Lockoffs - cancelling the studio portion?

[twinsouvenirs]

I am sure this has been asked but I am trying to schedule a trip in which my parents MAY join us. Thus, I'd like to book a 2 BR lockoff--but in the event that they cannot make it, I'm not sure how this works. If they cancelled, would we be able to cancel off the studio and simply use the 1 Br?

 

[crisi]

Some people have been able to and others have been told no. It isn't the answer you want.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

Some people have been able to and others have been told no. It isn't the answer you want.

Hey, the facts are what I want In other words, I could try it but it'd be a risk.

Darn it, I wish people would just commit

 

[Minniesgal]

A good start might be to ask member seri vices but bare in mind that the answer you get from 1 CM may differ to the one you get from another.

 

[crisi]

Hey, the facts are what I want In other words, I could try it but it'd be a risk.

Darn it, I wish people would just commit

Including DVC on procedures like this.

 

[Sandisw]

We were told no and not allowed to do it. But I know others were able to..IMO, it should not be allowed.. But hey, if you can get a CM to do it, the that's fine...

 

[Mich Mouse]

They did it for us last summer with our a BC reservation. I didn't ask- they offered. I was on a wait list and called every so often to inquire about matches, one time the CM put me on hold and came back and made the offer. Someone else must of been happy to snatch that studio.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Now that we have family who live in FL, it would be nice to be able to hold a lock off 2 bedroom 11 months in advance, and be able to cancel either part if the weekend we picked so far in advance wasn't good for the family due to the then schedule of the grandkids or parents. We can make the commitment, it's a matter of arranging our schedule to pick a week for Flower and Garden, or Food and Wine, but kids have birthday parties, baseball games, dance recitals things that they don't know about 11 months in advance! If we wait until they know, even 7 months in advance, the villa may not be available.

I'll work within the system, but do wish there isn't a double message, some can do it, some are not allowed.

Bobbi

 

[francie57]

When we did the DVC presentation in Aug the agent, Mark, told us that we would be able to do this since we were talking about not possibly needing a 2 bedroom for a full week in Aug. He stated to us that since the BW is all lockoffs you just tell MS what you want to do and that it wouldn't be a problem. After reading here I guess we were just given the usual sales pitch of tell them what they want to hear. Do you think if we called to make a reservation for a 2 bedroom for so may days and then a reservation for a 1 bedroom they would let us stay in the same 1 bedroom side or would they make us change rooms.

 

[Deb & Bill]

However, a two bedroom lockoff requires fewer points than a one bedroom and a studio. So they aren't equal. So it could mess up the total points for the resort.

So if your reservation was 100 points for the two bedroom and a studio and one bedroom required 110 points, there are ten more points than the resort allows.

 

[Minniesgal]

When we did the DVC presentation in Aug the agent, Mark, told us that we would be able to do this since we were talking about not possibly needing a 2 bedroom for a full week in Aug. He stated to us that since the BW is all lockoffs you just tell MS what you want to do and that it wouldn't be a problem. After reading here I guess we were just given the usual sales pitch of tell them what they want to hear. Do you think if we called to make a reservation for a 2 bedroom for so may days and then a reservation for a 1 bedroom they would let us stay in the same 1 bedroom side or would they make us change rooms.

Firstly I would take what the agent said with a pinch of salt he is a salesman and does not work in resort operations so his knowledge of what is and what is not possible is not perfect.

The answer to your question is unfortunelty maybe. Some people have reported being able to do things like this others have been told no b member services. You best bet is to call and ask but to accept that any answer will not be definitive

 

[crisi]

Firstly I would take what the agent said with a pinch of salt he is a salesman and does not work in resort operations so his knowledge of what is and what is not possible is not perfect.

The answer to your question is unfortunelty maybe. Some people have reported being able to do things like this others have been told no b member services. You best bet is to call and ask but to accept that any answer will not be definitive

I'd go farther and say "is flawed" instead of "is not perfect" I suspect the sales guys are pretty clueless on what goes on in the ops side.

With a timeshare, if it isn't in writing, you aren't entitled to it. You might get it, you might not. It might be the way things are done now, and a year from now it might all change.

My guess is that this is one that might be in the process of changing - they might have more flexibility with systems and those orphaned rooms might get snapped up more frequently now that members can check the website and book something with $99 book by Thursday travel within two weeks airfare on their screen. We used to hear of it happening almost never. We've heard of it a few times this year - although usually when its a high demand resort at a high demand time when Disney knows that room you just released won't sit empty and unpaid for. When someone gets to do this with an SSR two bedroom in February....

 

[Minniesgal]

I'd go farther and say "is flawed" instead of "is not perfect" I suspect the sales guys are pretty clueless on what goes on in the ops side. With a timeshare, if it isn't in writing, you aren't entitled to it. You might get it, you might not. It might be the way things are done now, and a year from now it might all change. My guess is that this is one that might be in the process of changing - they might have more flexibility with systems and those orphaned rooms might get snapped up more frequently now that members can check the website and book something with $99 book by Thursday travel within two weeks airfare on their screen. We used to hear of it happening almost never. We've heard of it a few times this year - although usually when its a high demand resort at a high demand time when Disney knows that room you just released won't sit empty and unpaid for. When someone gets to do this with an SSR two bedroom in February....

