Mini-Rant about getting a room...or NOT getting a room....

[pklein09]

We are now semi-locals....we live about an hour away. I had a reservation for this weekend, but BIL and SIL can't make it from Buffalo due to illness (not Covid, thank goodness!). We had a 3 BR at the Riviera booked. We made this reservation about 3 weeks ago. Not happy about a 3 BR for 4 people, but that's about all we could get and I had the points. So, we decided to splurge.

I need to now move this out 2 weeks. There is NOTHING available online. Not a studio, a 1 BR, and 2 BR, or 3 BR. I need 1 night....February 19.

I get it's short notice...2 weeks. But this isn't the first time I've tried to book something I'll call "short notice" and had nothing available. We wanted to go for DH birthday in mid October, so I looked the beginning of September. I couldn't string 2 nights together, so we did 1 night in a Cabin and the other in a 1 BR at Boulder Ridge. At least I didn't have to move resorts.

I asked my guide if this was due to the all the holding points and cancelled reservations from 18 months ago, he said maybe. He also suggested that I book at the 11 and/or 7 month window to get a reservation. What?!? I'm local....I want to book a couple weeks in advance for some of my points. How am I supposed to know that far in advance that I'm going to want/need a weekend away?

UGH!

Okay, rant over....

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I am sorry about the illness, but it is going to be a very frustrating ownership for you trying to get units within 60 days, year round. DVC is an 11/7 month product, and not a lot even goes into breakage even pre COVID.

Your guide doesn't really know anything about booking patterns. Guides are out of the loop once the contract closes.

 

[New Mouse]

Your guide failed you or chose to ignore whether this was a good fit for you. This is not a product for locals who want to book last minute. There is rarely any availability within 3/4 months, forget about weeks. Covid has actually been the exception to that due to cancellationa and lax point holding policies.

 

[pklein09]

Thank you for your responses. We have been members for 20 years....purchased in 2001. We moved to FL in September and then Covid hit. So, the the points have not had a lot of use since being here.

If this is truly the reality of booking "short notice," then it might be time to sell.

Our current guide "poached" us when we did a tour of the Riviera in October. We stayed 1 night at the Poly (booked same day with a phone call to Member Services) about 3 weeks ago. He called to follow up on that stay except he started the conversation with "So, I understand you're cruising with us on the Wonder." I said no. He followed that with "oh, no, you're staying a <insert resort here> next week." I said no again. I told him we had just stayed one night at the Poly. He had no clue. He's the one who told me to book at 11/7 month windows. Not a very good guide. I feel sorry for anyone who actually needs him for information.

 

[Narcoossee11]

Those dates are a holiday weekend.

February 15th is the
Start of winter / spring breaks for colleges and public schools. Availability will be hit and miss for the next 2 months.

 

[Sandisw]

As mentioned, DVC does not work for short notice trips and for DVC, short notice is within 3 months. While there are nights that will show up here or there, many are random on night trips in the middle of the week. Now, given the current state of things, I have seen things change up in the least few weeks for my upcoming trip next week. I was thinking of adjusting my first night if I could.

But, the 19th is President's Day and its a busy week for Winter Break folks. But, keep trying as you never know if something pops up!!

 

[pklein09]

Thank you for the additional responses. When I went to change my park reservations (we have APs), we were able to rebook for the 19th. The weekend before is a blackout date for us, so I thought that was Presidents weekend, not the 19th. We no longer have school-aged kids, so I'm not as aware of the school holidays as I once was.

I will call Member Services to see what they might be able to do. At minimum, the points will go into holding....it's just a LOT of points....about half my annual allotment.

I'll have to talk to DH. It just might be time to sell. We've had a great 20 year run. With 4 kids, we needed at least 2 hotel rooms, and DVC just fit the bill so well. We made amazing memories and had a great time. At this different phase of our lives, it might be time to move on from DVC.

 

[kanerf]

You can always rent your points out for a while and make bookings at the standard times when you want too. Renting out points is very easy and I have never had a problem. Just use a reliable broker like DVC Rental Store or you can do it yourself here on the DIS.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

It's slim pickin's. There is a 5 room block in AKL in late april (2 bedroom savanna), But for sure, it's not easy right now trying to book short notice.

It's not just DVC.... Even the hotel side is fully booked up in a lot of Feb and March.

This is where I get into arguments in the other forums about "no one is going to Disney", "Disney is failing", "Disney is empty", etc... From reading on here you would think no one is going to Disney and the company is driving all the customers away. From judging from trying to find a hotel room on property, that's clearly not the case.

