When to book 4br at Wyndham Bonnet Creek?

[ambiancetc]

Hi, we stayed in a 2 bedroom at WBC in April and LOVED it! After talking it up to our good friends they would like to come down with us in February and we'd like to stay in a 4 bedroom so we can socialize after the kids are tucked away. My question is, when should I book it? I've contacted the gal we used before but she doesn't have access to the 4 bedrooms. I've now contacted a few different sellers on Ebay and some of the dates we've looked at are already sold out and for booking now it's at the higher prices of $2300 a week. Two of them suggested I wait until the 60 day mark to book so I can get it for around $1500-1800 which would be a big savings! Am I risking it not being available though? It is too much of a risk? It wouldn't be the end of the world to be in two, two bedrooms but it wouldn't be as convenient obviously.

What has your past experience been? We're flexible enough to go anytime between Jan 31st and Feb 22nd.

Thanks in advance!

 

[JimMIA]

I just checked availability for you and there are zero 4 BRs available at WBC for the whole month of February. I booked one for a friend a week ago for late March and the only thing available was handicapped accessible.

ETA -- there are 2 and 3 bedrooms available during February, both deluxe and Presidential. Don't know if those would work for you.

 

[ambiancetc]

Thank you Jim. Looks like we might have to go with the two bedrooms then.

What do you think my chances of picking up a 4 bedroom at the 60 day mark would be? Any good? I'm thinking if two bedroom availability stays open I might wait to book until closer or book with someone who could upgrade the room if one became available at 60 days. Does this sound like a reasonable idea? Has anyone done this before?

 

[JimMIA]

Thank you Jim. Looks like we might have to go with the two bedrooms then.

What do you think my chances of picking up a 4 bedroom at the 60 day mark would be? Any good? I'm thinking if two bedroom availability stays open I might wait to book until closer or book with someone who could upgrade the room if one became available at 60 days. Does this sound like a reasonable idea? Has anyone done this before?

I have no crystal ball, and therefore no idea. I'm skeptical about a 4BR opening up, but I've never tried it.

Depending on how many total people are in your party, and the ages/genders of the party, a three bedroom deluxe might work. 3 BR Deluxes sleep 10, with privacy for 6 or 8 depending on configuration.

3 BR Presidentials sleep only 8, so that would probably not work.

On the floorplan shown on the member's site, the 3 BR deluxe shows a master with a King and master bath, a second bedroom with a king or queen, and a third bedroom with either two doubles or two queens. The 9th and 10th people would be on the sofa-bed in the living room.

The 2nd and 3rd bedrooms (and sofa bed, probably) share a bathroom. If you have 10 people, that's 8 to ONE bathroom...which is a LOT unless a bunch of them are little biddy kids. If 4-5 of them are teenage girls, it's a war.

The other option would be to get two 2BRs. If you have a really flexible person you are renting from, you might be able to reserve two 2BRs now and keep trying to get a 4BR later.

There is good and bad with two 2BRS. The good is that each family has their privacy, AND if something happens and the other family changes their mind, you're not holding the bag for a 4 BR. Especially if you have them handle their 2 BR on their own, rather than you doing it for them.

That's not a trivial consideration. Often people look at getting a room on the cheap and they are all-in. But as the vacation approaches, they start adding up airfare, park tickets, food, car rental, etc, etc, etc -- and they start to realize just how expensive a WDW vacation really is. Pretty soon after that realization, all sorts of excuses start popping up which prevent them from making the trip.

The downside with two 2 BRs is that they will not be next door to each other, and in fact, may be on the other side of the resort. Also, two 2 BRs should cost a little more than a 4 BR just because the points cost is slightly higher.

Good luck!

 

[Upatnoon]

Hi, we stayed in a 2 bedroom at WBC in April and LOVED it! After talking it up to our good friends they would like to come down with us in February and we'd like to stay in a 4 bedroom so we can socialize after the kids are tucked away. My question is, when should I book it? I've contacted the gal we used before but she doesn't have access to the 4 bedrooms. I've now contacted a few different sellers on Ebay and some of the dates we've looked at are already sold out and for booking now it's at the higher prices of $2300 a week. Two of them suggested I wait until the 60 day mark to book so I can get it for around $1500-1800 which would be a big savings! Am I risking it not being available though? It is too much of a risk? It wouldn't be the end of the world to be in two, two bedrooms but it wouldn't be as convenient obviously.

