I'm just a little too laid back. Whatever the system is I try to figure it out and get it to work for me. So far I can't complain. Life's too short. As long as I can drink around the world I'm ok.

 

[wdw28ears]

My husband and I are looking into purchasing a DVC membership, but after reading this, is it really worth it? You have the membership, but not able to book when YOU want to be at WDW. I can't make flight plans until the room is actually booked, and by then I probably miss out on great deals on cheaper flights.
And then if you CAN book rooms, but not when you originally wanted, I end up rearranging my plans and having to request different times off. Will NOT make my boss happy.
I'm not saying I wouldn't be willing to call and call, but this sure sounds like a bit of a hassle.

 

[JWG]

But that's the problem. If the first day is missing, you don't have a reservation that starts until the next day. So you can't book the remaining days.

And here was my beef with my situation at BWV. Couldn't get standard view the first night, but could nights 2-4. Couldn't book preferred the 1st night a standard nights 2-4 because 2-4 was a separate reservation and not available for booking. Calling the next day put night 2 at risk (of which, fortunately, we got the last available SV room).

If you could at least book your reservation across categories and waitlist that would a bit better then having to not book at all.

 

[Chuck S]

My husband and I are looking into purchasing a DVC membership, but after reading this, is it really worth it? You have the membership, but not able to book when YOU want to be at WDW. I can't make flight plans until the room is actually booked, and by then I probably miss out on great deals on cheaper flights.
And then if you CAN book rooms, but not when you originally wanted, I end up rearranging my plans and having to request different times off. Will NOT make my boss happy.
I'm not saying I wouldn't be willing to call and call, but this sure sounds like a bit of a hassle.

This really isn't the norm at 11 months. Remember what the OP is looking for, and that the category of room they are wanting is pretty limited by DVC standards.

 

[KerTggr]

Chuck S & WebmasterDoc - That totally makes sense. I feel a little silly for asking now that you explained. Glad I didn't ask my husband though since he used to work on the software hotels use to book rooms. He would have rolled his eyes at me I'm sure.

My husband and I are looking into purchasing a DVC membership, but after reading this, is it really worth it? You have the membership, but not able to book when YOU want to be at WDW. I can't make flight plans until the room is actually booked, and by then I probably miss out on great deals on cheaper flights.
And then if you CAN book rooms, but not when you originally wanted, I end up rearranging my plans and having to request different times off. Will NOT make my boss happy.
I'm not saying I wouldn't be willing to call and call, but this sure sounds like a bit of a hassle.

wdw28ears - I think it really depends on when & where you want to go. My sis has been DVC member for 13 years now and we have never had a problem getting the resort we want. Granted we are those people who, like many here, know 11 months out what we want to do. Additionally, flight prices still stay pretty good at 4+ months out at least. I would say read more threads about it (there are some specific to new DVC purchase) and determine if it's really right for you - it's definately not for everyone! If it were, reservations would be even worse!

 

[Deb & Bill]

My husband and I are looking into purchasing a DVC membership, but after reading this, is it really worth it? You have the membership, but not able to book when YOU want to be at WDW. I can't make flight plans until the room is actually booked, and by then I probably miss out on great deals on cheaper flights.
And then if you CAN book rooms, but not when you originally wanted, I end up rearranging my plans and having to request different times off. Will NOT make my boss happy.
I'm not saying I wouldn't be willing to call and call, but this sure sounds like a bit of a hassle.

Most of the time, you will be able to get the reservation you want at 11 months out at your home resort. It's when you want something special - a special time, a specific booking category that goes like hotcakes, etc - that your plans may be disrupted. But you can't plan on booking at two or three months out and get exactly what you want either. So there may not be any flights at the time you need to book that DVC reservation.

Hah, three of us posting similarly at the same time.

 

[pixie921]

This really isn't the norm at 11 months. Remember what the OP is looking for, and that the category of room they are looking is pretty limited by DVC standards.

Very true. And normally, we don't care if we get standard or lake view (and lake view is obviously the most plentiful) and we also don't mind tweaking our dates when necessary. It's just in this case, we don't have that normal flexibility due to the number of rooms we need and the fact that we need them to work around a specific date.

My frustration is with the inability to get a specific reservation for a special occasion even when calling at the very start of my 11-month window, and this is all due to the 7-day booking policy. I'd have had a much better shot if the old policy was still in place.

 

[pixie921]

Hah, three of us posting similarly at the same time.

Great minds think alike!

 

[Chuck S]

Very true. And normally, we don't care if we get standard or lake view (and lake view is obviously the most plentiful) and we also don't mind tweaking our dates when necessary. It's just in this case, we don't have that normal flexibility due to the number of rooms we need and the fact that we need them to work around a specific date.

My frustration is with the inability to get a specific reservation for a special occasion even when calling at the very start of my 11-month window, and this is all due to the 7-day booking policy. I'd have had a much better shot if the old policy was still in place.

