Waitlist Strategies

[Gary Carter]

I'm a new member and my wife and I had planned on going on a weeklong trip next summer with our points. About 2 weeks after we closed on our contract, SURPRISE! We just found out we're expecting, and a summer trip is no longer in the cards. We are trying to use up points now so we wont have to worry about banked points later with an infant.

I keep reading about "waitlist strategies" but I haven't been able to figure out what any of them are? Would any of you veteran DVC members like to share your wisdom on things I can do to make waitlists more likely to come through?

Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[kniquy]

Waitlist are a gamble and there is no guarantee that your waitlist will come through. If you are just trying to use points and are not particular as to where you stay your better options would be OKW, SSR or AKV. These larger resorts tend to have a little better odds of being filled. Usually less days will have better odds than a whole week. So waitlisting 3-4 days will possibly fill quicker than a 7 or 9 day reservation. Stalking the availability tool is also a recommended strategy. Sometimes cancellations happen and they show up on the DVC site before MS can manually fill a WL.

Waitlist success also depends upon the time of year you want to go -- between Oct to early Jan - your odds of getting your WL are slimmer than if you were looking at the typical slower time for DVC - Jan- Sept. If you have points to burn you can find rooms now for stays in Feb and March - SSR has availability or you could piece together a split stay, which can be nice to try out a few resorts within one stay.

Another option would be for you to rent out your points or do a points transfer with another member. This way you could make a little money on the points and they won't go to waste.

If you can not travel then i would bank your points that you can and then just plan for a stay after your little bundle arrives. Ask many members -- usually you never have enough points and you always want more, so banking is a good cushion for future trips.

 

[LisaDKG]

Maybe you already know this, but if you are able to book SOME of your desired dates and room type but not all, use the 2 waitlists allowance provided to each account to split up the unavailable days and make 2 waitlists for the different dates. There are better chances that 'some' of your days will become available on a shorter waitlist than a whole whack of days in a row. Also, check back for availability for your waitlisted days on the member website ALL THE TIME. Lots of members (including me) have been able to piece their reservation together by catching an available date before member services can make the change for you!

 

[LisaDKG]

So waitlisting 3-4 days will possibly fill quicker than a 7 or 9 day reservation. Stalking the availability tool is also a recommended strategy. Sometimes cancellations happen and they show up on the DVC site before MS can manually fill a WL.

Beat me to it!

 

[MommaBerd]

Maybe you already know this, but if you are able to book SOME of your desired dates and room type but not all, use the 2 waitlists allowance provided to each account to split up the unavailable days and make 2 waitlists for the different dates. There are better chances that 'some' of your days will become available on a shorter waitlist than a whole whack of days in a row. Also, check back for availability for your waitlisted days on the member website ALL THE TIME. Lots of members (including me) have been able to piece their reservation together by catching an available date before member services can make the change for you!

Jumping in with a question for clarification - are you saying that DH and I EACH can have two waitlist requests? As opposed to only two per contract?

 

[LisaDKG]

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but in my case, because both my husband and I have 1 contract and 1 account (although with different member numbers and different login etc.) we/I (I'm the only one who manages anything. He just shows up to the airport!) have the opportunity to make (only) 2 waitlist requests. I really don't know how it works if you have more than one contract? Others here could answer that perhaps?

 

[js]

Maybe you already know this, but if you are able to book SOME of your desired dates and room type but not all, use the 2 waitlists allowance provided to each account to split up the unavailable days and make 2 waitlists for the different dates. There are better chances that 'some' of your days will become available on a shorter waitlist than a whole whack of days in a row. Also, check back for availability for your waitlisted days on the member website ALL THE TIME. Lots of members (including me) have been able to piece their reservation together by catching an available date before member services can make the change for you!

Thank you for above. So, I can have two WL for each booked reservation I currently have in place? I have three separate blocks of dates booked for my trip next month and only have two WL. Is what you are saying, is that I can have two WL for each actual ressie?

Forget above, since I see you said Accounts not Reservations. Oh well, the hunt continues.