Methods On Reserving 4+ Consecutive Nights

[AfricanLodger]

From what I've seen on this forum and just word of mouth, I hear people say that they got lucky and managed to get a 5 night stay at a 'hard to get' resort 7 months out, yet when I check the calendar even now at 8, 9, 10 months out, there aren't 5 consecutive nights open. So how is that possible? What am I missing?

From what I can see, most resorts with 2+ consecutive nights are full before the 7 month window kicks in. How do you go about getting let's say a 5 night stay at poly when even at the 7 month window when there's only 1-2 nights open in a row?

Is there a method that I'm completely missing out on? I've seen people use the term 'stalking', how does that work exactly? From what I can see, it seems you have to keep checking the site and make multiple trips then combine them. Is combining 4 individual days allowed or do you have to change rooms everyday?

Would love any further explanation on what is allowed and the strategies you guys use to get your 7+ night trips at hard to get resorts when rooms are already sold out before the 7 month window begins. I understand you won't be able to get all 7 days at once, I'm curious about the methods used when putting the puzzle pieces together, even if one night at a time.

A little about us and our goals. We own at AKL for the purpose of getting rooms at Jambo house, but we also love to stay at the Poly (would also love to try beach club or boardwalk if we could ever get a room there 7 months out, no luck yet as they are easily gone 8+ months out). So I guess my question pertains to the occasional 5 night poly deluxe studio, which is usually sold out (with sporadic days) well before the 7 month window.

Thank you SO much for any help you can provide!

 

[Kaufeegurl]

7 months out puts us in the very busy December season so yes, 7 month rooms can be difficult to find. PVB shows availability in December if you can be quick on the trigger at 7 months and willing to piece together a reservation (and if an owner doesn't grab those before the 7 month mark).

yet when I check the calendar even now at 8, 9, 10 months out, there aren't 5 consecutive nights open

I have no idea which calendar you are looking at for availability beyond 7 months - all resorts show good availability beyond December.

Is there a method that I'm completely missing out on? I've seen people use the term 'stalking', how does that work exactly?

Stalking is simply looking on DVC for the dates you want every chance you get throughout a day. You should do this in addition to waitlisting. I found 3 days in in a Poly studio in late October a few weeks ago by stalking. I grabbed 2 one day, and found the 3rd day a couple days later. YMMV.

Lastly, it is getting much harder to grab reservations 7 months. Home resorts are filling up at 7-11 months. We bought SSR years ago and love it for it's last minute availability. But we bought BCV last year using the very sage advice from these boards - "buy where you want to stay" - when we discovered that 7 month availability was becoming a unicorn at many resorts. It's great to be able to try different resorts but at many times of the year it's becoming a challenge to use that DVC perk.

 

[AfricanLodger]

I have no idea which calendar you are looking at for availability beyond 7 months - all resorts show good availability beyond December.

These are the calendars I'm looking at... Nothing at 7 months and barely anything at 8 months (which will likely fill by 7 months anyway) at most resorts except SSR and OKW. (Make sure to note where the calendars switch to January.)

So, as you can see, my question stands. I guess going back to the the stalking method, can you book multiple single rooms at various times and then combine them without having to change rooms?

Also, I do understand the "buy where you want to stay" advice, hence why we bought at AKL for Jambo house. However, I see so many people snagging long stays at their non-home resorts so I am curious how lol

(Sorry the pics are small, I'm on my phone and don't have enough posts to link them to the full size, but you get the idea)

 

[Kaufeegurl]

Your specific question included availability 8, 9, and 10 months out:

yet when I check the calendar even now at 8, 9, 10 months out, there aren't 5 consecutive nights open

So yes, almost full availability during those times frames.

Let's talk 7 months. Yes, hard to get unless there is availability and you are on the website right when your booking window opens. The calendars you are showing with spotty availability are for: December, a month typically filled at 11 months by owners and a few lucky non-owners, and January - 8 months - My DVC is showing the month of January almost completely available (other than 6-7 days) for a studio at BCV, BWV, and PVB - the room level and resorts at which you mentioned you wanted to stay. Specifically, PVB is wide open for a studio except for 1/1 and 1/8-12.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

People booking multi night stays at 7 months are typically traveling after marathon and before Labor Day.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

From what I've seen on this forum and just word of mouth, I hear people say that they got lucky and managed to get a 5 night stay at a 'hard to get' resort 7 months out, yet when I check the calendar even now at 8, 9, 10 months out, there aren't 5 consecutive nights open. So how is that possible? What am I missing?

