What is "walking" a reservation

[Pluto1976]

I have read this "walking" term a few times in regards to making DVC reservations and wondering what it is exactly?

Having a vague understanding of the concept, I have a feeling this is what folks did for early January reservations at Aulani and it would explain why the 2BR villas we wanted always had availability the day before booking opened at 7-months and the morning of being able to book poof 2BRs are all booked up for our arrival day. After shifting our planned arrival day a few times and experiencing GroundHog Day over and over we relented and figured this was not going to work.

Thanks!

 

[JETSDAD]

Seeing avaialbilty disappear at 7 months like that probably isn't walking. Just like other reservations, with walking they could already be booked 7 days into the 7 month window so it's not likely that they would be waiting to move a reservation until the last minute.

Walking is making a reservation, usually at 11 months, earlier than you are really needing then gradually adding days to the end and dropping from the beginning as dates move along. 7 month walks can work but can also be blocked by owners and any hole in the availability would also stop a walk.

 

[Marionnette]

I have read this "walking" term a few times in regards to making DVC reservations and wondering what it is exactly?

Having a vague understanding of the concept, I have a feeling this is what folks did for early January reservations at Aulani and it would explain why the 2BR villas we wanted always had availability the day before booking opened at 7-months and the morning of being able to book poof 2BRs are all booked up for our arrival day. After shifting our planned arrival day a few times and experiencing GroundHog Day over and over we relented and figured this was not going to work.

Thanks!

It's not likely to have been a case of walking. More likely, it was a combination of low inventory (AUL owners had booked all but a few 2BR prior to 7 months) and a slow(er) connection between your computer and the DVC computer.

 

[drusba]

Walking, which is something that mainly works at 11-months out, not 7 works like this:

Today is June 12, 2021. Someone actually wants a room for June 1 to 7, 2022. They go online today and see they can reserve the room for May 12 to 18, at exactly 11-months out from May 12. Since the particular room is full through the night of May 17, no one else attempting an 11-month out reservation between June 12 and 17 will be able to get the same room for any nights from May 12 to 17, and they also will not be able to get any nights in that same room after May 17, since you cannot get any room for nights after the 11-month window starts unless you can get the beginning date.

The member then "walks" the reservation by modifying it at least every 5 days to drop nights at the beginning and add them to the end, e.g., on June 17, the member changes the reservation to May 17-23, on June 22, he changes it to May 22-May 28, and then continues that process of modifications until he eventually has the actual date he wants, June 1 to 7,2022.

Walking has a high risk of failure if attempting it with the 7-month window because nothing prevents an owner of the applicable resort from reserving nights you may actually want before you can do so at 7-months out. There are times when walking at 7-months out might succeed but that is usually only for very short walks, lowering the risk of owners reserving the room, e.g., sometimes there are room openings showing shortly before 7-months out that will actually disappear before 7-months out. Example, suppose you want July 2-6 at 7 months out. In the past, such as at BLT, lake view rooms have often been open at 7 months out for the period June 30 to July 6. However, beginning 7-months out from July 1 they are shown as filled, That is because 7-months out from June 30 was the last time anyone could actually get July 4 time. Thus, you may attempt walking a reservation beginning 7-months out from June 30 to get the actual July 4 time you want.

At Aul there are some times when you see a room category filled the date that is exactly 7-months out, as are the days before that, but rooms are shown as open 7-months plus 1 day out, as are the days thereafter. Then, each day as a new 7-month window opens,, the room disappears for that day almost instantly at 8 a.m. in the morning. The cause of that is not walking. What is happening is that the applicable rooms are almost completely filled for any of those upcoming days. They are being shown as open simply because the total check-outs for that next day exceed the total already shown as checking-in. Thus, the pattern follows that each given day disappears at exactly 7-months out almost instantly at 8 a.m.

 

[Pluto1976]

All, This makes more sense now. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Today is June 12, 2021. Someone actually wants a room for June 1 to 7, 2022. They go online today and see they can reserve the room for May 12 to 18, at exactly 11-months out from May 12. Since the particular room is full through the night of May 17, no one else attempting an 11-month out reservation between June 12 and 17 will be able to get the same room for any nights from May 12 to 17, and they also will not be able to get any nights in that same room after May 17, since you cannot get any room for nights after the 11-month window starts unless you can get the beginning date.

A big thanks here for the explanation and example! It sounds like walking is a form of room blocking as the member essentially removes the room from inventory with the artificial reservation. The pattern repeats until the desired dates are achieved. I can see how this could be dicey at the 7-month mark.

At Aul there are some times when you see a room category filled the date that is exactly 7-months out, as are the days before that, but rooms are shown as open 7-months plus 1 day out, as are the days thereafter. Then, each day as a new 7-month window opens,, the room disappears for that day almost instantly at 8 a.m. in the morning. The cause of that is not walking. What is happening is that the applicable rooms are almost completely filled for any of those upcoming days. They are being shown as open simply because the total check-outs for that next day exceed the total already shown as checking-in. Thus, the pattern follows that each given day disappears at exactly 7-months out almost instantly at 8 a.m.

Again, thanks for the detailed reply! This is exactly the behavior I observed when trying to make the Aulani reservations. To make sure I have clarity on the explanation it sounds like minimal rooms were open and the calculation used to display the open rooms on the website is valid (ex. could be just 1 open room giving the false expectation of abundant availability), but the low count of rooms combined with the 8:00AM competition resulted in them being unavailable. Correct?

 

[drusba]

It sounds like walking is a form of room blocking as the member essentially removes the room from inventory with the artificial reservation. The pattern repeats until the desired dates are achieved. I can s This is exactly the behavior I observed when trying to make the Aulani reservations. To make sure I have clarity on the explanation it sounds like minimal rooms were open and the calculation used to display the open rooms on the website is valid (ex. could be just 1 open room giving the false expectation of abundant availability), but the low count of rooms combined with the 8:00AM competition resulted in them being unavailable. Correct?

That is correct. In the past Aulani has usually had many openings at 7-months out -- except for hotel and standard view and sometimes Island garden view -- from after about January 3 through April except for special events and holiday times during that period. I suspect what you are seeing now has a lot to do with the Covid shutdown and there are now many more Aulani owners than usual, with lots of extra banked points, who have already reserved for that January period

 

[kniquy]

I have read this "walking" term a few times in regards to making DVC reservations and wondering what it is exactly?

Having a vague understanding of the concept, I have a feeling this is what folks did for early January reservations at Aulani and it would explain why the 2BR villas we wanted always had availability the day before booking opened at 7-months and the morning of being able to book poof 2BRs are all booked up for our arrival day. After shifting our planned arrival day a few times and experiencing GroundHog Day over and over we relented and figured this was not going to work.

Thanks!

Walking usually happens at the 11 month mark for hard to get (low point rooms). Walking at the 7 month mark but that is a risky process as an owner could come in at 7 months +1 day and book this blocking you out. I have done walking but i started a few weeks out from 7months and i did get lucky. So at 7 month mark anyone can book so you have a lot of competition.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I think walking can help at 7 months, with no guarantees. And it is a risk free thing, so if the coast looks clear ahead of you, it can be worth a shot.