If you’ve been planning to book a highly desirable vacation during peak times at a popular resort, you might have noticed without planning far in advance and employing some of the expert tips that are contained in this article, it can be a challenge to book this type of reservation. Fear not! There are a few advanced usage tips we can share with you to help you greatly increase the likelihood of snagging these hard-to-book reservations.
The team here at A Timeshare Broker have owned and used timeshares for decades, and have experience with all the popular vacation clubs. In this article, we’ll explain the concept of “walking” a reservation, then apply this booking method to each of the popular vacation clubs where it can be used. Let’s get started!
What Is “Walking” A Reservation?
“Walking” a reservation is a booking strategy that involves making a reservation starting several days or even weeks before your actual desired start date. As each day passes, you then move or “walk” your reservation forward by one day, effectively maintaining your booking window and increasing your chances of securing your preferred dates.
This strategy takes advantage of the fact that availability often opens up as other owners change or cancel their plans. However, it requires diligence and constant monitoring, as you need to adjust your booking daily.
Now, let’s see how this method works with some of the most popular vacation clubs.
Hilton Grand Vacations
Hilton Grand Vacations Club operates on a points-based system, allowing members to book stays at any Hilton Grand Vacations resort worldwide. Because of this flexibility and the brand’s popularity, high-demand resorts in peak travel periods can be challenging to book.
This reservation strategy leverages two crucial aspects of the Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV) booking system: the club season booking window and the minimum number of nights that owners can reserve. Here’s how it works:
The Club Season Booking Window
The booking window for the Club Season at many HGV resorts opens up to 9 months before the check-out date. Although some resorts have unique booking windows, you can find easy-to-understand, color-coded charts for each resort in our article on HGV Booking Windows.
Every night at midnight Eastern Time, the inventory for the next day becomes available in the booking system.
Minimum Number of Nights for Reservation
Most HGV resorts mandate a minimum 3-night stay for reservations during the Club Season.
By securing a reservation on the first available day of the Club Season booking window, you are among the select few who can access the next day’s inventory once it’s released at midnight.
Without an existing reservation for a fully booked resort, date, and unit type, it’s impossible to reserve the next day at midnight when the inventory is updated, due to the minimum 3-night reservation requirement.
Disney Vacation Club
Reservation walking is a strategy employed by certain Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members to lock in sought-after reservations. While this approach offers increased flexibility to members, it fuels an ongoing debate on its fairness towards the broader member community.
The Mechanics of Reservation Walking
The act of walking a reservation begins with setting the initial day of the reservation earlier than the actual intended start date of the vacation. Members are then required to contact Member Services on a daily basis to shift the start date a day later and prolong the end date by a day. This method enables them to eventually secure their originally desired vacation dates, offering them an edge over members who stick to traditional booking guidelines.
7 & 11 Month Booking Windows
The DVC operates on two primary booking windows – the 7-month and 11-month windows. The 11-month window allows members to make reservations at their Home Resort (the resort where their timeshare ownership is based) up to 11 months in advance of their check-in date.
On the other hand, the 7-month window allows members to book at any DVC resort, not just their Home Resort, seven months before their intended check-in date. These booking windows are crucial when planning a DVC vacation and especially when considering walking a reservation.
Walking A DVC Reservation: An Example
Let’s consider an example to illustrate the process of walking a reservation. Suppose a member wants to stay at their Home Resort the following year from December 1st to December 7th, but they know these dates are popular and may be booked quickly. The member could start making a reservation on December 20th for the next year starting on November 20th, well before the actual desired start date.
Each day following the initial booking, the member would contact DVC Member Services to shift their reservation forward by one day, dropping the first day and adding an additional day at the end. By November 30th, their reservation would effectively be for December 1st to December 7th, the original desired dates. This strategy can help members secure popular dates that might otherwise be fully booked by the time the preferred booking window opens.
Conclusion
Reservation Walking is an interesting aspect of the timeshare experience. While it requires understanding of the booking windows and a commitment to daily adjustments, it can potentially enable members to secure their preferred vacation dates.
This technique is so efficient that many timeshare owners perceive it as a contentious approach to securing reservations, potentially excluding other owners from available slots and capitalizing on the rules established by their developer’s booking system.
The judgment, however, is yours to make. Our focus lies in enlightening our clients about maximizing the use of their timeshares. We consider it crucial that you are aware of the existence of this booking method.
