How far ahead of the actual reservation time should the linking be done.
If it takes a 3 way call, it will be more difficult because of time differences and work schedules.
Contact info?? Won't we each have our own phones for that, so they wouldn't match?
If you are sharing the villas for the entire stay and you want them linked so that you don't have to change rooms and so that you have just one set of MBs, etc., you must use the same names and address and one phone number. I haven't actually tried linking a reservation that was different in any way from the other reservation, but for example, one owner listed me as Mrs. and one listed me as Ms. and it would not link. I had to have the owner call up MS and change the prefix to match and then had to get them linked.
Yes, time differences and work schedules make it challenging (just did this with another owner so I understand the complexities), but you will need to coordinate schedules for this. I think it took us about a month. We then picked a morning, I called, stayed on hold with MS until they answered, explained the situation, and then conferenced in the other owner who was available that morning. Then it just took about a couple of minutes.
As I mentioned, I have been able to link reservations before without a three-way call. Those were my reservations plus additional nights I had booked through another owner. MS let me link those without a three-way call. But this recent one was for a friend who needed to link another reservation and after two calls to MS, I was told it had to be a three-way. It may depend on which CM you get, but I believe that the reservations must match exactly or it will not work in any case.
Good luck! Oh, it's probably good to link it before your MBs get set up...easier that way, I think.