Online Booking Availability Results

[juncker]

I think the new online reservations are great. I’ve been reading these boards for over a year now and have gotten a good idea of the harder reservations to get (Thanksgiving, Christmas, AKV concierge, THV, BWV during F&W, etc…). I had a good idea of what would or wouldn’t be available. It’s pretty interesting to play around and see actual data. After searching around for about an hour, I can see exactly what it looks like and the lessons posted here are pretty accurate. I had no problems finding things un-available within 7 months, however, I was surprised with what I could actually still schedule.

My checking was not scientific, and certainly can change prior to me even getting this posted. I'm just happy that my overall impression is that more is actually available than I had thought.

2 weeks is the most that it lets you search at one time. I took April 1 – April 15 as a test to include a typical tough time, Easter. The only resort that I found with availability for the entire stay was SSR. I could get a studio, 1BR, or 2BR (THV only available 3rd, 6th, 13th, and 14th). Next most available was OKW, but couldn’t get entire stay. Interesting enough, at OKW, all Fri/Sat nights were available (similar to THV -1). As discussed in the boards, DVC tend to book more Sun-Thurs to save on points. There is no surprise that the leading candidates for a busy time of the year were SSR and OKW. The more I play with this, the more it reaffirms what we’ve been discussing.

Changing my search to only Studios for May 1 – May 15, I could get into OKW, SSR, and AKV (Kidani) with no conflict. AKV (Jambo) had conflict for only 1 night. BCV was booked for everything except for the 1st. WLV, and BWV were spotty. You could get 2-3 days in a row for sure, but basically was 50/50 availability. As expected BLT Park view and Standard view were 90% unavailable, but you could get Lake View for all days except 4. This is going to make planning your dates soooo much easier than playing 20 questions with MS.

As an SSR resort owner, I checked THV availability around Thanksgiving (Nov 16th – 30th). Nights for the 19th to 23rd are not available, but the rest were. Searching Nov 1st – 15th, 4 nights are not available (6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th). You could easily fit a vacation in 11th to the 18th with no wait list though. Also interesting is that it offered me an SSR 2 bedroom which was thought to be only 8 people, but tells me 9th guest is allowed, but need to provide your own bedding.

I can see that the DVC – Resort Reservation Availability thread is going to need to change. Nobody needs to know what’s available from 7 months in, but with only being able to look at your home resort out to 11 months, people are going to need to have other owner’s check for them. The forum setup is still going to be good, with only reporting dates that are full, but we should be able to get 100 times more data if people start searching around and posting.

Regardless, I’m happy with the new enhancement. We love to complain about things that Disney takes away from us, and I know that we are paying for the upgrade through dues, but I think that they hit a home run this week. Yes, there are going to be issues and complicated reservations that the system can’t take. We still have MS to call for those. I expect some tweaks to be made. A number of people have already pointed out some issues (8am start? HA rooms? …). There just was no good reason for not giving us visibility to this information.

Yeah Mickey! After a few steps backwards, I think we finally went forward!

 

[Sammie]

The thing is unless you are "actually" going to book and not just "playing" around it will not be accurate.

I seriously hope that the newness wears off soon and only those truly wanting to book will be using the system.

Playing with it, is an exercise in futility to determine availability as it changes constantly. The entire purpose of the system is to make it easier to book. If the system is tied up with members checking for others, when they truly can not even book, then it is in my opinion being misused.

 

[Sandisw]

Here is the interesting thing--I have the link and played around a little bit, and it currently went unavailable, but it would not let me search multiple resorts--I had to input in a resort and room type. I tried to leave them blank and it said that I must choose.

So, how did you search multiple resorts at one time. Once I put in a resort, they gave me my choice and did include a few other options, but in order to check all the resorts, I had to back in and change the resort.

In terms of sharing info of what someone is getting, not sure that would make much sense. As already mentioned, what good does it do someone to know that when I am online searching the status of rooms? Even if I see something there, it could be gone by the time they call. And, if they can't see it on their own site, then they wouldn't be able to book anyway so knowing its available one a day that can't book wouldn't really help.

 

[lnevo]

The thing is unless you are "actually" going to book and not just "playing" around it will not be accurate.

I seriously hope that the newness wears off soon and only those truly wanting to book will be using the system.

Playing with it, is an exercise in futility to determine availability as it changes constantly. The entire purpose of the system is to make it easier to book. If the system is tied up with members checking for others, when they truly can not even book, then it is in my opinion being misused.

It only puts a hold on the room if you click through to the Booking window. Therefore, members should be able to look all they want with no penalty to others.

Personally I'm very impressed with the new system and it's great to have some input other than *hope* to plan not just for 7 months but at 11-7 month window as well.

 

[Sammie]

It only puts a hold on the room if you click through to the Booking window. Therefore, members should be able to look all they want with no penalty to others.

Personally I'm very impressed with the new system and it's great to have some input other than *hope* to plan not just for 7 months but at 11-7 month window as well.

The system can only handle so many "lookers" so yes it does hinder those that truly are wanting to get in and book.

TJ has stated and I know he knows what he is talking about that the system will only handle a certain number of users, or lookers, at any given time. Too many and you will not be able to get in and will get an error message. It's just like when the DISboards have so many users that the servers can not handle them.

So while some are just looking, a member that has a real need to book is being shut out. I know it's new and exciting but the convenience of it will be diminished if people are playing with it with no intent to even book a room.

And we all know that unless you are ready to book, there is no accuracy in looking ahead. The availability changes too quickly for that.

 

[Donna M]

I'm guessing lots of people are checking out the new system now to see what it's like, I did. The newness will die off soon.

 

[DebbieB]

Here is the interesting thing--I have the link and played around a little bit, and it currently went unavailable, but it would not let me search multiple resorts--I had to input in a resort and room type. I tried to leave them blank and it said that I must choose.

So, how did you search multiple resorts at one time. Once I put in a resort, they gave me my choice and did include a few other options, but in order to check all the resorts, I had to back in and change the resort.

In terms of sharing info of what someone is getting, not sure that would make much sense. As already mentioned, what good does it do someone to know that when I am online searching the status of rooms? Even if I see something there, it could be gone by the time they call. And, if they can't see it on their own site, then they wouldn't be able to book anyway so knowing its available one a day that can't book wouldn't really help.

It's really only worth knowing in advance if it is not available. Like someone wanted to check if an OKW GV was available for Thanksgiving. It was not available. It's over 10 months out, so it's a safe bet that it will not be available at 7 months, the waitlist is already filling and it's time to start thinking about plan B.