What has your past experience been? We're flexible enough to go anytime between Jan 31st and Feb 22nd.

Thanks in advance!

If you look on ebay, you can find 4 bedrooms all the time. I'm sure many of them are snatched up by megarenters. You could try contacting some of them, or just wait until closer to your trip. That would require some flexability on your part, though.

 

[JimMIA]

If you look on ebay, you can find 4 bedrooms all the time. I'm sure many of them are snatched up by megarenters. You could try contacting some of them, or just wait until closer to your trip. That would require some flexability on your part, though.

I suspect Upatnoon is correct. Probably the reason why there is no 4 BR availability is that people who rent reservations for a living have reserved all of the units and are renting them on eBay.

 

[ambiancetc]

Thank you for all the helpful tips. We'll be 4 adults and 5 kids 2-9 and 1 teenager. The 3 bedroom bathroom situation would be a nightmare. The other mom is going to need a bathroom of her own in the morning I think the 2 bedrooms are going to be our fall back plan. The gal I rented from before is willing to keep an eye on availability for me to give me time to wait for the fall and see if a 4 pops up or the mega renters start advertising for that time frame. Thankfully, we're all pretty flexible with our jobs and are driving or using SW so can change dates around pretty easily if we had too.

Being stuck carrying the big bag is of course a very valid consideration. They told us they wanted to come 2 months ago but I've waited to dive into it to make sure they meant it and understood what all is involved. I gave them a complete layout of all the costs (and even padded them a little) and they've set the money aside. We just didn't expect the 4br to be double what they are listed for in July! If I can get it down to $1800 a week we'd be golden. Otherwise, the person I rented from before will rent us the two bedrooms for $775 so that great too.

 

[WendyZQ]

Have you tried VBRO? I just booked for March with a reseller I found there. Great resource to connect with individual owners and larger resale companies.

 

[Spanky]

I am a Wyndham owner but since I do not own at Bonnet Creek I can only reserve 10 months out from the date I want. Over the last 4 years I have never seen a 4 Bedroom condo available to rent at the 10 months out mark - believe me I have checked multiple months. I can see a mega point person tying up the 4 bedroom and then don't get a renter so they lower the price but there really are very few 4 bedrooms on the entire property. I have enough Wyndham points for the 4 bedroom but can never find one to rent. I did the 2 - 2 bedrooms 4 years ago and WBC was able to put us across the hall from each other - we did end up on the bottom floor of the building. I agree with you - the 4 bedroom would be so much nicer if you can find one to rent. It is great for folks that want to rent but it really is a bummer for us Wyndham owners that can not take advantage of the system we belong to and should be able to use. Good ole supply and demand. I just ended up renting from one of the mega point person this time around so I could get a 4 bedroom.

 

[pcstang]

I rented a 4 bedroom through Farrell for the second week of June after a week at universal. I contacted him at the end of feb and he had availability if I could move my dates by one day which was no problem for me. No one else had anything available and it was $1799 for the week.

 

[Upatnoon]

Hi, we stayed in a 2 bedroom at WBC in April and LOVED it! After talking it up to our good friends they would like to come down with us in February and we'd like to stay in a 4 bedroom so we can socialize after the kids are tucked away. My question is, when should I book it? I've contacted the gal we used before but she doesn't have access to the 4 bedrooms. I've now contacted a few different sellers on Ebay and some of the dates we've looked at are already sold out and for booking now it's at the higher prices of $2300 a week. Two of them suggested I wait until the 60 day mark to book so I can get it for around $1500-1800 which would be a big savings! Am I risking it not being available though? It is too much of a risk? It wouldn't be the end of the world to be in two, two bedrooms but it wouldn't be as convenient obviously.

What has your past experience been? We're flexible enough to go anytime between Jan 31st and Feb 22nd.

Thanks in advance!

Right now, I count 11 4 bedroom presidentials for rent on ebay ranging from $1,000 to $1,700.