How long does the waitlist take to catch cancellations?

[FireflyTrance]

How long does the waitlist take to catch cancellations?

Prior to recently my understanding of the waitlist was any cancellations immediately went to people on the waitlist. But it seems like they first become available for anyone to book, and then eventually the waitlist picks them up. Does anyone know how long it takes from the time a room is cancelled to the time it is given to someone on the waitlist? It seems like a strange process to me. I’m trying to determine if I should search multiple times a day, or if the waitlist is “good enough” Thanks!

 

[chalee94]

eventually, I expect the software to catch up and be automatic, but for now, stalking the waitlist several times a day is a good strategy.

 

[disneynutz]

Wait-lists are a DVC extra that costs Disney to administer so don't expect much. Unknown when they run the matches, I was told by management a couple of years ago that the run matches at night after closing and that the following day they start to work the matches.

Bill

 

[MouseOfCards]

Cancellations should and often are immediately matched to a waitlist, and held for a CM to complete the reservation manually. When cancelled rooms are not immediately grabbed and held for their matching waitlists, I believe either the matching program is not running at the time, or something else (e.g. system overloaded, a bug, or too many people making cancellations at the same time) is happening.

As recommended by others, I would also check the RAT regularly.

 

[ivanp91]

One of the DVC pages on Facebook has a member purporting to be one of the people that coded the waitlist system back in the day, and supposedly it is always running unless, like MouseOfCards said, the system has gone down for some reason.

The way they explained how it works is when a cancellation occurs that matches dates on a waitlist, the system will want to allocate those days to the person that has been waitlisted the longest. In many circumstances, the waitlist will not completely match the dates that have opened (eg only 3 nights have opened up for a 5-night waitlist). In these cases, the system will keep trying to search for availability for the missing days and if found it will fulfil the waitlist. The thing is, when the system is holding those nights waiting for the rest to become available, it's possible for other people to book it out from underneath.

 

[Daddio]

My advice is to stalk the reservation. I had a BLT, 1 bedroom, Lake View in December waitlisted which I ended up finding on my own from the member site.

~ David

 

[disneynutz]

My advice is to stalk the reservation. I had a BLT, 1 bedroom, Lake View in December waitlisted which I ended up finding on my own from the member site.

~ David

Same with us, we have never had the system make us a match but three times we stalked and found our own availability.

Bill

 

[bobbiwoz]

My last waitlist must have been matched immediately, it took less than 24 hours to be fulfilled!

 

[2binak]

There's no rhyme or reason when it comes to waitlists. I've had a waitlist automatically be fulfilled just a couple of hours after requesting it and once, after months of waiting, I gave up hope and was on the phone with Member Services cancelling the waitlist when the CM said, "But your waitlist is available, are you sure you want to cancel it? I can book it right now if you'd like."

 

[FireflyTrance]

Thanks for all the input. I'll try stalking, when I remember. I've heard some people stalk it 3X a day but I doubt I'll remember to do that

 

[Mulan2]

Thanks for all the input. I'll try stalking, when I remember. I've heard some people stalk it 3X a day but I doubt I'll remember to do that

What does it mean by stalking the waitlist?

 

[CarolMN]

What does it mean by stalking the waitlist?

It means frequently checking on your own to see if the night (s) you need are available. If so, you book it (them) and cancel the waitlist.

Some people have successfully gotten what they wanted that way. Others have had success by just putting in a waitlist.

It does seem a lot easier/quicker to get what you want via waitlist if it's only for one night or just a few nights. Waitlists for longer periods of time do not see to come through as quickly as the waitlists for shorter periods of time.

 

[schoen]

The waitlist is a mystery. I had a waitlist at BCV for Friday and Saturday Nov 10th and 11th and a separate waitlist for Sunday the 12th. I had another couple reservations covering those three nights at OKW, because I wasn't positive the waitlist would match. Yesterday I got an email that the 10th and 11th matched. I didn't want to move, so this morning I signed online to ensure that the system didn't cancel my OKW reservation, and sure enough it was gone. I called to rebook, and there was all this confusion between me and the agent because I have two separate memberships which can get tricky, and some of the nights were available, and some weren't, and I wanted to use points from one membership, but she had searched for the days with my other membership. It was a mess! The supervisor got involved, and eventually the agent got it straightened out. During this 50 minute call to add 2 days at OKW the one night I needed at BCV matched. WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE! I ended up canceling all of my OKW reservations and now, after 2 waitlists at BCV matched in the last 24 hours I have a 9 night BCV trip booked during food and wine! It was a bit ugly, but the waitlist worked for me!

 

[elgerber]

I just got my room about 40 minutes ago by stalking. It did not fill my waitlist and if I had waited, it would have gotten booked up before they filled it.