I was being nice

 

[twinsouvenirs]

If the split is allowed, who gets the value of the lock off premium--DVD or members?

 

[Dean]

If the split is allowed, who gets the value of the lock off premium--DVD or members?

IF it's allowed, the member in questions is the main beneficiary. The rest of the members and the system are relative losers. One could argue that the one that gets the other portion late is a secondary winner but there were likely others along the way that tried and failed and many of those were likely owners at that resort. Historically this has not been allowed. Lately it's been case by case with no rhyme or reason and seems to be a product of the new computer system. IMO it should always be a cancelation and rebooking as should every change that involves the villa including adding or subtracting days. Otherwise you get exactly this, people playing games and consistent inconsistency. The other way to enforce it would be fees for changes which have good and bad points.

 

[crisi]

IF it's allowed, the member in questions is the main beneficiary. The rest of the members and the system are relative losers. One could argue that the one that gets the other portion late is a secondary winner but there were likely others along the way that tried and failed and many of those were likely owners at that resort. Historically this has not been allowed. Lately it's been case by case with no rhyme or reason and seems to be a product of the new computer system. IMO it should always be a cancelation and rebooking as should every change that involves the villa including adding or subtracting days. Otherwise you get exactly this, people playing games and consistent inconsistency. The other way to enforce it would be fees for changes which have good and bad points.

I think the current waitlist situation is a bigger problem. Similar issue, bigger problem.

 

[Dean]

I think the current waitlist situation is a bigger problem. Similar issue, bigger problem.

Crisi, I assume you're referring to the limit of 2 active WL per contract and the fact that it's restricting at some resorts more than others. While I agree it's an issue, I don't see it in the same light. At least they're consistent in that area and the variables are related to the resort in question rather than simply depending on who you talk to. Personally I think the biggest issues in this area are they way they give out compensation and allowing exceptions for personal situations in violation of the rules. To expand, it appears they often give out compensation where it is not deserved just for being a squeaky wheel. We've seen it here many times. IMO DVC has gotten too big to allow flexibility for personal situations outside the rules in place.

As for the WL, most here likely aren't going to like the way I think it should be. IMO it should be by resort and unit size for any booking category that one wants at that level or below. For example, at BWV you could either WL your choice of any of the 3 OR standard view. Here's where I'll make enemies, I think one should also have to have the points separately AND commit them to have the wait list on the books just like you were making a separate reservation.

 

[crisi]

Actually, what bugs me is the belief that if you call or check the website at the right time, you can snatch a newly cancelled reservation before it gets to the waitlist. To me, the whole point of the waitlist is to create a first come first served system. To have the back door that seems to be in place right now puts a stress on the systems (people calling or checking reservations to see if anything is available) and really isn't fair to the people who got on the waitlist months before.

 

[Dean]

Actually, what bugs me is the belief that if you call or check the website at the right time, you can snatch a newly cancelled reservation before it gets to the waitlist. To me, the whole point of the waitlist is to create a first come first served system. To have the back door that seems to be in place right now puts a stress on the systems (people calling or checking reservations to see if anything is available) and really isn't fair to the people who got on the waitlist months before.

I guess that doesn't bother me as much. I see it as the reality of how computer systems work in the timeshare environment. Anytime you ask for a change you have to think about the law of unintended consequences. For the WL that's likely removing the option altogether which you might see as a plus given your thoughts on the subject. Whether they could reasonably fix it by holding canceled inventory until checked against the WL or having a better system, I don't know enough about the nuts and bolts in this situation to formulate a good opinion and I doubt most MS CM's do either.

 

[crisi]

I guess that doesn't bother me as much. I see it as the reality of how computer systems work in the timeshare environment. Anytime you ask for a change you have to think about the law of unintended consequences. For the WL that's likely removing the option altogether which you might see as a plus given your thoughts on the subject. Whether they could reasonably fix it by holding canceled inventory until checked against the WL or having a better system, I don't know enough about the nuts and bolts in this situation to formulate a good opinion and I doubt most MS CM's do either.

No, but I'm a systems project manager with 20 years in married to a systems architect - and the two of us fell in love while designing and developing a hotel reservation system - everything I know about how this SHOULD work (unless it was designed by idiots) says that putting the rooms into a hold status for 24 hours or until (what I assume to be) the batch job runs should be completely doable for not very much money and without a lot of risk.

(And yes, hotel reservations and timeshare reservations will have different use cases, but not that different - a hotel wouldn't have a wait list use case at all - but we still had a hold status).

And the strange thing about my strong feelings - no matter how it works, we'd never use it. I don't like uncertainty. We will book a room or not book a room, we won't sit on a list or call every day waiting for a room to become available.