Elephant in the room....

[Bearval]

That's where this is headed eventually as more and more people start walking.

I agree pretty soon a larger group of people are gonna start walking MONTHS ahead of time and DVD will feel they need to implement something to discourage walking.

 

[gillep]

I agree it would hurt those people. However, it would force people to lock down those dates earlier and secure their plans. It would kind of be like, well I cannot change my dates so I need a concrete answer now. I don’t believe many people are changing their days in that 10 day period.

But it removes flexibility from the system, which I do not believe is a net positive for owners as a whole. I have accidentally booked a room for the wrong nights before (shifted by a day because I had in my mind that the day I was flying out was the first day of our trip even though we wouldn't actually be there until the next day) and was very glad that I could call in the next day to modify it and be sure that I had my room for the correct days, and to free up that first night for someone who needed it.

I am a never say never person, you don't need to modify a highly sought after reservation right after booking it until the day that you do, and I am glad that the current system gives us that flexibility, even if I were to go my entire contract length without ever using it.

Allow 3 online modifications in a 7 day period. If you need an additional change within those 7 days you are required to call in to MS. This would still allow people to modify as much as they wanted, but give an advantage to people who actually want to book the day their 11 month window opens. I could book my stay quickly online while you dial in.

Or even after 2 changes they have to call MS. You should not legitimately have to change your reservation more than that.

Again, restricting to 1, 2, or 3 online modifications in a 7 day period will do nothing to stop people who have the points to walk a 7 night reservation. You only need to modify every 6 days to successfully walk a 7 night reservation. So those with only enough points to walk a two night reservation would absolutely be impacted by this new rule, and those with the points to walk a 7 night reservation would not.

Others may not agree, but to me, anything that imposes fees, limits flexibility, or only impacts low point owners, is significantly worse than walking. There have been threads on this board and others about limiting walking since I started looking into DVC over 10 years ago, every time people claim that DVC will be doing something to stop it any day, as it is such a huge issue, and 10 years later not only has DVC chosen not to do anything about walking, but they specifically built an online booking tool that makes it easier than ever before. Many of us even first learned about walking, and got a tutorial from DVC MS representatives!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Allow 3 online modifications in a 7 day period. If you need an additional change within those 7 days you are required to call in to MS. This would still allow people to modify as much as they wanted, but give an advantage to people who actually want to book the day their 11 month window opens. I could book my stay quickly online while you dial in.

I don't think you fully understand walking. It doesn't need to be done at 8am so there's no disadvantage in needing to call in.

Or even after 2 changes they have to call MS. You should not legitimately have to change your reservation more than that.

That's very arbitrary and impossible to state that 2 changes is legitimate but more than that is not. I've legitimately had more changes than that which had nothing to do with walking. And that's the difficulty in establishing restrictions like that - situations and circumstances vary.

Regarding the one comment about "locking in a reservation" - since it's premise is a flexible point based system that flies in the face of it all. It might as well be a fixed week system if one ought to lock it in at 11 months and be done with it.

 

[cmwade77]

I agree pretty soon a larger group of people are gonna start walking MONTHS ahead of time and DVD will feel they need to implement something to discourage walking.

I can see this being a potential issue, especially now that it is so easy to modify online, but not sure what they can do that won't negatively impact others.

 

[ParkHoppers]

I suppose trying to circumvent the 11 month booking window rule doesn’t fly in the face of the overall system?........just saying.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

"I don't think you fully understand walking. It doesn't need to be done at 8am so there's no disadvantage in needing to call in."

Perhaps not. So how does that work then? When a walker adds a day to their reservation, they don't have to wait until the next day?

 

[cmwade77]

That's very arbitrary and impossible to state that 2 changes is legitimate but more than that is not. I've legitimately had more changes than that which had nothing to do with walking. And that's the difficulty in establishing restrictions like that - situations and circumstances vary.

Exactly right, take our last trip for example, we were booking a 14 night trip at the 7 month mark at Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was filling fast, we literally had to modify every morning right at 8 AM to ensure we got our room and seriously by about 10 AM on each day we would not have been able to get the room. So that was 7 modifications and of course this was just before online modification was available (seriously it became available the day after our last day of booking).

 

[cmwade77]

I suppose trying to circumvent the 11 month booking window rule doesn’t fly in the face of the overall system?........just saying.

Booking several days before your trip and walking the reservation is indeed circumventing the system, but booking at 11 or 7 months out for 7 days and then adding a day each day is not circumventing the system and everyone's suggestions so far would also prevent that.

 

[ParkHoppers]

Booking several days before your trip and walking the reservation is indeed circumventing the system, but booking at 11 or 7 months out for 7 days and then adding a day each day is not circumventing the system and everyone's suggestions so far would also prevent that.

Well their going to have to try something to discourage walking. It is already a mess for those that book at the 11 month window. Maybe you have to call MS for an add on. No big deal.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

"I don't think you fully understand walking. It doesn't need to be done at 8am so there's no disadvantage in needing to call in."

Perhaps not. So how does that work then? When a walker adds a day to their reservation, they don't have to wait until the next day?

Unless you are only walking a 2 night stay you have the room locked in (barring an event that DVC does not have inventory loaded correctly or taken out of service for some reason). You can modify anytime up until the day before the new 11 month booking window opens for a day you don't have reserved. So, if you have 7 nights booked you could modify and walk the reservation every 6 days and be fine.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well their going to have to try something to discourage walking. It is already a mess for those that book at the 11 month window. Maybe you have to call MS for an add on. No big deal.

