RAT and Book Online Have Changed

[drusba]

The DVC Member site's Resort Availability Tool (RAT) and the online booking tool have changed effective today, November 3, 2016.

Online booking tool: you can now search for and book stays for up to a month as long as entire period is available and within your applicable reservation window.

RAT has completely changed. First page is now solely a selection page where you can select dates on a calendar (also up to a month), then click on boxes to choose room size -- studio, 1BR, 2BR or 3BR (or all or any combination of those) -- and then choose particular DVC resorts you want to search for (one, all, or any combination). Gone is the never ending list of DVC and non-DVC resorts.

Once you make your choices and click on Check Availability you are sent to a page that shows availability for each resort you chose, rooms fully available first, partially next (which also tells you the longest number of consecutive days open within the period you chose) and none last. Note that if the room is fully available, there is no calendar to click on to see if any other dates are available, and thus you have to go back and start over on that room to get more info, but for partial availability, you can click on calendar and a three month calendar comes up showing all availability for that period for that room, and you can click on it to get other months.

 

[bwvBound]

Thanks for the heads-up!

I played with it and am pleased to no longer wade through the non-DVC options that only acted as placeholders for the "Phone Member Services" message. Toying with filter options seemed to work for me -- and I'm glad the Availability Calendar is still offered!

 

[DougEMG]

I miss being able to see at a glance what is available throughout the entire month. Now it looks like you have to check each of the time periods you are interested in separately.

 

[Babydreamz]

I saw and played around with it today. loving it much better so far.

I miss being able to see at a glance what is available throughout the entire month. Now it looks like you have to check each of the time periods you are interested in separately.

To get around that, I just searched for dates that I knew would show limited or no availability and that brings up the calendar view. then that allowed me to click through to all the other months to see availability for the month I really want. I gotta say, though... I'm not loving the green but that's just me.

 

[gluestickgirl]

the "my vacation points" page changed as well... i love the detailed breakout of points use and reservation changes.

 

[paults]

I saw and played around with it today. loving it much better so far.


To get around that, I just searched for dates that I knew would show limited or no availability and that brings up the calendar view. then that allowed me to click through to all the other months to see availability for the month I really want. I gotta say, though... I'm not loving the green but that's just me.

I tried that but can only see calendar for the type villa I started with that has a partial openings , does it show what other types of villas are available

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

the "my vacation points" page changed as well... i love the detailed breakout of points use and reservation changes.

That's much nicer than having to drill down like you did previously!

The availability calendar though - not certain that's a step forward. It's ok but a few things - like not having the calendar when there's full availability is worse.

 

[paults]

If you pick a check in and check out date and it says full availability that's all you get to book. you can't search for other times unless you start over. At least the last crappy site showed a calendar with all rooms and times available.

This one gets a 2 out of 10 review from me till they can get a full availability calendar.

 

[Canadian Disney Mom]

I think I preferred the old RAT tool to be honest, I preferred the layout on the results page and the ability to view a full month availability at a time. I am sure I will get used to the new one though

 

[MouseOfCards]

LIKE the detailed breakdown of points available. Do NOT like inability to see calendars for the full availability dates.

 

[Babydreamz]

I tried that but can only see calendar for the type villa I started with that has a partial openings , does it show what other types of villas are available

It shows all the villas matching what I choose in the first step. it shows those with limited availability first. then scroll down and click on the part that says no availability and that should open up.

 

[paults]

It shows all the villas matching what I choose in the first step. it shows those with limited availability first. then scroll down and click on the part that says no availability and that should open up.

When I check it shows Full avail first then partial avail. I put in for 5 nights and it says full avail.
Sorry now all I get is no availability anywhere and the page just rolls up and down when I try to scroll.
Is there another problem?

 

[Babydreamz]

When I check it shows Full avail first then partial avail. I put in for 5 nights and it says full avail.
Sorry now all I get is no availability anywhere and the page just rolls up and down when I try to scroll.
Is there another problem?

Click on the part that says "No availability - waitlist only" in blue.

 

[paults]

I did and all it shows is gray no avail

 

[paults]

(No Availability—Waitlist Only
Sorry, no rooms were found for your selected dates or room type)

How can you have this above but you can't wait list. You WL to hope something opens up

 

[paults]

new site is nothing but trouble for me right now, I scroll and it just goes up and down where it wants.

 

[erionm]

(No Availability—Waitlist Only
Sorry, no rooms were found for your selected dates or room type)

How can you have this above but you can't wait list. You WL to hope something opens up

Click on 'No Activity - Waitlist Only' then click on room size then click the waitlist button. This will take you to then on-line booking screen with resort/room/dates pre-filled.

OR

Go straight to on-line booking and enter your criteria.

 

[paults]

Michael, if I do that I have to keep changing the search. Why does it say no rooms available when I try to WL for my dates under (No Availability—Waitlist Only
Sorry, no rooms were found for your selected dates or room type)

 

[erionm]

Michael, if I do that I have to keep changing the search. Why does it say no rooms available when I try to WL for my dates under (No Availability—Waitlist Only
Sorry, no rooms were found for your selected dates or room type)

Skip the RAT and go directly to the on-line booking page and then execute your search. The on-line booking engine will then give you the option to setup a waitlist if the room is unavailable.

Here's a screen grab from DVCNews.com:

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Am I correct in thinking that the order resorts are listed is dependent on the availability? I prefer it just being alphabetical - less confusing when the resorts stay in the same spot. I kept thinking I was scrolling too fast and missing Jambo in a search, but then found it was way down in the list and not next to Kidani.