Online booking and borrowing questions

[Anal Annie]

We got a room!! We opted to try for the 1BR ocean view instead of 2BR and it came through!! All rooms were gone on the first day of ressie again within minutes. Be ready to book by 7:59 am but nothing happened until straight up 8:00. I will waitlist for a 2BR, but we are still thrilled we are in!!
Good luck to all others at 7 month mark!

YAY!! Congratulations!!

I have never used the online booking system (other than to search for random availability). What are the quirks? ie if the view or unit size that you want is not available is a new search for a diff. type of unit pretty quick? Are there any tricks I should be aware of? I feel like I need to make a fake "dummy res" so I can practice and get a feel for the system!

 

[ebenmax]

Thanks! We are very excited! As for the online booking system… I got on about 10 minutes before 8 o'clock. I kept checking For the room ahead of time, but no luck. However, as soon as it changed to 8 o'clock I hit "continue" and the room we wanted popped up. I instantly clicked on the button that said to choose this option. (Can't remember the exact wording). Once you lock in your choice, then you can take your time filling out the rest of it because the room is already selected. We had to borrow points and fill in the names of the guests, etc. But as far as I know, the room is already locked in once you are at that point. You may want to double check on that.

Something we did do ahead of time… If you have a variety of room sizes you can choose, then call member services the night before and see which ones have the most availability for the dates of your stay. For example, we wanted a 2BR or 1BR pool view. Neither of them looked good for booking the next day. They told me that the 1BR oceanview had the most availability, so that's the one I tried to get first and it worked! Also, if you are trying to book 2 or more rooms, they must be separate reservations. So, be sure to book the one that's most important first. I even asked if I could be on one computer and my husband on a second computer to try to book 2 different rooms at the same time. They told me at Member Services that it would lock our system, and we would not be able to book.

I guess my best suggestion is to call member services and simply ask them all the questions you want answered ahead of time so that you are very prepared the day you need to book. Also, continue to get online in advance of your dates so that you can see how the availability is looking. I hope this helps because I am only a rookie at online booking. I am sure there are lots of "pros" on the boards who could help you even more.

I wish you the best! Here's to hula dancing in Hawaii!