Possibly stupid FW question, re: merging reservations

[J-Dog]

Hi all. This is probably a stupid question. I have had a FW for about 5 years but have yet to actually take advantage of the FW. Our FW is about 20 points cheaper than if we made that same reservation without the FW.

So the question: If have an automatically-made FW reservation, but then add a day or 2 before or after the FW, can I call and merge those reservations? Or would it be better and/or less complicated to just wait until I get there and ask at the front desk if our room can stay the same through all of our reservations?

I just don't know how (or if) a FW would have an issue merging with a reservation made on "regular" points.

Thanks for any help.

 

[RuntheMouse]

If the reservations were made with the same membership you can merge them. If they were made with different memberships they can note a continuing stay on the reservation so you can stay in your same room.

 

[Sandisw]

They do not allow a FW reservation to be merged with days before or after. You can certainly have a note added so you don’t have to move rooms.

But, because of the way it works , a FW can’t be modified.

 

[J-Dog]

They do not allow a FW reservation to be merged with days before or after. You can certainly have a note added so you don’t have to move rooms.

But, because of the way it works , a FW can’t be modified.

Okay. That's what I suspected. Thank you!

 

[CarolMN]

Just ask MS to put note on each reservation that it is a continuing reservation and cross reference the reservation numbers. I doubt you will have to move.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

I have a FW, and have wondered the same thing. Some years it will miss my birthday by a couple of days, and I've thought about making a small neighboring reservation. Nice that you have a 20 point advantage with your FW; I think mine is 9pts with the way they've rebalanced the seasons.

I suspect the complication is for them to refund the correct number of points if you cancel your FW reservation. If it is just a FW, it is easy enough. But if merged with a different reservation, and/or if it is modified by adding or removing days, I think the determination of exactly how many points are for each night gets complicated.

 

[J-Dog]

I have a FW, and have wondered the same thing. Some years it will miss my birthday by a couple of days, and I've thought about making a small neighboring reservation. Nice that you have a 20 point advantage with your FW; I think mine is 9pts with the way they've rebalanced the seasons.

I suspect the complication is for them to refund the correct number of points if you cancel your FW reservation. If it is just a FW, it is easy enough. But if merged with a different reservation, and/or if it is modified by adding or removing days, I think the determination of exactly how many points are for each night gets complicated.

Yeah, that's makes perfect sense. Too much work for them. I assume that it won't make much difference, anyway, for merging compared to requesting not to be moved - unless, of course, they don't honor the request not to be moved. But I've never heard of that happening.

 

[jrieder]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of merging reservations?

 

[sndral]

…Or would it be better and/or less complicated to just wait until I get there and ask at the front desk if our room can stay the same through all of our reservations?
…

Don’t wait until you get there to let the front desk know it’s a continuing reservation, villas are assigned several days before you arrive, thus it’s best to have MS note the fact that it’s a continuing reservation on both reservations well before you arrive so that the room assigner can assign you to the same villa before you arrive. Then when you get there confirm w/ the front desk that they aren’t moving you.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of merging reservations?

A merged reservation = one reservation, therefore you won’t be moved. W/ two reservations there’s a risk you’ll have to move mid stay. In terms of advantages of 2 reservations, I suppose if you wanted to buy the dinning plan for some, but not all, of your stay you could do that by having 2 reservations .

 

[jrieder]

Don’t wait until you get there to let the front desk know it’s a continuing reservation, villas are assigned several days before you arrive, thus it’s best to have MS note the fact that it’s a continuing reservation on both reservations well before you arrive so that the room assigner can assign you to the same villa before you arrive. Then when you get there confirm w/ the front desk that they aren’t moving you.

A merged reservation = one reservation, therefore you won’t be moved. W/ two reservations there’s a risk you’ll have to move mid stay. In terms of advantages of 2 reservations, I suppose if you wanted to buy the dinning plan for some, but not all, of your stay you could do that by having 2 reservations .

K thank you. What about in terms of wait-lists. If I have one day on a wait-list, and the days are merged and it's a different resort.

