Vacation week slipping through my fingers- 7 month booking non-home resort

[alagille]

Hi all, I had to write to do something with my frustration... Do you ever feel SO deflated on the 7 month booking a non-home resort when the SECOND it turns 8:00am, hit the booking window, and see what you want gone when it was just available less than a minute ago on the Availability tool? For 3 days in a row, I have been ready to try to book anything at Hilton Head and I am watching one day at a time of the week go by without availability by the time I hit "Book". Now I have to wait another 24 hrs to see if I can do this all over tomorrow morning.
I asked customer service yesterday at 9am and the lady (I really wanted to smack her) suggested I "get up early" so I could book online at 8am. Hmmm, never thought of that! <sic> At this point, I have never yet booked my first DVC stay and have been patiently waiting now almost a year to use my points. I finally waitlisted the 5 days I wanted at Hilton Head next summer this morning.
Am I going to have to purchase a Hilton Head contract with enough home resort points so I can actually go there?
What am I doing wrong? This is about to kill me.

 

[CarolMN]

So sorry. HHI is notoriously difficult to book a summer vacation at 7 months - especially if you are seeking weeknights in a studio or even a 1 bedroom. There just aren't that many of them. (f yoIu wanted to go to WDW, you would have many choices. Summer reservations there are relatively easy to get at 7 months.)

Many own at HHI just to be able to book there in the summer months.

Short of owning there or renting / transferring points to get the home resort booking priority, I don't see any way you could do more than you are already doing to get the reservation you want. I suppose you could book something for cash and then rent out some of your points to help cover the cost. Believe some of the brokers are offering $11/point now - they find the renters and handle all of the money & guest interactions, so pretty much all you have to do is make the reservation.

Good luck with the waitlist. You may have some luck if you continue to check the website frequently and book any days that may come available. Waitlists shorter in length seem to work more often than the longer ones, but you never know.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Bought at HHI specifically to book there in the summer.

 

[alagille]

Good to know about the shorter stays for the waitlist working better.
I really have considered buying extra resale points for 11 month HH window, I just haven't stayed there so I'm hesitant to buy just yet. At this rate, though, I may be left snagging the expensive Friday and Saturday nights just to try it and find another location for the early part of the trip. Day, by day...

 

[Syndrome]

We purchased at HHI, because our HHI points are very easy to use at HHI at 11 months out AND at WDW at 7 months out. On the other hand our WDW AKV points are not very easy to use at HHI in the summer, so we made sure we had enough HHI points for our summer HHI trips. Sorry to say, but if you want to stay at HHI in the summer in one nice long reservation, you will need to own there .

Also, what size villas are you trying for ? If you can swing a 2 bdrm , thats what you should be trying for . There are a lot more 2 brdm villas (76) at HHI and very few 1 bdrm's and studios to go around (21 lock-offs), and only 5 GV .
You would have the best luck waitlisting a 2 bdrm .


(sorry, we already have our summer HHI reservations locked in, )

 

[crisi]

We rented for our HHI Summer vacation from a HHI owner (through David) then rented out our BWV points (through David) to cover it (although with the delta in cost for David's margin, it ended up costing a few more BWV points than I got in HHI points).

Its a great resort, and I hope the waitlist comes through for you.

 

[alagille]

Looking for 2BR. If I can try it, will most likely buy for 2016...

 

[jerseygal]

Hi all, I had to write to do something with my frustration... Do you ever feel SO deflated on the 7 month booking a non-home resort when the SECOND it turns 8:00am, hit the booking window, and see what you want gone when it was just available less than a minute ago on the Availability tool? For 3 days in a row, I have been ready to try to book anything at Hilton Head and I am watching one day at a time of the week go by without availability by the time I hit "Book". Now I have to wait another 24 hrs to see if I can do this all over tomorrow morning.
I asked customer service yesterday at 9am and the lady (I really wanted to smack her) suggested I "get up early" so I could book online at 8am. Hmmm, never thought of that! <sic> At this point, I have never yet booked my first DVC stay and have been patiently waiting now almost a year to use my points. I finally waitlisted the 5 days I wanted at Hilton Head next summer this morning.
Am I going to have to purchase a Hilton Head contract with enough home resort points so I can actually go there?
What am I doing wrong? This is about to kill me.

7 Months Non Home Resort SUMMERTIME reservation mid June-August are VERY DIFFICULT to get at in demand beach locations like Aulani, Vero, Hilton Head.
Most families with children are traveling during this time. Airlines know it too...just look at the ticket prices even if booking an airline 7 months in advance...Ticket prices start to increase dramatically mid June through August! Waitlisting is a SMART idea, but be prepared to implement another travel plan. We also had to travel during the summertime with our sons as they played sports, had mandatory summer time high school sport camps and were restricted to practically mid August for YEARS! We lucked out booking at Vero a few years back mid August exactly at 7 months, but that probably was because we had a 2 BR.
BEST OF LUCK! Hopefully, your waitlist will come through!
Look forward to the day when you can travel NON SUMMER!
It is FABULOUS First non-summer WDW trip completed mid December and we LOVED IT!

