Online Cancelation then rebooking question

[Dean]

Does anyone have any experience canceling online for a time that was sold out otherwise then looked to see if what you canceled showed up online. I have some points I need to use up that I'd like to substitute into an existing reservation but given I can't simply reallocate the points, I'll have to cancel and rebook. I'd appreciate anyone's actual experience related to this situation.

 

[disneynutz]

You might run the risk of the wait list software grabbing your inventory.

I would probably call MS and request that a "team line" CM process your transaction. They have the ability to hold inventory while switching the reservation.

Bill

 

[bookwormde]

I have checked to see how a sold out room I cancelled looked and how long it stayed on site after I cancelled it. I have had one that by the time I looked was gone, the vast majority were there long enough if I wanted to "regrab" them but many disapeared withing an hour. Some stayed available much longer, I even had a AKV CL sit there for 2 days.

If you want to be safe then see if an experianced CM can hold the reservation, they appear to have a better system to allow them to do that now while they cancel the old one.

Oh by the way I have tried having 2 screens open to expidite the process, but as soon as you make a change in your membership it invalidates any other schreen you have open.

Yes I know only a geek/disney nut would find studying such things fun

bookwormde

 

[Dean]

You might run the risk of the wait list software grabbing your inventory.

I would probably call MS and request that a "team line" CM process your transaction. They have the ability to hold inventory while switching the reservation.

Bill

Thanks, I assumed they wouldn't do that substituting holding account points for none restricted points. I ended up with a weekends worth of holding account points due to the combination of 2 reasons. These were that Feb is a short month and my wife's injury.

 

[maburke]

Yeah, I wish the answer were different, but I think it's pretty risky. You might try it at an off-peak time, so there's little risk of another person grabbing your room, but it does seem like the waitlist-bot is not predictable. Maybe just watch closely and see if a similar room pops up and grab it with your holding points.

Hope your wife is doing better.

 

[Dean]

I have checked to see how a sold out room I cancelled looked and how long it stayed on site after I cancelled it. I have had one that by the time I looked was gone, the vast majority were there long enough if I wanted to "regrab" them but many disapeared withing an hour. Some stayed available much longer, I even had a AKV CL sit there for 2 days.

If you want to be safe then see if an experianced CM can hold the reservation, they appear to have a better system to allow them to do that now while they cancel the old one.

Oh by the way I have tried having 2 screens open to expidite the process, but as soon as you make a change in your membership it invalidates any other schreen you have open.

Yes I know only a geek/disney nut would find studying such things fun

bookwormde

Good to know and exactly the type of experience I was hoping for. I too have tried to have the 2 screen's open while checking varied options but with the same experience as you.

 

[maburke]

Oh by the way I have tried having 2 screens open to expidite the process, but as soon as you make a change in your membership it invalidates any other schreen you have open.

And this is true even if you are using two different browsers.

 

[Dean]

Yeah, I wish the answer were different, but I think it's pretty risky. You might try it at an off-peak time, so there's little risk of another person grabbing your room, but it does seem like the waitlist-bot is not predictable. Maybe just watch closely and see if a similar room pops up and grab it with your holding points.

Hope your wife is doing better.

Thanks, I'm a couple of weeks out from the 60 day window opening so I wanted to get my ducks in a row prior to that time so I'd know best how I wanted to approach it.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Yes, you CANNOT use two browsers. As soon as you log in on the second the first one doesn't work. I experimented with this prior to an 11 month booking just to see.

Now I will tell you we booked two nights less than than 2 months out for Easter weekend (thur/Fri). Availability was scarce. While looking we had the Friday but no Thursday. I basically stalked the site looking for a Thursday night. When one came available I grabbed it. Now when you are going through the online process of booking but haven't finished booking it, the room is removed from the availability as you are now holding it while you are booking. Long story short I made a mistake and backed out of it. I panicked because as I searched again the room was gone. I backed again and the room was back.....

Long story short when you cancel a booking online and the assuming the wait list doesn't snag it instantly, there is a slight lag time of 20-30 seconds before it is released to the open inventory.

It's a risky move....I would try Bills suggestion of MS first to see if they can help you out before trying online.

 

[Sandisw]

I didn't do it online but I wanted to reallocate points--not holding--and had to cancel a SV studio at BLT to do it. I was prepared to have to rebook in a LV since that was all I was seeing online. But, the MS CM made the change so fast that when she went to do the rebooking, my canceled SV studio was still there so we grabbed it again. It was only 3 nights but I thought for sure a wait list would grab it.

So, there is always a chance it can be done.

 

[a742246]

Here is my experience.

About two months ago I had a friend cancel a vacation from points I gave them. Consequently, I had 40+ points in holding.
I had my own scheduled vacation coming up in March that I wanted to somehow use those holding points. What I did was look to see if there were any other days open at any of the the resorts and there were. So I booked the three days using the holding points and I called MS to cancel the first three days of my vacation (I didn't care if I had a split stay). Well about one hour later I decided to check to see if those days were still available (BC) and they were. So I cancelled my new ressie (made with the holding pointsi) and rebooked the old cancelled dates backed with the holding points.

I got what I wanted in a long roundabout way!

So the moral of the story, there is a lull between when a wait list will grab a cancelled reservation, in this case it was about an hour. (these were weekend BC days so I am sure their was a waitlist for them).

I guess I could have had MS handled this all in one step but I like to do things myself and a split stay at BWV from BC wouldn't have been too bad.

Good luck!

Timeline: Between 11:00 am and noon was when I cancelled and rebooked.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I cancelled a 2 night stay at VGC for this past Dec right at 31 days out when we decided to take advantage of low airfare and points being given back on stays at Aulani.

I wasn't looking to rebook but decided to check to see what happened to those nights that had been sold out for quite some time. After cancelling I went back to see what was available - one of the nights was gone and one available. I did this late at night pacific time so while it's possible someone else was looking right then the timing would have been very coincidental for it to not have been a waitlist filling.

I've also seen the slight delay between when you search for a room and begin booking but then back out. In Oct we decided to go down one day early so I was searching for a room for 2-3 days prior. 1 day in advance of our arrival an OKW 1BR opened up. I began reserving but then thought I'd see if anything else had become available. On that search the OKW 1BR was gone. After a short period of time it apparently was released from my original hold and available again at which time I booked it.