# Shared from Facebook: blame yourself for not getting the booking you want!



## uscav8r (May 22, 2015)

A slightly modified repost from the WorldMark Facebook page for those of you who don't do social media... This TUG forum has much fewer posts complaining about inability of regular owners to book high demand WM resorts, but this is useful (if direct) commentary/advice in any case.

FACT or FICTION: You have no one to blame but yourself for not getting the reservations you want!

 Is that a provocative statement? Absolutely. It is meant to get your attention. Here is (previous post of) a Top 10 of tips every WM owner should know: https://www.facebook.com/groups/worldmarktheclub/permalink/10155566643700515/
 These are some great pointers, especially #2,3,4, and 9. But I will  take this one step further and issue a challenge to all those owners who  are constantly vocal about "never" getting the reservation they want. I  say, you are not trying hard enough; take charge and exhaust all  avenues before raising the white flag. If you are not using ALL of these  following tips, you are doing yourself no favors:

 1) Book early at 13 months (and/or 10 months) no matter what.
 2) Wait list, wait list, wait list.
 3) Make WorldMark's famous flexibility work for you (ties in with #1):
      -- liberal cancellation
      -- credit shuffle and 3 year total life
      -- anyday check in
      -- grouped reservations

 Here are some common complaints and my rebuttal to each:

 FICTION: "I can't plan ahead that far ahead."
 FACT: You don't need to be able to plan ahead. Book a dream  "placeholder" reservation 13 months out. Try to work your schedule  around that hard time. Ultimately, if you can't make the trip, cancel it  and get your credits back! Worldmark is the ONLY system of which I know  that let's you cancel and still retain up to 3 years of life on credits.

 FICTION: "Megarenters get everything."
 FACT: Pick up the scraps and waitlist the rest. Even in red season in  the 13 month window you can actually make short stay bookings online if  the bookends are fully booked in the room category you want. The earlier  you waitlist, the better chance you have of beating a megarenter to the  punch when they try "walking back" their reservation since that  transaction SHOULD involve a cancellation and rebook. At the very least  you can pick up orphaned days that they cancel as their reservation days  change.

 FICTION: "I can't afford to use lead-in days like the megarenters and megaowners."
 FACT: This is a tough one to overcome, but it CAN be done. You can rent  in one-time credits fairly cheaply to be able to book extra days. These  days need not be at the same resort you want to book. Find another  owner who wants those days. Have them transfer you credits and/or  housekeeping tokens and they become your guest for the earlier  reservation. Is there some risk? Sure, but we need to start trusting  each other to counter the megarenters. Or better yet, make friends with  other owners and get to know them and work something out before either  of you makes a reservation. Your lead-in days may end up costing you  nothing more than a little time and effort!

 FICTION (partial): "Our availability woes are all due to megarenters."
 FACT: Okay, they contribute to some of the problem. But the ugly truth  is that there are tens of thousands more owners today than there were in  the "good old days" of Trendwest, which means more competition for  resorts. Yes there are more resorts, but there are still the same amount  of holidays and peak periods as there used to be. The year isn't  getting any longer. In fact, for some pasttimes (i.e., snowsports) some  might say the seasons are getting shorter. The bottom line is that if  everyone becomes savvy in the use of these tips, the megarenters will no  longer be a huge problem, but each of us will create more competition  for each other. This is one reason why the Club continues to expand with  more resorts in seemingly out-of-the-norm locations.

 FICTION (person-dependent): "I don't want to have to work to get my reservations."
 FACT: That's pride talking, and no one else can help you with that. But  if you don't adapt, you will be forever frustrated in your ownership.

  So what makes me such an arrogant you-know-what to be suggesting what  to do? As an owner of less than 15 months, here is my experience:

  1) I've made every desired booking, though maybe not all at once. I  tend to pick my battles on this as well, but I've gotten Depoe Bay,  Marina Dunes, Steamboat Springs, and West Yellowstone, all of which were  looking pretty sparse at the time.

