New booking policy!

Ok, so I am sure all you savy DVC'ers know by now about the new booking policy that was sprung this week. But...just in case....you can now book beginning with the arrival date and for most of your trip thus elminating the day by day booking for most. If you have an extended trip - say 7 days or more- there are still some hoops to jump thru but this is the jist of the new procedure.

So, what are your thoughts? Many see a loophole for abuse. One could call and book for their entire 7 day trip but only plan on using the last 5 nights, call back and cancel the first few nights and obtain a booking advantage. At least this is what is being discussed on other boards. There is talk that you may have to cancel the entire trip and start over as a penalty to avoid this issue.

Just curious what the Tugger view is.

Personally I just love the fact that we hear about it on a message board.

I'm sure there are a good number of members who won't find out about it until they call MS or get the next mag(who knows when that is coming out).

Just have a gut feeling it's not going to work out the way upper mgmt has invisioned. Perhaps we are going to a you can make a 7 day ressie at 11 months and everything else(shorter stays, staying at non-home resort) will be at 7 months.

Only thing I like is the getting rid of the day by day waitlist, I WL the whole trip or nothing. Gives me a better chance.


I'm still I got a 2br BW view for a 4 night stay at MLK. They even had the 2queenbeds in the 2nd br available at BCV. I had a choice .

I have never had an issue getting what I need when I need it and I did not do day to day. I travel springbreak to BCV so have owners 11 month window but do not use it.

Not sure how this will impact that.

I made a ressie for next springbreak in 2 bedroom (2 queen beds) sat to sat 3/28-4/04 no issues and not made day to day.

capjak said:

I have never had an issue getting what I need when I need it and I did not do day to day. I travel springbreak to BCV so have owners 11 month window but do not use it.

Not sure how this will impact that.

I made a ressie for next springbreak in 2 bedroom (2 queen beds) sat to sat 3/28-4/04 no issues and not made day to day.

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I use my 11 month window at SSR and VB. I have for the past 2 years called day by day for Easter at VB for a 2br, pretty much every CM at MS told me to do this.

But after talking to some transplanted Buckeyes who book at 7 months with SSR points, I think it may have been overkill doing it day by day at 11 months.

But then again I'm one of those people who can be on the phone right at 9am.

Thanks for posting! I haven't been on the disboards for a few weeks, so this is the first I am hearing about this. Interesting! I'll have to read more about it. I use my 11-month booking window with no problems, though I did call day to day for Thanksgiving week. I can see how this new policy would mean less calling for me, but possibly more competition. Who knows. Hopefully they will come up with a good cancellation policy so folks won't book a check-in day that they don't really want to "jump the line."

Denise L said:

Thanks for posting! I haven't been on the disboards for a few weeks, so this is the first I am hearing about this. Interesting! I'll have to read more about it. I use my 11-month booking window with no problems, though I did call day to day for Thanksgiving week. I can see how this new policy would mean less calling for me, but possibly more competition. Who knows. Hopefully they will come up with a good cancellation policy so folks won't book a check-in day that they don't really want to "jump the line."

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I make just one call at T-giving, hey I'm a SSR and they have tons of dedicated 2brs.

We can only hope they came up with a good cancellation policy, my guess is they didn't.

I am willing to give the new policy a chance but like anything new, there will be bumps along the way.

I am more upset about the way they did this. Where was the announcement or lead in? Couldn't you say that as of July 1st this is the policy or something? But no, we had to find out from someone who called for a reservation, was told and then posted it on the internet. And then we again have the problem of CM's in MS who haven't been trained and don't know anything about it or aren't giving out consistent info according to other sites. For a company that is so customer driven as Disney appears to be, this was handled poorly.

laxmom said:

I am willing to give the new policy a chance but like anything new, there will be bumps along the way.

I am more upset about the way they did this. Where was the announcement or lead in? Couldn't you say that as of July 1st this is the policy or something? But no, we had to find out from someone who called for a reservation, was told and then posted it on the internet. And then we again have the problem of CM's in MS who haven't been trained and don't know anything about it or aren't giving out consistent info according to other sites. For a company that is so customer driven as Disney appears to be, this was handled poorly.

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That's what bothers me the most, reading about it on the internet. Very un-Disney.

The DVC owners who don't frequent the different boards online won't find out about this until the 1) try to make a reservation the old way or 2) Get the fall Disney Files where they plan to make a formal announcement.

I'm really upset with this new policy.

For one thing, it is in direct violation of the POS I was given when I bought, which clearly states that each day will be available to all owners of a given resort at the same time. Now, someone booking a reservation that starts a day or two before yours will have a head start on getting those difficult to get days (think BWV standard New Year's eve).

And with the current policy of allowing days to be cancelled off a reservation, a person with a lot of points could book a 7 day reservation just to get a head start on getting the 6th and 7th days. Then cancel the 1st 5 days.

