WorldMark Owner Information
Fred in Colorado, One WorldMark Owner
Maximum Time, Minimum Credits
In this section I will try to present some of the special
features you might come across when using your WorldMark
ownership. You only have a limited number of credits to work
with each year and I'll try to give you a few clues on how you can
get the most reservation time out of those credits. I'll try
to explain the various rules and guidelines by using examples,
most of which are things I have done when making reservations
for our travels. Some of these ideas work well for us since we
are retired and do not have the constraints imposed by a work
schedule or a school schedule. If you are working, or if you
have children in school and need to plan around school
vacation periods you will be more limited in what you can do,
but maybe some of these things will work for you.
Off Season Travel
One way to get more mileage out of your credits is to travel during the off
season periods. Red season is the most popular travel time and has the
highest credit requirements at the resorts. Blue season is normally the
least desirable time and has the lowest credit requirements for booking a
unit. White season is the shoulder season in between the Red and Blue
seasons. For example, at Steamboat Springs, here in Colorado, the winter
ski season and summer are Red season. Late fall, mid October to mid November
is Blue season, that is a period of low activity in the Colorado mountains.
Late spring after the ski season is over and early fall after school has
started are White season.
There are some good off season travel opportunities, especially during
the white season. We have often traveled in early fall, late September
through October. School has started so things tend to be less crowded;
the weather is still usually fairly nice; and reservations are easier
to get. A few years ago we went to Depoe Bay in October on a reservation
that was booked only a few months earlier. During the summer that
reservation would be much more difficult to get, and would probably
require booking near the 13 month booking window first opened.
There are also some White season summer opportunities if you don't mind
the heat. Rancho Vistoso has a summer White season period and Palm
Springs and Indio have both White and Blue seasons in the summer.
The dates for the seasons can and do vary from year to year so check
the season calendars for the resort you are interested to determine
when the various seasons occur.
Mid Week Travel
Traveling mid week rather than on the weekends is another way to stretch
your available credits. We have taken several trips to Las Vegas using
the Sunday through Thursday weekday rates rather than the higher weekend
rates. For example, a full week in a 1 bedroom unit at the Las Vegas Blvd
resort requires 9,000 credits. The 4 night Monday through Thursday period
requires 4,400 credits. If you book 4 nights as Thursday through Sunday
the 4 days will cost you 5,700 credits.
The difference is even more dramatic at some of the other resorts where
the weekend nights cost twice the midweek rate. At St George for example,
Monday through Thursday nights in a 1 bedroom unit are 875 credits each,
or a total of 3,500 credits for the 4 nights. Friday and Saturday nights
require 1,750 credits each and Sunday night is 1,000 credits, so a four
night stay starting on Thursday would cost you 5,375 credits. That's a
significant difference just to stay over the weekend. Besides the credit
cost, the other advantage of traveling mid week is that things are
usually not as crowded.
Converting Credit Reservations to Bonus Time
You can make credit reservations as far out as 13 months in advance of check
in date. Bonus Time reservations can only be made at a maximum of 14 days before
the check in date. Wouldn't it be nice if you could book that prime spot
at 13 months using credits and then at 14 days before check in cancel it and
rebook it as Bonus Time? Think of the extra trips you could get that way
without using any of those precious credits.
There are a couple of obstacles written into the guidelines you will run into if
you try to do something like that. The cancellation date for a reservation
made more than 90 days in advance is 30 days, so if you cancel at 14 days
you will lose your credits. Even if you made the reservation at 90 days,
which carries a cancellation date of 10 days before check in, there is a
48 hour waiting period before you can book that same reservation as
Bonus Time. If it is a reservation for a prime time prime location, you
can bet that someone else will have booked it before those 48 hours are up.
Don't give up yet though, in some cases it can be done. If you have a
reservation that you made at 90 days or less, there is a period of opportunity
between the 14 day Bonus Time booking window and the 10 day cancellation
limit. If there is availability at the resort you want to visit within
that period you can convert all or part of your reservation to Bonus Time.
You have to do it in the right sequence. First you book the Bonus Time
reservation for the days you want. If you want more than 4 days, you
add those extra days to the reservation using credits. At that point you
have two reservations for the same time at the same resort. One is the
original one you booked on credits, the other one is the one you booked
as Bonus Time. Next you cancel the credit reservation and now all you
have left is the Bonus Time reservation.
