Reservation advice - To hang on, or not to hang on?

[Mambo Junkie]

I currently have 2 BOG reservations, 1 for a party of 2, 1 party of 4. (We are a party of 6). I don't mind being split up as we are only 10 minutes apart at this time, but the reservation time is not good, and I know I will cancel if I can't find a better time. Should I cancel vs hanging on? My thought is it may be easier to modify as opposed to finding a new reservation. I just hate to hang onto them when I know I won't keep them if I can't change the times.

 

[Her Dotness]

Hang on and modify if you can FOR SURE.

Canceling is an endgame because it dumps you right back into the pool of everybody trying to get in at all.

A CM once explained to us that you keep your place in the system by modifying and have a much better chance of getting what you want.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Thank you!

 

[the8ball]

What does it mean to keep your place in the system by modifying? I assume it means you get to keep what you have as a fallback if you can't find a better fit. But if you're trying to modify a reservation, you see the same availability as anyone trying to reserve from scratch, right? Not that there's a different pool of slots that you can access when modifying? Correct me if I'm missing something.

 

[Her Dotness]

Nope, you've pretty much nailed it.

While that doesn't seem like much of an advantage, I agree, that fallback can prove essential if you really want to eat at BOG.

Canceling and dropping back to no ressie at all means you'll almost certainly not get another ADR there in the diminishing time till your stay as insanely popular as BOG and a few others are.

Not necessarily the case, as you might snag one shortly after the 30-day trip cancellation point. In which case, buy a lottery ticket because you are one lucky dog.

 

[Disturbia]

Modifying is easier and faster. I haven’t had trouble with BOG but Space220 lunch wouldn’t cancel and let me select Topolinos (system asked me which one I want and I clicked Topolinos twice). I cancelled Space220 separately and quickly clicked on Topolinos and the system logged me out, I logged back in and kept refreshing and it appeared again and I clicked and then again got logged out and asked for a code. I kept refreshing and Topolinos popped up once and then error and then didn’t see it again. Lost both reservations

So don’t cancel your backup.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Wow sorry that happened. The glitchy system is definitely a problem. I had something like that happen to me but thankfully when it shut off the reservation I was trying to get, I panicked and was able to get back the reservation I had just cancelled.

 

[the8ball]

Yeah the way I've seen it work in the system is if something pops up as available you can reserve it and if it conflicts with your existing reservation then it'll cancel it for you, and I'd like to think that all happens within one transaction. But if you cancel the existing one first, hoping to grab something else that's available after you've cancelled, you run the risk of winding up with neither.

 

[Disturbia]

Yeah the way I've seen it work in the system is if something pops up as available you can reserve it and if it conflicts with your existing reservation then it'll cancel it for you, and I'd like to think that all happens within one transaction. But if you cancel the existing one first, hoping to grab something else that's available after you've cancelled, you run the risk of winding up with neither.

The system wouldn’t let me choose between Space220 and Topolinos. I tried twice by going back. Even after cancelling Space220 I had Topolinos available but it kept logging me out and then asking for a code.

I’ve modified many reservations in the past. The only time I think I’ve seen something similar was with CRT.

 

[the8ball]

The system wouldn’t let me choose between Space220 and Topolinos. I tried twice by going back. Even after cancelling Space220 I had Topolinos available but it kept logging me out and then asking for a code.

I think sometimes the system is just glitchy and you can get unlucky with the timing. I'd think it's more likely to be that than anything specific about the combo that you were choosing between at the time. I've definitely had that experience with the site where it kept logging me out and making me re-enter my info multiple times. That's happened on my ADR day and it's really frustrating. At one point I had a reservation partially completed and was on the screen where it warns you not to hit the back button or risk losing it, and it stayed that way for a long time (maybe ten minutes or so) until I eventually refreshed it only to find that the reservation was lost even though I had initially snagged it. So that was disappointing. It's just part of the challenge, and the luck of it all, I think.

 

[Disturbia]

I think sometimes the system is just glitchy and you can get unlucky with the timing. I'd think it's more likely to be that than anything specific about the combo that you were choosing between at the time. I've definitely had that experience with the site where it kept logging me out and making me re-enter my info multiple times. That's happened on my ADR day and it's really frustrating. At one point I had a reservation partially completed and was on the screen where it warns you not to hit the back button or risk losing it, and it stayed that way for a long time (maybe ten minutes or so) until I eventually refreshed it only to find that the reservation was lost even though I had initially snagged it. So that was disappointing. It's just part of the challenge, and the luck of it all, I think.

I actually have had that happen many times so I know the system blocks it and someone releases it back into the pool. If you go back and hit refresh you’ll actually see it pop back up (the second party selection screen and beyond, not adr search)

 

[the8ball]

I actually have had that happen many times so I know the system blocks it and someone releases it back into the pool. If you go back and hit refresh you’ll actually see it pop back up (the second party selection screen and beyond, not adr search)

I'm not quite sure I followed but it sounds like you're saying that if you hit refresh you'll sometimes get to keep your place in the reservation process? I'd like to think that's true. I was too nervous to try it that time, hoping that it would come through if I let it sit, but next time I might try refreshing to see if it produces a better outcome. Either way, going back to the search seems like a lost cause. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Disturbia]

I'm not quite sure I followed but it sounds like you're saying that if you hit refresh you'll sometimes get to keep your place in the reservation process? I'd like to think that's true. I was too nervous to try it that time, hoping that it would come through if I let it sit, but next time I might try refreshing to see if it produces a better outcome. Either way, going back to the search seems like a lost cause. Thanks for sharing!

If you’re on the third screen after you’ve selected your party and the screen freezes, you hit back and keep refreshing; but don’t go back to the search for dining screen. I kept refreshing and that’s how I finally got through booking an after dessert party in Nov.