I bought a smallish BWV contract for the express purpose of booking a standard view BWV New Year's eve and/or Food/Wine. To date I've had no problem. Now it will be impossible. With the current system, NYE standard view rooms are gone on the 1st booking day. With the new system, if you want a reservation beginning Dec 30 or Dec 31, those days will be long gone by people with reservations beginning Dec 25 or 26 or 27 or 28 or 29. Whereas with the current system, every BWV owner has and equal shot at getting Dec 31.

I think the cancellation policy will need to work as follows, and I am not sure it already doesn't (so one MS agent told me):

Should you need to modify the check-in day of a reservation (to a later date and covering any of the original nights), the reservation shall be cancelled and rebooked. If the resort has a wait-list in place, the reservation dates shall be reallocated to the wait-list parties 1st, with the original reservation holder going to the bottom of the wait-list.

Personally, I am thrilled. It is such a HUGE waste of my time as well as that of Disney's to have people calling day by day. No other system asks to you to do this. I almost fell off my chair when I heard about having to do it this way for Disney. How lame.

I think it's great that it can be booked for up to 7 days. The hold times will be much shorter. And since it's a flexibly system not just weekend to weekend travel, the desired days are likely to balance out and everyone will have a fair chance.

Remember, some don't like to use DVC points on the weekends because they require more points. Others can only travel on weekends due to work... So in the end, it will all even out. I agree about the notification though -- they should have sent us all a post card at the least.

Thumbs up from me! Katherine

Ditto SDKath's comments above. I'm thrilled and told MS so yesterday when booking 10n at BWV for Jan 2009.

Major Change to Disney Vacation Club Booking Policy

This change begins to bring DVC’s policies more in line with
those of other time shares, which allow owners to book in
advance of their arrival date rather than their departure date.

Post 1150

Rhonda and Katherine

Stay away from the Disboards, if you like any part of the new policy!


I now rank up there with the evil renters because I start my Thanksgiving and Easter DVC trips over the weekend. Hence getting an advatage in their eyes.

Hey it's not my fault I bought enough points to cover Fri-Sat nights and like to stay a week!


IMHO the best part is getting rid of the day by day waitlist. Don't know about the rest of you, but I like to unpack and relax for my vacation.

I don't get the resort hopping

SDKath said:

It is such a HUGE waste of my time as well as that of Disney's to have people calling day by day. No other system asks to you to do this. I almost fell off my chair when I heard about having to do it this way for Disney.

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Disney never 'asked' or 'required' you to book day-by-day! It was a personal choice by members concerned about getting a hard-to-get reservation. If you weren't concerned, why would you ever call day-by-day? If you were concerned, why aren't you concerned now that that option has been taken away? At least 95% of my reservations were made with a single call. I only booked day-by-day for NYE. With day-by-day you were virtually guaranteed to get the reservation of your choice. Everyone was on an equal playing field for getting any given day. And this was stated in the POS!

Now, it's a crapshoot. I don't expect I'll ever get a BWV standard room for NYE again as they'll be long gone by the time I'll be able to call. The new system favors those with a large number of points, those booking weekends, commercial renters, and those willing to 'game' the system by overbooking and then cancelling some days off their reservation. (I certainly hope that with the new system, any change to a reservation will require a cancellation and rebooking based on availability!)

As for tying up MS times, I'm sure my 5-day day-by-day booking took less time overall than the person booking 11 months out, then calling at 7 months out to cancel and rebook at a different resort, possibly going on a waitlist, and calling several more times to check on the waitlist. Maybe they should eliminate that procedure also!

I think the POS should have a big disclaimer on it that says "Read this is you want to, but you shouldn't bother because it's meaningless, and we can change anything we want whenever we want!" eg: change in booking policy, change in banking policy, elimination of smoking units, OKW extension, new booking categories for OKW, etc.

dvc_john said:

I think the POS should have a big disclaimer on it that says "Read this is you want to, but you shouldn't bother because it's meaningless, and we can change anything we want whenever we want!" eg: change in booking policy, change in banking policy, elimination of smoking units, OKW extension, new booking categories for OKW, etc.

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The DVC Home Resort Rules and Regulations, Sec IV.3 -

DVCMC reserves the right to amend these Rules and Regulations, in its sole, absolute and unfettered discretion. These changes may effect a Club Member’s right to use, exchange or rent the Club Member’s Ownership interest and impose obligations upon the use and enjoyment of his or her Ownership interest and the appurtenant Club Membership. Club Members will be notified of any such changes through Member Services publications.

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DVC Multi-Site POS, Sec 3b –

such changes could adversely affect their ability to secure reservations when and where they want them.

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I realize they have reserved the right to make changes. I'm just saying why bother reading the POS, or waste desk/filing cabinet space to keep the thing in, when it is pretty much meaningless!

