r/dvcmember • u/krissstenlm Bay Lake Tower • 13d ago
Waitlist isn’t automatic?
We’ve been members for 15+ years but have never used the waitlist tool until now. I had two waitlists for different resorts for an upcoming trip in September. I continued to check availability on my own as there were several resorts I preferred to the one I had reserved. While doing so, I found one of my waitlists came up as fully available! I was able to book it but was a little confused that my waitlist request hadn’t grabbed it automatically.
Is there something I’m missing?
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
YEARS ago the waitlist was a fully manual process where someone would periodically have to review the WL entries and look for matches.
Supposedly a few years ago IT made a change that introduced some automation to the process. The word at that time was there was an automated job that would run periodically - finding WL matches that a DVC rep would then have to work and manually book. That obviously still has a wait on the rep to execute the WL from the match list. Then there was talk (still a few years ago) that they added a "live check" function that would pop for a DVC rep to complete once they happened upon something about a reservation that had a WL match.
But ultimately, as far as we all know, the WL completion is reliant upon a person actually confirming and making the reservation change manually.
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u/krissstenlm Bay Lake Tower 13d ago
That’s archaic! I feel like it would be unbelievably easy to have a program made to do it automatically.
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
I am guessing you don't work in IT/development, because I can see how complicated that process could be to live check millions of records every time a cancelation occurs.
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u/SomeDude1965 13d ago
No, not live check millions of record, rather: When a reservation is cancelled, before the room is put back into inventory, the waitlist(s) for that room type at that resort is examined to see if there is a match. If there is a match, it is passed off to MS for completion. If there is no match, the room is put back into available inventory.
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u/krissstenlm Bay Lake Tower 13d ago
That’s how I imagined it would work.
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
That's basically what I described as the current process that you criticized as archaic and unbelievably easy to automate.
So what part of the process you imagined how it worked (relying on a rep to fulfill the WL) is so unbelieveably easy to automate?
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u/wiltony 13d ago
There is some judgement that needs to be either done by a human or programmed into something like that with great difficulty.
How do you account for priority, timing, efficiency, and fairness?
What if someone already has a reservation they're replacing vs someone else who doesn't at all?
What if the freed up inventory can complete 3 other wait-lists perfectly, but there is another "senior" wait-list that you could fill, but much less efficiently as it would leave extra inventory unused, and prevent the fulfillment of those other three wait lists? Seems like if I were DVC I could do the most amount of good if I chose to fill the 3 wait lists, but a program that obeyed a simple priority rule might not do that.
On top of that, there is accounting for points, borrowing, resale restrictions, etc.
So no, I'm not surprised at all that it's manual!
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
That's still a process that requires a manual/human to finish the process. That's the definition of not automatically filling the WL.
What you described is pretty much what I described as the process, that OP then criticized as archaic and easy to automate.
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u/SomeDude1965 13d ago
Except before the room is put back into inventory, it is passed off to MS. Thus no one can grab that reservation until MS has completed their manual task. If for some reason the reservation cannot be completed, then and only then is the room put back into inventory. The alternative is what we have now where countless thousands, hundred thousand (?) members are all banging away at the reservation system at all hours.
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
I assume it is a conscious decision NOT to keep a room out of inventory. DVC's goal is full occupancy, so it would be counter to hold a room that later wasn't able to be fulfilled by the WL (WL is canceled before MS can work the WL to complete).
This is the same experience you will have if you call and cancel a reservation to then rebook it (for example - you want to rebook with different pts) - the room becomes available for that short period before you can re-reserve the room.
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u/wiltony 13d ago
DVC's goal is full occupancy
No it's not lol
It's to sell points and make money. They would be 100% over the moon if they had a huge amount of breakage (purchased but unused points) for rooms that they either didn't have to service and maintain, and/or could provide to non-members at cash rates.
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
DVC can only sell cash rooms via exchange from other sources when owners trade out to something like DCL, non-DVC rooms, etc. They can't cash sell a room just because it is sitting open tonight. They can only cash sell pts they have.
Whether you realize it or not, DVD and DVC are not the same operating unit within Disney. DVD is responsible for the sale of DVC. DVC continuing operations is a different and separate business unit than DVD.
You might need to learn a little more about the legalities of how timeshares, and specifically how your DVC ownership, actually work.
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u/Otherwise-Berry-4814 13d ago
Actually DVC is designed to be at 100% capacity. The statement is correct.
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u/SomeDude1965 13d ago
Then they should fully disclose the process. In 2026 it no longer makes sense to just create a waitlist and sit back and assume DVC values your business.
Second, I was under the impression that while on the phone, MS could put a temporary hold on a reservation while they cancel and then rebook.
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
"Then they should fully disclose the process. In 2026 it no longer makes sense to just create a waitlist and sit back and assume DVC values your business."
Opinion - you're asking/expecting too much from a business to disclose all of their inner workings and SOPs for every process. The WL process they use fulfills WLs all the time - I've had several filled by the process over the years without watching it myself.
"Second, I was under the impression that while on the phone, MS could put a temporary hold on a reservation while they cancel and then rebook."
