Many before have suggested reservation changes to prevent walking, such as barring any changes to your arrival date in the first month after making a reservation. I, like many others, oppose such onerous changes because they would do more harm than good, including to those who actually need to do such a reservation change for a valid reason. Moreover, walking itself does not actually favor those who have more points, as anyone with enough points to reserve at least two weekends nights during the period of doing a walk could start a walk to a desired start date at the same time as someone who can reserve 7 nights at a time. Nevertheless, it appears that a continuously growing problem with walking is that far too many may now be doing it even when it is unnecessary, creating problems like the one noted in this thread for BWV pool/garden view studios and 2BRs when the reality is that the pool/garden view rooms would likely not have any 11-month availability problem absent excessive walking.
If a solution is actually needed, it should not be the absolute ban to changing reservations proposed by many. Instead what might be considered is a partial solution that would likely significantly decrease walking while still allowing some change to an arrival date in the time near when you initially make a reservation. For example:
1. Create a policy to specifically bar walking, which would be defined as the act of making any reservation at 11-months out with the intent to move the arrival date forward via a modification of the reservation to be done after the day you make the reservation.
2. If, within a 12-day period after making the initial reservation, you change the reservation two or more times to move the arrival date forward, it will be presumed that you are improperly walking a reservation and the reservation will not be allowed or will be cancelled absent the member's ability to establish to the satisfaction of
DVC that the changes do not violate the rule stated in item 1. (The 12-day period is chosen because a walker who can reserve 7-nights at 11-months out would usually make two changes to arrival date within 12 days after making the initial reservation if trying to successfully do a repeated walk.)
The rule in point one would likely make many who currently walk avoid walking. The possible penalty in item 2 would not eliminate all walking but likely substantially reduce it (including by eliminating long walks, e.g., starting a walk in Sep to get Nov time would be impossible), while still allowing those who have a real need to make a modification that changes the arrival date to do so once within those 12 days. Those with enough points to reserve 7 nights, if they decide to walk by changing a reservation start date, will have some advantage over another intentional walker who has fewer points, i.e. the one with points enough for 7-nights could possibly start walking a little earlier than others, but the main objective is to significantly reduce the amount of walking which should also rectify any 11-month issue that currently exists for rooms like the BWV pool/garden studios which would likely have no 11-month issue absent an excessive number of walkers.
Of course, DVC would need to do things with the reservation system it is not currently doing to enforce the policy.