 

[MouseOfCards]

The waitlist is a mystery. I had a waitlist at BCV for Friday and Saturday Nov 10th and 11th and a separate waitlist for Sunday the 12th. I had another couple reservations covering those three nights at OKW, because I wasn't positive the waitlist would match. Yesterday I got an email that the 10th and 11th matched. I didn't want to move, so this morning I signed online to ensure that the system didn't cancel my OKW reservation, and sure enough it was gone. I called to rebook, and there was all this confusion between me and the agent because I have two separate memberships which can get tricky, and some of the nights were available, and some weren't, and I wanted to use points from one membership, but she had searched for the days with my other membership. It was a mess! The supervisor got involved, and eventually the agent got it straightened out. During this 50 minute call to add 2 days at OKW the one night I needed at BCV matched. WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE! I ended up canceling all of my OKW reservations and now, after 2 waitlists at BCV matched in the last 24 hours I have a 9 night BCV trip booked during food and wine! It was a bit ugly, but the waitlist worked for me!

Wow. Congratulations!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I just got my room about 40 minutes ago by stalking. It did not fill my waitlist and if I had waited, it would have gotten booked up before they filled it.

A waitlist stays listed as a waitlist until a CM actually processes it. If it were still showing on the dashboard then yes, it hadn't matched but even if it had matched it still would have shown under the waitlist section.

 

[Cruisin Spartan]

A waitlist stays listed as a waitlist until a CM actually processes it. If it were still showing on the dashboard then yes, it hadn't matched but even if it had matched it still would have shown under the waitlist section.

This seems like the most likely truth to me. Even if waitlists get automatically matched, it seems like they sit until someone in Member Services does something manually. It also seems that this doesn't necessarily happen quickly unless you call to check or happen to call on something else. I can only speak for my own experiences, but here's why I think this is the case:

Last November, we went over Thanksgiving. Booked the day after Thanksgiving through the following Tuesday. Waitlisted Thanksgiving day. I happened to call to add Magical Express, and mentioned the waitlisted day. The CM told me that it had gone through, and sure enough I got a confirmation email.

We're booked for this August at Poly. My parents decided to join for part of the trip so we booked them a room too. Couldn't get them the last night, so we waitlisted and they booked a cash room just in case. Showed as an active waitlist on my Dashboard. Then, I called the other day to add a traveling with notation to our reservations. Right after I got off the phone, I got the confirmation email. Waitlist came through.

We are booked for GCV Jan 2-6. Plan was to stay 1-5, but the 1st was booked. We waitlisted it, and kept what we had. At the same time that I got the email about my waitlist for my parents' room in August, I got the email about our night in January.

Thus, it seems to me that waitlists get processed faster if you nudge things along. Even if it happens to be indirectly.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

This seems like the most likely truth to me. Even if waitlists get automatically matched, it seems like they sit until someone in Member Services does something manually. It also seems that this doesn't necessarily happen quickly unless you call to check or happen to call on something else. I can only speak for my own experiences, but here's why I think this is the case:

Last November, we went over Thanksgiving. Booked the day after Thanksgiving through the following Tuesday. Waitlisted Thanksgiving day. I happened to call to add Magical Express, and mentioned the waitlisted day. The CM told me that it had gone through, and sure enough I got a confirmation email.

We're booked for this August at Poly. My parents decided to join for part of the trip so we booked them a room too. Couldn't get them the last night, so we waitlisted and they booked a cash room just in case. Showed as an active waitlist on my Dashboard. Then, I called the other day to add a traveling with notation to our reservations. Right after I got off the phone, I got the confirmation email. Waitlist came through.

We are booked for GCV Jan 2-6. Plan was to stay 1-5, but the 1st was booked. We waitlisted it, and kept what we had. At the same time that I got the email about my waitlist for my parents' room in August, I got the email about our night in January.

Thus, it seems to me that waitlists get processed faster if you nudge things along. Even if it happens to be indirectly.

Yes, if you call in and have a waitlist that is matched but not filled if you or the CM notice they can complete the match. I've done that more than once. On the other hand I've also let a couple waitlists sit after I noticed it gone from the dashboard and it was close to a week before one was matched but the other was just a day or so. I've also had waitlists that I've set up at 5am pacific time when the room was unavailable, gone back to bed, and had it all matched up by the time I signed in later in the morning, so just hours!

 

[disneynutz]

Like ROFR, IMO waitlists are not a priority for DVC. They process the reservation change when they get the time. Hiring additional staff costs Disney money.

Bill

 

[TLinden16]

I have two waitlist set up for November to try to get in the same room all nights of my trip (currently I have 2 nights in standard at BLT followed by one night in a lake view). I noticed one of the waitlists is missing from my dashboard but still on the waitlist list like @KAT4DISNEY describes above. I happened to notice this when I was on the phone with member services, and the cast member confirmed I had a match, but wouldn't (or couldn't) take care of it for me. So it looks like I got my match. I am debating if I should cancel the second waitlist at this point on the unlikely chance that the other waitlist comes through. I guess I'll just keep watch on my dashboard.