Making reservations only by phone...?

[CalicoKitty2000]

I'm new to DVC, and think I will love it!!!

One question I'm really curious about though.... why do ou think that you can only make reservations via the phone with MS? Obviously, Disney could make the whole thing automated and allow you to make them yourself online. I would really like to be able to jump online and see what is available rather than having to call and ask. I guess I just feel bad because I am so flexible (living in FL), that I am having MS look up a lot of options before I make a decision.

 

[culli]

I'm new to DVC, and think I will love it!!!

One question I'm really curious about though.... why do ou think that you can only make reservations via the phone with MS? Obviously, Disney could make the whole thing automated and allow you to make them yourself online. I would really like to be able to jump online and see what is available rather than having to call and ask. I guess I just feel bad because I am so flexible (living in FL), that I am having MS look up a lot of options before I make a decision.

Many of us feel the same way. But as you start experiencing Disney overall including their websites and even DVC interaction you will realize for the size of company and their reputation........their IT dept has to be one of the worse. Now I don't know anything personally about their IT dept but I do know thier websites are horrible and limitations on others things point to it.

 

[DebbieB]

Why no online? It takes alot of money to build an online system. DVC is unique because it's not just calling up a room, seeing if it's available and booking it like a CRO reservation. Members have multiple use years, multiple contracts, banking, borrowing, holding. I do think they could make checking resort availability online.

I think it's been a great step getting our account information online. Now when I make a reservation I can check immediately to see if it was done correctly. I did have a major mistake one time (points were borrowed when they should not have been).

 

[Chuck S]

Making the program that extensive, taking into account banking, borrowing, home resort, trades, holding points, multiple contracts, multilple home resorts, multiple use years, whether dues are current, or whether there any outstanding financing debt would in itself be problematic, but it could be done. Then making it web friendly and user friendly, for people who may have little online experience, or are new members and don't understand the overall system would be difficult at best.

Then add to it that Disney would not be paying for this development service or the website, but it would be our dues...and I'm just as happy to either email my lodging requests orcall on the phone.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Now and then you hear rumors about a system coming online in the near future, but you have to remember DVC just replaced the VHS tape players with disk players last year. They still don't have in-room wireless Internet in most cases. I think much of this has to do with it being timeshares. Once the shares are sold there is no pressure to create an environment that competes with or draws from other sources of lodging. AND many, if not most, of the timeshare owners don't want MFs to increase. I'm not sure I agree with the cost argument in this case though. Seems to me an automated system would operate cheaper than a human to human system. Though there would be an initial investment to pay. JMHO.

 

[Scott]

I'm new to DVC, and think I will love it!!!

One question I'm really curious about though.... why do ou think that you can only make reservations via the phone with MS? Obviously, Disney could make the whole thing automated and allow you to make them yourself online. I would really like to be able to jump online and see what is available rather than having to call and ask. I guess I just feel bad because I am so flexible (living in FL), that I am having MS look up a lot of options before I make a decision.

Makes no sense at all. It would not be hard to do and the total cost would be minuscule. At the very least, it would be nice to at least check availability on-line...even if it didn't reflect up to the minute information. It would reduce the time of each phone call. I wonder how many people call MS just to get a sense of what is available.

Scott

 

[Chuck S]

Imagine having availability online, if it was only a snapshot of available units from the night before, and NOT up to the minute. People calling, availability is gone. People upset with member services because the site shows avalability.

Everyone says it would be cheap to do...really? I doubt it, given the sheer volume of membership, available room types, integration with existing data systems. Then all the other factors of banking, etc.

Could it be done? Sure. But I doubt it would come cheap.

 

[jgus]

I am in the call center business, and without a doubt, any online system would be cheaper than a call center in the US over the long term. I think Disney is just not a progressive organization. They are slow to react, slow to change.

 

[CalicoKitty2000]

Well, presumably, they already have a lot of the systems, they just aren't online. They already have a computer system that they use to track your points and memberships. They can already lookup reservations using the computer. You can even look up availability of cash reservations at these resorts. RCI has availability listed online for their members (I think), but when a DVC member clicks on that page, it says to call DVC MS. The cost would be integrating these into a front-end with a simple to use web-based user-interface. There would be an expense, but it would probably outway the cost of employing the people at some point. Maybe Disney thinks that there is more value in providing a person to talk to. A lot of people do just want to call and get a human on the other side.

 

[CarolAnnC]

This idea has come up over and over again here on the DIS. Below I have copied a post written by Caskbill almost 2 1/2 years ago. Still pertinent so I thought I would share it here:

--------------------
The DVC system is extremely complex, more so than most probably realize. I probably know best because I've been writing a point tracking program (to be released later this year).

Here's some of the issues:

Home resort vs non-home resort and the 11/7 month windows.

Classification of points in someone's account (Regular, Banked, Borrowed, Reservation, Holding)

Multiple resorts. (Someone owns OKW and VWL and wants to use 100 OKW points and 32 VWL points to book BCV at 7-months)

Not to mention the regular 'choices'. If you book a hotel room on line, you can probably select smoking/non smoking, and the system checks if a room is available.

With DVC you have different resorts, different villa types, different 'views', different seasons, different days of the week, all which must be checked for availability. And if available, determine the point requirements.