And what about 'Club Members will be notified of any such changes though Member Services publications." I guess their right to make changes includes the part about notifiying members of changes. It would be nice if they notified members BEFORE they made the change, rather than rely on word-of-mouth thru internet bulletin boards! (I guess it now is finally on the member website at least.)

It's also interesting to note that the disclosure you site is in the same section of the POS that says any allocation of points must result in the same number of overall points. Raising a point requirement for a given night requires a lowering of the point requirement for a different night. Is that statement also subject to change in DVCMC's sole discretion?

I generally stay far away from DISboards anyway. Too much repetitive questions, too much advertising for their only sponsor, and way too easy to get "censored" when you post contrary to the mass opinion.

Well thought out posts at TUG are way more valuable to me.

DVC John -- my guide "highly recommended" that I book day by day for anything but off season (where I can practically trade in via II anyway). Most of us who are on TUG and other boards know how to work the system. By virtue of it being recommended by my guide, I have done it over and over again (and it's a pain). Now that it's no longer needed, I am happy to forget about making 7 calls for 7 days straight in the middle of my work morning.

Katherine

I admit I was pleased that my DVC would now operate the same as my Marriott when it came to making reservations based on first day. It is just easier to deal with if they are the same. I do understand the concerns but am not willing to get caught up in what might happen before it happens. I plan on keeping an cautious, open mind to see how it shakes out. We just got our points so we don't have any experience with how it was done before to compare to.

I still think it should have been handled better. What was such a rush to get it into place? If you couldn't notify owners until the next Disney Files then find another way to get the notification out or wait. Very poor business decision IMHO and may actually be leading to the way people are or are not accepting the change. Most will take a negative position based on how the idea is presented. It's just human nature. Just a thought....

SDKath said:

I generally stay far away from DISboards anyway. Too much repetitive questions, too much advertising for their only sponsor, and way too easy to get "censored" when you post contrary to the mass opinion.

Well thought out posts at TUG are way more valuable to me.

DVC John -- my guide "highly recommended" that I book day by day for anything but off season (where I can practically trade in via II anyway). Most of us who are on TUG and other boards know how to work the system. By virtue of it being recommended by my guide, I have done it over and over again (and it's a pain). Now that it's no longer needed, I am happy to forget about making 7 calls for 7 days straight in the middle of my work morning.

Katherine

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The repetitive questions . I did get warned once for being sarcastic and for responding to a person who got banned and was posting under a new name. You were supposed to alert one of the mods if he was back or ignore him.

The only time I have done DBD is for Vero Beach at Easter, small number of 2brs at the whole resort. Member Services have told me to do it that way.

I own at SSR, so the one call right at 11 months always is fine(huge # of dedicated 2br's). I've never gone Xmas/NYE or 1st 2 weeks of December.

The new policy won't bother me, just didn't like the way it was delivered. I think it's going to hurt the people who just bought enough points for a short stay at a specific resort(BCV for F&W, VWL for Xmas).

Guess I've been pretty lucky, just booked BW view for MLK weekend with 1 call at 7 months. Did the same last year with BCV. It did take me a waitlist of 5 weeks to get VWL for early May once.

I won't go into my opinions of that other board!! Edited to remove my opinion....sorry for the interuption.

Twinkstarr, I agree with you. We considered a small add on at VWL just to go around the holidays. Now I am glad we didn't do it! I will just rent a stay at WL instead if we decide to go once in a while. I'll stick with my little HHI points for now.

laxmom said:

I won't go into my opinions of that other board!! Edited to remove my opinion....sorry for the interuption.

Twinkstarr, I agree with you. We considered a small add on at VWL just to go around the holidays. Now I am glad we didn't do it! I will just rent a stay at WL instead if we decide to go once in a while. I'll stick with my little HHI points for now.

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What timeframe are you planning on using your HHI points? Are you going to use the DVC in conjunction with your Marriott to stay longer on HHI? Or are you figuring an extra trip

Best decision is getting rid of the day by day waitlist, I"ve done the all or nothing, I don't want to be repacking my bags and moving when I'm on vacation.

For the immediate future it will be a getaway for DH and I. We own eoy at Barony so the plan is to alternate eoy with DHHI so we go every year but get a different experience. At some point, we would like to stay longer and may look into that. We just know we will add on at some point.

I was one who couldn't call DBD either with my work schedule but as of right now, we don't plan on going high demand.

laxmom said:

For the immediate future it will be a getaway for DH and I. We own eoy at Barony so the plan is to alternate eoy with DHHI so we go every year but get a different experience. At some point, we would like to stay longer and may look into that. We just know we will add on at some point.

I was one who couldn't call DBD either with my work schedule but as of right now, we don't plan on going high demand.

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I just call at 9am even when making one call, it just gets it off my to do list. If I have to add DME or ask a question I usually wait until the afternoon.

When doing the DBD for VB for next Easter, I had to go into my bathroom because the kids were so loud, I couldn't hear MS> They see me go for the phone and the automatically goes up on them!:whoopie: