New policy for reservations based on check IN date

[Maistre Gracey]

FWIW, I did have a nearly hour long conversation with Member Satisfaction this morning. I raised many of the issues that I have raised in this thread and many issues others have raised. It was very evident that they took my concerns seriously--the representative I spoke to was shocked at some of the unintended consequences the new policy created (as implemented). I left the conversation with the distinct impression that at least some aspects of the policy might be rethought. One particular point I made was that once you had the first night + 7 you were absolutely guaranteed the future nights if you called DBD every day after that before the 11 month window for each subsequent day. After I explained that to the representative, she said a light bulb went off because that was not the way the system was intended to work but after hearing my explanation, she understood why what I was saying was actually correct.

It will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

Yup. I had two conversations myself, and the bulbs were also going on in their heads when I explained certain things.

If MS and the satisfaction team are just starting to realize the unintended consequences of the new system, that proves to me the plan was not not well thought out.

It's just a matter of time before the rest of the Membership realize what a true fiasco this new policy is.

MG

 

[Chuck S]

I really do like the guaranteed ability to extend, as we usually stay anywhere from 8 to 10 nights. But, I don't like the idea of walking a reservation and blocking out room nights you have no intention of using. Unfortunately, I just don't see a way for a policy to truly limit walking, while allowing me to extend my real reservation...and therein lies my concern with the new system.

 

[Doctor P]

I really do like the guaranteed ability to extend, as we usually stay anywhere from 8 to 10 nights. But, I don't like the idea of walking a reservation and blocking out room nights you have no intention of using. Unfortunately, I just don't see a way for a policy to truly limit walking, while allowing me to extend my real reservation...and therein lies my concern with the new system.

I understand, Chuck. The only consolation that I could offer is that you would not be any worse off than under the old system if they went to extending reservations only after the eleven month window for that particular night arrived. That would make walking a seven night proposition in order to gain any advantage, which would severely limit most walking behavior.

 

[Chuck S]

Or they could make it so you could not drop any nights (but could add nights) without a complete cancelation and rebooking. But, that certainly has its own set of problems, especially the way airline scheduling is today, or unforeseen medical needs.

I don't think a hybrid system, allow 11+7, but having to wait to add a night, is a good option either. Then it gives priority to people that stay exactly 7 nights, cutting way down on the "flexibility" of DVC. And it could have the same impact as "walking" for those of us that want to extend a few days.

 

[DVC Grandpa]

Except you do not need to call BDB to extend your guaranteed reservation at 11 months, you only need to call the day before the last day of your original reservation. Your unit does not re-enter the available rental pool until 11 months from your original check-out day.

For instance, I could call and book day 1 to day 7, then call 6 days later and add day 8 to 13, then call another 6 days later and add day 14 to 19, etc. That is one positive point (IMO) to the new policy, but I still think the other problematic aspects outweigh the good.

If you wait until the sixth day to call, won’t those calling on your second thru your sixth day have the opportunity to book the room you planned on extending? Isn’t any room is just a number in the system therefore if anyone calls from your second day until your sixth day they would have the best chance to be given your room? A assume they are not locking your room out of requested reservations. If the system sees one room open for that date, it will assign it to another member’s request. It seems to me if you book day eight on day two, etc. is the only way to best guarantees a successful extension of your stay.

 

[Chuck S]

If you wait until the sixth day to call, won’t those calling on your second thru your sixth day have the opportunity to book the room you planned on extending? Isn’t any room is just a number in the system therefore if anyone calls from your second day until your sixth day they would have the best chance to be given your room? A assume they are not locking your room out of requested reservations. If the system sees one room open for that date, it will assign it to another member’s request. It seems to me if you book day eight on day two, etc. is the only way to best guarantees a successful extension of your stay.

No, as the system can not release "your room" back into the system until the 11 month window opens for reservations on your check-out day.

In otherwords, say there are 3 rooms at OKW, Someone calls on day 1 and reserves Room #1 for 7 nights, then someone calls on Day 2 and reserves room number 2 room number 2 for 7 nights, and so on for day 3. On day 4, no rooms would be available at 11 months, all 3 rooms are booked. Room 1 would not be available for booking until 11 months from your check-out day.

Remember, if you call at exactly 11 months prior to your check-in day, and "Day 1" of your stay is not available, you can not book "day 2".

 

[jdg345]

No, as the system can not release "your room" back into the system until the 11 month window opens for reservations on your check-out day.

