need to walk but will be off grid for four days

[letsgobobby]

i'm walking a reservation through end of June but didn't think about this fact: I'll be off grid (no phone internet email etc) from a Monday 7 am through Friday 3 pm. My wife can walk the reservation Monday night but she's joining me Tuesday am so we will lose the reservation i think.

Other than the obvious "find someone to do it for you" I assume there's not really a workaround? My sister could but she will also be joining us...

 

[HuskerATL]

You can get someone else or check when you get back. I walked several OO reservations while traveling to Tanzania and out in the middle of no where Tanzania via the app. If you can get enough signal to use the app, you can do it. The app is clumsy but doable.

 

[letsgobobby]

yeah... no signal

 

[escanoe]

You say no phone Internet. Could call customer service on the phone the old fashioned way if you have voice service via the cell phone or a land line.

 

[yodaDaenerys]

get somewhere here to do it, then cancel their reservation, coordinating with you?

 

[Sandy VDH]

I trained my neice for this very purpose, and so that one of the next generation knows and understands how everything works.

Do you have someone you can train, that you trust?

 

[PigsDad]

I had to have my daughter who was in college do it for me for a few days. I don't think there is another workaround other than getting someone else, since, even if you had just phone service, CS isn't open when you need to walk the reservations at midnight ET.

Kurt

 

[letsgobobby]

isn't it correct that i really only need to walk every other day? since no one can make a reservation for less than 3 nights?

Or is there some risk that because of overlapping walks (starting on different dates by different owners) someone could snag a vacant 1 night leaving me with no 2 nights to add?

I've been walking every other night, and not at midnight, for this reason.

 

[HuskerATL]

isn't it correct that i really only need to walk every other day? since no one can make a reservation for less than 3 nights?

Or is there some risk that because of overlapping walks (starting on different dates by different owners) someone could snag a vacant 1 night leaving me with no 2 nights to add?

I've been walking every other night, and not at midnight, for this reason.

After I make the initial 3 days, I do it every day but in the morning. The only risk is when you walk through Friday or Saturday which can have more demand

 

[Talent312]

Every other day should be okay. Although, the last time I walked, I did it every day. For some unknown reason the system wouldn't let me do the last date, even though it showed availability, so I had to call it in.

There is a risk that someone made a home-week booking while you were out walking.
.

 

[ljmiii]

isn't it correct that i really only need to walk every other day? since no one can make a reservation for less than 3 nights?

Theoretically correct...with two caveats.

One is that (as @HuskerATL mentioned) if you are crossing a Home Week boundary all bets are off because HGVC doesn't show if there are one or twenty rooms still available after Home Week reservations. And there could be one or two or twenty people walking their ressies into that first night of the 'next' week. Usually that means Fri to Sat but I remember someone writing that there are HGVC resorts with weeks that start on days other than Saturday.

The other is that even through it 'shouldn't happen' (and as @Talent312 wrote), sometimes the website just says 'No' for walking midweek. Most of the time calling HGVC and explaining the problem results in the CSR successfully modifying the reservation...but I have read of times where that has failed as well (at Lagoon as it happens).

 

[HuskerATL]

Theoretically correct...with two caveats.

One is that (as @HuskerATL mentioned) if you are crossing a Home Week boundary all bets are off because HGVC doesn't show if there are one or twenty rooms still available after Home Week reservations. And there could be one or two or twenty people walking their ressies into that first night of the 'next' week. Usually that means Fri to Sat but I remember someone writing that there are HGVC resorts with weeks that start on days other than Saturday.

The other is that even through it 'shouldn't happen' (and as @Talent312 wrote), sometimes the website just says 'No' for walking midweek. Most of the time calling HGVC and explaining the problem results in the CSR successfully modifying the reservation...but I have read of times where that has failed as well (at Lagoon as it happens).

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Each time the system hasn't worked for me, CS has been able to walk it.

