Linking Consecutive Stays After Waitlist Clears

[gmi3804]

I made three reservations at RR (same category) for a week next January, but had to waitlist two non-consecutive nights in the middle of that week. Both waitlists cleared (yay!), so I called MS to have them link them all together into one booking number. I was told that I should've just added the nights to existing reservations so they'd already be linked; I don't think the MS rep realized that two of the single nights were cleared waitlist nights.

In any event, my question is: on the screen where I set up a waitlist night, is there a way to tell the system to automatically add that night to an existing reservation, should it clear? I don't recall this option. I don't want to create more work for MS, let alone wait for them to link my pieced-together stay.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

I made three reservations at RR (same category) for a week next January, but had to waitlist two non-consecutive nights in the middle of that week. Both waitlists cleared (yay!), so I called MS to have them link them all together into one booking number. I was told that I should've just added the nights to existing reservations so they'd already be linked; I don't think the MS rep realized that two of the single nights were cleared waitlist nights.

In any event, my question is: on the screen where I set up a waitlist night, is there a way to tell the system to automatically add that night to an existing reservation, should it clear? I don't recall this option. I don't want to create more work for MS, let alone wait for them to link my pieced-together stay.

There's no way to note that when making a wait list. The MS CM should have been able to put the request in. But you can make the request thru chat whenever it's available, or by sending an email. It can take a day or two to get done sometimes but I've had more experienced CMs handle it while I was on the phone with them.

 

[Brian Noble]

Not that I know of (and I did the same thing recently, though I did it via chat so maybe I was spared the grumpy part).

 

[gmi3804]

There's no way to note that when making a wait list. The MS CM should have been able to put the request in. But you can make the request thru chat whenever it's available, or by sending an email. It can take a day or two to get done sometimes but I've had more experienced CMs handle it while I was on the phone with them.

Thanks. I've made the request, and was told to expect a really long wait because they're just working on September's now (I think the MS CM used to be a WDW bus driver), which I took with a grain of salt. I've was on hold a good 5-10 minutes while she made this request. I've also won the CM Roulette game and gotten one who did it while I waited. All's well that ends well.

 

[bluecruiser]

Thanks. I've made the request, and was told to expect a really long wait because they're just working on September's now (I think the MS CM used to be a WDW bus driver), which I took with a grain of salt. I've was on hold a good 5-10 minutes while she made this request. I've also won the CM Roulette game and gotten one who did it while I waited. All's well that ends well.

I guess it depends on what the CM meant by "really long wait." I made a merge request via chat this past Sunday 9/7, from a waitlist that came through. The CM said "It can take 5-7 business days to process."

It took only 4 days, evidenced by the email confirmation I received today.

 

[Stormalong Smiths]

It would be such a time-saver for everyone if there were an option to put this request in as part of the WL set-up process. You've got to think that many, many WL requests also eventually involve linking the nights onto an existing stay. My WLs for my two upcoming stays will both involve merging multiple reservations if they match (please send some pixie dust my way on that!!)

 

[muppets3d]

It would be such a time-saver for everyone if there were an option to put this request in as part of the WL set-up process. You've got to think that many, many WL requests also eventually involve linking the nights onto an existing stay. My WLs for my two upcoming stays will both involve merging multiple reservations if they match (please send some pixie dust my way on that!!)

I wonder if the team of cast members who match waitlists is the same as the team of cast members who combine reservations.

Either way, I appreciate them making the waitlist process as simple as possible to avoid issues. There's a lot they could add to the booking engine, but honestly - the more they add, the bigger surface there is for confusion, human error, and software bugs. So I understand why they don't.

Still, it would make sense for them to automate as much as they can to avoid repetitive actions. I imagine there isn't much at DVC member services that is more dull than manually combining reservations for 8 hours a day, every day.

 

[Best Aunt]

I asked for reservations to be merged on the afternoon of Friday 09/05.

During the morning of Wednesday 09/10, I received the cancellation email (for the single night) and the welcome home email (for the nights of the merged reservation).

I assumed that the cast members do the merging in the order in which the merging requests come in, not in the order in which the vacations occur. But what do I know.

 

[muppets3d]

I asked for reservations to be merged on the afternoon of Friday 09/05.

During the morning of Wednesday 09/10, I received the cancellation email (for the single night) and the welcome home email (for the nights of the merged reservation).

I assumed that the cast members do the merging in the order in which the merging requests come in, not in the order in which the vacations occur. But what do I know.

They do prioritize vacations that are closer to happening, especially those that are nearing the 60-day mark for booking experiences. But outside of that, I'd assume it's FIFO.

 

[toesmom]

I made three reservations at RR (same category) for a week next January, but had to waitlist two non-consecutive nights in the middle of that week. Both waitlists cleared (yay!), so I called MS to have them link them all together into one booking number. I was told that I should've just added the nights to existing reservations so they'd already be linked; I don't think the MS rep realized that two of the single nights were cleared waitlist nights.

In any event, my question is: on the screen where I set up a waitlist night, is there a way to tell the system to automatically add that night to an existing reservation, should it clear? I don't recall this option. I don't want to create more work for MS, let alone wait for them to link my pieced-together stay.

I don’t think that is an option. Beat us to call member services and ask them to join the reservation

 

[toesmom]

I don’t think that is an option. Beat us to call member services and ask them to join the reservation

Sorry Best option is to call member services or even do through chat

 

[Stormalong Smiths]

FWIW, I chatted Member Services yesterday to ask if they were able to add a note to my existing waitlist request to join it with a neighboring reservation. Todd confirmed: "No, you would have to do that if/when the waitlist matches and is confirmed." So, not only are you not able to make the request when you submit the WL request, but you also cannot go back and add that request later. I do totally agree with you @muppets3d that it would make a lot more sense for the CM to do everything at once. Seems silly that they're not able to take those requests prior to the WL nights being assigned. Would save time all around if they could.

 

[gmi3804]

I don’t think that is an option. Beat us to call member services and ask them to join the reservation

Thanks. I did that before I started this thread (see OP).

 

[gmi3804]

The 7-10 business days tuned out to be two. Here’s how I found out. I had five original reservations, and four were canceled and combined into my first check-in date.

 

[Stormalong Smiths]

The 7-10 business days tuned out to be two. Here’s how I found out. I had five original reservations, and four were canceled and combined into my first check-in date.

View attachment 1003755

Gotta love the initial panic of seeing a cancellation email out of the blue until you realize what’s actually going on…