Waitlists?? Should you call from time to time??

[edk35]

I know for my ressie in Aug....they actually called me months ago for a waitlist day. Now I understand they don't do that anymore?? I have another waitlist for our Nov. trip and I go on line to the DVC site often to check ....but nothing has changed in my vacation details. BOOOHOOOO. I seem to read on here that when people call in ...THEY MAGICALLY seem to get their waitlists.....so is this coincidental or should we call every so often?? How often do you think they actually update the dvc site?? Thanks

 

[MLK-RI]

We saw our wait list came through the other day on the DVC Members site. I still have a different one waiting so I also check often.

Calling has never gotten me the magic - oh it just came through or anything like that. Now being able to see it happen on the members site works fine unless there was a mistake and you are on the list incorrectly, I call now and then but usually just email to make sure things are in order and I am still on the list.

The only reason I call is that most of our trips involved 2 contracts we own and they dates are often split between them which sometimes makes it "interesting". Some CM's have absolutely no trouble with this others seem to.

 

[edk35]

We saw our wait list came through the other day on the DVC Members site. I still have a different one waiting so I also check often.

Calling has never gotten me the magic - oh it just came through or anything like that. Now being able to see it happen on the members site works fine unless there was a mistake and you are on the list incorrectly, I call now and then but usually just email to make sure things are in order and I am still on the list.

The only reason I call is that most of our trips involved 2 contracts we own and they dates are often split between them which sometimes makes it "interesting". Some CM's have absolutely no trouble with this others seem to.

Do you mean you really saw it change on the web site...right before your eyes?? LOL

 

[MLK-RI]

Ha, not quite but close! I was getting a bit neurotic about checking and it seems I checked before lunch nothing, then afterwards BINGO!

(In my defense I was contemplating getting a cash night to cover us, so I was checking a lot. )

 

[lorli]

We recently were waitlisted for our August trip. I watched the DVC site and it showed up without any problems. This was our first wait list so I was a bit neurotic about it so I checked an awful lot but it came through when I was afraid it might not.

 

[loveswdw]

We've only WL'd a few times. All but one came through -- VWL first week of Dec. last year WL'd at 7 months out didn't come through-- I've never called about any of them. Well this year we ended up adding 2 days to the end of our trip due to a good airfare deal and I had to WL one of those nights in order not to move. We WL'd on July 5th. Nothing had come through yet. Well last week I called MS to add the dining plan to our reservation and while on the phone the CS said "Oh I can go ahead and book your WL'd OKW 1BR. Its available now." So I was very happy. I just wonder if I hadn't called to check something else if we'd have gotten that 1BR or if we'd still be waiting.

I say it never hurts to call.

 

[chappellfamily]

we are on wait list for a week in october and haven't heard anything.
for those getting their wait list request...are you getting the entire week or individual days?

 

[J and R's mom]

In the past I had always had luck when I called.

This time, NOTHING!

I called MS again today and asked if I was still auto-confirm or call (we waitlisted before the June 1 change to auto-waitlists only). The CS told me that I was on auto-confirm and explained how that worked.

She said that the computer will identify matches BUT a MS rep has to actually go into the system and complete the reservation change.

This could be why some of the waitlists seem to "magically" appear when one calls. The waitlist was identified by the computer but not yet entered into the system by a MS rep.

 

[J and R's mom]

we are on wait list for a week in october and haven't heard anything.
for those getting their wait list request...are you getting the entire week or individual days?

I book one reservation and waitlist for the entire stay. I have little ones (ages 2 and 4) and don't want to risk switching resorts (or not being able to link all of the individual, day-by-day reservations together--thus having to switch rooms).

In the past three years I have not had a problem getting the waitlists to come through and none took longer than six weeks.

This year, I have not even had a glimmer of hope on any of the resorts I'm waiting for (and it's for the same week of December that I've waitlisted in the past) and it's been over 2 months now.

I guess it all depends on the year...

 

[wen-tom]

Am i right in thinking that you are ony waitlisted until 30 days before youre stay? and that you have to request to stay on the waitlist after this time?

Does anyone know if its possible to ask at the resort when you check in to see if anything else is available? I currently have a 1BR booked at AKL that i want to change for 2 studios (to seperate me from my mother in law) my waitlist hasn't come through yet but i was wondering with the resort being under constant work, whether they might be able to see if the 2 studios are available when we check in? can resort make the change or do you have to go through MS?

PHEW! hope that makes sense

 

[J and R's mom]

Am i right in thinking that you are ony waitlisted until 30 days before youre stay? and that you have to request to stay on the waitlist after this time?

Does anyone know if its possible to ask at the resort when you check in to see if anything else is available? I currently have a 1BR booked at AKL that i want to change for 2 studios (to seperate me from my mother in law) my waitlist hasn't come through yet but i was wondering with the resort being under constant work, whether they might be able to see if the 2 studios are available when we check in? can resort make the change or do you have to go through MS?

