What does "walking" a ressie mean

[deva]

I've seen this term and can't figure out what it means. Can someone explain?

 

[Deb & Bill]

With the change to booking, it means to start reserving your 7 nights at least six nights before you actually need the reservation to start to be nearly guaranteed that you will get all the nights you need. Then you have to add another night each day and subtract a night as well.

As long as Disney is not penalizing you for dropping a night it should work.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Even though I think this practice is rather shady, I do have one question for those walkers. Say you start walking 7 days ahead of time, what happens if you can't get a ressie starting with the initial walking date? Do you "walk" the "walk"? Seems to me you could spend 100% of your time on the phone to MS. I'm just glad it doesn't really matter to me when we go to WDW, just so we go .

 

[CDNmouse]

Would you ever really need to walk your complete trip at the 11 month window? I have booked a few vacations at this time and never had a problem.

Gary

 

[Dee77]

So in other words you have to call MS each day for a 5 or 7 day stay as each date "opens" up in the booking window?

 

[CDNmouse]

So in other words you have to call MS each day for a 5 or 7 day stay as each date "opens" up in the booking window?

Yes, call to book and also to cancel a day.

A lot of work for both th caller and MS. I can't see MS allowing this for much longer.

Gary

 

[DebbieB]

Would you ever really need to walk your complete trip at the 11 month window? I have booked a few vacations at this time and never had a problem.

Gary

It usually would only really come into play for hard to get reservations for popular dates. For example, someone posted that they got shutout for a grand villa at OKW over Christmas because the dates were already taken by those who arrived earlier. Say you wanted December 28 to Jan 1. You call on January 28 and find that all the grand villas were taken by those who arrived December 25, 26, 27.

 

[DVC Mike]

Even though I think this practice is rather shady...

I agree. While the practice is theoretically "allowed", I think it's just an unintentional gap in the new rules. It's not specifically mentioned in the new rules as an accepted practice.

I won't be walking any reservations (even though I have 1,000 points and can easily do so), as I view it as not completely ethical.

I guess it can be looked at like DBD booking, which I hated. I hope MS implements a change to the rules to make "walking" more difficult, or to penalize walkers.

I know that others have no problem walking a ressie.

 

[DebbieB]

I doubt MS is going to do anything about the walking, just as they never did anything about the old day by day. The system is unfair, you can get shutout of a reservation before you ever had a chance to book it.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

The system is unfair, you can get shutout of a reservation before you ever had a chance to book it.

I agree with you. They have created a bad situation for anyone who doesn't have enough points to book a full week out. And they are not going to do anything about it because it is going to cause people to need more points to compete. It is the DVC stimulus plan.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I agree with you. They have created a bad situation for anyone who doesn't have enough points to book a full week out. And they are not going to do anything about it because it is going to cause people to need more points to compete. It is the DVC stimulus plan.

To walk a reservation, you only need enough points to book 2 weekend nights. With the reallocation of points, walking is accessible to more members than ever. I would guess very few members will need to buy more points in order to walk their reservation. -- Suzanne

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Ya'll are WAAAAAY too sophisticated for me.

I call. I book what I can get, and I schedule my vacation accordingly. My time's simply too valuable to go through the hassle.

Wow. Amazing. Learn something new every day.

 

[Dee77]

Granted I am a totally new member and tomorrow is literally the first time I will be calling to make a reservation but to go through the kind of effort that "walking" a ressie requires sounds way too complicated and time consuming. Plus it goes to show how many (IMHO "unnecessary") calls go through MS. Sorry if this seems harsh or maybe I am naive but I generally come up with a plan and hope for the best and if not make changes accordingly. Plus I believe many more people do this than just for the obvious rooms or preferred dates etc.

 

[deva]

To walk a reservation, you only need enough points to book 2 weekend nights. With the reallocation of points, walking is accessible to more members than ever. I would guess very few members will need to buy more points in order to walk their reservation. -- Suzanne

Doesn't sound like this is anything we'd ever do. We don't really go at peak times, but I'm sort of curious as to what other DVC-ers are doing. Suzanne mentions you need enough points to book 2 weekend nights. Not sure I really understand this....

Looks like you make a ressie and then call every day to do the drop and add until you get to your "true" desired start date. Do you have to have "excess" unused points in your account to do the add before you do the drop? Admittedly I'm not very well versed on the rules for changing an existing reservation, so there must be some special rules that don't treat the change as a cancellation and rebook.

