Would this trick work?

[Sandisw]

I'm currently holding 6 reservations for 7 nights at BLT as I try to put together a trip by "stalking" the website. I only need 3 more days.

I still have 6 reservations all with SSR points, all with same room. They have not combined my reservations.

PS. I got 7 of my 10 nights in under 1 week of "stalking". When I started 0 nights were free. today 0 are free but I have 7 now. STALKING works!! lol

I definitely agree that stalking the website and eventually getting a night here and there can allow you to put together in entire trip. It is a lot of work but can be so worth it.

I have put together things this way, along with small waitlists. I do think that you could certainly do what you suggest so you can cancel and re-book online, but if you have the non-resort points to use, then I don't really see the need to book it from the start day by day since you won' t need to use the same points at 7 months.

If you book it in sections or as mentioned, as a whole trip...at your 7 month mark, you stalk and book with the non-resort nights and then simply ask MS to drop the nights when you have them booked with the other points. I am pretty sure you can probably do the dropping of the nights or the reallocation of points through the MS chat feature.

 

[Dean]

Book at 11 months 1 night stays over a stretch of the trip. Then at 7 months call and have them switch points your using for the nights that are still free. Then stalk the website until you can change over all the points you want.

Example

around 11 months book 6 trips on BWV points

May 1
May 2
May 3
May 4
May 5
May 6

then at 7 months if any of the days are free or become free you call and have them use less important SSR points.

By the time the trip comes up (7 months) you will most likely be able to swap out all the points.

Even at busy times of the year (F&W, Dec) random days are always popping up.

Thoughts?

As noted you can currently do this by booking a single reservation then changing out any days available. That could change and would be one of the future risks of such an approach. This is related to the approach I was posting about a couple of days ago where you had enough points to hold an existing reservation and the new one as well, that way there's not nearly as much risk of not having a reservation. Having both the old and partial new reservation and using the WL for smaller increments gives one a dramatically higher chance of final success than simply WL the entire stay. The other advantage to booking them all together is you can do for as much as 7 days ahead rather than waiting, for difficult to get options this can be very important both at 11 & 7 months out.

 

[CarolMN]

Sometimes MS combines single night reservations without being asked. Generally, that's what most members would prefer, not to mention the resorts.