New policy for reservations based on check IN date

[bookwormde]

Wolfpackfan

Was your reservation for a full week? If so we know this type of reservation has a preference.

I also think it is valid that many members have not “loaded up the new 11+7 days due to lack of knowledge about the new procedures.

bookwormde

 

[LisaS]

I think this was already mentioned, but I sure can't find it: All you need is enough points to book 2 weekend nights for you to walk a reservation forward.

Yes, I had posted about this and I think pyrxtc did as well. I believe it's not how many points you have, it's when you book and start "walking" that matters, as long as you have enough points to book two weekend nights.

 

[bookwormde]

Suzanneslo, lisaS

It is my understanding that DBD priority only works if you make a full 7-day reservation at 11+7 from check in initially (possibly with wl for 1st day?) day, Otherwise even if you can get your 6 or less day reservation you are at least 1 day behind the full week extenders.

Yes to be safe for walking from any starting you need a week plus 1 weekday worth of points. 552 points for what I want so no walking for me

bookwormde

 

[WolfpackFan]

Wolfpackfan

Was your reservation for a full week? If so we know this type of reservation has a preference.

No, actually it was for five nights.

 

[dopeyone]

I don't see how this would cut down on MS phone calls. I might be wrong, but as I see it...... Say your vacation starts on a Sun. you can call starting on the previous Sun. (the plus 7) and book the whole week... even though the only day you're planning to keep is the Sun. (1st day of your vacation)..You then call on Mon. to book the next Mon. you also cancel the first Sun. you used to start your plus 7 booking, you call again tues. for the next Tues..and so forth....always canceling the previous day. Until your into your vacation. You'd be able to do this for all the days of your vacation be it 7, 10, or 14 days. You always call 11 mos + 7 days for the day you need. Am I seeing this the right way? It seems like you'd be calling day by day still....only 7 days earlier. Seems like more work for MS.

 

[ralphd]

That's not true. Everyone does not have the same opprtunity to book.
Please read through the many examples in this thread.
One of which is-
Several members book a week starting December 26th to enjoy New Years Eve. Now, the member trying to book starting the 28th, exactly 11 months ahead of check in, may not have any rooms available.

MG

That will be true for anyone trying to book the same dates outside the time lines of the 11 month window. Everyone (home resort) has the opportunity to book the reservation. It seems you are advocating the day by day booking system that may leave a member with gaps in their reservation. Is that a more fair system to you? There will be problems for some people under any 'canned' reservation system.
The new system is 100% fair!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

That will be true for anyone trying to book the same dates outside the time lines of the 11 month window. Everyone (home resort) has the opportunity to book the reservation. It seems you are advocating the day by day booking system that may leave a member with gaps in their reservation. Is that a more fair system to you? There will be problems for some people under any 'canned' reservation system.
The new system is 100% fair!

Ralph, that's incorrect.
Using the old method, exactly at the 11 month window, there were zero rooms booked for the first day of your trip. Everyone who wanted to call at MS opening had the same chance at the ressie.
Using the new method, you can call the instant you are eligible to book the room, but some, most, or all the rooms may already be taken.

MG

 

[bookwormde]

Wolfpackfan

Thanks for the reply

Good to know that the less competitive reservations for less tan a week have not been affected yet

bookwormde

 

[Deb & Bill]

That will be true for anyone trying to book the same dates outside the time lines of the 11 month window. Everyone (home resort) has the opportunity to book the reservation. It seems you are advocating the day by day booking system that may leave a member with gaps in their reservation. Is that a more fair system to you? There will be problems for some people under any 'canned' reservation system.
The new system is 100% fair!

I don't think you understand why we are saying what we are saying.

Ralph wants to stay Dec 28-Jan 4. He can start calling on Jan 28.

Deb wants to stay Dec 25-Jan 1. She can start calling on Jan 25.

Deb calls on Jan 25 and gets her AKV concierge room for all her days - Dec 25-Jan 1.

Ralph calls on Jan 28 and can't get his AKV concierge for Dec 25 - Jan 1. But he can get Jan 2-4. That's all he gets because all five 2 bedroom AKV concierge rooms have already been booked for Dec 28-Jan 1. So five other guests had the opportunity to get your rooms before you even had the opportunity to call.