And the list goes on....
Should you be able to bank? Should you be allowed to borrow (knowing that borrowing can only be done at the time you actually make a reservation)
Should you be allowed to transfer points.
How do you tell the system what points you want to use. Maybe you want to use VWL points at OKW, even though you also have OKW points. Maybe you want to use regular points, even though you have some banked points in your account.

Finally to incorporate all this into a 'live' session, where CM's are making reservations continuously. (Last I knew of, about 80-100 CM's man the phones every day). If you see what you want, and put in all the information, what happens during the 5-minutes it took you to do everything. Did the availability disappear because 80 people were on the phone making similar reservations. (One thing that would help is to only have it available when MS was closed, and putting temporary holds on an available reservation (maybe 5-minutes), while you input your data.)

Could a program be written? Certainly. Would it be cost justifiable? Unknown. Would it be easy to use or too complex for most users. Again unknown. How many would actually use it? Those of us here on this board probably would, but we're about 1% of all owners. Aside from development costs, would it cost more to maintain the system than any savings received from reduced CM workloads.

In a previous thread I suggested that just a way to check availability would be a great first step. When MS closes for the day (or weekend), a basic 'snapshot' is taken of what's available. Users could go on line and check, thus saving a call to MS. When they find what they want is available, then they call the next day and make the reservation.

Just .02

 

[DebbieB]

Makes no sense at all. It would not be hard to do and the total cost would be minuscule. At the very least, it would be nice to at least check availability on-line...even if it didn't reflect up to the minute information. It would reduce the time of each phone call. I wonder how many people call MS just to get a sense of what is available.

Scott

IT development costs are never minuscule. You have not only the development of the program but also testing, training, etc.

Part of the problem is many members, especially new members, do not understand the rules. Many new members think they have to borrow to make a reservation next year (not next use year). Member Services is supposed to be trained and they frequently mess things up. I had a situation about a year ago where they borrowed from my next use year when I had plenty of points available in the current. That had to be manually fixed. So the program would have to be written to prevent mistakes like that (why isn't the current one?).

 

[Lynne M]

Makes no sense at all. It would not be hard to do and the total cost would be minuscule. At the very least, it would be nice to at least check availability on-line...even if it didn't reflect up to the minute information. It would reduce the time of each phone call. I wonder how many people call MS just to get a sense of what is available.

Scott

Well, as a software engineer working for a large commercial software developer, I can tell you that the cost to develop and maintain a complex online reservation system that will be used by tens of thousands of people is anything but miniscule.

Maybe DVC could recoup some of the cost by laying off MS reps, but they're still going to have to keep some. It would take a very long time for them to recoup the development costs, let alone covering maintenance. Sure, they could roll the costs into our dues, but higher dues make DVC less attractive to new purchasers. And an online reservation system doesn't do anything to attract new customers.

There's just no pressure on DVC to do this. It's not going to be a huge money-saver for them, and I'm sure there are a lot of things they'd rather spend the money on.

 

[jarestel]

All squawking about expense and complexity aside, on-line reservations will happen at some point. Disney is just not a "leading-edge" company when it comes to technology issues. But eventually they will adapt to life in the 21st century.

 

[Scott]

IT development costs are never minuscule. You have not only the development of the program but also testing, training, etc.

Part of the problem is many members, especially new members, do not understand the rules. Many new members think they have to borrow to make a reservation next year (not next use year). Member Services is supposed to be trained and they frequently mess things up. I had a situation about a year ago where they borrowed from my next use year when I had plenty of points available in the current. That had to be manually fixed. So the program would have to be written to prevent mistakes like that (why isn't the current one?).

You folks are making this seem like we are proposing sending a spaceship to Mars! Every shoddy motel operation in America has an online booking system, that allows you to check availability. True there are a few extra variables that need to be taken into consideration, but I still don't buy the idea that it would be too expensive or too difficult. I just can't buy the comment that the current system would be cheaper than an on-line system over the next 10 years. Of course my "minuscule" comment regarding going on-line was in the context of the overall budget, number of members, etc...I'm sure the gross dollar amount would be rather gross.
Scott

 

[Chuck S]

On line motel resevations are quite simple compared to DVC reservations.

They look up a room to see if it is available, and you punch in your payment. A very simple transaction. No banking/borrowing, no concern if here is "enough" points in your use year, no concern of home resort, etc. DVC and timeshares in general, are much more complex than a Motel 6 system. Plus you need a strong enough system with enough capacityto prevent crashes during peak booking periods, like the current holiday booking season.

 

[TisBit]

Another huge issue that you have to deal with is the modifications of reservations. Will you allow members to modify their own ressies, adding and removing days, ensuring that even the most basic member that doesn't understand the rules know what could happen with holding points, etc.

We can also talk about the possible abuse of such a system, from members booking things they don't intend to use, the ever evil speculative renter, etc. MS already has some of those issues clogging their systems, but I could also see that being pretty costly in the terms of overtaxing the system.

I think the cost of the system could be worked around....but there are lot of concerns that Disney might see with implementing that type of system.

 

[snowbunny]

The fact of the matter is that "the system" is on the computer of the MS person you call today.

Everyone can theorize about the complexity and come up with their favorite reasons why it would not work

Oh indeed. There were as many if not more who said the new reservation booking date procedure would never ever work. "Keep it the same!" is the DVC member rallying cry.