Wait list? Smait list…. I’m just going to stalk

[karen4546]

Wait list smait list…. I’m just gonna stalk….

we decided on a January trip for Festival of the Arts.

I put in two waitlists but ultimately got the five nights @ BWV Garden/pool view by stalking.

loving My recent resale DVC purchase Because my 100 + 25 at AKV direct purchase was having to be supplemented by cash stay using our AP discount.

I have been checking availability multiple times a day for the last week or so (since we decided on the January trip) and there was a night or two that I grabbed but today the whole stay was available and I modified the one night to all five.

 

[FlyingDonut]

I'm new. Why does this work better than wait list? Is it becuase your wait list request was for more than one night?

 

[Sandisw]

Wait list smait list…. I’m just gonna stalk….

we decided on a January trip for Festival of the Arts.

I put in two waitlists but ultimately got the five nights @ BWV Garden/pool view by stalking.

loving My recent resale DVC purchase Because my 100 + 25 at AKV direct purchase was having to be supplemented by cash stay using our AP discount.

I have been checking availability multiple times a day for the last week or so (since we decided on the January trip) and there was a night or two that I grabbed but today the whole stay was available and I modified the one night to all five.

Was your waitlist for all five nights? Did you recently cancel that?

I ask because I have had a waitlist, got my 2nd choice but stalking, canceled the waitlist, went back to check and my waitlisted room was there.

It meant I had a match but the CM had not yet processed it.

But, I also stalk because I have picked up a night here or there and then can adjust my waitlist to a shorter number of nights which I know fills easier.

 

[karen4546]

Was your waitlist for all five nights? Did you recently cancel that?

I ask because I have had a waitlist, got my 2nd choice but stalking, canceled the waitlist, went back to check and my waitlisted room was there.

It meant I had a match but the CM had not yet processed it.

But, I also stalk because I have picked up a night here or there and then can adjust my waitlist to a shorter number of nights which I know fills easier.

No, I had the first night booked. waitlist for 2nd night. booked for third night. waitlist for night four and five. A mess I know...lol

2nd night showed up yesterday morning when i checked and i modified third night to include 2nd night. At that point I had 1st night booked and 2nd and 3rd booked. and the waitlist for four and five.

yesterday afternoon, i saw 2nd night through fifth night was available and so i modified to include those four nights. checked again an hour later and would you believe the first night was now available!? so I modified the reservation for the 4 nights to include the first night. canceled the one night and the waitlists.

Boardwalk G/P view mid January.

 

[Sandisw]

No, I had the first night booked. waitlist for 2nd night. booked for third night. waitlist for night four and five. A mess I know...lol

2nd night showed up yesterday morning when i checked and i modified third night to include 2nd night. At that point I had 1st night booked and 2nd and 3rd booked. and the waitlist for four and five.

yesterday afternoon, i saw 2nd night through fifth night was available and so i modified to include those four nights. checked again an hour later and would you believe the first night was now available!? so I modified the reservation for the 4 nights to include the first night. canceled the one night and the waitlists.

Boardwalk G/P view mid January.

I wonder if it is possible they released more rooms due to renovations!

Regardless it is awesome for you!!

 

[Dyefrog]

I wonder if it is possible they released more rooms due to renovations!

Regardless it is awesome for you!!

Does this mean that some of the renovations will be finished by year end? I had waitlisted a 2 bedroom for the last week in November at 7 months and they came through about a month ago. I assumed someone cancelled because of the renovations but might there be a chance to get refurbished rooms end of November?

 

[WxKristin]

I've been watching mid-Jan and noticed mid-morning yesterday a bunch of BWV garden/pool open for both Jan and Feb. When I looked again last night most of the availability was sporadic with fewer nights together. Looks like they did open some availability but it was snatched up quickly.

 

[Sandisw]

Does this mean that some of the renovations will be finished by year end? I had waitlisted a 2 bedroom for the last week in November at 7 months and they came through about a month ago. I assumed someone cancelled because of the renovations but might there be a chance to get refurbished rooms end of November?

November? No, I don’t think they will be done..but by January, maybe.

 

[karen4546]

I'm new. Why does this work better than wait list? Is it becuase your wait list request was for more than one night?

I didn't say it worked better. But, there nights available that I had waitlists for and I just booked them myself and either canceled or modified my waitlist(s) as needed.

I have a spare couple of minutes several times a day and I can log on and check.

 

[karen4546]

I wonder if it is possible they released more rooms due to renovations!

Regardless it is awesome for you!!

Truthfully, I have no idea about the renovations. I just love the location.

thanks though

 

[crisi]

I'm new. Why does this work better than wait list? Is it becuase your wait list request was for more than one night?

So we aren't sure how the waitlist works currently, but we are pretty sure that at least in the past it didn't operate real time. So I have a room booked for March 3rd. I cancel the room. In an ideal "first come first served" situation, that room would be checked against the waitlist, if there is a match, the waitlist would be filled, if not, it would be released on the website. We are pretty sure that in the past the room would get cancelled and immediately released to the website - then at some time during the day or night, waitlists would get matched to open rooms - which meant you could swoop in and grab a room between cancellation and matching. There are signs this has changed - or at least tightened.

Additionally, if you waitlist for four days, the waitlist will only fill if all four days are available. And you only get two waitlists. So stalking allows you to grab a room day by day - like the OP did. The risk is that you won't be able to grab something in the middle and will need to move once - or more - during your stay. But some people don't mind. The chances you'll pull together all - or most - of the reservation day by day is greater than all four days you need being released all at once. And the longer you waitlist for, the less chance you'll get matched.

