Wondering how wait list works?

[BuzzLiteyear]

Was wondering if anyone might know the answer to this wait list question?

If someone cancels a date at a resort does the computer reservation system automatically connect someone on the wait list or could someone theoretically book that resort before it's checked against the wait list?

 

[chalee94]

don't know if they have changed it, but in the past, it has seemed like you could call up MS and jump ahead of someone on the wait list...

 

[DeDobber]

I'd imagine that waitlists are filled right away, but that doesn't mean it's easy to fill them. Since a waitlist is an all-or nothing proposition, the only way you can actually get a waitlist filled is if someone cancels a reservation that includes all of your dates, and you're first in line. When you think about it, that can be tricky, especially if you're talking more than maybe two nights.

In my case, I saw a cancellation pop up for XMAS at VGC and grabbed it without a waitlist. It was Sun-Thu (4 nights). Seems like there must be a lot of waitlists at Christmas, right? But, unless those waitlists were for exactly Sun-Thu, or 3 or 2 or 1 night in between, then the waitlists wouldn't be filled. Anyone who wanted Saturday was not filled. Anyone who wanted Thursday night was not filled.

This "all or nothing" issue with waitlists is I think what causes a lot of frustration. That, and the 2-waitlist limit. When I was looking, I was flexible with dates, but needed to use points by Mar 1, so I needed to constantly scan availability over the next few months. I ended up automating it to check every 6 hours. When I posted about it on another forum, they all encouraged me to keep working on it and I made it into a website.

 

[DeDobber]

Whoops, forgot the URL. If you want to see what I built, check it out at ******.com. Maybe it will be useful to you too!

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

Whoops, forgot the URL. If you want to see what I built, check it out at ******.com. Maybe it will be useful to you too!

What you said makes a lot of sense, thanks! I'll check out the link.

 

[DebbieB]

I was there 2 weeks ago on a BWV reservation that was made in September due to changes in work schedule. I put all 5 nights on waitlist. I kept checking the website, nights 3, 4 were open but I didn't want to have to keep moving. Then one day I saw nights 3, 4 & 5, grabbed them and changed the waitlist. Then I saw night 2 open, grabbed it, changed the waitlist to night 1 only. That night did come through via waitlist and they automatically changed it to a 5 night reservation, cancelling my separate reservations.

 

[bobbiwoz]

This morning I went on a WL for a Friday in December. No studios were available, and a night at AS Music cost over $150, with AP discount! However, my family plans changed and I had to leave home a day early, changed airfare and booked AS Music. Around 1 PM, I got an e-mail with a reservation at OKW!! That was fast, and saved me lots of $$$!

 

[murphyjh]

I ran a small test on how fast wait lists are filled. I had to cancel two early December five-night reservations at about 32 days. I did it by phone and monitored the availability on the site. Before I called only one night was available. The cancellations went very quickly. As soon as one was completed the five nights became available. However, after the second one was completed, the site showed all five nights as unavailable. This rapid filling of two sets of nights indicates to me that an automatic list-filing program is responsible. It might be running once per minute, or so, or it might have been triggered manually by the CM.