New wait-list process designed to improve Member experience

[dis-happy]

FWIW,

I have a current ressie for this coming May. Today I waitlisted the same dates, at the same resort, for all 3 room types in that size. No problem.

I also was able to waitlist a second ressie for March on the same call.

Just to clarify, I already have a ressie for March and w/l at a different resort (with only one room category).

 

[BWV Dreamin]

FWIW,

I have a current ressie for this coming May. Today I waitlisted the same dates, at the same resort, for all 3 room types in that size. No problem.

I also was able to waitlist a second ressie for March on the same call.

Just to clarify, I already have a ressie for March and w/l at a different resort (with only one room category).

But the waitlist changes go into effect Feb. 1....right? That may be why you were able to do what you did.

 

[dis-happy]

Ah, I guess that's why I didn't have a problem today, but thought others already had. See? Too many DVC changes at once, can't keep them all straight!

 

[FinallyBoughtDVC]

I am every confused...

We have 3 separate contracts of 170 points each. We take multiple trips each year, frequently getting extra rooms for friends and family to join us.

So, do I get only get 2 chances to waitlist for the entire year of 510 points?

We usually have 2-3 trips cooking at any particular time. We often have a night missing here or there that needs to be waitlisted. We've always had our waitlist come through - but I can't imagine trying to plan multiple trips and not be able to waitlist them as needed. And, I can't imagine not booking anything in order to be able to waitlist something. For example, earlier this month, we had a 2bd at BCV and needed a studio for friends. We booked our 2bd and the studio was only available the first 5 nights. We booked the last night at BWV and waitlisted it for BCV. When I made this reservation, I had another trip of multiple rooms where we had different things waitlisted.

So, what I'm getting is that we would have had to make a choice to not book the last night and take a chance a room would be available, or book it at a different resort and not have the chance to change it so our friends wouldn't have to only switch rooms for one night, but an entire resort.

This whole waitlist thing confused me before - now my brain just can't absorb what the new rule is.

I can see this rule working for someone with a minimum of points - but for those like us who bought lots of points to take multiple trips - not so much.

 

[PamOKW]

I wish DVC would stop "improving" things. The main thing I see with the improvements is that it simplifies things...probably a move toward automation or their systems.

 

[PamOKW]

FinallyBought -- I think it does read 2 waitlists only. And, I'm thinking this means you can't waitlist at more than 2 resorts or for more than 2 types of rooms. In the past, I might have said studio-1bed-2bed at BWV, BCV or OKW (example). Now I'd have to pick only two of what would have been 9 options.

I also see your concern about having missing days. If you need two days that are seperated (or two days for two villas) in one trip, that limits you to one type of room and eats up your ability to waitlist anyplyace else.

 

[Starr W.]

All I can say is Wow! All these changes, I just can't seem to catch up. It's time consuming just to read all this stuff that Disney has released or not released. I don't get the WL, It must have confused the computer programers.

Miss a day at DIS, you're a week behind in all the new "customer driven improvements."

 

[CheapMom]

I talked to MS today and they confirmed that each view/room size/resort is considered a separate waitlist. I told them that I would be calling daily to check availability that I will no longer be able to waitlist for and that other will be doing the same- the phone lines will be busier, productivity will be down- and it is ridiculous to waste the time of the members as well as the MS agents on all of these unecessary phone calls considering the process has been automated for the past year! Now we are back to the archaic M.O. of calling daily to find a room.

 

[Rose&Mike]

When I read about the change to the waitlist, my initial thought was that this change is going to be much worse than the 2010 points change. We thought about calling member services to get a clarification as to what the new rules really mean, but figured if we spoke to 5 different reps we would get 5 different answers.

My biggest complaint in all of this would be they need to provide a clearer explanation for what the policy is going to be. They are just pooring fuel on they fire by not being more specific about policy changes.

We successfully used the waitlist last year, but I am much more skeptical about even trying to waitlist now.