Based on the old system:

Ralph wants to stay Dec 28-Jan 4. Deb wants to stay Dec 25-Jan 1.

Deb calls on Jan 25 and gets her Dec 25 night. She called Jan 26 and gets Dec 26, she calls Jan 27 and gets Dec 27.

Both Ralph and Deb call on Jan 28 and both get Dec 28 because they were the first two calls answered on that morning. Same thing on Dec 29, Dec 30, Dec 31 and Jan 1.

 

[bookwormde]

Ralphd

Anyone booking a shorter reservation ending in the same day as a 7 day reservation is 2nd in line for their reservation.

If the primary goal of the new system is booking initial reservation of 7 days contiguously then it is a great system.

bookwormde

 

[jdg345]

RobinB - our stories are EXACTLY alike. We both own at OKW, bought add-ons at BWV for NYE. Now, what are the odds..................

I hope to be able to meet you at one of our trips. I won't have enough points to try again for a couple of years, tho. Maybe the policy will have changed back by then and I'll actually get my 2 bedroom.

Okay, so ... what's the allure of BWV and NYE? Epcot Fireworks?

 

[jdg345]

FWIW - I gave the new system a try this morning and got my ressie with no problems. I was wanting a 1BR at HHI for the first week of June (check in May 31, so today is exactly 11 months). I called at 9:00 and got exactly what I wanted. Now I know this might not be quite as difficult as some other requests, but still there are not that many 1BR units at HHI and the first week of June is usually high demand because it's the last week before the points go up for summer. In the past, I've done day by day calling to get this ressie. It was so nice to do it all in one call this morning.

Awesome! Keep in mind though that the system is still pretty new. I'm sure there are a couple couple tens of thousands of members that aren't aware of the policy, so it's likely you didn't have the pre-booking traffic you might end up with same time next year. I figure that for now, this is kind of a 'honeymoon period' for the new system.

 

[jdg345]

I think this was already mentioned, but I sure can't find it: All you need is enough points to book 2 weekend nights for you to walk a reservation forward.

With the articulated WL policy, once a member has made a multi-day reservation, that room inventory is locked up by them for as long as that member wants to add contigious days to the reservation. The assumption has been that a member calling on Day 1 at 11 months and finding inventory available will book 7 nights. However, if that member only booked 2 nights, that room inventory would still be unavailable to any other member calling for the first time on Day 2. So our 2-day-booking member calls back on Day 2 and cancels Day 1 and uses those points to book Day 3. That member has now walked the reservation forward to Day 2-3.

The risk to using so few points, of course, is that if you fail to call on any day, you have lost your priority. I would personally also want to have enought points to book Day 3 before cancelling Day2 just as a little insurance against MS making an error in executing the cancellation and cancelling both days 1 & 2. The low points member will also have to make more DBD phone calls to "walk" to their preferred date than a memebr with higher points. But it can be done. -- Suzanne

That's correct for that instance, but those wanting to pre-book the full 7 days (so that their last day is the first day they really want) will need the full point load. It's possible that those with smaller contracts would have to then start booking the whole week before and have to walk 7-10 days just to get their first day. Yuk.

 

[jdg345]

I don't see how this would cut down on MS phone calls. I might be wrong, but as I see it...... Say your vacation starts on a Sun. you can call starting on the previous Sun. (the plus 7) and book the whole week... even though the only day you're planning to keep is the Sun. (1st day of your vacation)..You then call on Mon. to book the next Mon. you also cancel the first Sun. you used to start your plus 7 booking, you call again tues. for the next Tues..and so forth....always canceling the previous day. Until your into your vacation. You'd be able to do this for all the days of your vacation be it 7, 10, or 14 days. You always call 11 mos + 7 days for the day you need. Am I seeing this the right way? It seems like you'd be calling day by day still....only 7 days earlier. Seems like more work for MS.

Yup ... and if you want to try to beat out someone who is doing the same thing as you, then you need to book earlier. The question is, how soon is soon enough? 7 days? 10? 14? It becomes a mess.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Ralphd

If the primary goal of the new system is booking initial reservation of 7 days contiguously then it is a great system.

bookwormde

Which, as sombody pointed out, is contrary to the whole flexibility concept previously espoused by DVC. If DVC want to essentially become like every other timeshare and, by virtue of the new booking system, require (or at least give strong preference to) week long reservations......well, that is a step in the wrong direction as far as I'm concerned. Of course that is typical of Disney in general nowadays.