This works because there is a 4 day overlap from the start of the Bonus
Time booking window and the cancellation deadline for your credit
reservation. It works because you are not cancelling a credit reservation
and then booking the same reservation as a Bonus Time reservation. You are
making the Bonus Time reservation first, which means there is availability
in addition to the credit reservation you already have, and then you are
cancelling the credit reservation.
It only works with reservations made within the 90 day booking window.
Reservations made beyond that point have a 30 day cancellation time so
there is no overlap with the Bonus Time booking window.
New Resorts
New resorts can present some unique opportunities for booking reservations for
cash, saving those credits for other opportunities. Often new resorts are put
on Inventory Special when they first open as a way to entice owners to check
them out. Or there may be other special deals. When the Las Vegas resort on
Las Vegas Blvd first opened you could book reservations for cash at 8 cents
per credit. That special lasted for a short time to introduce owners to
the new resort.
Even when a new resort does not appear on the Inventory Special list, Bonus
Time is often available. It can take a while for owners to begin fully
utilizing a new resort, which means there is often a lot of availability.
During that time you will find Bonus Time. Using the Las Vegas resort as
an example again, for the first year, maybe longer, that it was open it
was fairly easy to book mid week Bonus Time there. Now that is no longer
true, you will find some Bonus Time there, but not like you did
when it first opened.
Stand Alone Days
Here's an exception to the requirement to book a full week if you are
booking in Red season more than 90 days in advance. Sometimes you
will find a block of 6 or less days that do not connect to any other
days at either end. Those are stand alone days. If that is the case,
you can book those days even though they are less than a week.
I'll try to clarify with an example. I'm writing this on May 1, which
means that any Red season booking beyond July 30 is subject to the requirement
to book a full week. But I decide it would be nice to get away for a few
days in August, perhaps to Estes Park, just a hop, skip, and jump up the
road from our house. (If you want to get picky, it's really about a
1-1/2 hour drive.) I log into the WorldMark web site and pull up Estes Park.
Looking at the August availability, I see three days in a 2 bedroom unit, August
20, 21, and 22. Both August 19 and August 23 show no availability so those
three days are all by themselves, three standalone days which is perfect for
what I have in mind. May 1 to August 20 is 112 days, so normally I couldn't
book an August 21 reservation yet. I'd have to wait until May 22. But
since those three days are sitting there all by themselves I can make the
reservation now. I click on the "book-it" button on the web site and I'm
in business. A few more clicks and I have my reservation, I have my August getaway.
The use of stand alone days is not limited to any particular period. Any time
you see them available you can book them, from 91 days before check in all
the way out to 13 months before check in. You don't need them if you are booking
Red season at 90 days or less before check in, you can book any number of
days at that time. The same applies to White and Blue seasons, you can
book less than a week in those seasons at any time.
The 48 Hour Rule
At 48 hours before check in, or 2 days, some of the booking requirements change.
Here are the three that I am aware of.
1)If you make a reservation within 48 hours of check in you can book a single
night on a weekend, either Friday or Saturday night. Normally you have to book
a two night stay for a weekend.
2)Within 48 hours of check in there is no limit on the number of weekend
reservations you can have. Normally you can have only 1 weekend reservation
at a time for each block of 5,000 credits you own.
3)Within 48 hours of
check in you can have more than one Bonus Time reservation.
How can this be of help? One way is if you want to go "condo hopping" on
bonus time. Let's say you start with a 4 day reservation at Birch Bay.
From there you would like to go to Seattle, then down to Seaside, next
over to Eagle Crest, then to Running Y, Reno, etc., etc., and you want
to stay 4 nights at each resort. If you plan that trip for January you
have a chance at doing it all on bonus time, even though you can only have
one bonus time reservation at a time. First you make the Birch Bay
reservation and go there for the first segment. On the morning of your
third day there, you call the Vacation Planning Center and book 4 nights
at Seattle, also on bonus time. Since it is within 48 hours of your check
in time at Seattle, you can have that second bonus time reservation even
though your first one is not complete. On the morning of your third day
at the Camlin in Seattle you call in again and make a bonus time reservation
for 4 nights at Seaside. You do this for each segment of the trip, always
calling to make your next reservation on the third day of your stay. It's
all subject to availability of course, and you could get shut out of one
or more of your bonus time reservations, but with a little luck it could
be done. Some of those resorts might also be on Inventory Special so you
could book those further in advance and have less segments to
worry about for bonus time.