 

[dis-happy]

ROTFLOL. I am becoming waitlist happy before the deadline. Just made another w/l for October. That's now a total of 5 w/l at 3 different resorts for 3 different trips, with the maximum number of room types that would acceptable.

 

[dcfromva]

I am every confused...

We have 3 separate contracts of 170 points each. We take multiple trips each year, frequently getting extra rooms for friends and family to join us.

So, do I get only get 2 chances to waitlist for the entire year of 510 points?


I can see this rule working for someone with a minimum of points - but for those like us who bought lots of points to take multiple trips - not so much.

"Effective Feb. 1, 2009, Members may have a maximum of two active wait-list requests per Membership, per use year"

It is confusing to me the way it is written, but it does say per membership, per use year. If you have 3 separate contracts, maybe it is 2 WL per contract?

 

[dis-happy]

"Effective Feb. 1, 2009, Members may have a maximum of two active wait-list requests per Membership, per use year"

It is confusing to me the way it is written, but it does say per membership, per use year. If you have 3 separate contracts, maybe it is 2 WL per contract?

My guess is, only if they are different use years. That's how the rules for transfers work.

 

[KLR-wlv]

How difficult in this age of computers to have a running waitlist for any opening? AGAIN - Was this REALLY such a problem? Seems like it would all be pretty automated and not a big issue. These changes really seem like DVC wants to be a "stay a week at your home resort" kind of system. Discouraging the flexibility of the system. I've always had great luck with the waitlist - as it sounds like many people do. If it ain't broke - why "improve"?

 

[CarolMN]

The worst for me was being told that because I already HAD a reservation ( AK Jambo value studio) I couldn't have a waitlist for a concierge studio for the same dates. I was glad to have something but I would have preferred to have concierge vs. value and I was willing to take one or two days if they became available vs. the entire week. It's no longer possible to waitlist a different room type if you have something already booked and now we can't waitlist day by day. The only way for me to waitlist a concierge studio was to cancel my value studio reservation. Does that make sense?---Kathy

I guess that's what they mean by freeing up inventory. You can only waitlist if you don't have a reservation.

Wow, that really changes the strategy of booking your resort at 11 mos, then at 7 mos. waitlisting for another resort! So if I read this right, that will eliminate having ANY ressie once you go on a waitlist?

It just means you have to be a little smarter with how you make your reservations. (Once again, a stupid rule that wasn't thought out properly. Who knows what they are really trying to accomplish?)

Make the value studio reservation in your name and then waitlist the concierge room using another name (spouse, traveling companion, next door neighbor, imaginary friend, etc). How do they know you don't need two rooms for your trip? You can adjust the number of people and add the correct name(s) if the waitlist comes through.

P.S. for dclfun - I think you got a CM who didn't have the proper information or interpretation of the rule. It doesn't make sense that you can only waitlist if you don't have a reservation. Besides, the new rule isn't even supposed to be in effect yet and the waitlist rules never worked like that in the past. Call back and see if someone else will let you waitlist for the concierge without canceling your existing reservation. Good luck and let us know what they say.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I am every confused...

We have 3 separate contracts of 170 points each. We take multiple trips each year, frequently getting extra rooms for friends and family to join us.

So, do I get only get 2 chances to waitlist for the entire year of 510 points?

We usually have 2-3 trips cooking at any particular time. We often have a night missing here or there that needs to be waitlisted. We've always had our waitlist come through - but I can't imagine trying to plan multiple trips and not be able to waitlist them as needed. And, I can't imagine not booking anything in order to be able to waitlist something. For example, earlier this month, we had a 2bd at BCV and needed a studio for friends. We booked our 2bd and the studio was only available the first 5 nights. We booked the last night at BWV and waitlisted it for BCV. When I made this reservation, I had another trip of multiple rooms where we had different things waitlisted.

So, what I'm getting is that we would have had to make a choice to not book the last night and take a chance a room would be available, or book it at a different resort and not have the chance to change it so our friends wouldn't have to only switch rooms for one night, but an entire resort.

This whole waitlist thing confused me before - now my brain just can't absorb what the new rule is.

