Harborside Waitlist

[blondietink]

A friend of mine is trying to get into Harborside the same week we have a reservation. Unfortunately she fell asleep before midnight on the date she wanted and ended up calling after 9 am to be told her request would be put on the wait list.

I have read stories on here about how the wait list works, or doesn't work. What strategies should I suggest to her to increase her chances of getting a confirmed reservation? Should she call every day? Should she try a mock booking daily? Or something else?

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

 

[okwiater]

The wait list is borderline useless, and is more of a marketing gimmick for Elite status than an actual perk.

If she's serious about getting a reservation, she should take matters into her own hands and commit to checking the Villa Finder multiple times per day until the reservation she wants appears. If it's for popular dates, she should pay special attention to availability in the 60-90 day period prior to arrival, as this is when a majority of cancellations occur. She can also search for and book multiple shorter consecutive reservations in the same unit type if the dates don't appear as one single reservation. Once she has confirmed reservations covering her whole desired period Owner Services might be able to re-book them as a single reservation, but will at the very least be able to "link" them (which is basically just notating the reservations with a request to stay in the same unit).

 

[Sea Six]

Your friend should just keep trying online. Many times I couldn’t get what I want at 8 months out, but within a few weeks eventually scored.

 

[grab]

A friend of mine is trying to get into Harborside the same week we have a reservation. Unfortunately she fell asleep before midnight on the date she wanted and ended up calling after 9 am to be told her request would be put on the wait list.

This is the one reason I don’t like living on the east coast. Imagine how great it would be if this happened at 9pm.

 

[okwiater]

This is the one reason I don’t like living on the east coast. Imagine how great it would be if this happened at 9pm.

Yeah, I agree it's too bad about the schedule opening at midnight. For us poor working schlubs who have to wake up early in the AM, it's a killer to have that 11:45pm - 1:00am block of time ruined, especially night after night if you fail to get your first choice of dates. The 6:00am/9:00am timing was much better.

 

[Helios]

agree, this has worked for me multiple times. but it could be a bad strategy for airfare...

 

[TravelTime]

I am confused. What time does Vistana open bookings?

 

[okwiater]

I am confused. What time does Vistana open bookings?

Midnight EST

 

[jhac007]

This is the one reason I don’t like living on the east coast. Imagine how great it would be if this happened at 9pm.

I can imagine how bad it would be if it was at 9pm! The system would be over loaded because every one is in the game. 12mn rules out some sleepy heads as mentioned.

 

[DeniseM]

It is at 9 pm - on the West Coast. It's only 12 pm in the eastern time zone.

 

[blondietink]

12 am (not pm) on the east coast.

 

[Sea Six]

Your friend should just keep trying online. Many times I couldn’t get what I want at 8 months out, but within a few weeks eventually scored.

This just worked for me. I tried to get Oceanfront WKORV at exactly 8 months out - no luck. Tried again about a week later - WHOOP THERE IT IS! 2 weeks suddenly appeared. I wasn't trying at midnight either - this was like 3 in the afternoon. We are SO HAPPY we will not be getting the same sliver view of the ocean overlooking the pirate pool. Can't believe we book South and get the view of the pirate pool, then we book North and get the same view of the pirate pool. We swore we would never go there again if there was a chance we would get that view again.