New policy for reservations based on check IN date

[Maistre Gracey]

I sent an email to DVC satisfaction team a couple hours ago, and I already got a phone call from a team member.
She said there is a team closely monitoring this policy.

She liked the specific examples I used in my email, illustrating how a member could get locked out before they even had a chance to book.
She took a serious interest in my opinion...

In addition, I talked with my guide about 30 minutes prior. She said this policy is not set in stone.

Send in those emails... DVC DOES LISTEN!!!

MG

 

[jeankeri]

I have sent in my e-mails. I am very much against this policy. Maybe it's because our next trip is planned to be a BWV NYE trip , could that be why I'm now dreading the planning even more? I can see myself calling for our December 27th check in and having no rooms left at the inn through NYE.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I have sent in my e-mails. I am very much against this policy. Maybe it's because our next trip is planned to be a BWV NYE trip , could that be why I'm now dreading the planning even more? I can see myself calling for our December 27th check in and having no rooms left at the inn through NYE.

This is identical to one of the examples I gave in my email, and the team member asked me about.

MG

 

[jade1]

"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...

As one of the frequent visitors of this board (and especially this thread), I will get what I want-there are just too many wise strategists on here, that will come up with a plan to basically guarantee what you want (once the dust settles). Its just too bad the rest of the DVC world wont know what hit them, and will be the ones not "so full of Disney magic".

 

[Dean]

The people hurt are folks who (1) understand and are good at booking day by day, and who (2) want to take short trips for high demand rooms.

BTW - I don't think you can have it both ways. I don't think any change in the system can make it easier for lots of people to book with one phone call (who wouldn't have been able to under the old system) while at the same time not really hurting anyone. Anytime day-by-day was necessary, there was an excess of demand for rooms. The new system is going to shift who gets rooms in those situations.

I think it is possible to have it both ways but ultimately there will always be winners and losers and as you say, it may be a SLIGHTLY different group under each system. I think those who know how to use the rules to their advantage will still be successful and those that were not doing it well before, will cont to lose out. But I am convinced the new system will result in less phone calls in the long run and that all members will gain from lower dues unless they also happen to be a CM who is let go or reassigned.

I can't argue that it's more "fair" to reward people who know how to work the phones, rather than rewarding people who take long trips. But I don't have to like it.

Maybe I see things differently because I'm one of the exceptions.

That's fair. Not liking it (selfishness) is fine up to a point. Unfortunately most members I see posting have trouble separating out the system itself and their personal desires/needs/wants.

 

[Laurabearz]

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.

But that's not how it would be for NYE at all It's NOT just ralph and Deb... Ralph might get one or two of this nights and Deb Might get one of two of her nights, and Tom and Betty and George might each get a night in a studo. pegggy sue a night in a two bedroom, Bob a One Bedroom.... and everyone would have to waitlist to fill their swiss cheese reservtions. In a sense playing chicken... who can hold onto the waitlist longer...

NOW... you know you have a complete AKV Concierge reservation OR you can book a Non Conceirgo room and waitlist for Concierge.

Same goes for BWV Standard rooms, although there are way more than those than AKV Concierge.

People will walk reservations and I fear any steps that DVC would take to curb that, would be worse than the crime (IE Not being able to cancel a day or two off the begining of your reservation without canceling and rebooking, would be disasterous)

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.

 

[Dean]

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

Actually it is true that everyone has the same opportunity to book the same time as least subject to calling at opening day 1 of the time in question. There may be less opportunity to book a different time due to your personal choices combined with others bookings and IMO, that is OK.

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.

Even when you look at the worst case scenario I think you'll find the number of people who call DBD with the new system will be a lot less than under the old system. Ultimately we'll have to see once everything settles down and people get comfortable with the changes.

 

[CarolMN]

...
That's fair. Not liking it (selfishness) is fine up to a point. Unfortunately most members I see posting have trouble separating out the system itself and their personal desires/needs/wants.

Count me with those who agree to disagree with you.

I believe in equal opportunity. I don't believe in picking the winners ahead of time.

Old system = equal opportunity. Like a horse race. The horse's starting position (chosen by lottery, I believe) is similar to the "who gets through the phone system and a competent CM first" problem. Sometimes you get through first and sometimes you get through last.

New System = predetermined winner, selected by DVC. Like a fixed horse race. Some of the horses can never win, because they "weren't chosen by the powers that fixed the race".

I do agree that only high demand room types at high demand resorts during very specific times of the year were/are/will be a problem.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Actually it is true that everyone has the same opportunity to book the same time as least subject to calling at opening day 1 of the time in question. There may be less opportunity to book a different time due to your personal choices combined with others bookings and IMO, that is OK.

All you're saying is that all members are free to call MS at opening.
That's true, but there may not be any rooms left to book.

It's not always personal choices.
A personal choice may be... Hmmm.. Do we want to visit the first, or second week of June?

Major holidays only come once a year, and if you plan a family gathering for Christmas, there is no choice when you visit.

MG

 

[Cinderelli]

jdg345 - I hate to answer your question because you may now be one of those trying to get the elusive BWV NYE reservation. As WDWguru already stated, try to get out of a park after midnight on NYE. Waiting on a bus or trying to get out of the parking lot can literally take hours. Staying at the BW you have your choice of 2 parks that you can walk into and walk out of.

They have wonderful entertainment on the Boardwalk and a DJ on the green. My family enjoyed an evening at MGM, dinner at the Brown Derby. We were back at the Boardwalk dancing to the DJ and watching not one, not two, but 3 parks worth of fireworks at midnight. We could see MK, EPCOT & MGM fireworks.

Those are memories I will never forget. The trip of a lifetime. I hope not the last.