From what I can see, most resorts with 2+ consecutive nights are full before the 7 month window kicks in. How do you go about getting let's say a 5 night stay at poly when even at the 7 month window when there's only 1-2 nights open in a row?

Is there a method that I'm completely missing out on? I've seen people use the term 'stalking', how does that work exactly? From what I can see, it seems you have to keep checking the site and make multiple trips then combine them. Is combining 4 individual days allowed or do you have to change rooms everyday?

Would love any further explanation on what is allowed and the strategies you guys use to get your 7+ night trips at hard to get resorts when rooms are already sold out before the 7 month window begins. I understand you won't be able to get all 7 days at once, I'm curious about the methods used when putting the puzzle pieces together, even if one night at a time.

A little about us and our goals. We own at AKL for the purpose of getting rooms at Jambo house, but we also love to stay at the Poly (would also love to try beach club or boardwalk if we could ever get a room there 7 months out, no luck yet as they are easily gone 8+ months out). So I guess my question pertains to the occasional 5 night poly deluxe studio, which is usually sold out (with sporadic days) well before the 7 month window.

Thank you SO much for any help you can provide!

What often isn't mentioned is the times of those bookings. And then there's also just actual timing and luck of the draw in catching something when someone else cancels or moves a reservation elsewhere. So while it can happen during the Oct-Dec timeframe nobody should ever be implying that it's a simple thing to do for that timeframe. It is the busiest time for DVC reservations. Other times of the year it's much easier to do or have a chance at.

 

[AfricanLodger]

PVB is wide open for a studio except for 1/1 and 1/8-12.

I know December fills quickly, it wasn't the best example, but unfortunately that is the month that is 7 months out right now.

And I'm certain that Poly (and those others) will fill up when 7 months gets closer. My point is, there is always just a few days here and there at the first day of the 7 month window. What methods can you use to piece together a full trip?

While I have managed to get 2-3 nights in a row at the poly before, the majority of my experience is that before the 7 month day approaches, I can see the open days disappearing. Logging in at 8am on 7 month day won't matter if they filled up days/weeks before. With this post I'm looking for methods to build a longer trip at the other villas.

 

[AfricanLodger]

Thank you all for your responses, but I do understand the busy times and that some months are harder than others. My question isn't so much ON the availablity, more so how to work around it and still get 4+ nights at those busy times.

Can you book multiple single rooms at various times and then combine them without having to change rooms? Would the 'one at a time then combine' method work?

 

[crvetter]

Can you book multiple single rooms at various times and then combine them without having to change rooms? Would the 'one at a time then combine' method work?

If the rooms are consecutive nights, the same booking category then MS can combine them into a single reservation if you give them a call.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thank you all for your responses, but I do understand the busy times and that some months are harder than others. My question isn't so much ON the availablity, more so how to work around it and still get 4+ nights at those busy times.

Can you book multiple single rooms at various times and then combine them without having to change rooms? Would the 'one at a time then combine' method work?

Yes, you can piece together a reservation. The nights of course have to be in the exact same room type - size, view, resort. If they are all booked under the same membership you can later call MS and ask them to combine the reservations into a single reservation.

 

[Kaufeegurl]

Can you book multiple single rooms at various times and then combine them without having to change rooms? Would the 'one at a time then combine' method work?

Yes! I would book whatever is available at 7 months and then stalk/waitlist what you need to fill in. I have done that before with success! Unfortunately, like many posters here and on other threads have shared, DVC has become much harder to book at 7 months at out and especially during busier seasons.

 

[msjprincess]

Like others have said you're looking at the busiest time of the year. I've never had problems switching at 7 months but none of those trips were in the Fall. I was able to get 5 nights at the Polynesian in August. My next trip is in early January so I'm not holding my breath on switching.

