Waitlist Strategy- Need Help

[tiel]

Every summer, we meet my niece and her family (who live overseas) for a couple weeks at Lakeshore Reserve. Normally, she knows her schedule far enough in advance that we can both make reservations for the same period without issue.

This year, however, she didn't have schedule information until later, and now we are having trouble getting in. I was able to reserve 4 of the nights we need (looking for a 1-bdrm), but there hasn't ben availability for the remains 8 nights. As a backup, I have made a cash reservation for those nights, but I would much prefer to use DC points.

It seems like the best way to try to get those nights is to get on the waitlist. Having used this option before, I have no idea what approach is most likely to be successful. What I am hoping for at this point is to score at least half of the remaining nights with points, and pay for the balance. Getting all 8, of course, would be fantastic.

So, does anyone have any suggestions on how to structure the waitlist to have a decent chance at success?

TIA for any advice!

 

[dansimms]

I would get added to the waitlist for starters for the day prior to when you have the booking and a separate waitlist for the day following your booking. If you don’t mind tieing up more points I would do a third waitlist for a string of the days you need. Then monitor it and add as you get closer to getting what you wanted.

 

[Big Matt]

I don't think you are going to get it. However, I would call and talk to a representative to see if you can cobble together pieces that get you as close as possible. What is unbelievable to me is that the days aren't based on units of one. There may be 2, 3, 4 nights all strung together in there.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Every summer, we meet my niece and her family (who live overseas) for a couple weeks at Lakeshore Reserve. Normally, she knows her schedule far enough in advance that we can both make reservations for the same period without issue.

This year, however, she didn't have schedule information until later, and now we are having trouble getting in. I was able to reserve 4 of the nights we need (looking for a 1-bdrm), but there hasn't ben availability for the remains 8 nights. As a backup, I have made a cash reservation for those nights, but I would much prefer to use DC points.

It seems like the best way to try to get those nights is to get on the waitlist. Having used this option before, I have no idea what approach is most likely to be successful. What I am hoping for at this point is to score at least half of the remaining nights with points, and pay for the balance. Getting all 8, of course, would be fantastic.

So, does anyone have any suggestions on how to structure the waitlist to have a decent chance at success?

TIA for any advice!

I had a similar situation once and I was able to cobble together a week by booking 3 nights with DC points and making a cash reservation for the rest of the time and then checking MVC daily and adding DC nights as they showed up even singly (I just searched for 1 night). I was able to get all but one night on DC and noted on my Marriott reservations under “room features” “special requests or needs” the other reservation numbers and that I would like to stay in the same room and this was accommodated.
The wait list is frustrating because as far as I know if you request the full time you need- say 4 nights- and they become available singly the waitlist doesn’t collect them up for you.