Riv, booking at 11 months

[peder]

Not possible because we all don’t check in and out the same day as you do with a cruise.

We book SV a lot because of the point savings but if we know there will be more resort time than park time, it will be PV as it’s much better for enjoying balcony.

If a system can automatically determine which rooms to assign, then the same system should be able to allow us peons to also select our rooms. It's absolutely technically possible, otherwise even their automated system would but unable to guarantee rooms in these same use cases.

I suspect that most people who instinctively push back on this idea are those that benefit from the current system.

 

[peder]

My belief is that if you need the lowest point options to make it work for you, it isn't a good fit. The reason being we've owned BWV for going on 25 years. When we bought, getting a standard view studio wasn't a huge deal except for perhaps a few weeks in October and early December. You could even get them at seven months - not consistently, but lightening didn't need to strike. A lot of things have changed in 25 years, and getting a standard view studio at BWV now is a mad rush at eleven months - probably walking - pretty much year round. If you are booking at seven months - you have to be lucky (and I'd use that luck on lottery tickets )

If you are doing "make it work" math, plan for your stays to be either in a one bedroom or in a higher point option. Plan your purchase that way too, buying just enough points for a standard view studio that isn't available when you need it is a cause of addonitis, and doubling down on DVC. Maybe you'll never "need" those extra points and will get a few more days at Disney

Agreed with all of this. I think it's essential to view DVC as a luxury that mostly gets you access to deluxe resorts that are otherwise unavailable or at least difficult to stay at. I do not think the math pencils out to view this as a moneysaving venture, at least not relative to putting the same money in an investment account or other real estate, and I've never seen any analysis comparing "rack rate" against DVC prices that factor in rack rate prices falling because of a recession / decreased travel demand, for instance. If Disney ever has real trouble selling their hotel rooms, you'll see rack rate prices fall, potentially dramatically. That would quickly undermine any conversation about DVC being more affordable.

Buy DVC because you love Disney, because you want to go at least semi-annually, and because you like the peace of mind that you get by locking in your vacation plans and not fretting about budget decisions each year (because once you buy, you're pretty much "locked in").

 

[Sandisw]

If a system can automatically determine which rooms to assign, then the same system should be able to allow us peons to also select our rooms. It's absolutely technically possible, otherwise even their automated system would but unable to guarantee rooms in these same use cases.

I suspect that most people who instinctively push back on this idea are those that benefit from the current system.

Except, the system assigns rooms based on check out and check in dates and since those are different, they can't do that in the same way if someone has chosen a specific room.

There would be a lot more open holes in dates this way....because once a room is taken out of service because of requests, their simply may be several rooms of the same type, but different ones, open each night.

So, you could have an open room for every night in a room category, but because its a specific room and not any room, no one can book except for single nights.

Not sure what you mean by benefit from the current system....we book a room and get a room in the category we booked.

 

[mistysue]

If a system can automatically determine which rooms to assign, then the same system should be able to allow us peons to also select our rooms. It's absolutely technically possible, otherwise even their automated system would but unable to guarantee rooms in these same use cases.

I suspect that most people who instinctively push back on this idea are those that benefit from the current system.

What in the world does that even mean?

 

[BamaGuy44]

If a system can automatically determine which rooms to assign, then the same system should be able to allow us peons to also select our rooms. It's absolutely technically possible, otherwise even their automated system would but unable to guarantee rooms in these same use cases.

I suspect that most people who instinctively push back on this idea are those that benefit from the current system.

Technically possible, but not desirable from DVC's perspective and will never happen. There's a reason pretty much all hotels don't let you pick your room. It would leave gaps in the calendar and make it very hard to fill all the rooms.

 

[peder]

What in the world does that even mean?

I think folks booking shorter stays get their room requests honored more frequently than longer stays, so those folks have no desire to change anything about the current system.

 

[mistysue]

I think folks booking shorter stays get their room requests honored more frequently than longer stays, so those folks have no desire to change anything about the current system.

I don't know if there's a good way to measure that, but it hasn't been true in my experience.

 

[ShaneDJ]

I think folks booking shorter stays get their room requests honored more frequently than longer stays, so those folks have no desire to change anything about the current system.

Nope…no way. Don’t agree with that at all.

