First time reservation help

[lawboy2001]

I'm seeing very tight 8 month availability around the dates of a reservation I'm hoping to make.

Question: With Vistana, is it common/permitted to make a reservation for an arrival a few days prior to the dates you actually want, and then later drop off the extra days?

I am experienced with DVC and DVCers call this 'walking' a reservation.

Also, will I be able to reserve more than a one week stay right at 8 months out? Again, with DVC, you are limited to one week if you book right when your reservation window opens.

Thank you!

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

Not sure if that would work as you would have to make a 2nd reservation and then cancel the 1st one? I know they are OK if you make a reservation and then let them know you won't be arriving until the 2nd/3rd day. That of course depends on how much you want your dates and how many SOs you are prepared to 'waste'.

 

[tschwa2]

You can book up to 21 nights as long as you have the points at the 8 month mark. Most resorts are still based on weeks so if it is a popular time of year then you won't find anything dropping before Fri/Sat or Sunday because at prior to 8 months owners at those resorts can only book the full week so really the whole week (the week prior to what you want) would have had to have been available at 8 months and then at 8 months only the first half of the week booked in order for you to book the last part of the week before and the week you want.

 

[DeniseM]

Question: With Vistana, is it common/permitted to make a reservation for an arrival a few days prior to the dates you actually want, and then later drop off the extra days?

lawboy2001 - You can do this, but you want to call and have a Rep. cancel the extra days for you, because if you do it yourself, there is no guarantee that the dates will come back into inventory for you to reserve. (You have to cancel your reservation, and make a new one.)

When you call, the Rep will tell you that it may not come back for her either, but if it doesn't, she can refer it to inventory control, and they can get the dates you want.

If you get a Rep who sounds like she doesn't know what she is doing - call back and speak to someone else, or ask for Owner Resolution Services. (Many Reps are reluctant to refer you to Owner Resolution Services, so it's often easier to call back and speak to a better Rep.)

At 8 mos. you can book whatever is available up to 21 nights.

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

So it is in essence possible to reserve the week you want at 8 months + 2 weeks out if you have enough SO and can get a 21 day reservation. Then just cancel the first 2 weeks without penalty. I think the way they do it is to cancel your complete reservation, return it into the pool and then try and grab it back immediately. Might work, might not. Probably a better chance if you don't do the canceling right around 8 months when there is high reservation transaction and a higher chance someone might grab what you had/want.

 

[DeniseM]

Per my previous post, if you call to make the change, and the phone Rep. cannot do it, they will send it to inventory control to make the change.

 

[tschwa2]

If owners start doing this regularly to gain an earlier advantage when booking, I think Vistana will stop doing this. Currently you can get inventory control to help on an occasional basis to modify the number of days.

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

If owners start doing this regularly to gain an earlier advantage when booking, I think Vistana will stop doing this. Currently you can get inventory control to help on an occasional basis to modify the number of days.

I agree. I just took a look and there is low availability at WKOR-N for Sat-Sat at the start of August 2018 that could in theory be snagged with a 21 day reservation next week.

 

[lawboy2001]

Thank you all so much for this helpful information and advice!

 

[DeniseM]

If owners start doing this regularly to gain an earlier advantage when booking, I think Vistana will stop doing this. Currently you can get inventory control to help on an occasional basis to modify the number of days.

If everyone did it, they might consider doing something, but most owners don't have enough Staroptions to do this all the time. The people that do have enough Staroptions to do this on a regular basis are Elite Owners, and Vistana is less likely to restrict Elite Owners.

 

[okwiater]

Yes, this is one benefit of having a large bucket of SOs. Note that you will get a new reservation timestamp each time you "walk" the reservation, if that matters to you.