 

[yodaDaenerys]

i've never walked a reservation, seems like something i need to learn.

since i'm max (no cost reservations), i guess i can just do it for anywhere to practice, and cancel after the whole ordeal.

 

[Talent312]

I've never walked a reservation, seems like something i need to learn.
Since I'm Max (no cost reservations), I guess I can just do it for anywhere to practice, and cancel after the whole ordeal. <grammar police>

Enjoy, but it's just like changing any reservation.

 

[yodaDaenerys]

Enjoy, but it's just like changing any reservation.

so, the strategy is reserve 3 days in a window before you actually want to check in, then walk it out until you get up to your actual checkin, then extend it day by day for the number of nights you want?

 

[dayooper]

so, the strategy is reserve 3 days in a window before you actually want to check in, then walk it out until you get up to your actual checkin, then extend it day by day for the number of nights you want?

yup.

 

[HuskerATL]

so, the strategy is reserve 3 days in a window before you actually want to check in, then walk it out until you get up to your actual checkin, then extend it day by day for the number of nights you want?

yes but there are different ways to do it. you grab 3 nights at the 9 month mark and then add a day each until you get the number of days and then move the whole window to the dates that you want or you grab 3 days, move those to the week you want and add days or you book exactly at the 9 month mark of the dates that you want and in this case, you just add days. For high demand locations, you may have to start 9 months + a couple weeks or a month. I have walked OO a month to the week that we wanted, i.e. July 4th week so, in this case, I would book the 3 nights, add nights to the number that I want, and then walk the whole window by adding a day to the end and removing a day from the beginning until I get to the week that I want. Along the way more weeks can pop up and you can grab them. For example, about 10 months ago, I booked the OO trip that I am about to go on tomorrow. In the process of walking it, more weeks popped up and I grabbed them and walked them also...ended up with 7 weeks in June...with 3 of those OF. I ended up releasing 3 of those weeks for other HGV owners to pick up but kept the rest for us and friends. Now a number of us will be there next week at the same time....most using weeks that I walked.

 

[yodaDaenerys]

yes but there are different ways to do it. you grab 3 nights at the 9 month mark and then add a day each until you get the number of days and then move the whole window to the dates that you want or you grab 3 days, move those to the week you want and add days or you book exactly at the 9 month mark of the dates that you want and in this case, you just add days. For high demand locations, you may have to start 9 months + a couple weeks or a month. I have walked OO a month to the week that we wanted, i.e. July 4th week so, in this case, I would book the 3 nights, add nights to the number that I want, and then walk the whole window by adding a day to the end and removing a day from the beginning until I get to the week that I want. Along the way more weeks can pop up and you can grab them. For example, about 10 months ago, I booked the OO trip that I am about to go on tomorrow. In the process of walking it, more weeks popped up and I grabbed them and walked them also...ended up with 7 weeks in June...with 3 of those OF. I ended up releasing 3 of those weeks for other HGV owners to pick up but kept the rest for us and friends. Now a number of us will be there next week at the same time....most using weeks that I walked.

what are OO and OF? and what is the benefit of starting a month in advance? to avoid competition from others?

 

[HuskerATL]

what are OO and OF

Ocean Oak and Ocean Front...very hard to book OF at OO since there aren't many and OO is a high demand location and a smaller property

 

[dayooper]

what are OO and OF? and what is the benefit of starting a month in advance? to avoid competition from others?

If you see an opening, you should start walking.

 

[jehb2]

isn't it correct that i really only need to walk every other day? since no one can make a reservation for less than 3 nights?

This should be the case, but one time I lost a reservation after forgetting one night. Luckily I got it back a week later.

 

[yodaDaenerys]

Ocean Oak and Ocean Front...very hard to book OF at OO since there aren't many and OO is a high demand location and a smaller property

thx, we've never been there. just booked a partial ocean view room for the 1st week of march, OF not available and too late to walk to that week.