PHEW! hope that makes sense

You will have to call around 31 days out from the vacation and request to be kept on the waitlist. Seven days out from the vacation, there is no longer a waitlist so you would have to call day-by-day. I'm not certain, but I would think the front desk could try and accomodate your request upon arrival if there is availability. That's probably a good question to ask MS.

 

[Simba's Mom]

You will have to call around 31 days out from the vacation and request to be kept on the waitlist. Seven days out from the vacation, there is no longer a waitlist so you would have to call day-by-day. I'm not certain, but I would think the front desk could try and accomodate your request upon arrival if there is availability. That's probably a good question to ask MS.

Do I call MS if I don't get my waitlist by 7 days out? And then, I can ask again at check-in, is this right? I'm waiting for BCV for the last 2 nights of my stay, and I really don't want to move. Has anyone gotten their waitlist at check-in?

 

[J and R's mom]

Do I call MS if I don't get my waitlist by 7 days out? And then, I can ask again at check-in, is this right? I'm waiting for BCV for the last 2 nights of my stay, and I really don't want to move. Has anyone gotten their waitlist at check-in?

Call at 31 days out and request to remain on the waitlist. Starting at 7 days out you will have to call MS day-by-day since there will no longer be a waitlist for anyone.

I made a reservation at BWV (BWview) three weeks out from our stay in Feb 2006. Our last day was the only one we had to waitlist for. I had to start calling at seven days out. I called on the morning of the 3rd day out and nothing had come through. I called again the evening of the 3rd day out and was told that someone at the resort had switched us to a BWview for our final night. Until then, I wasn't even aware that they could do that. That's the closest I've ever come to check-in for waiting on a waitlist to come through.

 

[wen-tom]

You will have to call around 31 days out from the vacation and request to be kept on the waitlist. Seven days out from the vacation, there is no longer a waitlist so you would have to call day-by-day. I'm not certain, but I would think the front desk could try and accomodate your request upon arrival if there is availability. That's probably a good question to ask MS.

Well, i called MS to ask them if resort can check availability on check in and they said yes, they can.

 

[J and R's mom]

But hopefully, your waitlist will come through before then and you won't have any worries. Here's to hoping...

 

[abeyst]

I called 2 days ago just to 'check' to make sure my waitlists were still there (I had a problem with 1 day disappearing a month ago). They said I had a match waiting, but they didn't know what to do with it or how I wanted to work my other ressie. I asked 'why didn't you call?' She said they don't call anymore. And here I was told by MS last week that since I booked before June 1 they'd call..... I wonder how long they would have held that ressie before they just gave it to someone else.

BTW, I was waitlisted day by day for a 2BR, and they had the 2nd, 3rd & 4th for me all at the same time.

So yes, I'd call and check periodically. My experience with MS has been that they have moments of incompetence, especially if you're reservation is somewhat complicated.

I'm on a waitlist for 2 nights in December - I confirmed with MS this week that I was on the waitlist until 7 days before and they said yes. so you should be able to ask them now if they'll extend your waitlist until 7 days before. If one rep won't do it, call back. You'll be able to get a rep who will do it. (and still call to check every few weeks on your waitlist and confirm it's for up to 7 days before.)

 

[wen-tom]

Wow Thats not good that they werent going to do anything with your waitlist - lucky you called!

I think i will call them today - just to make sure!

 

[rellabee]

I'm only 2 weeks out from my vacation, and I've been checking online everyday. My waitlist autoconfirmed yesterday!!

 

[tonyolily]

I'm only 2 weeks out from my vacation, and I've been checking online everyday. My waitlist autoconfirmed yesterday!!

Can I ask how many nights you had waitlisted?

I've got 7 nights for Dec. 15-22, and I'm wondering what our chances are in getting it.

 

[rellabee]

Here is what I had originally.

6 nights at SSR, followed by 3 at BCV in a studio (Thurs- Sunday). The Sun - Thurs preceding were completely booked.

I really wanted to try BCV, so I had waitlisted for various combinations of the days from my SSR stay to try to at least add on some days to my BCV stay.

At about 30 days out, I started calling each day to see if I could incrementally add on extra days (got Wednesday and Tuesday that way). the first 2 nights of my visit were available (Fri and Sat night), but I didn't want to have to move twice so I didn't take them. I was waitlisted for 2nights (Sunday and Monday) which is what came through yesterday. So in a nutshell, through a combination of calling and waitlisting, I've added on 4 days at BCV in the last 2 weeks. Today, I will call as soon as they open and see if they still have my first Fri and Sat available, so that I don't have to move at all!!!

I think that it helped that I broke the "waitlist" into pieces. I had been on it since May, and couldn't get any movement until the 30 day mark. Then I was able to incrementally pick up days.