Dern...........I've got to get off this board and get that letter off to DVC.

 

[dvcnewgirl]

Count me with those who agree to disagree with you.

I believe in equal opportunity. I don't believe in picking the winners ahead of time.

Old system = equal opportunity. Like a horse race. The horse's starting position (chosen by lottery, I believe) is similar to the "who gets through the phone system and a competent CM first" problem. Sometimes you get through first and sometimes you get through last.

New System = predetermined winner, selected by DVC. Like a fixed horse race. Some of the horses can never win, because they "weren't chosen by the powers that fixed the race".

I do agree that only high demand room types at high demand resorts during very specific times of the year were/are/will be a problem.

Great analogy. That is exactly how I feel.

 

[Dean]

All you're saying is that all members are free to call MS at opening.
That's true, but there may not be any rooms left to book.

It's not always personal choices.
A personal choice may be... Hmmm.. Do we want to visit the first, or second week of June?

Major holidays only come once a year, and if you plan a family gathering for Christmas, there is no choice when you visit.

MG

No I'm saying that if you need to call on the 1st to get your room instead of the 3rd and would not have gotten the room had you called on the 3rd, that is equal opportunity to book the same time. It may or may not be an equal opportunity to book the days you want.

Count me with those who agree to disagree with you.

I believe in equal opportunity. I don't believe in picking the winners ahead of time.

Old system = equal opportunity. Like a horse race. The horse's starting position (chosen by lottery, I believe) is similar to the "who gets through the phone system and a competent CM first" problem. Sometimes you get through first and sometimes you get through last.

New System = predetermined winner, selected by DVC. Like a fixed horse race. Some of the horses can never win, because they "weren't chosen by the powers that fixed the race".

I do agree that only high demand room types at high demand resorts during very specific times of the year were/are/will be a problem.

Carol there were always winners and losers, people seem to be kidding themselves that there weren't, the only question is who the loser will be. IMO, people need to see where it ends up and adapt to the new system and if they can't, some may want to move on.

 

[CarolMN]

Carol there were always winners and losers, people seem to be kidding themselves that there weren't, the only question is who the loser will be. IMO, people need to see where it ends up and adapt to the new system and if they can't, some may want to move on.

I get that there were always winners and losers. I don't like someone else picking them - especially since they will not let me be one of those in the group from whom the winners are chosen.

I agree that however it ends up, we each must decide to adapt or move on.

Since I do not think this new method will save very many calls to DVC, I am still hoping DVC will reverse its decision. But IMHO, the odds of that are not good. I think we will get more "rule tweaking" instead.

 

[mrdiscranky]

I believe in equal opportunity. I don't believe in picking the winners ahead of time.

The only system didn't really provide equal opportunity. It gave folks who have flexible timing during the day, and access to information and secrets (i.e. DIS posters) and huge advantage over, say, a schoolteacher who can't be on the phone from 9:00 - 9:15 AM for 7 straight days.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The only system didn't really provide equal opportunity. It gave folks who have flexible timing during the day, and access to information and secrets (i.e. DIS posters) and huge advantage over, say, a schoolteacher who can't be on the phone from 9:00 - 9:15 AM for 7 straight days.

But now that schoolteacher has an even greater disadvantage because people began booking 6 days ahead of her.

 

[CarolMN]

The only system didn't really provide equal opportunity. It gave folks who have flexible timing during the day, and access to information and secrets (i.e. DIS posters) and huge advantage over, say, a schoolteacher who can't be on the phone from 9:00 - 9:15 AM for 7 straight days.

That's a personal situation.

The teacher still has the "opportunity" to call. She is not prevented by DVC from calling.

The new system totally prevents some members from calling at the same time as other members.

 

[jdg345]

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.

Thanks!

 

[jdg345]

jdg345 - I hate to answer your question because you may now be one of those trying to get the elusive BWV NYE reservation. As WDWguru already stated, try to get out of a park after midnight on NYE. Waiting on a bus or trying to get out of the parking lot can literally take hours. Staying at the BW you have your choice of 2 parks that you can walk into and walk out of.

They have wonderful entertainment on the Boardwalk and a DJ on the green. My family enjoyed an evening at MGM, dinner at the Brown Derby. We were back at the Boardwalk dancing to the DJ and watching not one, not two, but 3 parks worth of fireworks at midnight. We could see MK, EPCOT & MGM fireworks.

Those are memories I will never forget. The trip of a lifetime. I hope not the last.

Dern...........I've got to get off this board and get that letter off to DVC.

We've never gone for NYE, but have thought about it! Thanks for the info, it sounds like it would be a lot of fun! I guess I should start booking it now to make sure I can get in for December 2009.

 

[jdg345]

I get that there were always winners and losers. I don't like someone else picking them - especially since they will not let me be one of those in the group from whom the winners are chosen.

I agree that however it ends up, we each must decide to adapt or move on.

Since I do not think this new method will save very many calls to DVC, I am still hoping DVC will reverse its decision. But IMHO, the odds of that are not good. I think we will get more "rule tweaking" instead.

I wonder how many DBD bookers were unsuccessful overall and how many were successful only have a waitlist.

 

[jdg345]

The only system didn't really provide equal opportunity. It gave folks who have flexible timing during the day, and access to information and secrets (i.e. DIS posters) and huge advantage over, say, a schoolteacher who can't be on the phone from 9:00 - 9:15 AM for 7 straight days.

That schoolteacher could have always added an associate who could book between 9:00am and 9:15am on her behalf.

Now, that same schoolteacher might still be out of luck. If she can't call in at 9am anyways, by the time she gets around to her 2pm phone call, she has now effectively allowed people to book her dates 7 days and 5 hours before her. The other way, it was only 5 hours.