In otherwords, say there are 3 rooms at OKW, Someone calls on day 1 and reserves Room #1 for 7 nights, then someone calls on Day 2 and reserves room number 2 room number 2 for 7 nights, and so on for day 3. On day 4, no rooms would be available at 11 months, all 3 rooms are booked. Room 1 would not be available for booking until 11 months from your check-out day.

Remember, if you call at exactly 11 months prior to your check-in day, and "Day 1" of your stay is not available, you can not book "day 2".

And that is the key ...

 

[DVC Grandpa]

No, as the system can not release "your room" back into the system until the 11 month window opens for reservations on your check-out day.

In otherwords, say there are 3 rooms at OKW, Someone calls on day 1 and reserves Room #1 for 7 nights, then someone calls on Day 2 and reserves room number 2 room number 2 for 7 nights, and so on for day 3. On day 4, no rooms would be available at 11 months, all 3 rooms are booked. Room 1 would not be available for booking until 11 months from your check-out day.

Remember, if you call at exactly 11 months prior to your check-in day, and "Day 1" of your stay is not available, you can not book "day 2".

As I look at the 7+11 rule, every day is someone’s 7 + 11 booking window, therefore, your day 8 may be some members day 2 or 3, or …. If I were to book seven days at the 7 + 11 date, I don’t believe that your pending eight day is locked out from someone booking it in the days (2 thru 6) prior to you. As I said, every day is someone’s 7 + 11 booking window and that will overlap your stay. It may be your 11 month booking window but not other members, those who arrive on your second, third, etc. later than you.
Why else would someone booking at the 7 + 11 window get WL for the first day? It may be your 11 month booking window but not everyone’s.
What am I missing?

 

[Chuck S]

As I look at the 7+11 rule, every day is someone’s 7 + 11 booking window, therefore, your day 8 may be some members day 2 or 3, or …. If I were to book seven days at the 7 + 11 date, I don’t believe that your pending eight day is locked out from someone booking it in the days (2 thru 6) prior to you. As I said, every day is someone’s 7 + 11 booking window and that will overlap your stay. It may be your 11 month booking window but not other members, those who arrive on your second, third, etc. later than you.
Why else would someone booking at the 7 + 11 window get WL for the first day? It may be your 11 month booking window but not everyone’s.
What am I missing?

It has to be blocked out, as there is only a finite number of rooms available.

Again, under the system you can not reserve day 2 if day 1 is not available when you call, and you can not call to reserve day 1 until exactly 11 months from your arrival.

As jdg345 said, the exactly 11 month reservation, and having to have day 1 available, is the key.

No one can reserve your room PRIOR to exactly 11 months from your check-out date. It took a while before I caught on to this, too. But it ithe way it HAS to work, or guests would be moving from room to room.

 

[ITGirl50]

It has to be blocked out, as there is only a finite number of rooms available.

Again, under the system you can not reserve day 2 if day 1 is not available when you call, and you can not call to reserve day 1 until exactly 11 months from your arrival.

As jdg345 said, the exactly 11 month reservation, and having to have day 1 available, is the key.

No one can reserve your room PRIOR to exactly 11 months from your check-out date.

Why can't you just reserve a different room category/location on Day 1 and book what you want and is available on the the rest of the days and WL the first day for what you really want? I just re-read the WL policy and it looks like you can WL just one day. Am I mis-understanding something?

 

[Doctor P]

As I look at the 7+11 rule, every day is someone’s 7 + 11 booking window, therefore, your day 8 may be some members day 2 or 3, or …. If I were to book seven days at the 7 + 11 date, I don’t believe that your pending eight day is locked out from someone booking it in the days (2 thru 6) prior to you. As I said, every day is someone’s 7 + 11 booking window and that will overlap your stay. It may be your 11 month booking window but not other members, those who arrive on your second, third, etc. later than you.
Why else would someone booking at the 7 + 11 window get WL for the first day? It may be your 11 month booking window but not everyone’s.
What am I missing?

Actually, you are wrong (and I might add that DVC was wrong) about this. Once you get your room for days 1 thru 7, you are absolutely assured of getting the room for day 8 if you call on day 2 thru 6 of your booking window. To make this easy to understand, I will use an example with unrealistic numbers but very realistic otherwise. Assume that there are four Grand Villas at a given resort. You book one of these GV's on reservation day 1 for nights 1 thru 7. This means that, at maximum, there will be three GV's available to be booked when someone calls in to begin their reservation on day 2 (because you have already booked one of the GV's for night 2 the previous day). Because the way the system works right now is that if you cannot book the first night of your stay you are not allowed to book subsequent nights at that time (i.e., you can waitlist the entire stay, or waitlist night 2 and call back the next day to get a hard reservation beginning on night 3---you are not allowed to get a hard reservation for any subsequent night at any time when you call that your night of check in is not available when you call). This means that, at maximum, three GV's could be booked for night 8 when members call on day 2 to make reservations. What about the 4th GV? The only person who can book it would be the member who got the reservation for nights 1-7 on day 1. This is an incredible flaw in the system (and a real benefit once you get that original reservation!!!)

