How Efficient is Waitlisting?

[AKNOTTS66]

Do you guys trust wait-listing? They make it sound so efficient on the phone when they told me how it works. Is it really instant? Or am I better off to keep looking checking myself for those days to become available?

 

[crvetter]

Do you guys trust wait-listing? They make it sound so efficient on the phone when they told me how it works. Is it really instant? Or am I better off to keep looking checking myself for those days to become available?

I do both to be honest. It used to be clear that the waitlist wasn't instant (but ran on a schedule). Though it appears to be either running more frequently or actually checking that the room isn't requested before releasing to inventory.

It's possible that each cancellation is checked instantly but the waitlist scans the available data on a schedule. Say you waitlist Days 1 & 2 but someone cancels Day 1 it will put that into inventory since the instant check can't satisfy your waitlist. Then someone cancels Day 2 it does the same thing. But in theory your waitlist could be satisfied by the waitlist won't scan until the next scheduled time. That is why I do both to be honest.

Or you can always grab Day 1 yourself then adjust your waitlist to include just Day 2, etc. I do that quite often when changing at the 7 month mark.

 

[AKNOTTS66]

Okay thanks I figured I'd ask since you guys know the ins and outs of it and the best methods.

 

[jerseyduke]

I can not say for certain, but since its the type of thing I do for a living, I am pretty sure it runs as certain intervals.

Problem is, Person X cancels. Wait list puts person Y in that spot, but cancels their other reservation, so now there is a new opening that person Z gets cancelling their split stay, so now 2 open reservations, on and on and on, until it spirals out of control.

Id run it at intervals, and one or two passes then call it quits until the next time slot comes around.

even if it runs constantly it wont be instant, its just too many computations.

Ergo, Id stalk the website as well as create a wait list request

 

[montreid]

Being brand new with only 50pts while waiting for other contracts to close; have played around with the waitlist and grabbing openings.

They definitely don't work instantly. I've released a reservation and grabbed it again within 2 minutes without issue.

Also - I had canceled a waitlist --- and it released BOTH days! -- ie. it had already matched, but since I was borrowing points, I suppose it was being held for verification and call from the CM and before that happened, I canceled the waitlist to try something else; refreshed to dashboard and site -- and viola -- two days open to be booked on the same two days waitlist cancelled! -- Grabbed them officially with borrowed points.\

So when we get more points; will expand the grab/release trials a little, but for now. out of points for 2020+2021 already. Added another waitlist in the meantime as closing on points next week and see if we grab those on release

 

[SPLzero]

I can confirm wait lists are not instant. I put in a wait list for ak value 2 bedroom for 12/23-12/24 yesterday at 8:00am. A walker dropped a room at 8:20 this morning and I manually grabbed the reservation. At 9. I started a chat with MS asking if my wait list matched incase there were 2 rooms that opened. They told me it did not fill my wait list.

 

[Sandisw]

Being brand new with only 50pts while waiting for other contracts to close; have played around with the waitlist and grabbing openings.

They definitely don't work instantly. I've released a reservation and grabbed it again within 2 minutes without issue.

Also - I had canceled a waitlist --- and it released BOTH days! -- ie. it had already matched, but since I was borrowing points, I suppose it was being held for verification and call from the CM and before that happened, I canceled the waitlist to try something else; refreshed to dashboard and site -- and viola -- two days open to be booked on the same two days waitlist cancelled! -- Grabbed them officially with borrowed points.\

So when we get more points; will expand the grab/release trials a little, but for now. out of points for 2020+2021 already. Added another waitlist in the meantime as closing on points next week and see if we grab those on release

What I am finding too that sometimes the waitlist has matched but didn’t process before I canceled because same thing happened. Those nights showed up.

I wish they had a way to note it so an owner knows. But I have also relaxed rooms and they never showed back up and I checked for over an hour. I was trying to switch to use different points from my other membership.

I even released a room at night, didn’t show up, and the next day found out my waitlist had matched. It was the room I let go the night before so it did catch it that time

I always continue to check!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Do both.