You could also do extended stays on bonus time if you go off season.
Say you decide you'd like to spend a week in Tucson during the summer
when it's roasting hot and there is lots of availability. Chances are
it will be on Inventory Special and you could book a 30 day reservation
all at once, but even if it's not you can probably still do it on bonus
time. You book a 4 day bonus time reservation and off to Rancho Vistoso
you go. On the morning of your third day there you call in and make
another Bonus Time reservation starting immediately after your current
one. Again, the 48 hour rule allows you to have both the first and
second reservations on bonus time. Four days later, which will be the
start of the third day for your second reservation, you call in again
and make another 4 day bonus time reservation. You repeat the process
every 4 days, staying as long as you like, always subject to availability.
If you pick mid-July through mid-August in Rancho Vistoso I'd be pretty
confident that you could stay the entire month that way.
Here's another example of how we have used the 48 hour rule. We usually
travel to Las Vegas at least once a year, sometimes more. I watch Las Vegas
availability and if I see a 4 night stay available on bonus time we might
decide to go. Even with Las Vegas being one of the more popular resorts
it is not that rare to find 4 nights on bonus time. Especially if you
can travel mid week like we do.
We could drive straight through to Las Vegas if we really wanted to but
that makes for a very long day. Our normal mode is to stop overnight
in St George. That leaves us a very short drive for the next day. So
what I do is 2 days before our check in date I call and book us for one
night in St George, also using bonus time. Even though we already have
one bonus time reservation we can make the second one because of the 48
hour rule. It doesn't matter if it is a weekday or weekend either, because
even on the weekend you can book a single night within 48 hours of arrival.
The biggest problem is availability, especially if you try to do some of the
things I listed during Red season. For the St George example I used above
I have always been successful in getting us that one night, but there have
been a few times when it looked like the resort might be full by the time the
48 hour point was reached. St George is becoming more popular as more people
visit there, and even with the recent expansion is often fully booked. One
of these days we might have to break down and stay in a motel on the way to
Las Vegas. What a letdown that would be.
A final note on the 48 hour rule. You cannot book a reservation online
within 48 hours. You must call the Vacation Planning Center to book it. I
have no idea why that is, but that is the way online booking is set up.
Throw Away Days
Throw away days refer to those extra days you might need to add at the start
of your reservation to get a reservation in a prime time period at a prime
location. Hawaii and Cabo over spring break, as well as some holiday weeks
are typical examples. What you do is add a few days at the start of the
time period you want which allows you to book the reservation sooner than
you normally could. For a more detailed example, see the example listed as
a "More Difficult Reservation" near the end of this section.
The Wait List
If you must have a particular time period for your reservation and there is
no availability, you can put your name on the wait list. I won't try to go
through all the details of the wait list, get a copy of the Owners Education
Handbook and study the information there. Here's a brief summary of the main points.
First, the wait list is for credit reservations only. You cannot use it for
Bonus Time or Inventory Specials. To use the wait list you call the Vacation
Planning Center and request the resort, unit size, and time period you want.
You can specify specific dates or a range of dates. You can have up to 8
different waitlist requests active at one time.
If a unit becomes available that matches up with a request you have made
you will be contacted, either by phone or email. You specify which form
of contact you want when you set up the waitlist request. You have 24 hours
to contact the Vacation Planning Center if you want to confirm the reservation.
After that time it is released, either to the next person on the wait list
or to the availability pool if there are no other waitlist requests.
I haven't used the wait list very often, but when I have it has been
effective. One time we needed only a one bedroom unit but the only thing
available was a 2 bedroom. I booked the 2 bedroom and put us on the
waitlist for the same time period in a 1 bedroom. That request worked,
and we were able to change the reservation to the 1 bedroom unit.