 2) Every waitlist I have made has hit (knock on wood). I've been Tier 1 all but one since I put them in as early as possible.

  3) I pieced together a Christmas holiday week (in two units) when I got  my ownership too late to book at 13 months. This took a few months to  accomplish but I got it done.

 4) When my Christmas plans fell  through, I unfortunately had to cancel those beautifully constructed  reservations. But I got all my credits back to try again the next year!

 How did I learn all of this in such a short amount of time? 

 1) wmtsinfo.com is the best (IMHO) owner-generated info site with tips and tricks for the uninitiated. 
 2) WMOwners.com  is a great "real-time" forum with people ready to help answer questions  and it is A LOT easier to search archive info there than it is Facebook.
 3) Timeshare Users Group (TUGbbs.com) (of course) has a lot of great info on timesharing in general, especially on buying/selling/renting/exchanging.
4) The Worldmark FB page.

 None of this is to "toot my own horn," but to show everyone that if an educated "newbie" can do it, so can you!

My WorldMark mantra: "Education, not frustration."


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## VacationForever (May 22, 2015)

Great post.  Thank you.  I actually did not realize that at 13 months you can book shorter than a week if bookends are not available.


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## rhonda (May 22, 2015)

uscav8r said:


> FICTION: "I can't afford to use lead-in days like the megarenters and megaowners."
> FACT: This is a tough one to overcome, but it CAN be done. You can rent  in one-time credits fairly cheaply to be able to book extra days. These  days need not be at the same resort you want to book. Find another  owner who wants those days. Have them transfer you credits and/or  housekeeping tokens *and they become your guest for the earlier  reservation.* Is there some risk? Sure, but we need to start trusting  each other to counter the megarenters. Or better yet, make friends with  other owners and get to know them and work something out before either  of you makes a reservation. Your lead-in days may end up costing you  nothing more than a little time and effort!


I don't believe the bolded section can be done anymore.  If I recall there was a rule change about 2 years back requiring ONE name on all segments of a grouped reservation.  So the name applied to the "desired" segment also applies to the throw-away nights.

Of course, I'd love to hear that this restriction no longer applies ... ??


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## cotraveller (May 22, 2015)

uscav8r said:


> Find another  owner who wants those days. Have them transfer you credits and/or  housekeeping tokens and they become your guest for the earlier  reservation. Is there some risk? Sure, but we need to start trusting  each other to counter the megarenters. Or better yet, make friends with  other owners and get to know them and work something out before either  of you makes a reservation. Your lead-in days may end up costing you  nothing more than a little time and effort!





rhonda said:


> I don't believe the bolded section can be done anymore.  If I recall there was a rule change about 2 years back requiring ONE name on all segments of a grouped reservation.  So the name applied to the "desired" segment also applies to the throw-away nights.
> 
> Of course, I'd love to hear that this restriction no longer applies ... ??



The way the rules are currently set up, the owner can always check in even if the reservation is in a guests name.  So you put the entire grouped reservation in the guests name and then they use their part and you use your part.  That is the way it is now but it could change in the future.


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## rhonda (May 22, 2015)

cotraveller said:


> The way the rules are currently set up, the owner can always check in even if the reservation is in a guests name.  So you put the entire grouped reservation in the guests name and then they use their part and you use your part.  That is the way it is now but it could change in the future.


OH, good to know.  Thanks, Fred!


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## LLW (May 23, 2015)

sptung said:


> Great post.  Thank you.  I actually did not realize that at 13 months you can book shorter than a week if bookends are not available.



The VPCs call them "Only Space Available." You may book them on line, whereas normal red season grouped reservations have to be booked by calling in. And of course, in white and blue seasons there is not the "minimum one week" limit.


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## herindoors911 (May 23, 2015)

Chris... you should post this info on FB.  (I've taken my thread down).  See what the response is?  That was where the initial discussion started way back when.


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