 

[Goofy DVC]

I do both but must admit that the waitlist system is definitely becoming more efficient in my experience. I was stalking availability every day on a waitlist and nothing. Check one morning at 8 and once again nothing. Received the welcome home email that the waitlist came through a few hours later. Interestingly, I was waiting on 4 nights so I doubt something opened up a minute after I checked.

 

[SPLzero]

This morning I dropped a value studio with hopes of it opening up a value 2 bedroom and someone's wait-list must have grabbed it. I also just dropped a club level and it hasn't shown back up in inventory.
.

 

[Sandisw]

This morning I dropped a value studio with hopes of it opening up a value 2 bedroom and someone's wait-list must have grabbed it. I also just dropped a club level and it hasn't shown back up in inventory.
.

When did you drop club level? What room size? I snagged two nights in a 1 bedroom for May just the other day. Maybe it was yours?

 

[SPLzero]

It was a studio fo Xmas eve.

 

[mrsap]

Do you guys trust wait-listing? They make it sound so efficient on the phone when they told me how it works. Is it really instant? Or am I better off to keep looking checking myself for those days to become available?

Hey there! So I haven’t used Waitlist until this upcoming trip. Although we own at VGF, we wanted to spend a second week there. At 7 months we booked where we’d want to stay if we couldn’t get VGF, (Poly), and then waitlisted VGF. Eight days later our 8 day trip Waitlist was filled!! I received an email saying ‘We can’t wait to welcome you home!’ And it showed a booking confirmation for VGF! I was confused at first, because I booked Poly for that week...then it hit me our waitlist was filled! I was pretty impressed since it showed only 5 days were available when I had booked Poly just a few days before. So it worked for us! People are always changing plans, you never know! Good luck!

 

[TexasChick123]

I had an alert set up on a site for any studio for a night in April. A few rooms have come up here and there, but I didn’t book one until an SSR standard studio came up. I didn’t have any wait lists running at the time. I kept the alert going, and a night in a BW view room at BWV came up today. I grabbed it by modifying my SSR reservation. I immediately went to see if the standard SSR room showed up in the RAT, and it never did. I also never got an alert that an SSR SV studio was available today.

Last year, I put in a WL request for 4 nights at Kidani for a 2BR. Again, I never got an alert that it was available even though I had a site checking it, but I got the Welcome Home email with my complete reservation. I have 2 WLs running right now for that April night (one for a SV studio at BWV and one for a studio at BC). I’ll let you know if any of them come through via the WL versus stalking and if I get an email.

 

[DebbieB]

I agree - do both. I’ve has good luck with 1 night waitlists but not longer. With the longer waitlist, all nights have to fill at the same time. A few years ago, I put in a 5 night waitlist for a BWV pool view studio for Mid November about 2 months out. I also stalked. Nights 3,4,5 opened, so I booked it and changed the waitlist. Night 2 opened, booked it and changed the waitlist. Night 1 came through by waitlist about 4 weeks out. Member Services combined the reservations into 1 when they filled the waitlist.

 

[montreid]

What's this alert function? I haven't seen that -- only waitlist.

 

[TexasChick123]

What's this alert function? I haven't seen that -- only waitlist.

It’s another website outside of DIS. I don’t believe DIS allows the link, but I’ll put it here. If it’s blocked out, then we know it isn’t allowed.

https://www.******.com/

 

[montreid]

TY - googled and found one site -- didnt' realize this existed, makes it more interesting to WL vs hunt RAT. This is a paid service though for 3months -- debating if worthwhile for the SMS alerts or not

 

[Sandisw]

TY - googled and found one site -- didnt' realize this existed, makes it more interesting to WL vs hunt RAT. This is a paid service though for 3months -- debating if worthwhile for the SMS alerts or not

Well, II have had rooms disappear in the time I was searching, until the time I went back to the reservstion I wanted to change, and have it gone.

Last week, i went to change a room and realized I had entered too many days...went back a step..adjusted...and by that time, room gone again.

So, I don’t think I’d pay for something like this because I think I’d be more discouraged to know somehow it saw it and by the time I went to grab, it was gone then just checking when I can actually book.

 

[Brett Wyman]

My wait list just went through for a BLT Studio LV for 02-20 to 02-22 and that week is really booked up.