How effective the wait list is for you is dependent on many factors,
including how far in advance you get on the wait list, how popular the
resort is, and how large the resort is. The larger the resort the more
likely that there will be cancellations. The last numbers I saw were
that over 35% of WorldMark reservations ended up being cancelled, so
there is often a good chance that your request will be filled. The
Planning Center can give you an idea of your chances if you ask them.
Example - A Basic Reservation
Here's an example of booking a straightforward reservation. Suppose
you decide you would like to spend the third week of June in a two bedroom
unit at Oceanside in Southern California. I have never booked Oceanside,
but with 72 two bedroom units I am going to assume that is not too difficult
to book if you book it as early as possible in 2007 for the summer of 2008.
For this example, I'll pick a check in date of Saturday, June 14, 2008, and
a checkout date of Saturday, June 21. Since you can make a reservation up to
13 months in advance you should plan on making your reservation on May 14,
2007, exactly 13 months before your planned check in date. Bright and early
that morning, (reservations open at 6:00 am, Pacific Time), you log into the
WorldMark web site or call the vacation planning center and make your reservation.
You're all set, you have a whole year+ to make plans for what you will do while
you are there, easy wasn't it?
Example - A More Difficult Reservation
Here's an example of a more difficult reservation. It is also an
illustration of using throw away days to get the reservation you want.
I wrote this using the July 4th, 2008 holiday in a Seaside penthouse as an example.
July 4, 2008 is on a Friday. Where I used to work that usually meant we
were off on the 3rd also, making it a 4 day weekend. So let's say you decide
that would be a good week for your vacation, and you take Monday through Wednesday
off as vacation days. You decide to splurge, and plan to book a penthouse at
Seaside for that week. Check in on Sunday June 29, and check out on Sunday
July 6. With a June 29, 2008 check in date the earliest you can book the
reservation is May 29, 2007.
I'd be willing to make a small wager that if you wait to book that week
until the 13 month window opens on May 29 it will not be available. A lot of
other people will also want to take a weeks vacation which only requires 3
days off work; there are only 7 penthouses at Seaside; it is located in Oregon,
which has a high number of WorldMark owners; a lot of people will want to check
in on both Friday and Saturday, June 27 and June 28; in fact, I suspect there
will be a lot of 9 day reservations, starting on Friday June 27 and checking
out on Sunday July 6. All of those factors will make it very unlikely that
the week you want will be available if you wait until May 29 to book it.
That means its decision time. You have to decide how badly you want that
particular week in a penthouse and how much you are willing to pay for it. The
penthouse costs 18,000 credits for one week in red season. If you can use a 9
day reservation, Friday through Sunday a week later, it would cost 24,250 credits.
If you can't be on vacation until Sunday, that is pretty expensive since you
would only be using 7 of the 9 nights you booked. Here's where the flexibility
of WorldMark comes into play. Instead of booking 2 extra nights in the penthouse,
you can book those two nights in a studio. The Friday and Saturday night before
your Sunday-Sunday week would cost you 2,500 credits for a studio at Seaside,
making the total 20,500 for your week. You can do better than that though,
more of the WorldMark flexibility. There is no reason those extra two days
need to be booked at Seaside, they can be booked at any of the 60 WorldMark
resorts. So instead of Seaside, book those two studio nights at Palm Springs.
That's a grouped reservation as defined in the WorldMark guidelines. It is
white season at Palm Springs so the two nights will cost 1850 credits, for
a total of 20,050 for your penthouse week.
This will still not guarantee the week since there will be many others
trying to book it. It only takes 7 reservations to fill up the penthouses
during the time period you want. You will probably have to add more days at
the studio unit in front of the week you want. Booking at Seaside, each
additional studio day will cost you 850 credits, at Palm Springs only 600.
My guess is that it would take at least three additional days and possibly
more, up to a full week, in order to book that Seaside penthouse.
If it's not clear what you are accomplishing with the extra days, remember
this. You can book a reservation 13 months in advance of the check in date.
If you add 2 extra days at the front of that June 29 reservation you want,
the check in date become June 27, 2008. That means you can book it on
May 27, 2007. If you add a full week in front of the June 29, 2008 week,
the check in date becomes June 22, 2008. That means you can book it on May 22,
2007. It doesn't matter if all of the time as at one resort or several,
it is the first check in date that determines when you can book
the entire reservation.