 

[flechette]

FWIW

I had a quick conversatio with Sheila at Members Satisfaction yesterday. I did ask her where the "overwhelming numbers" came from and she said several different places: 1) Comments to Front Counter at Check ins 2) Any DVC CM with a Clipboard and 3) Comments made to Kiosk Staff. She also said the telephone surveys factored in as well.

I pointed out I had never been asked that question, nor had I received a survey via mail or online that might be more inclusive. I did ask how she thought the members who were currently in favor of the change would react if they called for a room on their first night possible and couldn't get one. Sheila said "I have no doubt I'll be getting alot of calls when that happens"

She was very polite and professional, and seemed surprised when I compared this to the ADR situation. I pointed out I called to get le Cellier reservations and couldn't get 1 table for 6 people- we're split between 2 or 3 tables. At least I haven't spent thousands of dollars to try and get a reservation there like I have w/ DVC

I was at work so it had to be a quick conversation but I do feel like they're listening

Oh - and Sheila say that the responses were about equal between positive and negative....

 

[photobob]

I don't think you understand why we are saying what we are saying.

Ralph wants to stay Dec 28-Jan 4. He can start calling on Jan 28.

Deb wants to stay Dec 25-Jan 1. She can start calling on Jan 25.

Deb calls on Jan 25 and gets her AKV concierge room for all her days - Dec 25-Jan 1.

Ralph calls on Jan 28 and can't get his AKV concierge for Dec 25 - Jan 1. But he can get Jan 2-4. That's all he gets because all five 2 bedroom AKV concierge rooms have already been booked for Dec 28-Jan 1. So five other guests had the opportunity to get your rooms before you even had the opportunity to call.

Based on the old system:

Ralph wants to stay Dec 28-Jan 4. Deb wants to stay Dec 25-Jan 1.

Deb calls on Jan 25 and gets her Dec 25 night. She called Jan 26 and gets Dec 26, she calls Jan 27 and gets Dec 27.

Both Ralph and Deb call on Jan 28 and both get Dec 28 because they were the first two calls answered on that morning. Same thing on Dec 29, Dec 30, Dec 31 and Jan 1.

Thanks for putting in the terms that I now understand more what effects the new rule has. I was just thinking in terms of people walking reservations was the problem, but you have shed new light on it for me thank you.

Sometimes my brain takes as long to decipher thoughts as my mouth takes to say words in my southern drawl.

 

[Joan S.]

I wondered the same thing. I would suspect that those booking DBD at 11 months were generally successful in getting their reservations. There was a hassle a factor, but it resulted in getting the reservation the member wanted. Sort like camping out all night in front of Best Buy to get the newest gaming system! -- Suzanne

Now this ANALOGY, I UNDERSTAND!! (BEEN there Done that-as the Mom of 2 GAMING boys!) Joan

 

[WDWguru]

Okay, so ... what's the allure of BWV and NYE? Epcot Fireworks?

The ability to walk to two parks. If you've ever driven and tried to leave the parking lot of a a theme park or attempted to get on a bus, boat or monorail after closing on NYE you would totally understand!

If you're at BWV or BCV you can spend NYE at Studios or Epcot and just walk back to your room at the end of the night without having to fight the crowds.

 

[jarestel]

"Who was doing all of this complaining about the old system. Nobody ever asked me what I thought"?

Well I mulled this over for maybe a second and a half and thought, gee, possibly some of the members trying to book at 11 months who were unable to secure their entire reservations because the reservation weeks were shot full of holes by DBD bookers, maybe? Hmmm, That might be a source of all of the mysterious "member feedback".

Additionally, as many - proponents and opponents alike - have stated already... for the vast majority of members, this new system will work fine. Why would DVC have any reason to care which members are in the rooms? The ones with reservations will be happy, the ones without won't be so full of Disney magic.

Keep the cards & letters rolling in, but outside of maybe tweaking the system a bit, it's not very likely that DVC will tailor their reservation system to a very small subset of members whose main complaints are based on hypothetical situations.

Ravings from a more or less neutral observer...