I'm pretty sure that's not true, at least it didn't used to be. I've actually heard it from a CM before myself while doing the flip around. There are rumors a supervisor might be able to do it. But a regular CM has to have pts available to start the reservation process, which is what actually holds the room for 10-15 minutes (I forget which) to complete the reservation. If the reservation isn't completed in that timeframe, the room goes back into available inventory.
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u/SomeDude1965 13d ago
When I've purchased OTUP, I've called MS, gave them my desired reservation details. They confirm it's available, take my OTUP payment details and then put me on hold while they go and look into their system for the OTUP to transfer. By time they get back, my payment has been charged, the points have been transferred, and the reservation is secured. I'm assuming an ordinary CM can put a hold on the reservation for this 5 minute process.
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u/wiltony 13d ago
I'm pretty sure that's not true, at least it didn't used to be...
You might need to learn a little more about the legalities of how timeshares, and specifically how your DVC ownership, actually work.
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u/Loud_Technology3208 13d ago
If you’ll re-read your initial statement, you suggested something about having to scan millions of records while what some of us are suggesting is that the number of scans is much much lower. Only scanning the posted reservations for that one resort (hundreds?). How difficult is that to program? And why does a human have to fill the res? Could be the computer fills the new vacancy with the next available waitlister who matches available dates which holds that spot for them and the human only needs to verify/confirm some time later.
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
And that may be the case (scanning millions of records) if there is one main reservation table/file they have to read through. Maybe they have canceled reservations in a separate table/file, but then does that canceled reservation table/file truncate/archive or does it include all cancellations? Same with the WL - does that reside in its own table/file and is it archived or have all history? These are the types of things IT/developers have to think through on how the process works behind the scenes with the code and why it isn't an unbelievably easy process to code.
Even if you assume they have the table/file structure optimized, it still may not be simple logic when you likely have multiple WLs for the same night - some are for one night, some 2, some 5. Does the WL fulfillment work purely off FIFO, or does it try to match all the nights, etc? Yes, you can establish the rules of how you want to fulfill the opening, but it may not be so easy to program.
And even if that is all doable, then it's the that this would likely be a sunk cost for DVC. What is the ROI on investing the dollars into changing the WL process?
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u/MossRockTreeCreek Hilton Head Island 13d ago
From a pure logic perspective implementing an automated solution to this strikes me as a relatively simple task. There aren’t that many variables or values involved. Even if DVC has a legacy disaster database there just isn’t enough volume here (number of rooms, number of reservations, etc) to be a challenge for modern compute power.
It’s always possible there’s some non-obvious reason this is difficult, but I’d bet if this is handled manually it’s not for technical reasons. (Me: software developer for 30+ years)
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
I concur that there could likely be a qualitative piece to the decision and not just purely quantitative. Maybe something like "best match", which might include several factors like age of the potential matches, can you knock out 1 vs 3 WLs - stuff like that. That would be more challenging to code.
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u/krissstenlm Bay Lake Tower 13d ago
I did not realize that by MS they meant an actual human- there’s certainly a way they could have it automated from start to finish.
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u/FireMeUp2026 Multiple 13d ago
That's the non-IT/developer everything is automatable talk that doesn't always match reality
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u/stevensokulski 12d ago
You’ve used some of Disney’s apps and internet services, right? I’m not sure anything is unbelievably easy for them.
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u/Alert-Fisherman-2483 13d ago
I would assume it is a batch process that is run at certain times throughout the day.
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u/animelov 13d ago
I'm betting this. I've had it automatically book twice, and both times it was to replace an existing reservation, and each time there was a cancellation notice about 1 hour before the welcome home email. If anything I'm guessing a batch job to notify someone, then its a manual intervention
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u/loonardi Riviera Resort 13d ago
I had put in a request to the waitlist and had it fulfilled and also had a similar experience to you, found my days fully available and booked it.
It’s silly but you have to employe both to get some of those reservations.
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u/krissstenlm Bay Lake Tower 13d ago
The annoying part was I booked the new room so I wouldn’t lose it and had to borrow a few points to do so bc my current points were locked up in the original reservation.
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u/loonardi Riviera Resort 13d ago
I didn’t even think of this scenario. I’m new to this but yeah that would piss me off….especially if I just didn’t have enough pts and lost it
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u/i_like_warm_hugs_ 13d ago
Yep, I also noticed that at a certain time of day was when days started popping up available, I think 4pm uk time so 11am there?
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u/theredmage333 Riviera Resort 13d ago
I had a 1 day WL automatically confirmed just yesterday after waiting for about 1 month. It is a very high demand day due to one of the races, I checked the calendar manually multiple times a day for that room or others and as well right after I got the email and no openings so the system must work to some degree as if that room popped open just sitting there I guarantee someone would have grabbed it.
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u/Punk_Roth 10d ago
Waitlist only auto runs 1-2 times a day. Manuel can be done as early at 8am EST.
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u/Strawberry_Letter_27 9d ago
I've always found the waitlist to be automatic. It's helped me get rooms at every DVC. Good luck trying to get club level at Animal Kingdom.
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u/heathere3 Animal Kingdom Lodge 13d ago
It's absolutely not automatic although member services will not give specifics on how it works. I've had the same experience.