Why is "stalking" a thing if there's a waitlist?

[toesmom]

Does stalking give you a chance to grab an available reservation before it goes to the waitlist? Is there a benefit to stalking? Does the waitlist mechanism have like a delay built into it to allow stalking to work?

I feel like if the waitlist is instant, then stalking would not be a thing. So there must be some delay or other nerf to waitlists. Appreciate any insights anyone has.

Sadly waitlist does not really work as it should. If I have a waitlist set up and that room becomes available I should waitlist filled, it should not go back into regular room availability until waitlist tries to match. But that seems to be what happens regularly.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

I just picked up a night by stalking. The wait list didn't fill first. That's why I stalk in addition to putting in a wait list.

 

[drusba]

As one can see, the reason many stalk, besides having a waitlist, is because there have been many reports in the past of members having waitlists but then getting what they want via stalking while their waitlists are open. Why that occurs remains an unknown.

 

[luckyman_apd]

It's almost impossible to have an automated system in place unless EXACTLY what you have on waitlist is canceled and then it could match to your waitlist. But then prioritizing someone who has 2 days waitlisted vs your 3 or 4........so many variables to program in and every scenario....always gonna be a weird exception.......

Stalking has worked for me for a single night here and there.....was able to patchwork a trip and then slowly work it to what I wanted by stalking but that was A LOT of time and A LOT of effort and stress. The ideal scenario would be a system in place that autoslotted waitlists but in reality it's pretty impossible to have a program run like that with 100% success.