A full week in a studio, with a check in date of June 22, 2008, followed
with a full week in the Seaside penthouse, with a check in date of June 29,
would end up costing you 5,000 credits for the Palm Springs white season studio
and 18,000 credits for the Seaside penthouse, 23,000 credits total. That's
a 28% premium, you'll have to decide if it's worth it to you.
What happens to that week in Palm Springs? You only get the one week off work,
you can't use it. It can sit empty, becoming what is referred to as throw-away
days. You book throw away days in front of the reservation you want in order to
get that desired reservation. WorldMark allows renting and sharing of reservations,
so you have more options. Palm Springs is white season in the summer, very hot, so
I wouldn't count on much of a rental market. I don't normally condone sharing of
reservations, but I will make an exception for this case. Maybe you have a relative
or friend who would like a free week there. Give it to them and you'll get
a big grin in return.
Detailed Bonus Time Booking
How hard are you willing to work to get a bonus time reservation? I am going to outline a procedure here that will greatly improve your odds of being successful. The main requirements are that you have computer access to the WorldMark online reservation system and that you are willing to put in a fair amount of time and effort. I’ll warn you in advance that it is an intense procedure. But if you follow it your odds of finding that elusive bonus time, even at a popular resort during prime times, are pretty good.
There are a number of things that are important to remember when you want to book a bonus time reservation. A big factor in successfully booking bonus time is flexibility. The more flexible you are the better your chances for success. There are a number of questions to answer before you begin your bonus time search.
If you already think you know all the answers you can skip directly to The Specifics of the technique.
Do you want to go to a specific resort or anywhere within an area?
The more resorts there are in the area you want to visit the better your chances of finding bonus time.
For example, if you say you want to go to the Oregon coast you have better odds of finding a unit
available than if you say you want to go to Schooner Landing. A typical case for us is Las Vegas.
We travel there fairly regularly, often on bonus time, and will stay at either Spencer Street or
the resort on Las Vegas Boulevard. But don’t give up if there is only one resort in the area you
want to visit, it is still possible to find bonus time.
Resort size is also a factor. You have much better odds of finding bonus time at the larger resorts than at the small ones. Using the Oregon coast as an example again, Schooner Landing has only 13 WorldMark units. Seaside has 237 units. You have much better odds of finding bonus time at Seaside than at Schooner Landing.
Do you need a specific room size?
When we travel there are usually just two of us. That means we could stay in a studio if we wanted to and will if nothing else is available. We like more room though, so I normally look for at least a one bedroom unit. If no one bedroom units are available but there is a two bedroom available, I will book that. It typically costs about 25% more for the two bedroom unit but it is still a much better deal than booking a hotel. Once we decided to splurge and booked a 2 bedroom penthouse. The penthouses are nice, but we decided we would rather have more days for the same money, so we have not booked a penthouse again.
Are you willing to move during your stay?
This is more of the flexibility issue. For example, you do a search for bonus time and find that there are two days available in a one bedroom unit and the following two days are available in a two bedroom unit. If you are willing to move between units in the middle of your trip you can book all four of those days as a single bonus time reservation. And remember, there is no housekeeping fee associated with bonus time so there is no cost penalty for using multiple units on a bonus time reservation.
It is somewhat of a pain to move since you have to check out of the first unit before noon and check in time for the next unit is 4:00 pm. That means you need a place to store luggage and probably food for at least 4 hours. You can load it in your car or at most resorts they have space available in the office area where you can park things. Sometimes the second room is ready early and you can move directly from one unit to another. It never hurts to let the resort manager or the people at the front desk know that you are moving. They might help out by making sure your second unit is one of the first on the cleaning list.
You are not limited to moving between units either. On one of our 4 day Las Vegas trips we spent the first 2 nights at Spencer Street and then moved to the resort on Las Vegas Boulevard for the next 2 nights. On the Oregon coast there are 4 resorts within 120 miles of each other. If you are willing to move and willing to drive the distance, you could end up splitting a bonus time reservation between any and all of those resorts.
Do you need to travel on specific dates?
