Waitlist vent

[wdw4rfam]

Sorry but I have to vent. Is it just me or should EVERY room cancelled be scanned to make sure there isn’t a waitlist BEFORE put back on site for people to book? So aggravating to see rooms pop up to book knowing there is a waitlist. We actually scored 5 night in club level AKL a few years ago because of this, so I get that it makes someone happy. But man that stinks when you see your waitlisted night pop up for just anyone to book when you have had a wait on it for months. I hate having to stalk 24/7 knowing that the waitlist is probably not going to catch it before someone else will grab it. Especially when trying to get a high demand room.

 

[Vulnox]

I agree, the waitlist is a bit of a let down for us. I can see not doing like you proposed (making Waitlist fill an available room before making it generally available) if waitlist requests were unlimited, but since there are limited to two, it would be reasonable to have that option. I have had to stalk rooms several times a day while our Waitlist requests remain unfilled, and have managed to piece things together myself. But in the future I may not even both with the waitlist, I guess it's an alright extra bit of insurance. But anyone relying on it alone may be in for tough times.

 

[Sandisw]

I think it catches them more than we think, because there is no way to know. That is why I wish they would add something showing a waitlist is pending. Too many times, I have stalked, gotten my night, canceled my waitlist, and another that room pops up. Or, I stalk, grab my second choice, cancel my waitlist, and go back and check and sure enough, my first choice is there. It means the wait list had indeed grabbed it.

I know the other night I say two nights pop up at AKL CL in a 1 bedroom for my March trip. Silly me decides lets try it (even though I do not like AKV)...changed my SV rooms from RIV to it and immediately regretted it.

Within a minute, I go back in, modify and poof, the first of two nights in my SV room at RIV is now gone. So, I think it did get caught. Fortunately, over the last few days I was able to get those nights back at RIV, but now paying for PV...oh well...

I think the problem is that cancellations won't always match exactly to the waitlist, so I think that is why they show up? Maybe, the system will pull if it is an exact match automatically, but not if it is not.

For example, if I cancel 5 nights in a SV studio at RIV and there is no exact match, the rooms go back, and then when the system runs, or while its running, it picks off those dates to match ones for less nights?

 

[SleeplessInTO]

I just had a wait list come through for a night in March I’ve been stalking religiously for a month. It does work. Who knows when it actually filled but I know that I didn’t see that room pop up.

 

[karrit2000]

This is why I will only waitlist single nights rather than complete stays. I've usually had decent luck in the past pre-covid but haven't really tried wait-listing anything the past two years. I know they don't want us doing single night waitlists but I'd rather have a bit of control over dates than relying on maybe getting several nights together in one shot. I'll book what I can get at a particular resort and then add waitlists night by night to fill in the gaps while hanging on to a filler reservation at an alternate. I will also stalk for available missing nights trying to get what I want. I once ended up with 2 weeks of reservations at BWV that included 5 separate stays in different studio room types. It was a pain to keep moving but was the best I could do during F&W.