So how do they do it?

[Canadian Girl]

Before nine, there is availability, and when they are released at nIne, all are gone in certain categories.

 

[icc2515]

Sit on the booking page, hit submit exactly when the clock changes from :59 to :00 rub your lucky rabbits foot, kiss your 4 leaf clover and cross your fingers.

Btw just because it shows availability, there may only be 1 room avail and 10 people trying to get it.

 

[cmrdgrs]

Before nine, there is availability, and when they are released at nIne, all are gone in certain categories.

It really is complete timing and luck. At the time the rooms are released as icc2515 said, you could have a whole bunch of people vying for just one room. There are just way too many people trying to book rooms right now. The resort closures have caused so many more people to be competing for rooms. Especially if you are a person with banked points, all of those owners are trying to use their points before they expire.

I was successful earlier in the week booking something I was looking for, and later that week, I did not get the room I was trying to book.

Keep at it! Good luck!

 

[Canadian Girl]

Will try that tomorrow I guess. It’s obvious people are walking as well as days that were previously booked suddenly show up as available but the day 11 months out is then gone.

 

[cmrdgrs]

Inventory, especially for studios, is ridiculously low right now. I'd pick up what you can and see if you can fill in days between wait lists and stalking the RAT if you have specific days you're trying to travel.

It's just very difficult right now picking up things in the 7 month window.

 

[Canadian Girl]

I am actually looking at 11 months out for my home resort. What does RAT stand for? Lol.

 

[cmrdgrs]

I am actually looking at 11 months out for my home resort.

Ah ha! I have found even before this mess, that the 11 month window is super tight, and I do think that walkers are a part of the picture. As "walking" has become more well known thanks to the internet, I personally feel it becomes more and more of a problem.

You still have unprecedented demand IMO due to all the cancelled rooms needing to reschedule.

Good luck! Booking is very tough right now.

 

[lovin'fl]

It opens online at 8am eastern. Gotta have it lined up right at 8 for certain rooms, like value or club at AKV. Many studios. Standard studios at BWV.

And we now have many folks with cancelled resies that have points unborrowed and needing to be used over the year. More competing than usual.

 

[Canadian Girl]

Ecstatic! So got the room we wanted this morning thanks to the tips here, the 1 bedroom value at AKL as I didn’t want to borrow points in case we had to cancel again . Not convinced this trip will happen with no vaccine, but had to cancel this March break as well as our long awaited cruise. I need something to look forward to in this scary time. And we didn’t walk. Lol

 

[The Jackal]

Congratulations on getting the room. Vaccines take a while to test. The govt. wants to speed it up, so hopefully they will have one in less time than normal.

 

[cmrdgrs]

I am actually looking at 11 months out for my home resort. What does RAT stand for? Lol.

Congratulations! Excellent news

RAT ---Resort Availability Tool -- it's an acronym people sometimes use to refer to the DVC reservation tool.

 

[Canadian Girl]

I felt like I was in a hundred metre race. I am sure my bp was up. And had to refresh so thought I lost it. Lol

 

[cmrdgrs]

I felt like I was in a hundred metre race. I am sure my bp was up. And had to refresh so thought I lost it. Lol

For the win! Canadian Girl! Nicely played!

 

[drusba]

I am actually looking at 11 months out for my home resort. What does RAT stand for? Lol.

When DVC originally created its system to allow checking for reservations online, it named it the Resort Availability Tool. Partly due to the almost constant problems that occurred with the online system, members started calling it by its acronym, "RAT." Eventually, in response to that demeaning phrase, DVC IT changed the name of the page icon to the Check Resort Availability page. As the usual problems continued, it was not long thereafter members created another acronym for the system page: "CRAP." That perhaps was a bit more apropos than RAT. After a while, DVC IT changed the name of the page to just Book a Vacation. Apparently changing names on the DVC computer system gets far more attention than actually fixing its problems.

 

[Canadian Girl]

Ha ha. I did panic for a minute when it asked me to refresh and then showed my 2019 use year. My points are all in my 2020 one. It finally did go through Thank goodness . Whew. If it’s in queue, can someone else grab it from up you as you are completing the info?