 

[lovin'fl]

Hi all, I had to write to do something with my frustration... Do you ever feel SO deflated on the 7 month booking a non-home resort when the SECOND it turns 8:00am, hit the booking window, and see what you want gone when it was just available less than a minute ago on the Availability tool? For 3 days in a row, I have been ready to try to book anything at Hilton Head and I am watching one day at a time of the week go by without availability by the time I hit "Book". Now I have to wait another 24 hrs to see if I can do this all over tomorrow morning.
I asked customer service yesterday at 9am and the lady (I really wanted to smack her) suggested I "get up early" so I could book online at 8am. Hmmm, never thought of that! <sic> At this point, I have never yet booked my first DVC stay and have been patiently waiting now almost a year to use my points. I finally waitlisted the 5 days I wanted at Hilton Head next summer this morning.
Am I going to have to purchase a Hilton Head contract with enough home resort points so I can actually go there?
What am I doing wrong? This is about to kill me.

This is why we added on HHI points. We booked 4 nights in a 1BR for mid July 2009. I had difficulty in booking at the 7 month window...wanted 5 weeknights but ended up with 4 nights including weekend. So we added points there. Good news is they are a cheaper buy in.

 

[a742246]

Sometimes at the 7 month window if you do not get what you want at 8:00am,
keep trying throughout the day, members are also switching out of that same resort.

 

[jerseyduke]

I can understand your frustration!

I am surprised there is anything at 7 months in the summer at HHI. I often toy with the idea of buying there for "cheap points" that as someone mentioned, I can use at 11 months on HHI OR 7 months somewhere else.

I just assumed there would be no way to get HHI in the summer at 7 months.

Keep trying and good luck!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

it was just available less than a minute ago on the Availability tool...... it is gone by the time I hit "Book".
What am I doing wrong?

Try to stop using the availability tool for hard to get reservations. Start at book instead. That's where others are starting who are beating you to the reservation.

HBC

 

[MinnieGi]

Is there a day or two that is available when you try to book? If so grab them even if they are not consecutive and then keep checking back to see if you can build your own reservation. I have had much better luck with that than an actual waitlist through Disney.

Now I haven't tried it for HHI. We own there also for those hard to get summer reservations. Just love it there!!

Good luck to you!

 

[crisi]

Now I haven't tried it for HHI. We own there also for those hard to get summer reservations. Just love it there!!

All of our "neighbors" at HHI last Summer went every year or every other year, lived within driving distance, and owned. We spoke to a dozen different families and they all loved it there (we did too) and they all said some version of "you'll go home and buy" or "we bought because we couldn't get in with our WDW points."

We won't buy since our HHI trips are likely to be mid-winter retirement trips from Minnesota. And while availability is a little spotty this close, we could still get almost a week a month out in February in a one bedroom or a studio. And could book at two bedroom a month out for almost any time in January and February (MLK weekend is gone and there is one night in February that is currently unavailable)

Which is the problem with HHI in a nutshell. Lots of two bedroom rooms for families, insufficient demand for those rooms for most of November, December, January, February - pretty much until Spring Break (although holidays are tough). A sold out resort with low demand four months a year.

 

[mathgeek]

Bought at HHI specifically to book there in the summer.

I did too!

I had the same problem with booking last year at the 7-month window for a studio in early June. I went online to book two days in a row and found the first day of my stay gone even though it had been available the day before. Luckily my travel plans were flexible and I got up early one more morning and was able to get my reservation.

After I stayed there I decided I wanted to go back every year and didn't want to play the 7-month window gamble, so I added on there!

I often toy with the idea of buying there for "cheap points" that as someone mentioned, I can use at 11 months on HHI OR 7 months somewhere else.

They may be cheaper to initially buy in, but those annual dues will add up over time, and they're a lot more than my SSR dues!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

There are LOTS of reputable brokers on Hilton Head who will lease you a great villa either on or within walking distance to the beach. (We had a beautiful 2 bedroom with a great ocean view next door to the DVC "beach club" last Memorial Day) Lease those DVC points and pay less for a great accommodation. (That's why I sold my HHI points, love the island didn't love the DVC location! Plus the rental rates are going up slower the DVC dues )

 

[ldo]

you can also use your DVC points via RCI to stay in a RCI timeshare at HHI. You could also then book a single day @ DVC HHI to check out the resort, pool, beach house, etc. That's what we did our 1st year. We liked it so much, we decided to buy a DVC HHI add on to be able to stay every other year @ DVC HHI. We have stayed at Waterside by Spinnaker before via RCI. We liked the location, pool, and large units. It is short drive to DVC HHI. good luck. Elaine