 

[AfricanLodger]

Thank you SO much!! I know getting the rooms in October/December are tough. I don't mean to look at those directly (that just happens to be the time of year that is currently 7 months out for example purposes), I'm just talking in general. I know that any room can be open or booked at any time of year due to festivals, events, and holidays especially. Totally get that and I'm not complaining. I knew the system going in. Was just looking for methods to piece together longer stays and you guys helped so much!! I will absolutely use the one day booking/combining approach in the future and I now have hope for stays at the more illusive resorts lol Really appreciate you all taking the time to read and respond

 

[Flossbolna]

I have had good luck with waitlists. I would book the two nights I could get at 7 months exactly when booking opens and then waitlist the other nights. Around 7 months there often is movement in reservations as people try to move to non-home-resorts. Of course there is no guarantee, but we had good luck with this strategy. It’s worth a try! I read at some point that wait lists are being filled according to who waitlisted first, so getting the waitlist in as quickly as possible might help.

 

[AfricanLodger]

I have had good luck with waitlists. I would book the two nights I could get at 7 months exactly when booking opens and then waitlist the other nights. Around 7 months there often is movement in reservations as people try to move to non-home-resorts. Of course there is no guarantee, but we had good luck with this strategy. It’s worth a try! I read at some point that wait lists are being filled according to who waitlisted first, so getting the waitlist in as quickly as possible might help.

Oh thanks for chiming in! I've also had great experience with waitlists as well, I just didn't know you could combine multiple days. That's really a great loophole I think and I hope they never remove that feature.

While I'm here talking and about waitlists, can any of you answer this... Is it better to waitlist in pieces or the full stay at once? What are you mostly likely to get? I do understand that waitlisting in pieces does not guarantee that you'll be able to eventually get the full length of your stay. Just curious how they divide it up in the waitlist system. Would several single days be more likely to get fulfilled?

 

[CMNJ]

Oh thanks for chiming in! I've also had great experience with waitlists as well, I just didn't know you could combine multiple days. That's really a great loophole I think and I hope they never remove that feature.

While I'm here talking and about waitlists, can any of you answer this... Is it better to waitlist in pieces or the full stay at once? What are you mostly likely to get? I do understand that waitlisting in pieces does not guarantee that you'll be able to eventually get the full length of your stay. Just curious how they divide it up in the waitlist system. Would several single days be more likely to get fulfilled?

Multiple single days are more likely to fill than 1 long stay because they do not hold days for a partial match. So if you had a 5 day wait list and only 4 days became avail since it doesn’t fully match your request they’d go to the next waitlist(s) that match. That could be someone with a 4 day stay, 1 person with a 1 day and 1 with a 3 day, 2 with 2 days, etc.
If you waitlist days individually they can come through whenever someone cancels that day because it isn’t dependent upon their whole stay matching your whole stay. This approach can lead to having partial days with holes in the middle so it isn’t for the feint of heart. You can only have 2 active waitlists so you would have to split into 2 and 3 days or try to match a few single days at a time.

 

[AfricanLodger]

Multiple single days are more likely to fill than 1 long stay because they do not hold days for a partial match. So if you had a 5 day wait list and only 4 days became avail since it doesn’t fully match your request they’d go to the next waitlist(s) that match. That could be someone with a 4 day stay, 1 person with a 1 day and 1 with a 3 day, 2 with 2 days, etc.
If you waitlist days individually they can come through whenever someone cancels that day because it isn’t dependent upon their whole stay matching your whole stay. This approach can lead to having partial days with holes in the middle so it isn’t for the feint of heart. You can only have 2 active waitlists so you would have to split into 2 and 3 days or try to match a few single days at a time.

Gotcha! So always have a backup plan when waitlisting single days or be extremelyyyyy flexible lol Thanks so much for the tips and info!

 

[CMNJ]

Gotcha! So always have a backup plan when waitlisting single days or be extremelyyyyy flexible lol Thanks so much for the tips and info!

Yes always have a back up as there is no guarantee a wait list will come through ever. Someone has to cancel their plans for you to get their room.

 

[AfricanLodger]

Yes always have a back up as there is no guarantee a wait list will come through ever. Someone has to cancel their plans for you to get their room.

I'd imagine cancellations happens pretty frequently with the amount of folks coming in and out (and even changing in this case). I've personally gotten every waitlist I've put in, however now I can be more bold knowing I can combine separate nights.

 

[bumbershoot]

Cancellations happen. Plans change. People want to stay somewhere other than home resort (that happens to me 7 months before Princess) etc.