This is true, but on the other hand, there is no perfect booking system.

I'm sure you'd be just as upset if you had the first couple of days of your reservations, but couldn't complete your plans because another member's call was answered a few seconds before your call was answered.

It will be interesting to see what online booking capabilities do to the current situation. I'm thinking it'll be even worse, if someone hit enter a microsecond before you do, or if someone with a cable connections snags a reservation away from someone with dial-up service.

 

[wdrl]

You are correct - When I went on a waitlist for BLT for a studio or 1 BR the CM told me to do it for LV as there are only 14 villas in each of the categories I was interested in that are standard view. I think that holds true for 2 BR also. It did seem like a very small amount to me. I wonder if that is because there is so much of the resort that has not been declared into DVC inventory yet.

BLT is a moderately sized resort with 281 villas, but it is a "small" resort when considering its Standard View category. BLT has 267 two-bedroom villas, but only about 28 are in the Standard View category. Competing for those 28 Standard View villas at the 11-month window are the BLT owners. I don't know how many BLT owners there are but DVD has sold over 24,000 deeds for BLT. Thus, on any given day, there could be a large number of BLT owners competing for the Standard View villas.

By the way, 86.67% of BLT has been declared for the DVC membership.

 

[adminjedi]

Great minds think alike!

Possibly like 3 people calling at the same time to get a 1 bdrm and 2bdrm?

 

[Amy5000]

The biggest advantage to day-by-day was that only a small number of DVC members knew about it. You weren't competing with 300,000 members for dates--you were only competing with the very small subset who were aware of the process AND were actually able to structure their lives around daily phone calls.

DVC never acknowledged day by day bookings. All of the printed materials, member handbooks, website, etc. said that reservations could be made "11 (7) months from the departure date." People who read about day-by-day bookings on websites or happened to have it mentioned by a Member Services rep were among the privileged few. It was like learning the super-secret DVC handshake.

Of course success was greater with that method because folks were undercutting those who simply adhered to the rules as they were written.

Day-by-day wasn't "fairer"...it was simply different. It would only have been fair if all members were privy to the process. And if that were the case, we would see similar results to what we have today--members being blocked out 11 months in advance during high demand periods.

Really???? I find it hard to believe it was such a secret. Anyone who wanted to learn about booking and availability could easily learn about this. Not only did I hear about this on the DisBoards, I had a guide tell me about it when I talked to Disney about purchasing direct. No it wasn't part of the presentation....but I investigated and asked a lot of questions. I wanted to make sure I'd be able to use my points.

Finally, I'll say that day-by-day ressies were adhereing to the rules as written. Where was it violating any rule? (I know that a walking reservation doesn't violate a rule...but I think it's less fair).

Look for most reservations being made 11 months out, it really doesn't matter. If you only want to call once you can wait until the end of your vacation make the ressie. But for really difficult reservations people are going to have to call mulitple times to walk the reservation and it is really going to hurt/impact smaller holders. (So, people who before needed to call day by day still need to call several times to work their magic).


OP: I'm sorry this happened and I don't really like the new rule. I don't think it will impact me too much b/c I don't have plans for any difficult to get ressie's but I do think it's less fair.


Good luck. Amy

 

[tjkraz]

Finally, I'll say that day-by-day ressies were adhereing to the rules as written. Where was it violating any rule?

To quote from my 2002 / 2003 DVC Member Guidebook:

"Your booking window gives you up to 11 months in advance of your check-out date at your Home Resort, and 7 months in advance of your check-out date at all other Disney Vacation Club Resorts."

It doesn't say anything about calling 11/7 months from the first night, and then again 11/7 from the second night, and so on. The written rule was always 11/7 from departure.

There are thousands and thousands of members who do not surf Disney message boards. Given a rule that is so clearly worded, I can't imagine that most members would ever question it or look for alternate processes which override the stated timeframe.

We can certainly quibble over how many people knew about this loophole but it was not 100%. Not even close.

To be clear, I'm not saying that people who booked day by day were wrong for doing so. DVC allowed it so it was a valid booking approach. What I am saying is this:

1. Day by day was not "fair" by any reasonable definition. The only way to consider it fair would be if 100% of members were informed of the possibility.

2. Success when booking day-by-day was tainted by the fact that only a subset of the 300,000+ members knew about this process. There are a lot of people who openly say "I liked day-by-day better because I always got what I wanted!" And I have no doubt that is true. But one of the main reasons for such success is that they weren't competing with the 300K members.

It goes without saying that booking success will be much higher if you're only competing against the 50,000 or 100,000 members who are aware of the day-by-day process rather than the full 300,000 who are now calling 11/7 months from check-in.

 

[dianeschlicht]

But what about simply restricting walking reservations? Like preventing changes of dates for the first two weeks of the 7/11 months windows.

OR...They could go back to the "old" way of booking from day of check out. That way you KNOW what you will and wont get at 11 months.