No availability in January?

[scrapquitler]

Can someone please explain to me why I can't find any availability for ANY 3 or 4 night stay at any value between January 2 and January 15th?? We have gone for 3 or 4 nights around January 10th the last three years, and I can't find a room at any of the values during these two weeks. I know there are cheerleaders, and there is a marathon, but this seems ridiculous.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Can someone please explain to me why I can't find any availability for ANY 3 or 4 night stay at any value between January 2 and January 15th?? We have gone for 3 or 4 nights around January 10th the last three years, and I can't find a room at any of the values during these two weeks. I know there are cheerleaders, and there is a marathon, but this seems ridiculous.

I'd assume it's a combination of the mods that are under construction/renovation (and therefore pushing folks up and down the resort spectrum) and Disney's latest booking algorithms, which appear to not favor shorter stays. Obviously early Jan is dominated by the marathon, not sure about the rest.

Hope you can ultimately find something that works for you.

 

[scrapquitler]

I'd assume it's a combination of the mods that are under construction/renovation (and therefore pushing folks up and down the resort spectrum) and Disney's latest booking algorithms, which appear to not favor shorter stays. Obviously early Jan is dominated by the marathon, not sure about the rest.

Hope you can ultimately find something that works for you.

This new booking algorithm messed me up in September, too. I had to book a split stay to get a room at any value for 7 days (2 nights preferred, 5 nights standard), but ended up being able to move it to just one reservation at 29 days. I'm just frustrated that I can't get anything at all, and I'm guessing that I won't get to take this trip

 

[Wubar]

I'd assume it's a combination of the mods that are under construction/renovation (and therefore pushing folks up and down the resort spectrum) and Disney's latest booking algorithms, which appear to not favor shorter stays. Obviously early Jan is dominated by the marathon, not sure about the rest.

Hope you can ultimately find something that works for you.

Agree with those reasons, and just perhaps an increase in people visiting the parks? Did you always wait until a month out the past 3 years to book your trip, or did something happen this year where you had to wait until now to reserve a room? I always think the earlier you can book the better, especially if your dates are set and because Disney has a fairly liberal cancellation policy.

 

[HopperFan]

System is glitching.

When I tried via a direct search with no discounts, nothing comes up, like nothing in any category.

When I tried by going via one of the discount links then rooms came up.

Try the Gift of Magic offer, got a few resorts to come up on various dates in your window.

Great rates too!

Jan 7 - Jan 11
ASMu $103
ASSp $84
CSR $145

 

[scrapquitler]

Agree with those reasons, and just perhaps an increase in people visiting the parks? Did you always wait until a month out the past 3 years to book your trip, or did something happen this year where you had to wait until now to reserve a room? I always think the earlier you can book the better, especially if your dates are set and because Disney has a fairly liberal cancellation policy.

We usually book 60-90 days out, we can't plan more than that because of DH work situation. This time is shorter notice than normal, the opportunity for a kid free trip came up, so we wanted to take advantage before our APs expire.

I did just search that Gift of Magic Offer and found us a reservation. Well, FOUR reservations. The only way I could get us anything was by booking one night at a time. That's kind of nuts. Of course it also means that I had to pay for all four nights NOW rather than one now and three at check in, whatever. I got the first three nights Standard Room at Pop, and the fourth night, Standard Pool View because that was the only category available that night. But now I'm going to call and see if they can merge this whole mess into two reservations (3 nights and 1) so that I don't have to switch rooms every night.

 

[Wubar]

We usually book 60-90 days out, we can't plan more than that because of DH work situation. This time is shorter notice than normal, the opportunity for a kid free trip came up, so we wanted to take advantage before our APs expire.

I did just search that Gift of Magic Offer and found us a reservation. Well, FOUR reservations. The only way I could get us anything was by booking one night at a time. That's kind of nuts. Of course it also means that I had to pay for all four nights NOW rather than one now and three at check in, whatever. I got the first three nights Standard Room at Pop, and the fourth night, Standard Pool View because that was the only category available that night. But now I'm going to call and see if they can merge this whole mess into two reservations (3 nights and 1) so that I don't have to switch rooms every night.

Awesome! Glad you were able to find something, and good luck merging those 4 reservations into 2!

 

[scrapquitler]

System is glitching.

When I tried via a direct search with no discounts, nothing comes up, like nothing in any category.

When I tried by going via one of the discount links then rooms came up.

Try the Gift of Magic offer, got a few resorts to come up on various dates in your window.

Great rates too!

Jan 7 - Jan 11
ASMu $103
ASSp $84
CSR $145

Thank you for that suggestion! I don't understand why seraching for a room is so complicated now, but I'm glad I figured it out.

 

[karmomof3]

We are going for a 3 night stay and could not get anything in a value. I was able to book each night separately for the same type of room. I called Disney and they put it under one reservation.

