Is the waitlist worth upgrading to 4-star status?

[RobLG]

I've heard mixed comments on the value of the waitlist and I'm looking for advice as to whether it would work well for me and if it is worth the investment.

I primarily want to vacation at the WKORV where I own a 2br lockoff Ocean View that I bought from Westin and a 2br Ocean Front (corner) that I bought as a resale. I would have to add 34,100 Star Options and retro my Ocean Front to reach 4 star elite. We love our Ocean Front property, but it is very difficult to book. I have gone online exactly 12 months in advance and more often than not I am not able to get it. So, let's say I have gone online every Saturday in the month of February and have been unable to book it. Would I be able to waitlist all of the Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the month and have a good chance of getting it without having to go in every Friday, every Saturday, etc. to check? Now when I get something on a date that is not my first choice (e.g., in May), I am afraid to cancel it when something does become available because I'm afraid it will be gone before I can book it in the few minutes it takes to cancel. Would the waitlist eliminate the concern?

Any recommendations on the best way to get the additional Star Options and do the retro if I decide to go forward, assuming that my goal would be to get more time in Hawaii, if not at WKORV, then at one of the other Hawaii locations?

Does elite status help at all in being able to book consecutive weeks without having to move?

 

[ValleyGirl]

Absolutely NOT!

 

[DeniseM]

No - because it's not an actual waitlist computer program. It's just some employee checking availability - just like you can do for yourself, around the clock, on the Vistana website.

Elite Status doesn't give you any type of reservation advantage.

 

[DavidnRobin]

No


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[LobsterHunter]

IMHO, even 5 star is no longer worth it. While there are some benefits, we feel that the value has been drastically diminished since Marriott took over. Hotel upgrades seem much less often and of a much lower quality. The small monetary and SO banking advantage is certainly not worth the cost.

Also, even as a 5 star on the "wait list", I have seen things open up online & booked them, before being contacted about my wait list request.

 

[okwiater]

NO! I'm a 5-star and have never once had success with the waitlist. There was a thread a few years back where TUGgers proved the waitlist doesn't work. IMO the marketing around this feature is borderline fraudulent.

IF Vistana at some point actually changed the waitlist so that it snagged cancellations prior to being dropped into the general availability pool, THEN it would be worth discussing the value. But that hasn't happened yet -- and may never.

 

[remowidget]

Nope

 

[cubigbird]

NO! I'm a 5-star and have never once had success with the waitlist. There was a thread a few years back where TUGgers proved the waitlist doesn't work. IMO the marketing around this feature is borderline fraudulent.

IF Vistana at some point actually changed the waitlist so that it snagged cancellations prior to being dropped into the general availability pool, THEN it would be worth discussing the value. But that hasn't happened yet -- and may never.

You would think the technology exists to be able to make a waitlist system effectively work. A manual system is very “old school.” Even II has technology to match weeks to OGS. It’s probably not a huge expense to get this to work.

 

[RobLG]

Does anyone have any idea how often they check? Even if it is manually, it might be a lot more often than I would check.

 

[KACTravels]

I wouldn't do it for the waitlist. They certainly don't check on weekends now because they are closed. You can't even reach them on the phone to transfer a reservation to a new one if you find one that you would like to change to. Example, we are going to WKORN for 8 nights over Thanksgiving week using Restricted SOs. I saw that Ocean Front was available this morning and had to chance cancelling our current reservation to book the OF. Unfortunately, it was within 7 days, so I was charged $75 cancellation fee (which I will dispute when I can reach someone on the phone). But I was able to do it and the Manual Waitlist wouldn't have happened until they got around to it on Monday (or Tuesday or...)

 

[controller1]

Does anyone have any idea how often they check? Even if it is manually, it might be a lot more often than I would check.

I have no idea as to actuality but I assume they are only going to check during their normal working hours during the six days a week they work excluding holidays. Yet, the inventory can be updated in real-time 24/7.