 

[sndral]

K thank you. What about in terms of wait-lists. If I have one day on a wait-list, and the days are merged and it's a different resort.

You can’t merge stays at different resorts & obv. you’ll be moving if you have a split stay.
But, that is the reason many people start w/ 2 bookings at their home resort, they want a split stay so they make 2 separate reservations at their home resort at 11 months & then at 7 months try to grab the non home resort w/ one of the reservations, if that fails they’ll wait list the portion they want to change, if the waitlist never comes through they’ll call MS & have those original reservations merged.
I just thought of another reason to merge - w/ 2 reservations you’ll have two ADR dinning windows. W/ one reservation at 60 days from the start of your stay you make your ADRs for your entire stay (up to 10 days.) If you have separate reservations you’ll have to wait until 60 days out from the start of your second reservation to make your ADRs for that portion of your stay. This used to make a difference back in the days of pre booking FPs too.
There was a time when you could book ADRs on both portions at 60 days from the start of the first portion - but that won’t work anymore.

 

[Sandisw]

Don’t wait until you get there to let the front desk know it’s a continuing reservation, villas are assigned several days before you arrive, thus it’s best to have MS note the fact that it’s a continuing reservation on both reservations well before you arrive so that the room assigner can assign you to the same villa before you arrive. Then when you get there confirm w/ the front desk that they aren’t moving you.

A merged reservation = one reservation, therefore you won’t be moved. W/ two reservations there’s a risk you’ll have to move mid stay. In terms of advantages of 2 reservations, I suppose if you wanted to buy the dinning plan for some, but not all, of your stay you could do that by having 2 reservations .

Prior to the return of the DDP, DVC would not allow rooms of the same room type on the same membership to be kept as separate for the sake of doing partial dining plans.

Not sure if that is still the case now that it is back.

 

[sndral]

Prior to the return of the DDP, DVC would not allow rooms of the same room type on the same membership to be kept as separate for the sake of doing partial dining plans.

Not sure if that is still the case now that it is back.

Ah, thanks for the info., I never tried to do it back in our DP era, but thought I’d read of folks doing it - maybe it was cash stays or folks actually doing split stays & moving mid trip.
I do remember being able to make all my ADRs at one 60 day window & my FPs even when we were doing a split stay at 2 different resorts, but last year I had 3 60 day ADR windows - one for the first 3 days at BLT, the second for our first 10 days at VGF & the 3rd to cover the days beyond 10 on our longer second reservation. I’ll have 2 60 day windows this year as well even though we aren’t moving, one for the first 10 days & then I’ll need to wait to finish up my +10 days.

 

[JackosinDIS]

Ah, thanks for the info., I never tried to do it back in our DP era, but thought I’d read of folks doing it - maybe it was cash stays or folks actually doing split stays & moving mid trip.
I do remember being able to make all my ADRs at one 60 day window & my FPs even when we were doing a split stay at 2 different resorts, but last year I had 3 60 day ADR windows - one for the first 3 days at BLT, the second for our first 10 days at VGF & the 3rd to cover the days beyond 10 on our longer second reservation. I’ll have 2 60 day windows this year as well even though we aren’t moving, one for the first 10 days & then I’ll need to wait to finish up my +10 days.

That’s frustrating. We’ll be in the same boat with a 6/6 split stay this year. I guess I won’t aim for any popular ADRs on days 7-9!

 

[Sandisw]

Ah, thanks for the info., I never tried to do it back in our DP era, but thought I’d read of folks doing it - maybe it was cash stays or folks actually doing split stays & moving mid trip.
I do remember being able to make all my ADRs at one 60 day window & my FPs even when we were doing a split stay at 2 different resorts, but last year I had 3 60 day ADR windows - one for the first 3 days at BLT, the second for our first 10 days at VGF & the 3rd to cover the days beyond 10 on our longer second reservation. I’ll have 2 60 day windows this year as well even though we aren’t moving, one for the first 10 days & then I’ll need to wait to finish up my +10 days.

At first, people were. They were booking nights daily and then doing the deluxe DDP every other day. It became a very big workaround and so DVC put a stop to it.