 

[pklein09]

You can always rent your points out for a while and make bookings at the standard times when you want too. Renting out points is very easy and I have never had a problem. Just use a reliable broker like DVC Rental Store or you can do it yourself here on the DIS.

Yes, we've thought about renting points. Our goal was to use points to stay at Aulani. We had planned on doing that in May, and looked into booking at our 7 month mark. With all the travel restrictions constantly changing, we decided not to go. We didn't want to risk spending all that money and using all those points to be stuck in our room because who knew what the travel restrictions would be at that point.

 

[New Mouse]

It's slim pickin's. There is a 5 room block in AKL in late april (2 bedroom savanna), But for sure, it's not easy right now trying to book short notice.

It's not just DVC.... Even the hotel side is fully booked up in a lot of Feb and March.

This is where I get into arguments in the other forums about "no one is going to Disney", "Disney is failing", "Disney is empty", etc... From reading on here you would think no one is going to Disney and the company is driving all the customers away. From judging from trying to find a hotel room on property, that's clearly not the case.

I don't think they are booking to full capacity. It feels busy, but the people eater activities have not come back in full force yet.

 

[RoseGold]

Stalk it! There is last minute availability, you just better be fast. Set a timer and check every 45 minutes! Heck, there's a room right now. GO!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I don't think they are booking to full capacity. It feels busy, but the people eater activities have not come back in full force yet.

DVC is booking full. Hard to say on other resorts.

 

[vakamalua]

Been members since 1995. For a many years there was plenty of availability at short notice (within the 3 month range; we used to book in as little as 10 days). As they built more resorts & sold more contracts, the availability declined to the 7 / 11 timeframe--sometimes even then with difficulty. The members are victims of DVC's success. We've had a great run but really miss the product we bought, may be time for us to "let it go."

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

With Covid-19 there has been a huge increase in last minute cancellations. I would expect if you stalk to be able to find something for that night in either a 2BR or GV. If a 1BR would work too that would only help. I would be pretty surprised if you didn't find something at some point between now and then. I just did 3 searches for that day of a span of 5 minutes and a 1BR at OKW came up on the 3rd try.

I would set up a 2BR waitlist for SSR and Kadini....maybe OKW. I think those are your best bets statistically. Then stalk.

I also agree with other posters that selling probably makes sense in your case, especially with the amount of points you own. Trying to get anything last minute as a local is a flip of the coin. If I was you and had them broken up I would consider keeping maybe 50 points just to keep the benefits (AP discount etc).

Good luck and I hope you get your room.

 

[n2mm]

Yep, Im grabbing days around Presidents weekend. My daughter canceled her cruise, but we still have to do the dvc side. It left me with 70 extra points to burn that expire March 31, 2022. Yesterday I managed Saturday the 19th at AKK, but later a Bwv PV popped up and switched also HH popped up and grabbed a few of those. I already had my own week at Bwv booked, but now had to add to either side of my reservation to burned through my points. I’m a 11 month booker, but im not surprised by the lack of availability. Those days of grabbing a room are gone. I have found, 7 days out are pretty good to grab days too.

 

[New Mouse]

Been members since 1995. For a many years there was plenty of availability at short notice (within the 3 month range; we used to book in as little as 10 days). As they built more resorts & sold more contracts, the availability declined to the 7 / 11 timeframe--sometimes even then with difficulty. The members are victims of DVC's success. We've had a great run but really miss the product we bought, may be time for us to "let it go."

This is a very valid point. As Disney builds more resorts where people don't want to stay regularly ie. Aulani, those points then flood into wdw.

 

[bumbershoot]

Those dates are a holiday weekend.

February 15th is the
Start of winter / spring breaks for colleges and public schools. Availability will be hit and miss for the next 2 months.

It's also the weekend before Princess weekend. Given that we haven't had a Princess since 2020, those of us going are EXCITED. I arrive on the 21st for the week, for instance.

Oh and that's the last weekend of the arts (?) festival.

Big weekend leading to a big week for people.

 

[Shellyred8]

Been members since 1995. For a many years there was plenty of availability at short notice (within the 3 month range; we used to book in as little as 10 days). As they built more resorts & sold more contracts, the availability declined to the 7 / 11 timeframe--sometimes even then with difficulty. The members are victims of DVC's success. We've had a great run but really miss the product we bought, may be time for us to "let it go."

On the up side, if you sell now, you will probably make a nice profit from when you bought back in 1995.

 

[Sandisw]

A reminder. We ask that real time availability do not get posted here on the DiS.