 

[skier_pete]

So we aren't sure how the waitlist works currently, but we are pretty sure that at least in the past it didn't operate real time. So I have a room booked for March 3rd. I cancel the room. In an ideal "first come first served" situation, that room would be checked against the waitlist, if there is a match, the waitlist would be filled, if not, it would be released on the website. We are pretty sure that in the past the room would get cancelled and immediately released to the website - then at some time during the day or night, waitlists would get matched to open rooms - which meant you could swoop in and grab a room between cancellation and matching. There are signs this has changed - or at least tightened.

Additionally, if you waitlist for four days, the waitlist will only fill if all four days are available. And you only get two waitlists. So stalking allows you to grab a room day by day - like the OP did. The risk is that you won't be able to grab something in the middle and will need to move once - or more - during your stay. But some people don't mind. The chances you'll pull together all - or most - of the reservation day by day is greater than all four days you need being released all at once. And the longer you waitlist for, the less chance you'll get matched.

More recent evidence is that they will pull rooms to the waitlist PRIOR to putting them up on the website. I have some pretty strong evidence of this based on some waitlist rooms I have gotten recently.

However, @crisi point here in the second paragraph is excellent. A waitlist can only be filled if EXACTLY what you ask for becomes available, AND no one has waitlists the same thing or some of it before you. So a lot of times its easier to piece together a stay by stalking the website and grabbing up days as they become available. I personally cannot be bothered to do this, but for some it is worth it.

I honestly have had every waitlist come through for 1-2 nights - maybe around a dozen that I've done. I have rarely had a waitlist come through that is for more than 4 nights. So I always think the key to wait listing is short windows. Better to request two 3-night waitlists than one 6-night one.

 

[disneydreamer781]

I now have a BWV G/P studio booked for Christmas week that showed up a couple of weeks ago and I'm now waitlisting a BWV Boardwalk view studio. Yeah, I know the odds of finding 4 nights in a Boardwalk view studio (there's about 30 of them) during Christmas to be pretty slim.

 

[CastAStone]

More recent evidence is that they will pull rooms to the waitlist PRIOR to putting them up on the website. I have some pretty strong evidence of this based on some waitlist rooms I have gotten recently.

However, @crisi point here in the second paragraph is excellent. A waitlist can only be filled if EXACTLY what you ask for becomes available, AND no one has waitlists the same thing or some of it before you. So a lot of times its easier to piece together a stay by stalking the website and grabbing up days as they become available. I personally cannot be bothered to do this, but for some it is worth it.

I honestly have had every waitlist come through for 1-2 nights - maybe around a dozen that I've done. I have rarely had a waitlist come through that is for more than 4 nights. So I always think the key to wait listing is short windows. Better to request two 3-night waitlists than one 6-night one.

Hey there Pete, welcome back!

 

[crisi]

More recent evidence is that they will pull rooms to the waitlist PRIOR to putting them up on the website. I have some pretty strong evidence of this based on some waitlist rooms I have gotten recently.

I hope so. I have never used a waitlist or stalked (its too much stress for my anxiety). But I'm one of those people who is driven by "fairness" - plus spent a lot of time in IT during my career - and I always though the "release to the website before checking the waitlist" was both really unfair and a relatively easy systems change.

 

[Akck]

I have a CC studio walk-in booked for 1 night. Due to airfare, it’s significantly cheaper to fly in late the night before. Now I have 2 waitlists for studios, both a walk-in and regular for the 2 nights. I wish their system was smart enough to consider the one night booked when filling waitlists. For now, I figure I’ll have a better chance stalking for the one night I need.

 

[Sandisw]

I have a CC studio walk-in booked for 1 night. Due to airfare, it’s significantly cheaper to fly in late the night before. Now I have 2 waitlists for studios, both a walk-in and regular for the 2 nights. I wish their system was smart enough to consider the one night booked when filling waitlists. For now, I figure I’ll have a better chance stalking for the one night I need.

If you have a room booked, you do not want to also waitlist that njght unless you want two of them.

It is better to simply waitlist the missing night as it has a better chance to come in.

With the way you set up the one that matches what you have, you need both those nights to become available in order to even match.

 

[Akck]

If you have a room booked, you do not want to also waitlist that njght unless you want two of them.

It is better to simply waitlist the missing night as it has a better chance to come in.

With the way you set up the one that matches what you have, you need both those nights to become available in order to even match.

I had a brain freeze on that. I now have a waitlist for 1 night in a studio with a walk-in shower and a waitlist for 2 nights in a regular studio. I’ll likely still stalk just because.

 

[Akck]

Well, as it turns out, stalking won out over waitlists. In addition to my 2 waitlists above, I was stalking for other resorts. I ended up getting 2 nights at AKL-Kidani savanna view. I hate wasting that view for one of the nights, so stalking continued. I had a BLT theme park view come up, but passed on it for the same reason. Finally, a SSR standard studio came up, so I switched to it to save on points. So now I’m done stalking on that reservation (Who am I kidding, I’ll continue to check in case something else comes up).

 

[john7994]

Wanted a quick weekend for November 3-5th (2 nights) to use some expiring points from a resale purchase, put in two waitlists on a 1BdR about two weeks ago (under 30 days) at SSR and BCV, less than a week later the SSR came through, contacted MS via chat to modify the BCV waitlist to replace my SSR without losing my place in queue, and three days later the BCV came through.