SOG/Thanksgiving/Overflow

[merrily]

I made reservations at the Comtemporary through Shades of Green for our Thanksgiving trip. Our plan is to arrive late on Wed 11/19 and stay off site. We then stay at the Contemporary from 11/20 and check out the day before Thanksgiving. We are on the waiting list for the Contemporary for 11/26-11/29. My question is, should I stay on the waiting list and hope something opens up ( I was told that the chances are high that there will be cancellations) or should I try to book an overflow rate and switch resorts mid stay? If I do this, do you have any suggestions for where else to stay? We loved the Contemporary when we went in Sept.

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by merrily
I made reservations at the Comtemporary through Shades of Green for our Thanksgiving trip. Our plan is to arrive late on Wed 11/19 and stay off site. We then stay at the Contemporary from 11/20 and check out the day before Thanksgiving. We are on the waiting list for the Contemporary for 11/26-11/29. My question is, should I stay on the waiting list and hope something opens up ( I was told that the chances are high that there will be cancellations) or should I try to book an overflow rate and switch resorts mid stay? If I do this, do you have any suggestions for where else to stay? We loved the Contemporary when we went in Sept.

That's a decision only you can make. The waiting list is not a guarantee of a reservation. I'm not sure who told you the chances of cancellations are "high", but that really made me LOL. Chances aren't "high", they're guaranteed. There are ALWAYS cancellations. The kicker is there's no way of knowing if the cancellations they'll receive will be for the exact dates you're looking for or if they'll come at a time to be useful to you.

If you've been on the waiting list a while (a while being a month or more), I'd say that you "probably" have a good chance of getting your nights, but it is a crap shoot. Whenever you go on the list, you take a chance of the nights not becoming available. I used to advise my guests of the above and: "If this vacation is important to you and you're coming at a peak time frame (you, the poster, are), I would suggest giving it until 'x-month' (Jul in your case, poster). If you don't hear from someone by the end of the month, ask us to remove you from the list and we'll be happy to assist you with reservations else where."

If you prefer to stay on the list, I would suggest you get your own reservations else where, just to ensure you have a back up. Can't tell you how many times angry guests would call because we couldn't run out back and build them a room from scratch because they didn't come up on the list ("Now what am I supposed to tell little Jimmy! We PROMISED him we were coming!!!!").

I spoke with my friend last night and was told the list is being called, but I imagine it's only for the months closer in (Feb, Mar and Apr) due to the busy season happening now. On average, the list was usually called 3 months out, including the current month. However, once the season ends and it quiets back down, the list can, and was, called as far out as we had rooms to call (i.e. it's Jul and we're calling people for next Mar).

 

[suevee]

Just FYI, I was just called about a room in June, around Feb. 8th. I have been on the waitlist since December. So they seem to be moving a little faster. The problem is contacting SoG within the days specified to get that room they are holding! I was told to call between Monday and Wednesday to confirm. So good luck!