Online info

[jcodespoti]

Any word on when, if ever we as members will be able to manage our points on-line? It just seem that in this day and age we would be able to do this by now. I would even pay for a small increase in dues (notice I said SMALL) to cover the cost. It would just make things easier on all of us.



Joe in CT

 

[bobbiwoz]

I wholeheartedly agree. When it came time to do the phone membership survey after speaking with MS yesterday, I did give on line booking, and I hope that would mean "managing on line" my highest priority.

 

[timC]

I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed with the progress that's being made. I think we should be farther along with: Personal login accounts, access to account information, points info, on-line reservations, on-line dues payment etc.

I suppose the DVC web-site budget comes out of membership sales/dues, and not from WDW or other corporate budget. I get the impression this group is suffering from a shortage of budget to make meaningful progress.

There could be a multi-million $ investment required here, over 12 months, to build the features we want.

 

[Dean]

While I agree in priciple, the current online reservation system tells me that for many it may be too complicated to do, EVER. If your trying to make multiple reservations that are dependent on each other OR use multiple contracts, I doubt they'll every make it workable unless they give you the chance to backout without penatly (including banking/borrowing) if all doesn't work out.

 

[timC]

Yup. It wouldn't be easy.

They'll have to start with deploying log-on accounts for all members, then lead with easy stuff, like viewing points usage reports (which are very complicated to begin with), paying dues, banking point etc. New on-line reservation rules would need to be designed to simplify the procedure. Very complicate ressies might have to be left with MS, but with good imagineering anything is possible.

 

[lehrsj]

I can understand how making reservations online might be complicated to manage with borrowing, banking, etc. But there are some things that would be helpful and from a programmer's point of view, I don't see as that difficult to create. I'd like to see:

1. Online access to my account balances. Show me my current points, show me next year's points.

2. Online access to my current reservations. Show me what I have booked and when.

3. Show me availability as of yesterday at close. At the end of each day when the reservation system is closed, generate some web pages that show availability for each resort over the next 11 months. This could be some type of color-coded calendar for each resort and room type. By color-coded I mean white could be plenty of open rooms, yellow means 80% booked,
red means fully booked. This would be a static page for the day. It wouldn't be updated throughout the day. It could have a BIG DISCLAIMER that says that the data may not be current. But it would be good for planning if you just want to get an idea of what a certain time period looks like.

If members don't have to always call MS to get this information then wouldn't it save money in the long run?