DC4MS

Someone just send me a funny PM that they were tired after staying up well past midnight EST to book a reservation at a Destination Club property that was EXTREMELY important to them for a specific date.

That got me thinking, if smart programmers can create an eBay "sniping" program that acts as an agent for you to grab last second deals on eBay, why can't someone design a great Destination Club "sniping" program.

Here is how it could work:

1. Sign up for an online account
2. Enter your personal and club information
3. Chose the location and dates you want to reserve
4. Pay a fee (what do you think is reasonable...$100?)
5. Go to sleep
6. Wake up the next day and hopefully get an e-mail announcement that you "sniped" your desired location and week

Of course, if I created that, I would "only" allow www.DestinationClubFroums.com members to use it

LTTravel

It would have to be hush, because then DC's would go back to the lottery system if they found out.

DC4MS

That is easy as we know that none of the Destination Club executives or staff read these forums

Also, I understand lotteries for holiday weeks, but the sniper would work for all 52 weeks and no club wants to make lotteries for every reservation.

Quintess Michael

When members want to book a destination in the future, they can use their travel advisor to snipe it for them. Not quite as accurate as grabbing something the at the stroke of Midnight when it becomes "short term" or "space available", but pretty close.

I wonder how the less tech-savvy members out there would feel about software sniping.
I bet it would ruffle some feathers.

__________________
Michael Aumock
Director, Membership Development
Quintess, The Leading Residences of the World

DC4MS

FYI - this idea is a concept, not a business plan (at least not yet).

However, I am sure members would love a "sniper" program or software 'Bot" to do the work for them at midnight instead of them. The concept has already been proven with eBay as the last highest bidder wins, this is sorts the opposite as the first reservation after midnight gets the reservation.

You don't think the average destination club member washes their own automobiles, cuts their own lawns, or do their own ironing do you? In fact, I know several executives that have all their e-mail screened for them so they don't waste time on nonsense e-mails. If they outsource these jobs, then they should also be able to "outsource" their entire reservation process, especially the onerous process of being at their computer on Midnight EST on a hot Saturday night to hope they can click faster than someone else.

Perhaps this task can be outsourced to India and just pay a fee.

Please don't send me hate mail as I simply had this brainstorm and wanted to get user input.

In reality, if someone can create this or if I can figure it out, I will offer it only to members here. That is the least I could do.

Desties

No hate mail necessary. You see a void. You have solutions to fill it. That's free market applause-worthy.

The problem is that this is probably a pretty limited niche. Unless I'm missing something, this would really only appeal to HCC (the club with the weekly bookings that start on Saturday, made 365 days in advance at midnight). Since most of other clubs have flexible arrivals and departure dates, there is less of a camp out mob mentality. The rub with the software is that there is just one golden ticket. So if you have two or more requests, there is really still just one week to get around. Who gets it? If you decide that the person who requests it first does, then we're right back to a mad rush to be the first to request the snipe.

The rub in the other non-software plan that may amount to little more than having someone in Bangalore physically click in for you, is that the service already exists. Some services like Get Friday allow you to square away time with an overseas assistant to do things like this.

LTTravel

That does not work for the popular destinations which are gone minutes after they are open for reservations.

TarheelTraveler

As Desties points out, I think this type of software would have limited usefulness for the clubs that do lotteries for new properties and holidays and/or have lower occupancy ratios. Definitely reduces the camp out mob mentality. I can tell you that while I've been known to stay up to midnight checking out this forum, I've certainly never stayed up to book a property. As we've discussed before, each variation of the reservation system has its pros and cons.

ER Traveler

I don't think there would really be that much demand for a sniper service. At least at ER, there are only a handful of white-hot properties that members seem to resort to a fastest finger contest two years out. And even then, it would be seasonal. Members cancel close to 40% of reservations so those same bookings will be recycled on the cancellation watch program. ER doesn't have a holiday lottery and the system seems to work pretty well. Members have expressed a desire to have the daily cut-off be earlier in the evening. Are most other clubs set at 12:00 mid-night?

DC4MS

The member that PMed me was trying to book a property with a large club (not HCC) for a special occasion and it was a popular destination at a popular time.

This is an interesting idea. However, as the industry expands globally, there will never be a 100% unbiased and fair system. Perhaps we need a vote or poll, but Midnight EST or should I say 12:00:01 EST is probably the best baseline for new reservations, be that 2 years, 1 year, or any variation of space available windows for the USA based clubs. Either way, not everyone is a night owl or wants to be on the computer at midnight to book a vacation 1-2 years away.

With all the wonderful services of a Destination Club (concierge, food delivery, massages, restaurant bookings, airport transfers, VIP tickets, etc.) most destination clubs utilize a very primitive timeshare mentality towards reservations.

Can't this industry come up with a better alternative?

Tedpilot

Hm, this has also bothered me for sometime. After missing the reservation for a few key locales and times we really wanted I finally got a very hard-to-get reservation at HCC (La Costa). I think the work around for everyone is a pretty simple concept, lottery. If you would attempt to reserve a location before it opened up real time online then you'd be commited, and randomly compete against others that are commited as well. If nobody else commits, then you get it at the magic hour/minute/second and the system would book you. If nobody commits, then the system goes live at the designated juncture just as it does now. Simply, this would prevent all of us from trying to jockey the system and reduce a little stress.

From what I have learned regarding reservation and evilbay systems even "sniper" software is not 100% full-proof. There are simple limiting factors...how far you are from the server, how fast can you transmit your request to the host server, how to time when you press "reserve" or "book". If you knew exactly how long it takes your data to make it to the server at that moment then you have a better chance. I'll also note that the type of hardware and software you use may have an impact...I learned this one from experience.

ER Traveler

I know members at ER are opposed to having anymore lotteries since that is the current method for new releases. I would prefer an earlier in the evening cut-off but then that could make those hot, highly desirable locations even more competitive. Currently most members in most US based clubs reside in North America so tweaking the cut-off time shouldn't be too difficult.

TarheelTraveler

A lottery absolutely takes the stress out of the situation, which is one of the whole points of a DC. A month or two ahead of time, you know when the lottery will be taking place, you start thinking about what you want and when, an email reminder comes to you, then you've got 4 or 5 days to put in your preferences, you find out what you get, if you didn't get one of your choices, you get put in a second round lottery, and again have several days to enter your preferences, then the dates are released for general reservations. I've always gotten lucky and gotten my first choice, but there are typically some pretty good destinations available even after the lottery (it just may not be your top choice). In theory, being a planaholic, I might do better in a first come first served reservation system, but I've had no problems with the lottery system and I don't have the stress.