If you say you want three days of bonus time beginning on April 17 you are more limited than if you have some flexibility in the dates. A typical scenario for us is that we will decide we want to go to Las Vegas in April. Then I start looking for bonus time and whatever dates become available is when we go.
Can you travel midweek or only on weekends?
There is nearly always more availability during the week than there is on weekends. If you are working or have kids in school that might not work for you. We prefer to travel midweek when the resorts are less crowded and there is more availability. Retirement does have some perqs!
How many days do you want?
The maximum bonus time reservation length is 4 days. That does not mean that you have to book 4 days though. If you want a quick getaway you might want a single day. Or perhaps a 2 day weekend. Shorter stays are easier to find.
How many days will you settle for?
This is related to the previous question. If you really want 3 days but only two are available will you still take that trip on bonus time? For us, if we are planning a Las Vegas trip we will not normally go for less than 4 days. It is about 760 miles from our house to Las Vegas, that is too long of a drive for less than 4 days. On the other hand if we decide to pop up to Estes Park, which is only 1-1/2 hours away, we might do that for just one night.
The Specifics
Now that you have answered all of the questions, let’s get down to the specifics of how to find that bonus time reservation. Here are some important things to remember.
- The bonus time booking window opens at 14 days before arrival.
- There is no wait list during the bonus time booking window.
- Days can be added to a bonus time reservation that is for less than 4 days.
- The penalty free bonus time cancellation period ends 48 hours before arrival.
With those things in mind, here goes
How to look
There are two ways to look for availability on the WorldMark web site. There is the search function and the 4 month calendar. The search function has a specific bonus time search function that is very handy. You specify a region, such as Washington, Oregon, East Coast, or any of the other WorldMark region designations, or you specify a specific resort that you are looking for. If you select a region don’t select a resort also, the system will complain about that. The bonus time search will look for all units that are available within the 14 day bonus time window and are within the region or resort you specified and report the results. If nothing was found you will get a message that says “We found no results for your query”.
You cannot use the general search function where you specify the arrival and departure dates. If you enter the start and end of the 14 day bonus time window the search will assume that you want to stay all 14 days and will only report units that are available for the entire 14 day period. It will not report individual days that are available within that period.
There is also the 4 month calendar that you can use to check availability. The 4 month calendar is a display for a specific resort and a specific unit type within that resort. If you use it to look for bonus time you need to step through all of the different size units in the resort to see if any have days available. That is not too convenient unless you are looking for a specific unit size so I normally use the bonus time search function.
There are a couple of shortcomings with the bonus time search function. It cuts off at exactly 14 days, even if there is a continous block of days extending beyond that point. For example, if there are 4 consectuive days available starting at day 14 of the bonus time window, the search function will only show the first day. It will not show the available days for day 15, 16, and 17. But if those four days are available you can book them. Only the first day has to be within 14 days of check in, the remainder of the bonus time reservation can extend beyond that. If you click on the “More Dates” link that is on the right side of the search results display it will take you directly to the 4 month calendar for the resort and unit size where the link is listed. Then you can see if there are days continuing on beyond the 14 day bonus time window.
The 14 day cutoff also become problematic if you are willing to switch units during your trip. Let’s say you find 2 days available that you want starting at day 13 of the bonus time booking window. You check the 4 month calendar and the following 2 days are not available for that unit size. If you are willing to switch units in the middle of your trip you could book the last two days in a different unit size. That would be day 15 and day 16 relative to the current bonus time booking window. Those days will not show on a bonus time search. To find them you need to go to the 4 month calendar and step through all of the unit sizes you are interested in. If you find those last 2 days in a different unit size you can book all 4 days at the same time, all as bonus time. You need to call the Vacation Planning Center to do that since the online system will view it as 2 separate bonus time reservations and it will not allow you to do that.
Another thing I have noticed about the Search Function is that the “Book It” button does not always work right. Sometimes I will get and error message, usually one that says “Not enough room nights available” even though I have made a valid request. When that happens the unit also disappears form available inventory for a while, probably for the 15 minutes that you have to complete a reservation. I don’t know if that is for all users or not, but if not that means others can book the unit before it shows back up on your screen. So I always switch to the 4 month calendar and book my reservations from it. I have not had problems when booking from the 4 month calendar.