Are you positive it's only walkers? People booking for a stay that start before someone elses will take rooms legitimately out of supply.

The "mess" is that there are some room categories that are extremely small and even more popular. It's a flexible point system and no guarantees that the room you want will be available unless you've gotten one of the fixed weeks. Oh - which also put a strain on booking because they are taken out of the inventory and sales have been weighted towards the busy times and popular room categories that might otherwise be difficult to book are shrunk in availability for others to book.

It's so easy to blame walking when there are other factors. Back when walking wasn't possible I actually think the outcries were worse - that's my memory of things.

 

[Pooh12863]

Perhaps not. So how does that work then? When a walker adds a day to their reservation, they don't have to wait until the next day?

Say you book the 1st through the 7th, you've got the 7th locked up, the 7th will be the unavailable date on the 7th at 8 am, you can wait till later in the day and shift your res to the 7th-14th and your good to go until the 14th.

 

[robinb]

Is the intent of walking to circumvent the 11 month booking rule? (of course we know it’s Yes).

I "walk" some of my reservations because if I didn't walk I would never be able to get the reservation within the 11 month window. There have been many times where my check-in date was already blocked the day before it was available because people either had legitimate reservations or were walking themselves. It's not to circumvent the 11-month window, it's to get a toe in edgewise so I can make my reservation for my dates. Back when I first bought DVC the date that you called to make your reservation was based on your check-out date. Back then, instead of walking, I would get up every single morning, book my villa for day exactly 11-months in the future and add it to my existing reservation. I would do that for 5-10 days in a row until I got all my days and I was very good at it. That methodology had the same impact on other DVC members. If I booked 12/29 + 12/30 + 12/31 + 1/1 + 1/2 and someone called on 2/2 for 12/29-1/2 they may not have been able to get it because others (like me) booked ahead of them day-by-day and the popular units (say, BWV Boardwalk Studios) were already sold out.

 

[Pooh12863]

It's not to circumvent the 11-month window, it's to get a toe in edgewise so I can make my reservation for my dates.

That sounds a whole lot like circumventing the 11 month booking rule.

 

[gillep]

Are you positive it's only walkers? People booking for a stay that start before someone elses will take rooms legitimately out of supply.

The "mess" is that there are some room categories that are extremely small and even more popular. It's a flexible point system and no guarantees that the room you want will be available unless you've gotten one of the fixed weeks. Oh - which also put a strain on booking because they are taken out of the inventory and sales have been weighted towards the busy times and popular room categories that might otherwise be difficult to book are shrunk in availability for others to book.

It's so easy to blame walking when there are other factors. Back when walking wasn't possible I actually think the outcries were worse - that's my memory of things.

Exactly, there are many legitimate reasons besides walking that have limited availability for certain resorts/categories/seasons etc.. Small point contracts at places like the Poly, where most people are likely going for the studios not the bungalows limits the availability of those studios, same for GF, small point owners cannot afford the larger villas so there is much more of a demand for studios and a limited supply. When I bought in the minimum direct purchase was 160 points, before that it was even larger, then it got down to 50 when at the same time resorts like Poly and GF came on line and they have high per night point requirements, it is no wonder why studios there have a supply issue. On the other hand BCV is a small resort and very popular, but the per night points are much smaller than those of VGF, so even though it can fill up in the home resort period, especially during F&W and for RunDisney events, you don't hear about these issues with those booking at exactly the 11 month mark. I don't even worry about waking up at 8am (5am for me) to book my BCV studio in the fall as I know I can wake up at a normal time and have no issue.

There are also times of the year that have always had demand issues like the first week of December and Christmas through NY, lots of people want to book those times so supply will naturally suffer.

I personally do not think that walking is that big of an issue with DVC supply, I honestly don't think enough people understand how to walk, and many who do know how to walk also know that they don't need to do so for their given accommodations. I think there are many other factors, such as those listed above, that are much larger contributors. I don't understand why people want DVC to become more restrictive, and the thought of having to book day by day like the old system is not even remotely appealing to me, and most people I have personally spoken with who owned during that time hated it, a few have even said that it caused them to have more split stays due to holes in availability but I have no experience with that system.

 

[robinb]

That sounds a whole lot like circumventing the 11 month booking rule.

Meh.
I would be happy to book at the 11-month window if I could.

 

[cmwade77]

Unless you are only walking a 2 night stay you have the room locked in (barring an event that DVC does not have inventory loaded correctly or taken out of service for some reason). You can modify anytime up until the day before the new 11 month booking window opens for a day you don't have reserved. So, if you have 7 nights booked you could modify and walk the reservation every 6 days and be fine.

Except when you are booking at the 7 month window that doesn't work.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Except when you are booking at the 7 month window that doesn't work.

I only speak of walking in the 11 month context. Walking is not really a plan at 7 month IMO. It has variables that don't exist at 11 months that can too easily affect the outcome.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

i generally agree with the OP that small contracts are not good for the DVC system as a whole. But there ARE members who only travel to Disney every 3 years for whom a smaller contract can work, but I still think at least 100 points would be better to deal with with than 25 to 50. Remember. the first DVC, OKW, required a minimum purchase of 230 points when it opened. That is really the type of contract (or larger) that the system is geared for.

Agreed! Think of the mailing costs for all those shiny brochures and magnets.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

Who remembers the "lottery" for Christmas week? Gave everyone a fair shot for a bit. And then everyone registered - if they 'won', they auctioned the room to the highest bidder.