Disney Vacation Club has announced plans to alter the timing on when members can make changes to existing reservations, limiting a controversial booking practice.
Years ago the practice was dubbed "walking." Instead of waiting until 11 months in advance of preferred travel dates, members would begin booking weeks or months ahead of time. That reservation would then be modified every few days, eliminating unwanted dates on the front end and extending on the back-end.
For instance, imagine a member wants to stay in a Resort View Deluxe Studio at Disney's BoardWalk Villas from December 14-20. Their 11-month booking window would begin on January 14. However, rather than waiting until January 14, on January 1 this owner would book the nights of December 1-7. A few days later they would amend the reservation to run from December 4-10. After 2 or 3 more modifications, the dates would be set at December 14-20. This "walking" process effectively circumvents the 11 month booking window, allowing the walker to block other owners from ever accessing their desired travel dates.
DVC is now taking steps to curb the abuse. The updated reservation policy posted on the DVC members-only website now reads as follows:
Modifications to travel dates and room types on a confirmed reservation can only be made when the original check-out date is within 11 months of the modification request. You can still update Guest information or cancel the reservation.
This new policy limits the ability to change (or "walk") the reservation. In the example above, the reservation for December 1-7 secured on January 1 cannot be modified until January 7--eleven months prior to that reservation's check out date. This effectively eliminate the value of the walking process. This owner would not gain any advantage in booking the nights of December 7 and beyone.
Modifications made less than 11 months before the check-out date are not impacted.
Details can currently be found at DVCMember.com. The change has not yet been functionally implemented withing the website booking engine.
In recent years, many resorts and room types which are in short supply have seemingly been subjected to walking. This includes things like Resort View rooms at BoardWalk, Disney's Riviera Resort and Bay Lake Tower, Theme Park View rooms, Riviera's Tower Studios, and concerige level rooms at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas. Supply and demand is unlikely to change for these desirable rooms. However, securing reservations will be more reliant upon the luck-of-the-draw at 8:00am eastern.
