Waitlist Question

[TinkerBelle920]

I just saw the 3 nights I need come up on the website at BLT but by time I clicked to book them 2 were already gone. I am so sad Does this mean that no one is on the waitlist for those nights? I added a waitlist right after that so I am wondering if I am #1 on the waitlist or if DVC just let that one slip through the cracks

 

[Breyean]

The prevailing theory seems to be when a room opens up because of a cancellation it shows as available immediately on line. So we can see it and if you call MS, they can see it.

But the waitlist for those open rooms is only run periodically against available rooms. So if you check on line after someone cancels but before the waitlist is compared to open rooms, you can book it.

I've done this a couple of times already. I was so surprised to get rooms at VGC only a couple of months out from my travel date, and there had been no rooms open for weeks while I kept checking, until one day they were. I posted on the board about how lucky I was, and two other members posted they had those days waitlisted and were amazed I had gotten them w/o being on the waitlist, and they didn't get their waitlist filled.

I really think this has been going on all along. Even today there's a new thread somewhere by a member who called MS about their waitlist and had it come through while they were on the phone. People have been reporting that happening for a long time. It when you call that MS actually does a manual check for availability, thus beating the waitlist system to the punch.

It's just now, with on line booking, that we can see a little behind the curtain and make an educated guess about this aspect of the waitlist system.

 

[Disbroads]

I've seen many theories on wait list. with the tens of posts about it "matching when I called", versus the thousands that do match normally, I wonder is it coincidence?
Plus, I'm told there can be a lag time between when the room comes available and when a CM turns it into a reservation.
With however many room types and however many thousand open wait lists covering however many spans of dates over the 11 month window, it can't be "watching" them all at once.
They probably have to control how much of the system resources the process can consume, so it may take a while for it to cycle through all the requests?

If 10 people a day call to check on their wait list, what are the odds someone will periodically hit that time when it just matched?