When to look
Since the bonus time booking window opens 14 days before your planned arrival date you might think there is no point in looking at availability before then. I recommend looking the day before just to see if there is anything open starting at day 15. If there is, and if it is still there after reservations close, which is at 11:30 pm Pacific time, you will want to consider getting up early and being online at 6:00 am the next morning when reservations open again. Then you can be at the head of the line to book those days.
Another significant time is 10 days before arrival date. Reservations made 90 days or less in advance can be cancelled at 10 days before arrival without penalty. There is no wait list within 14 days, so if someone cancels at 10 days before arrival the days cancelled become available for bonus time. Bear in mind that their 10 days before arrival may not coincide with yours. As long as the time they are cancelling fits with what you want that doesn't matter.
48 hours, or 2 days, before arrival is another significant date since that's the last date when a reservation made 14 days or less before arrival can be cancelled. Someone may have 4 days booked where the last two days of their reservation are the first two days of what you are looking for. If they cancel that reservation 2 days before their arrival, that is 2 days before the first day you want to travel. You can pick up those two days and still have two more days to cancel if you change your mind.
If you do book something at 48 hours or less there is no penalty free cancellation. If you make a reservation within 48 hours of your arrival make sure you are planning on using that reservation. You can’t book within 48 days online either, you have to do that by phone. There is more about the 48 hour cancellation time further along in this discussion.
If you are looking for bonus time within a time window, then the dates advance along within your window. For example, if you are looking for bonus time anytime from the 15th to the 30th of the month, the 14 day window opens on the 1st for day 15, the 2nd for day 16, etc. The booking window advances every day as you move further into the window you are searching for.
How often to look
In general the answer to this question is as often as possible. If you check for bonus time in the morning and there is nothing available and then you don’t check again until the next day your odds of finding bonus time are reduced. Before online booking was available I would hear people taking about calling 15 or 20 times a day to check for bonus time. Now I hear people talking about checking online 15 or 20 times an hour looking for bonus time.
I doubt if very many people are going to sit at their computer from 6:00 am to 11:30 pm checking for bonus time every 3 or 4 minutes. I know I wouldn’t do that even though it would increase my success rate for finding bonus time. Cancellations happen all the time and there is no way to predict when they will occur. Since there is no wait list
during the bonus time booking window availability created by cancellations goes directly into available inventory.
What you are trying to do is catch some of those cancelled days when they first come into the reservation system
before anyone else can get them. You will hear claims that a certain part of the day is best, but I have yet to
see that. It would take a detailed analysis of the cancellation data to determine the “best” time, if one exists.
What I will do when I am looking for bonus time is multi-task if I am working on something on the computer anyway. By that I mean that I will open a second window and log into the WorldMark reservation system. Every few minutes I will pop that window to the front and check to see if there is any bonus time available for the dates and locations I am interested in. If I find something I want I will book it. Otherwise I will go back to my main task and come back in another few minutes to check again.
I’m writing this in early August, 2007. In the background I have been periodically checking for Oregon bonus time. Often there has been nothing available, but days at Running Y and Eagle Crest have popped up and on the most recent check there were two days at Seaside available. One time there were three consecutive days at Depoe Bay, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Those disappeared very quickly.
What to book
I’ll do this by using an example, it’s easier to explain that way. Let’s say you are looking for a three day weekend getaway consisting of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. If you are real lucky you will check availability and those three nights will be sitting there available just waiting for you. More than likely though, either there will be nothing available or only one or two of the nights will be open. If nothing is available the decision is simple, keep looking, waiting for available days to appear.
But if only one night is available what do you do? If you say to yourself “one night is not enough” and don’t book that one night someone else will. That’s where the second point I listed earlier comes into play. You can add bonus time days to an existing bonus time reservation, up to the 4 day maximum. Book that one night and you have one third of the reservation you are looking for. Then keep looking for the other two nights. If you find them, even one at a time, you can add those days to your existing reservation.
For booking the three day reservation one day at a time the best case scenario is that you find the middle day first. Then you can add a day at either end. If you get either of the end days first then you have to add the middle day next since otherwise you would be trying to make two bonus time reservations at the same time and you can’t do that. There is a way around that restriction though, I'll talk about that later.
