Question about grabbing a room even though on a waitlist

[Donna M]

I'm not sure about this. I have a waitlist for a 1bd. If I see one available do I just book it and then cancel my original room and waitlist? My situation can't be that simple!
I need to borrow points because BLT will be more than the SSR one. I already borrowed points for the original booking and don't want to put any in holding.

Seems like I'll have 2 units at one point but won't be able to use the initial points unless I release the room and I can't do that because everything/place is booked and I don't want to take the chance of losing it.

 

[Sandisw]

If you don't have the points to book first and then cancel, then the best you can do if you see it online, is to call MS right away and ask them to book it for you....typically, they can do the cancel/re-book with less risk--at least that i smy experience.

But, technically, yes, that is the way it can work. I think with online availabilty the way it is, wait lists are going to be harder to fill for most. I have seen rooms pop up in the past few weeks for some of my upcoming trips that were not availabe just hours before.

 

[jekjones1558]

It has been reported here on multiple occasions that MS seems to be able to hold a room for the minute or two that it takes to cancel one room and free up the points for the desired room. I haven't done this but just stating what has been posted. So, if you cancel and then book your new room yourself online, you would have the chance that someone could snap up the new room in those few minutes during the changeover. But if you see the room you want and MS is not open then you face a greater risk that the new room will be gone by the time MS opens. It is your call, but I think that I would cancel and rebook on the spot and take the chance if MS is not open.

 

[Breyean]

It has been reported here on multiple occasions that MS seems to be able to hold a room for the minute or two that it takes to cancel one room and free up the points for the desired room. I haven't done this but just stating what has been posted. So, if you cancel and then book your new room yourself online, you would have the chance that someone could snap up the new room in those few minutes during the changeover. But if you see the room you want and MS is not open then you face a greater risk that the new room will be gone by the time MS opens. It is your call, but I think that I would cancel and rebook on the spot and take the chance if MS is not open.

True. I had a 2 night stay at VGC which I booked on line about 3 months out. It just popped up on day as available and I grabbed it.

About a week later the following night also became available in the same size room, so I added that one.

But because only MS can merge the two reservations I called them to do so. The CM couldn't do it herself and had to call over a supervisor to make sure I didn't lose any nights, since technically I was making a new reservation for the three nights and there were no more rooms available. If there's a room available, then they can cancel and rebook since you're technically getting a "different" room. But with no availability, they had to somehow hold my last remaining room while they did their magic.

 

[jekjones1558]

Okay. I just tried something. I made a reservation for one day. I logged out and then began a reservation for another one day reservation up to the point where it asked me to choose which points to use. On a different computer I canceled the first room. I then refreshed the page on the computer that I was making the new reservation and the points from the canceled room were there. Ironically someone came to my door in the middle of doing this and when I got back to it there was a warning that the 2nd room I was trying to book would only be held for 20 minutes. So it seems that we can do the same thing as MS as far as holding the room for a few minutes. I think the same strategy would work using one computer and 2 different browsers or one computer and 2 different open windows in the same browser.

 

[zavandor]

Okay. I just tried something. I made a reservation for one day. I logged out and then began a reservation for another one day reservation up to the point where it asked me to choose which points to use. On a different computer I canceled the first room. I then refreshed the page on the computer that I was making the new reservation and the points from the canceled room were there. Ironically someone came to my door in the middle of doing this and when I got back to it there was a warning that the 2nd room I was trying to book would only be held for 20 minutes. So it seems that we can do the same thing as MS as far as holding the room for a few minutes. I think the same strategy would work using one computer and 2 different browsers or one computer and 2 different open windows in the same browser

Thank you for trying, this is a very good thing to know!
However there is always the risk that is considered by the IT departement a glitch and that it will be ninja fixed in the future. If I'll need to use this trick I would make your same attempt before doing it on the real reservation, just to be sure it's still working.

 

[LauraLap]

Just last night - I cancelled my reservation and then re-booked right away. The points situation worked out fine.

ETA: I did it online at dvcmember.com

 

[CarolMN]

Just last night - I cancelled my reservation and then re-booked right away. The points situation worked out fine.

ETA: I did it online at dvcmember.com

I did the same. Saw what I wanted was available online. Cancelled a reservation to free up points (didn't have enough free points and didn't want to borrow). Then booked what I wanted. All worked out just fine.

 

[Sammie]

Okay. I just tried something. I made a reservation for one day. I logged out and then began a reservation for another one day reservation up to the point where it asked me to choose which points to use. On a different computer I canceled the first room. I then refreshed the page on the computer that I was making the new reservation and the points from the canceled room were there. Ironically someone came to my door in the middle of doing this and when I got back to it there was a warning that the 2nd room I was trying to book would only be held for 20 minutes. So it seems that we can do the same thing as MS as far as holding the room for a few minutes. I think the same strategy would work using one computer and 2 different browsers or one computer and 2 different open windows in the same browser.

How where you able to get into your account on the 2nd computer when you were already in it, on another computer. I know if I forget to sign out of the Disney Dining site, it will not let me in the DVC member site.

 

[jekjones1558]

How where you able to get into your account on the 2nd computer when you were already in it, on another computer. I know if I forget to sign out of the Disney Dining site, it will not let me in the DVC member site.

I was surprised so then I tried just opening another window or using another browser and all of these strategies worked. I had 2 windows in 1 browser and 1 window in another browser all logged into my DVC account at once on the same computer.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

How where you able to get into your account on the 2nd computer when you were already in it, on another computer. I know if I forget to sign out of the Disney Dining site, it will not let me in the DVC member site.

If you get that message on the DVC site one of the first sentences is this:

"We recognize that you are already logged on to another Disney account. To validate your Disney Vacation Club membership information, please continue here."
Click on the continue here and then click on the return to DVC website. You will then be allowed to log in to DVC even if you are still logged in to another Disney site.

 

[VLee]

I too went through a trial dummy reservation, canceling one and rebooking immediately, using those same points. I had two computers and the system let me log into my account on each at the same time.

On one computer, I keyed in data until I was right at the point of making the final cancellation. On the other computer, I keyed in data so that I was at the point of booking the room.

It worked fine.