is room availability "tailored"?

[disneyberry]

i'm very confused about this.

if your home resort is OKW for example, does that mean that it's harder for you to get BWV rooms?

also, does Disney do some other kind of "tailoring" which would cause preferential treatment for certain DVC members when trying to obtain rooms?

my question basically comes down to:

if one DVC member calls to check room availability at 11am and is told all rooms sold out for dates, is that the final word?
or will a different DVC member who calls also at 11am get a different availability?

 

[Tiggeriffic]

The only preferential treatment is that a member who owns at a particular resort can make reservations 11 months from the date of departure whereas a member at a different resort must wait until 7 months from the date of departure.

This is frequently referred to as the 11 month window. It can be very important if you're trying for some of the harder to get reservations such as a Grand Villa, or a standard view at the BoardWalk Villas, or the summer at Hilton Head, etc. I'm sure there are other examples, but those are the ones that come to mind.

 

[disneyberry]

so any fluctuations in room availability during the same day of inquiry are merely due to people booking and/or cancelling rooms?

 

[Ralph&Pam]

The primary difference in reservation preference for home DVC resort vs. non-home DVC resort is the "11-month" booking window. DVC members can make reservations at their home resort 11 months in advance of check-out. They can make reservations at the other DVC resorts 7 months in advance of check-out. Thus the home resort members have a 4-month booking window during which they have reservation priority. They are competing with other members who share this home resort but not with DVC members with a different home resort. After the 7-month mark (from date of check-out), all DVC members can reserve on a space available basis.

So, for your example of an OKW owner calling for BWV rooms, the answer is yes, it is harder to get a room than would be the case for a BWV owner, but only during the period from the 11-month point to the 7-month point. In fact, the OKW owner could not even make a BWV reservation during this period. After the 7-month point, the OKW owner would have the same opportunity as a BWV owner to make a reservation at the BWV.

The major result of this 11 month/7 month booking preference has been the advice to buy where you plan to stay most in order to provide a better opportunity to get the reservation you desire. Of course, this assumes the member plans more than 7 months ahead to take advantage of this booking window.

Ralph

 

[RobDoc]

so any fluctuations in room availability during the same day of inquiry are merely due to people booking and/or cancelling rooms

That's exactly right. You could be told nothing was available at 11AM and then find something at 11:05AM due to a cancellation. The reservation system is just that dynamic at many times of the year.

60 days before any given date, unreserved DVC accommodations are released to CRO for cash reservations, so DVC members are also competing with the general public within 60 days. This adds another level to the reservation process. Point ressies may not be made thru CRO, but a room which becomes available could be reserved by a non-member. The wait-list would still get priority in that case however.

Good Luck!

 

[Dean]

As noted, there are no secret units. The other way units could become available except as mentioned is that if DVC declares rooms into member inventory that day.