 

[SuzanneSLO]

. . .If I were to book seven days at the 7 + 11 date, I don’t believe that your pending eight day is locked out from someone booking it in the days (2 thru 6) prior to you. As I said, every day is someone’s 7 + 11 booking window and that will overlap your stay. It may be your 11 month booking window but not other members, those who arrive on your second, third, etc. later than you.
Why else would someone booking at the 7 + 11 window get WL for the first day? It may be your 11 month booking window but not everyone’s.
What am I missing?

You have to imagine that there is only room. After you book it for Day 1 -7, another member calling on Day 2 cannot book that room. As long as you have your reservation, the only way for the second member to book on Day 2 is if there is another room that becomes available that day.

If we now imigine that there are 2 rooms, now there is a possibility that the second member might be able to book on Day even after you booked on Day 1. That is why we can say that you have "locked up" the first room for however long you need once you book Day 1. Other members may get rooms when they call after you but they will not get the room you have already booked until you release it. -- Suzanne

 

[Doctor P]

Why can't you just reserve a different room category/location on Day 1 and book what you want and is available on the the rest of the days and WL the first day for what you really want? I just re-read the WL policy and it looks like you can WL just one day. Am I mis-understanding something?

Yes. You can waitlist the first day only, but then you are blocked from making any reservations for subsequent nights until 11 months before check-in for the subsequent night (i.e., if you find that night 1 is not available, but nights 4, 5, 6, and 7 are available, you can only a) waitlist for night 1 only and call back the next day to waitlist night 2, call back on day 3 to waitlist night 3, and then call back on day 4 to (hopefully) secure hard reservations for nights 4, 5, 6, and 7 (and 8, 9, 10 if you so desire) OR b) waitlist for the entire period 1-7 with that waitlist kicking in on day 8 (and not before). Those are the only options if the first night is not available.

 

[Chuck S]

Why can't you just reserve a different room category/location on Day 1 and book what you want and is available on the the rest of the days and WL the first day for what you really want? I just re-read the WL policy and it looks like you can WL just one day. Am I mis-understanding something?

Because under the policy, the entire 11+7 reservation must be for the same room category. When you change room type, it is a different reservation.

 

[ITGirl50]

Because under the policy, the entire 11+7 reservation must be for the same room category. When you change room type, it is a different reservation.

Well, if that's the case, this is a totally dumb policy.

 

[Chuck S]

Well, if that's the case, this is a totally dumb policy.

Whenever you change room types or booking categories, it is a separate reservation. It has always been that way. The new policy did not change that.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Well, if that's the case, this is a totally dumb policy.

Chuck's right.
While I can think of many reasons to dislike this new policy, this is not one of them.

MG

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Whoops...

 

[ITGirl50]

Whenever you change room types or booking categories, it is a separate reservation. It has always been that way. The new policy did not change that.

I'm not trying to disrespect your experience, but I just called MS to clarify. I'm new to all of this and don't want to mess up. She said if the first day is not available, then you can book a different room type, WL that day for what you want and then book the rest of your days. If any of the 2-6 days are not available, you have to WL the entire reservation. She went and asked someone to make sure she was right, so hopefully she was right.

Also, you can book different room types at day 1's booking window. So on day 1 if you want a studio and day 2-6 you want 1 BR, it can all be booked based on day 1's booking window.

 

[Chuck S]

I'm not trying to disrespect your experience, but I just called MS to clarify. I'm new to all of this and don't want to mess up. She said if the first day is not available, then you can book a different room type, WL that day for what you want and then book the rest of your days. If any of the 2-6 days are not available, you have to WL the entire reservation. She went and asked someone to make sure she was right, so hopefully she was right.

Also, you can book different room types at day 1's booking window. So on day 1 if you want a studio and day 2-6 you want 1 BR, it can all be booked based on day 1's booking window.

Everyone else has been told if day 1 is not available, you can not book days 2 and above. In fact, some folks have lost reservations because of it.