I can see this rule working for someone with a minimum of points - but for those like us who bought lots of points to take multiple trips - not so much.

This seems like the booking scenario that is really going to be in a pinch now and I bet this wasn't thought of at all in implementing this new enhancement.

And, when I read about this enhancement to increase our satisfaction even more than 91% (isn't that already a pretty good number - maybe they should have stuck with it b/c I think it may be dropping quickly!) my first thought is it will be more phone calls to MS essentially trying to fulfill your own waitlist. Perhaps that's why they had to change the booking policy in order to free up MS time for the new waitlist policy.

 

[mathgeek]

Miss a day at DIS, you're a week behind in all the new "customer driven improvements."

And I haven't checked the DVC boards in over a week. Glad I checked in today to get caught up!

 

[dvc_john]

The truth is that the only thing you are really guaranteed with DVC is that you can use your points for your home resort. That's all we can really count on under the current regime at DVC, and that makes DVC a very unpredictable, unreliable choice for a vacation timeshare...IMHO.

I don't think you can even count on that!

For example, if they:

Eliminated banking
Eliminated Borrowing
Eliminated point transfers
Instituted a 7-day minimum stay
(All of the above are legal under the documents everyone signed)

Guess what

That 100 point BLT add-on would be unusable at BLT, since a 7-day standard view studio in adventure season is 103 points!

 

[dclfun]

It just means you have to be a little smarter with how you make your reservations. (Once again, a stupid rule that wasn't thought out properly. Who knows what they are really trying to accomplish?)

Make the value studio reservation in your name and then waitlist the concierge room using another name (spouse, traveling companion, next door neighbor, imaginary friend, etc). How do they know you don't need two rooms for your trip? You can adjust the number of people and add the correct name(s) if the waitlist comes through.

P.S. for dclfun - I think you got a CM who didn't have the proper information or interpretation of the rule. It doesn't make sense that you can only waitlist if you don't have a reservation. Besides, the new rule isn't even supposed to be in effect yet and the waitlist rules never worked like that in the past. Call back and see if someone else will let you waitlist for the concierge without canceling your existing reservation. Good luck and let us know what they say.

Carol- I think I will call back and will post as to what I find out. I was so taken aback and had the agent repeat the information to me three times as I had no idea there was a new rule. She didn't say anything about after Feb 1 either. I was also told we can no longer waitlist day by day but that I could do that by making that request under a different name. I'm not into creative strategies that to me feel like cheating but it probably will be the only way I can get what I want, just like walking a ressie. I also plan to call as often as possible to check on any future waitlist and will take any day w/in my week that becomes available- something I was told that members no longer like since "they often cancel when the whole week doesn't open". It would be great to buy where you want to stay but when we originally bought the only resort available was OKW. I love OKW but like to try the other DVC resorts too. Often waitlisting at 7 months was the only way to get one. As we also bought enough points to take multiple trips- some short, some longer ( have 7 trips booked for 09) it's nice to try a different resort for at least a few of the trips. We did buy more points at AKLV's for which I'm grateful for the 11 month window, but I'm not financially fortunate enough to have been able to buy a contract at all the other DVC resorts. I'm sure others will be in the same waitlist boat. For me I'm not that picky- just want to be able to have choice and flexibility that I've had in the past.---Kathy

 

[lisareniff]

Anyone else have any new or confirming info???

 

[SuzanneSLO]

The announcement seemed clear that the chagnes to the WL woudl not go into effect until Feb 1 and that you could WL to your heart's content (subject to existing rules) until then.

At the end of the day, I think the further changes with WL cause many owners as much heartburn at the change in the points chart. I think this new change was implemented to save time at MS. I was amazed at how long it took to complete a WL request when I needed one for a SV studio in early Dec when I called at 11 months minus 1 day.

I think the real effect will be to further encourage members to book as early as possible and to make booking at resorts other than home resort more and more difficult. If changes are later made in the Seasons, it may be harder to find those slow months when 7 month booking are available. -- Suzanne