When you click on the “Book It” button to add that second day, the system will tell you that you can only use credits since you already have one active bonus time reservation for the first day. You need to use the telephone to book that second day and have it combined with your existing reservation. Will someone else book that day before your call get through to the Vacation Planning Center? Not if you clicked on the Book It button and did not release the day. The system gives you 15 minutes to complete a reservation, and for that 15 minutes the day you have selected is out of inventory for others. The person who answers the phone can get it and book it for you. Unless it takes longer than 15 minutes to get through to the VPC, no one else will be able to see that day as being available.
For the case where you find two non-adjacent days available, such as a Thursday and a Saturday, or want to add a non-adjacent day such as adding the Saturday to a Thrursday you have already booked, here's what you can do. Remember the grouped reservation that was discussed back in the basic section? You can do that with a bonus time reservation too. When you find a situation like that, combine those two days with another day somewhere else. Pick a resort that has lots availability, and one that has a studio available and is in Blue season if possible. That will minimize your initial cost and also will not take inventory away from someone else who whats to visit that other location. For example, say you already have Thursday booked at Depoe Bay and you see the connecting Saturday available. You can't book it directly as bonus time, that would be two simultaneous bonus time reservations which is not allowed. What you can do it add a Friday at a different resort, say at Galena, and then you have a three day bonus time reservation. Thursday and Saturday at Depoe Bay and Friday at Galena. You have to call the Vacation Planning Center to make that reservation, you cannot do a grouped reservation online. If the Friday at Depoe Bay becomes available you book it as bonus time, replacing the day at Galena. Then you have your three day bonus time weekend. If the Friday doesn't open up you cancel all three days.
There is one other potential gotcha and that involves the weekend only rule. A weekend only reservation is a reservation consisting of Friday and Saturday nights. The three day reservation is not a weekend only reservation, but if you book it one or two days at a time you could end up with the weekend booked while you are waiting to find the Thursday night. The weekend restriction on bonus time is that if you own less than 20,000 credits you can only book one weekend only reservation per calendar quarter. If you have already used one weekend only bonus time reservation you will not be able to book the weekend part of your desired reservation without already having the Thursday night booked. Back to that grouped reservation. Add a Thursday or a Sunday anywhere and it is no longer a weekend only reservation. When the third day becomes available at your desired resort book it to replace the "anywhere" day you booked.
When to cancel
The third point I listed is that the penalty free cancellation period ends at 48 hours, or 2 days, before the check in date. I looked at a few of my old bonus time reservation confirmations, here’s a few samples: Check In October 7; Must Cancel By October 5; Check In December 5, Must Cancel By December 3; Check In March 12; Must Cancel By March 10. If it was a true 48 hours in advance you would have to cancel by 4:00 pm 2 days in advance. I’ve never pushed the system beyond that point by waiting until after 4:00 pm on the “Must Cancel By” date. I’ve always cancelled before that point. If you are going to do that check first and make sure it is allowed.
So you’ve been following the procedure I have outlined trying to get that three day getaway and the arrival date is only two days away but you still only have one or two days booked. Unless you have changed your original plan and are willing to settle for the days you actually do have booked it is time to cancel those days. If you wait any longer those days are yours, you won't be able to cancel them without penalty. You'll have to pay for them whether or not you use them.
When you booked the days as bonus time you incurred a charge on your credit card; when you cancel those days that charge is returned as a refund on your credit card. I always cancel by phone and check my reservations online while I am still on the phone to make sure the bonus time reservation is gone. Unless you have dial-up internet access and can’t do that I recommend that procedure. I write down the cancellation number they give me and the name of the person I talked to, just in case there is a problem later. I also request that the charge be refunded to my credit card, I have had a few times where it stayed as a credit in my WorldMark account. That doesn’t do me any good when it comes time to pay the credit card bill.
That pretty much sums it up. As I said when I started this section, it is a time comsuming and intense procedure.
I don't go to this level of effort very often to find bonus time, but when I do I am usually successful at getting
that bonus time reservation. If I can do it, you can be too. Happy searching and enjoy those getaways.
Credit Rentals
How to pick up those extra credits you occasionally need.
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