waitlist experiances

[Indiana Dad]

Hi All,

I tryed on another thread, and was hoping for a little more feedback. We just got a waitlist for 4 nights at vero in any room, for the first of April. Is it just me or does it seem crazy that they "cannot tell you where you stand on the wait list". I mean, if I knew there were only a few ahead of us, then we could with confidence buy plane tickets and get fired up. But who's to say there isn't 500 families ahead? Do you really think their computers can't show them, or if they can, what is the motivation not to tell the truth? I love Disney, and are new to DVC, but what gives? And to close, from all your experiances, does my family have a shot of getting in? Thank you to all who can share.
God bless!

 

[tjkraz]

They really can't tell you.

For the sake of argument, let's say you are waitlisted for Sunday to Thursday and you are "first" in line for all of those nights. The next day someone cancels a trip that runs from Monday to Thursday. That cancellation does not meet your request and you are therefore bypassed on the waitlist. Let's say the next person in line is waitlisted for just Monday and Tuesday. The cancellation makes it possible to fulfill their request, so the room will be booked for them for the two nights. The other cancelled nights may go to someone else just waiting for them.

Realistically you could be 10th in line for one night, 2nd in line for the next night, 20th in line for the third night....and so on. Until an exact match can be made (i.e. all available nights will fulfill someone's request), they just keep going down the list. DVC will not fulfill a waitlist request unless ALL of the nights you have requested become available.

There's really no way they could give you useful information indicating the likelihood of your request being met. As a rule of thumb, you will have the greatest amount of success on the waitlist if you:

1. Waitlist for a small number of nights. If you're waiting for 14 consecutive nights, IMO it's very, very unlikely that so many nights will be freed-up at once.

Some people will even structure their waitlist request such that each individual night is booked as it comes available rather than waiting for the entire trip. This has the greatest chance of success since you'll get each night immediately if you are "first" in line for that night (or the night falls down to you due to inability to match the full request of those above you.) The downside to this approach is that you could realistically end up with holes in your trip if every single night does not open up. If you end up with Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, begging and pleading at the front desk still won't get you a room for Tuesday night since they will be booked solid.

2. Waitlist for as many resorts and room classes as possible. Not really a factor at vero, but it helps at WDW.

3. Waitlist as far out as possible. You'll have a lot more success getting on the list 5 months out than 2 months.

Hope that helps.

 

[Doug Wolfe]

I have wait listed Vero twice before. The summer of 2006 and the summer of 2007.

Here is a suggestion. In addition to wait listing with points for those days, also have Member Services set aside "cash reservations" for you for the same dates. That way if you don't get your nights using points, you may be able to get your nights paying cash. (DVC sets aside a certain number of rooms for cash paying customers.)

I did this in 2006 and my points request completely filled. DVC simply canceled my cash reservations.

In 2007 I used points for every night with the exception of one evening that was not available. But since I had the cash reservation, I got my night and just paid cash (charged my credit card) for the one date.

Not the perfect answer, but I was able to book the plane, etc.!

 

[byoung]

When on the waitlist Nov 9th for studio anywhere for Dec 5 and 6th. Came thru on the 20th.

 

[Darthmerideth]

I am staying at AKV 3/14-2/22, I am on the waitlist for an additional room on 3/12 and 3/14. To guarantee the trip and reserve air, I am staying at SSR 3/12 and 3/14, then changing to AKV on 3/14. Downside, I have to change resorts during my vaction, however, I have a chance to get the room I want and plan the rest of my trip.