Walking????

[River Country]

Any success/horror stories with trying to walk in a reservation?

 

[com_op_2000]

In over 20 years of DVC, I have never walked a reservation.

 

[Mommy2TwoMickeys]

I walked a reservation in November 2013. I started about 14 days prior to the date that I really wanted to arrive. I was looking for a dedicated 2 bedroom lake view at the VGF. Knowing that it had just opened up I knew it would be difficult. On day 14 prior to trip, at 8am I couldn't get a reservation....it took me until maybe day 11 to snag the trip. Then everyday after I would call and change my dates until I had my desired time frame. It takes time and patience for certain times of the year, but in the long run, it was very worth it! The room was amazing! Good Luck!

 

[OKW Lover]

Seems like an awful lot of effort. I doubt its needed except for the busiest time of year like Christmas/New Year and even then I'm not sure.

 

[Disneyhappy]

I have walked two reservations successfully. One was for Thanksgiving week and the other was during Jersey week after I could not get the reservation at 7 months the year prior. It was a lot of work but it was important to me.

 

[pangyal]

I was just wondering today what the DVC record might be for the longest reservation walk ever...could it be more than two weeks? Would it stretch into months? Anyone want to hazard a guess ?

 

[River Country]

good question mine is going to be a week. I already know i am not going to get 1 of the days i want but thats ok i am gonna splurge on a 2BR for Wine and Dine Half Marathon weekend somewhere

 

[butsy113]

I booked an AKV value studio mid December and walked it to January 2-9, 2014. I believe I walked a couple days over 2 weeks. I had the exact number of points and wanted to squeeze in one more trip with our PAP. With it being that time of year I didn't want to chance missing the first day. We were celebrating DD birthday and wanting to miss minimal amounts of school, so our days were not flexible.

 

[DougEMG]

I walked a reservation for PVB this Oct. I'd been watching availability and the rooms were disappearing very fast each day at the 7 month windows, so I made sure I was up at 5am PT to book online. Then just walked the next few days till I had what I wanted. Definitely was way less stressful once I had that first reservation and started walking.

 

[pangyal]

I'm wondering if people are walking PVB to ridiculous lengths just to get a week there this fall and early winter. I haven't seen availability there yet at 8:00am Eastern for the past few weeks, and every day is blocked off for the following day of the seven month windows as well it seems. I'm pretty sure we are not going to be able to get our December 11 start date there as I have a feeling people might be walking all the way through that time to get in for that week! Or am I crazy? This is our first year booking that time with DVC so I'm not sure how dedicated people are to walking for that length of time.

 

[Sandisw]

I have never walked a reservation, but I do think that the more people walk, the more rooms are out of service earlier then they need to be and thus, makes it appear that times are busier than they make actually be. But, when you know you have a situation that what you want is a must have, then I can understand why people do it.

 

[r5moores]

I'm going to risk sounding stupid and ask anyway......What is "walking a reservation" ??

 

[hopeful4fl]

What exactly is walking a reservation?

 

[CMNJ]

Booking your room for dates prior to your actual travel dates to "lock" your room in then calling member services to modify the dates. IE you want food and wine marathon weekend but are afraid you won't be able to book when your day opens up so you book earlier (like late oct or first couple days of Nov) then keep calling member services to push your dates back until your get the dates you truly want.

 

[hopeful4fl]

Thx for the explanation. Does member services have rooms other than visible to us? I mean, if the rooms are booked, how could they change the reservation?
Would love to understand.

 

[CMNJ]

No member services doesn't have additional rooms they are just pushing your stay back when you call (subject to availibilty)-you can only book 11 months prior to check in date and no one else can book any sooner so the concept is that you modify your dates before the checkout date (ie if you have the room no one else can book it until you check out). So if you want a reservation starting Dec 1st but think you won't get it at the 11 month mark (since it is supposedly the busiest DVC time) instead of booking dec 1st to dec 8th on Jan 1st you book earlier dates (like booking nov 25-dec 1 on dec 25) and then on subsequent days you call member services and ask them to modify your reservation. Starting dec 26th you can modify the reservation from nob 25-dec 1 to nov 26-dec 2 and so forth. At 7 months it is a lot tricker because even though you are blocking others booking a non home resort an owner with home resort advantage could decide to book a room during your "walk" and block you out. So it is risker and could wind up being a total waste of your time.

You should know though there is alot of controversy over this practice as you effectively block other DVc members from booking a room they want that you have no intention of using thereby forcing them to book something else, waitlist, or stalk the website to try to pick up days as you "walk" past the days they actually want. Also (I have read threads suggesting) other members are concerned that if this becomes too prevalent that member services will stop the ability to modify reservations requiring cancelling and rebooking or start charging a fee for modifying reservations to curb abuse and therefore hurt people with legitimate changes.

 

[hopeful4fl]

Thanks. I think I get it, but agree this would be an unfair practice. Was trying to understand.

 

[River Country]

I don't think its an unfair practice. I think it is a huge investment of time thats for sure. but unfair no. everyone has the same opportunity to do this and i never have either to be honest but i don't think its unfair. Also why would anyone walk at 11 months i don't understand that at all. 7 months yes but why at 11 you have the home resort priority so technically no one has the room before you anyway as long as you book at 8am the day of your 11 month window if you own and want a high demand time resort and room type.

 

[chalee94]

I don't think its an unfair practice. I think it is a huge investment of time thats for sure. but unfair no. everyone has the same opportunity to do this and i never have either to be honest but i don't think its unfair. Also why would anyone walk at 11 months i don't understand that at all. 7 months yes but why at 11 you have the home resort priority so technically no one has the room before you anyway as long as you book at 8am the day of your 11 month window if you own and want a high demand time resort and room type.

1) you are holding rooms that you don't intend to use, which interferes with other owners who want to book those nights. it's at least a little rude.

2) at 11 months out, it makes sense only in a very few cases: booking AKV club level or even relatively scarce villa types like AKV value, BLT standard, or BWV standard during new years (or food and wine for BWV).

the whole point of walking is that if i want a reservation that starts dec 25th but wait till jan 25 to try to book it, other home resort owners have had a shot to book dec 25 for the previous week (i.e. someone booking dec 25 as part of a reservation starting on dec 19 or so when they call on jan 19).

3) walking at 7 months seems silly to me. home resort owners can jump in and take nights away from you at any time. if demand isn't high enough for home resort owners to take the villas, you'll probably be fine to wait and book it (or waitlist) at 7 months out and it will come through one way or the other.

hopefully, if others think as you do, it will be considered abuse of the system and DVC will make changes to discourage it (whether by limited changes to reservations or starting to charge for calling MS or something).

 

[River Country]

I agree but it all seems silly to me anyway which is why you should buy where you want to stay. Its definitely rude i will give you that, and to be honest i never heard of it until about a week ago from somewhere on these boards. granted i have only been a DVC member for 5 years so i am still relatively new. I think MS should find a way to not allow this but it is what it is for now