 

[scrapquitler]

Ok, here's an update for anyone following along: I ended up with 4 separate reservations, the first three in standard rooms, the last in Standard, pool view at Pop. I just got off the phone with a CM who was able to switch the Standard pool view room to a Standard, and she merged all four nights into one reservation. So I'm happy. I just don't know why I couldn't have booked it that way in the first place since it was obviously available. It cost me 45 minutes on the phone that I could have used to clean my house. Not that I'm eager to be cleaning.

 

[asumom]

Ok, here's an update for anyone following along: I ended up with 4 separate reservations, the first three in standard rooms, the last in Standard, pool view at Pop. I just got off the phone with a CM who was able to switch the Standard pool view room to a Standard, and she merged all four nights into one reservation. So I'm happy. I just don't know why I couldn't have booked it that way in the first place since it was obviously available. It cost me 45 minutes on the phone that I could have used to clean my house. Not that I'm eager to be cleaning.

I had to do the same for late January.....2 reservations for standard rooms, one for 6 nights and one for 3; but Disney is saying they cannot merge the reservations because the first 6 nights are under a discount code and the last 3 are rack rate. Seems weird to me since even with the discount code, there are several different rates, depending on the day of the week; normally a hotel will give you one reservation and just break down the rates for you. Just stressing a little because I do not want to have to change rooms. Fingers crossed!

 

[scrapquitler]

I had to do the same for late January.....2 reservations for standard rooms, one for 6 nights and one for 3; but Disney is saying they cannot merge the reservations because the first 6 nights are under a discount code and the last 3 are rack rate. Seems weird to me since even with the discount code, there are several different rates, depending on the day of the week; normally a hotel will give you one reservation and just break down the rates for you. Just stressing a little because I do not want to have to change rooms. Fingers crossed!

It does seem a little weird to me, too. One thing I would do is call back and ask again. For whatever reason, some CM don't seem to either know how to do something that seems reasonable, or can't, maybe because they don't have the authority. However, sometimes when you call back, you get one who is willing to work a little harder, or who knows some secret and will make some magic happen. At the very least, you could ask them to put a request attached to your reservation to allow you to not have to switch rooms.

 

[sponica]

I had to do the same for late January.....2 reservations for standard rooms, one for 6 nights and one for 3; but Disney is saying they cannot merge the reservations because the first 6 nights are under a discount code and the last 3 are rack rate. Seems weird to me since even with the discount code, there are several different rates, depending on the day of the week; normally a hotel will give you one reservation and just break down the rates for you. Just stressing a little because I do not want to have to change rooms. Fingers crossed!

A zillion years ago I had a concurrent reservation (so that we didn't have to be charged holiday rates the whole time). Thankfully the bookers kept us in the same room, but we literally had to check out and check in at the front desk.

 

[Texans_loyal]

I had the same problem booking a couple of months ago, Not one value came up for MLK weekend. My TA booked the 12th to the 17th and then went in later to reduce the stay. so much work for 2 nights.

 

[fla4fun]

I had the same problem booking a couple of months ago, Not one value came up for MLK weekend. My TA booked the 12th to the 17th and then went in later to reduce the stay. so much work for 2 nights.

I would not be surprised if the computer has minimum stay parameters for holiday weekends that require a manual override to change. I have seen that happen at many hotels, not just Disney.

 

[Texans_loyal]

I would not be surprised if the computer has minimum stay parameters for holiday weekends that require a manual override to change. I have seen that happen at many hotels, not just Disney.

Disney wouldn't honor the lower price but had no problems changing the reservation date. hopefully I don't run into problems checking in.

 

[fla4fun]

Disney wouldn't honor the lower price but had no problems changing the reservation date. hopefully I don't run into problems checking in.

I imagine your TA had the CM manually override anything in the system, so you shouldn't have any issues. But I think when people are searching, the system is thinking something like "minimum 4 night stay for holiday weekends" or something like that, and so if you search for three days or two days, it comes up as unavailable - and if you search for four or more it shows the availability. Then you have to have a CM manually go in and say to the computer that it's OK to only book two nights - it just won't allow that at the start as a way to maximize their revenue.

 

[Texans_loyal]

I imagine your TA had the CM manually override anything in the system, so you shouldn't have any issues. But I think when people are searching, the system is thinking something like "minimum 4 night stay for holiday weekends" or something like that, and so if you search for three days or two days, it comes up as unavailable - and if you search for four or more it shows the availability. Then you have to have a CM manually go in and say to the computer that it's OK to only book two nights - it just won't allow that at the start as a way to maximize their revenue.

gotcha! that makes sense. that's exactly what the system was doing.

 

[Haley R]

System is glitching.

When I tried via a direct search with no discounts, nothing comes up, like nothing in any category.

When I tried by going via one of the discount links then rooms came up.

Try the Gift of Magic offer, got a few resorts to come up on various dates in your window.

Great rates too!

Jan 7 - Jan 11
ASMu $103
ASSp $84
CSR $145

Wow those are cheap! MUCH cheaper than my prices at the end of February!

 

[RustManFan]

I always call to make our resort reservations. A cast member generally knows the secrets of getting you what you want!