If I book my home resort at 11 mos. & try to change @ 7 mos. . .

[bjakmom]

. . . do they put a hold on the new reservation if it is available while they cancel the old one? In reading some recent posts I feel confused about this. If they had to cancel my 'home' reservation before securing the new one, I could possibly end up with NO reservation if the new one had been taken in the lapsed time?
My plan - want to stay with DGrD at BLT in late Oct, but will have to wait until 7 mos to use my AKV points for the reservation. I know it will be crazy trying to book this resort, so I'm wondering if I pre-book at AKV so I will be covered, will I possibly end up in the above situation if I try to switch it to BLT? I will not have enough points left over to book both - would have to cancel AKV to book BLT. Help anyone?

 

[jekjones1558]

There have been reports of DISers losing a reservation in the short time it takes to switch reservations. Someone also posted not too long ago that MS can now hold a reservation long enough to make the switch safely. I have not read any confirmation of that new ability, but perhaps someone else will post.
I don't think I have ever read of anyone losing a reservation when it was switched as part of an automatic waitlist coming through. Maybe there is a different computer process involved in filling waitlists??

 

[Chuck S]

There have been sporatic resports of people losing their original reservation, at least during a manual live changeover, nothing lately, though. I agree, I've never heard of it happening with a waitlist.

 

[bjakmom]

Thanks Jean - just got off the phone with MS and was told that No, they do not hold a reservation while they cancel another to free up enough points - that they can try to make the judgement about availability and whether or not they would be able to rebook your original reservation if the one you are trying for is lost in the interim. I think I will keep the points free and hope for the best at 7 months - we'll see. Have to decide if my priority is to book the difficult BLT reservation quickly or just book AKV and know I won't be stuck somewhere else I don't want to be.

 

[tamclan]

That won't hold the new room for you.

Now if your existing ressie doesn't have any banked points in it and you still have enough points for the new reservation without borrowing you can technically have both and then cancel existing.

 

[SLM]

When we switched our reservation from a 2 BR at BCV to a 2BR at AKV at the 7 month window MS was able to tell me there 5 units available before she cancelled the first reservation and re-booked. That made me feel a little less nervous I would lose a reservation completely.

 

[Simba's Mom]

That won't hold the new room for you.

Now if your existing ressie doesn't have any banked points in it and you still have enough points for the new reservation without borrowing you can technically have both and then cancel existing.

That's what they've always done with me, if I switch at 7 months-make the new reservation, then cancel the old one. But then, I always have points available. Have I just been lucky, or is this MS's policy?

 

[luvthedis]

We lost the chance at reservations twice in December and once in January. We had reservations at OKW and wanted AKV. While they were cancelling our OKW we lost the AKV (somebody snatched them in the time it took to cancel the other reservation). This happened to us with BWV, too. MS told me that they cannot hold one reservation while they cancel the other. I wound up cancelling another ressie for later in the year to free up points to have available so that I could make the second reservation without having to cancel the other one first.

Another time, MS rep was incorrect about how many points I had available (long story...confusion over banked points, I think). I dealt with the WORST MS rep EVER!!!. She said that the reservation would not go through, then put me on hold without asking. After 20 minutes (no lie...I used my cell phone), she came back and asked what dates I was looking for again. When I told her and asked what she had been doing, she responded that the reservation had been taken. I had been calling daily to get these two days to complete a 6 day stay. When I said that I didn't appreciate what had happened, she said that there was nothing that could be done....that's the system. I asked to speak to her supervisor. I was on hold for 30 minutes (yes, the entire call took over 1 hour), I thought she had just left me there. It was 6:00 p.m, by then, and I was afraid to hang up because MS was closed and I didn't know her name. She came back on (not a supervisor) and told me she could get the reservation again. She apologized for the inconvenience. So, I wound up getting my ressie, but got a migraine, too, from the stress of that call.

As for the waitlist situation...I have been told that when you waitlist, the points are automatically switched from the old ressie to the new one.

And....I am confused about something. Some MS reps have told me things like "don't worry about booking OKW or SSR right now because we have lots of studios available." While others have told me, "We have no way of knowing exactly how many studios (1 BRs, etc.) are available." Which one is right??