Is there a limit on how many days you can walk - could you start on 12/1 for example and then just call every day to do the walk until you got to Xmas? Or are there rules that prohibit walking past the end day of your original booking?

Like I said, we don't vacation at crowded times, so I'd never see the need to do this. I can see how people wanting to travel at Xmas would be bummed if they missed out because everyone else booked their ressies with a day or two earlier start date, but on the flip side this probably puts a strain on the whole reservation system from the actual time of MS to the other people who are trying to book by the rules (for example, what about all of the people who really do want to vacation the week before Christmas - do they waitlist until all of the walkers are gone?)

 

[CarolMN]

DVC could easily stop walking if they wanted to do so - they'd just make a different group of members angry.

For example, I think the easiest way to stop walking would be to stop allowing members to add subsequent days to their initial reservation on a day by day basis. So if you have an 8 day or 9 day or longer vacation, you book your first 7 days and then wait until the window opens for the 8th day to book the rest of the vacation.

FWIW, at 11 months , no one gets entirely shut out of their home resort under the new booking method. Some get shut out of a specific booking category or specific room size and have to waitlist.

The only reports we've had so far are for AKV Concierge, OKW GV for December and sporadic reports for studios on New Year's Eve.

 

[DVC Mike]

DVC could easily stop walking if they wanted to do so - they'd just make a different group of members angry.

For example, I think the easiest way to stop walking would be to stop allowing members to add subsequent days to their initial reservation on a day by day basis. So if you have an 8 day or 9 day or longer vacation, you book your first 7 days and then wait until the window opens for the 8th day to book the rest of the vacation.

Actually, all they have to do is make a new policy that if you want to change youir check-in date, it would be considered a cancellation and rebooking.

 

[CarolMN]

Actually, all they have to do is make a new policy that if you want to change youir check-in date, it would be considered a cancellation and rebooking.

Yes, but that would mean no dropping/changing an arrival day . That's a HUGE problem for those who have to make airfare arrangements. Sometimes, a day or two earlier or later makes a big difference in the cost of airfare. I think that policy would harm far more members than not allowing members to add days to their 7 day reservation on a day by day basis.

FWIW, I don't see why DVC didn't allow members to book longer vacations with the initial call. The Day by Day method of extending a reservation guarantees a member gets what he/she wants anyway, and takes extra calls and MS time. As long as MS doesn't allow longer reservations to be broken up into two or more smaller reservations (with different names on the reservation), there shouldn't be a problem with renters breaking up the longer reservation into multiple spec rentals.

 

[roadtripper]

As desperate as I am to try for THV for Pres Week 2010 (at the 7 month window, no less), I don't think I will try to walk the ressie--certainly not for 6 nights. It seems unethical to book nights that we have no intention of staying, just to get a leg up on other 7 month bookings. A night or two due to flight considerations seems a little different, IMHO.

 

[Bopsmom]

This topic was really debated last year when the change in booking was made to DVC. 231 pages worth!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1861954

This was the thread were the threory of 'walking' was created during the discussions about the changes in reservations.
It got pretty heated but, you might want to read it.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

To walk a reservation, you only need enough points to book 2 weekend nights. With the reallocation of points, walking is accessible to more members than ever. I would guess very few members will need to buy more points in order to walk their reservation. -- Suzanne

Hey Suzanne

I've read you saying this before, but I don't get it. Let me present my true scenario. I have always discouraged renting, but with my job situation and the economic pressures I have looked into it. So, I figure the best bang for my buck is to reserve a stay that includes Christmas at my home BWV.

I know that anyone who wants Christmas is going to realize that the greatest chance of getting a unit is to book it as the last day of a 7-day stay. And if I don't want Christmas to be on the last day I walk the days to get it moved to the day of the week that I want. And from the way it looks at this time I can even cancel days to make a shorter vacation (those points going into holding though). I just don't see how you can achieve the same results with just enough points to cover the weekend days. I am assuming you are leap frogging each day, but by the time you get to Christmas it is going to be gone.

Now, in my case... I was thinking of renting a Christmas vacation in a 1 bdrm. I looked up the cost for a full week (split seasons) and it comes 221 points. I only have 200 so I can't do it unless I borrow the points. Now, granted I can borrow the points, but if I only had 150 I'm sure I wouldn't do it.

I know this is an extreme example because Christmas is the most coveted day of the year.

Am I not understanding something with the walking?

We have not ever had the desire to book any peak periods or holidays, but it surely looks discouraging for those who don't have enough points to book a full week.