 

[Grandma2016]

No. I am a 5 star and have only had luck with it one time out of 17 years. We own OF and OV. If your dates are flexible you can sometimes find OF as long as you have the options to spend. Most generally we don't book 8 to 12 months out but somehow if im tedious enough i can get my OF. We go twice a year for about 6 weeks and normally get to stay in OF even booking outside of home window. Just be vigilant in your searching.

 

[Rman]

I've heard there updating their system and waitlist will be improving it is an asset as sometimes it did work, but most likely it doesn't, an asset nonetheless

 

[cubigbird]

I've heard there updating their system and waitlist will be improving it is an asset as sometimes it did work, but most likely it doesn't, an asset nonetheless

Computer technology exists to do this. It should have been automated a long time ago.

 

[daviator]

I'm confused by all the hate for the waitlist, because I've had really good luck with it — I think every single time I have waitlisted, I've gotten in during the period I wanted to book. Maybe there was one time that it didn't come through. Obviously, the closer you get to the travel date, the smaller the likelihood that somebody is going to cancel. But I've felt like it was a pretty significant benefit of four star elite.

Maybe I've just been ultra lucky, but it has worked well for me.

 

[YYJMSP]

I'm confused by all the hate for the waitlist, because I've had really good luck with it — I think every single time I have waitlisted, I've gotten in during the period I wanted to book. Maybe there was one time that it didn't come through. Obviously, the closer you get to the travel date, the smaller the likelihood that somebody is going to cancel. But I've felt like it was a pretty significant benefit of four star elite.

Maybe I've just been ultra lucky, but it has worked well for me.

I've had good luck with it too, but thats exactly what it is -- luck.

I'm one of the two who did the multiple coordinated tests to confirm that released inventory goes right back in to general availability, that it is not held in a separate waitlist, and that this is a once or twice during the workday manual process by someone at VSE.

 

[RobLG]

How does the waitlist work? If I have booked something with my points, so that I don't have any points left, if something opens up can I cancel what I booked and use the waitlisted date?

 

[YYJMSP]

How does the waitlist work? If I have booked something with my points, so that I don't have any points left, if something opens up can I cancel what I booked and use the waitlisted date?

you make a booking wherever, you call in and ask for another exact specific booking wherever (cant be a date range). if it becomes available, they call you and you have 24hrs to accept, which will cancel your original booking and replace it with the new one.

you can waitlist once per side of each owned week, and it does not have to be at the same resort (ie i can hold a confirmed week at WDW and waitlist for WKORV), the waitlisted dates have to be before your confirmed dates, and they will only check up to 60days in advance at which point the waitlist request expires.

not sure how that adapts to a Flex ownership...

 

[DavidnRobin]

I'm confused by all the hate for the waitlist, because I've had really good luck with it — I think every single time I have waitlisted, I've gotten in during the period I wanted to book. Maybe there was one time that it didn't come through. Obviously, the closer you get to the travel date, the smaller the likelihood that somebody is going to cancel. But I've felt like it was a pretty significant benefit of four star elite.

Maybe I've just been ultra lucky, but it has worked well for me.

Hate?
That’s pretty strong...

The question should be whether 4* is worth the cost (buying VSE to attain 4* for likely more than $10K) just to have the ability to wait-list.

The consensus for this question that has been asked over the many years here on TUG has overwhelmingly been ‘No’.
YMMV... and apparently does.


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[Henry M.]

I've only waitlisted maybe twice over several years. It worked each time, though I ended up changing my plans between the time I waitlisted and the time the reservation came through.

I think the perks of various elite levels, especially 5 Star, are nice, but not worth buying just for the benefits themselves. It is kind of like owning an expensive car (think Lexus vs. Toyota or Acura vs. Honda). It is hard to justify the price difference based on just individual extra functions, but sometimes you just want to have the shinier toy!

Many would also argue you should never buy a new car, since you should let the new car buyer take the depreciation hit. Still many like buying new. The problem with the timeshares, though, is that the price difference between new and resale is very high and harder to justify than in the car examples.

 

[mtripodi]

Definitely not. As a 5 star elite, if I could do it all over again, I'd purchase everything I own on resale and forgo status. Appx 60% of my ownership is resale that I retro'd in to achieve status, but that wasn't even worth it.