 

[Sandisw]

I think folks booking shorter stays get their room requests honored more frequently than longer stays, so those folks have no desire to change anything about the current system.

Actually, the new system would benefit those who stay shorter because it would be easier to find a room empty.

But, we do shorter stays and never request…when we have, we rarely got it but have never even requested a specific room either.

 

[peder]

Actually, the new system would benefit those who stay shorter because it would be easier to find a room empty.

But, we do shorter stays and never request…when we have, we rarely got it but have never even requested a specific room either.

Well, no, if there was some way to pay to select at 30 days or something or available at the 11-month window, it would shift the advantage to those with longer stays since at least they'd have a shot at picking the room they want (they'd just be subject to competition at the 11-month or 30-day window or however they implement it).

 

[Sandisw]

Well, no, if there was some way to pay to select at 30 days or something or available at the 11-month window, it would shift the advantage to those with longer stays since at least they'd have a shot at picking the room they want (they'd just be subject to competition at the 11-month or 30-day window or however they implement it).

I’m confused then because if you are looking for 7 days and I want 4, I have a better chance since I don’t need my preferred room to open for as many nights.

It would also mean those of us who don’t have a preference could have an advantage at 11 months because we are willing to choose any room and those who want a specific one would not.

Regardless, it’s not something that would work without creating more rooms that don’t get booked because you’d have too many nights that are stranded, especially with lock offs, not to mention that home resort rules have to be the same for all owners so I don’t see them being able to implement this as a paid option.

 

[DVC-CA]

The idea of being able to pick your room just seems like something that would annoy people more than it would be useful. It’s certainly technically possible, but I think the experience as a guest would feel very arbitrary and frustrating.

On any given day, at any given resort there will be a certain number of people checking out and a certain number of people checking in. The current booking system already assures that (when the resort is fully occupied) these things are perfectly balanced for every room size / view type.

But on some random Tuesday a resort with 25 lake view studios will have 4 rooms checking out, and 4 new reservations checking in. It doesn’t seem like any kind of useful benefit to me to allow someone to pick from one of only 4 available rooms.

 

[intamin]

The idea of being able to pick your room just seems like something that would annoy people more than it would be useful. It’s certainly technically possible, but I think the experience as a guest would feel very arbitrary and frustrating.

On any given day, at any given resort there will be a certain number of people checking out and a certain number of people checking in. The current booking system already assures that (when the resort is fully occupied) these things are perfectly balanced for every room size / view type.

But on some random Tuesday a resort with 25 lake view studios will have 4 rooms checking out, and 4 new reservations checking in. It doesn’t seem like any kind of useful benefit to me to allow someone to pick from one of only 4 available rooms.

Yeahhh I think it'd just add another layer and make things more complicated. Then you'll get angry guests who think their trip is ruined because they couldn't book a room facing Epcot

 

[mistysue]

The idea of being able to pick your room just seems like something that would annoy people more than it would be useful. It’s certainly technically possible, but I think the experience as a guest would feel very arbitrary and frustrating.

On any given day, at any given resort there will be a certain number of people checking out and a certain number of people checking in. The current booking system already assures that (when the resort is fully occupied) these things are perfectly balanced for every room size / view type.

But on some random Tuesday a resort with 25 lake view studios will have 4 rooms checking out, and 4 new reservations checking in. It doesn’t seem like any kind of useful benefit to me to allow someone to pick from one of only 4 available rooms.

Yes- and this would be the ideal version, in reality somebody with a 5 night stay would forget to book until a week out, and people would have selected all the rooms so suddenly they have room 101 for 2 nights, room 108 for a night, then swap to the 3rd room. The whole thing would create definite chaos for many in order for a small number of people to possibly getting a slightly better chance at their desired room.

 

[DVC-CA]

I actually think an algorithm would have to handle the case you are talking about. And it would annoy ppl because it would remove choice and turn it into an another game of who can click fastest on some day when room selection opens.

As soon as a guest with a short stay with a certain checkin date picks from one of the 5 available rooms that is checking out that day the die will start to be cast and selection options for others will start to decrease until there is no choice because room 204 is the only room on that checkin date that can accommodate a 5 night stay. All other “options” will simply be hidden as they are not available.