TarheelTraveler

Nice summary of DC holiday reservation systems.

Halogen Guides | Destination Clubs' Holiday Reservations: How To Get The Home You Want During The Peak Travel Seasons

ER Traveler

I just have to say ... love the ER holiday system! It's always worked well for me and many of my holidays are booked SA! It seems the club is in the minority with the first come first serve system. In the early days they held a few lotteries for some holidays but members hated that system and the club soon abandoned it. How do other clubs' members like their systems for holidays?

Veras Group Jim

That is a great and helpful summary! Thanks for posting that TT.

We are in process of a similar article that covers all of the 30ish destination clubs, and while these briefs typically held for Veras clients only, if anyone on the forums wants a copy, just PM me and I will send it to you. Probably be done with that next Tuesday/Wednesday.

Good coverage of these important clubs, though!

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DCTraveler

Nice summary, except that it is wrong. Ultimate Escapes -- they have adopted the Private Escapes' Peak Date process for Christmas and New Years weeks. Different levels of members get 0, 1, or 2 selections into this lottery.

willmyclubmakeit

where did you hear about a lottery for Xmas and New Years? I have not heard of any changes in UE's policy for these holidays.

pwrshift

I find the 'holiday' booking systems very confusing and restrictive and a negative to joining a DC. Most plans consider Pres Day week a 'holiday' week, yet who wants to go to Hilton Head at that time - or Boston, Chicago, Outer Banks, Maine, etc. And to declare virtually all of March a 'holiday' month seems unfair too ... especially in the case of HCC where you can't book any week in that holiday period for the next 3 years even if you took just one week this year.

Bourne

That would be a literal interpretation of the rules but it is not the case.

HCC does not lock down the whole month block, just the booked week.

Also, here is a little DC Quiz for you. HCC is not the only DC that marks a bunch of weeks during the ski season as holiday week. Name the other DC(s)

p.s. corrected the comment. its a month not three

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pwrshift

Can't find my notes, but seem to remember that HCC declared Mar 14 to April 11 as 'holiday' time. That's a whole month - 4 weeks. However, because you can only book a 1 week stay there, if you had the Mar 14 week in 2009 does that mean all 4 weeks are blocked off from you to book for the next two years, or just that March 14 week? Very confusing.

Bourne

That's why it is the cheapest.

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The Nile is a river in Egypt......

TarheelTraveler

Not sure if this is typical or not, but A&K had another one of its holiday drawings. 100% got one of their three top choices (we got our first and only pick that we put down). Also, a really good number of houses still have availability after the drawing for the major holidays which surprises me (e.g., warm weather locations for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, New York for Thanksgiving, etc.). Definitely suprises me, since that's supposed to be the big hang up for DCs (other than security of the deposit).

vineyarder

I specifically asked this question, and was told that if I booked ANY of the 4 spring break weeks one year, i could not book ANY of the spring break weeks the next two weeks...

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TarheelTraveler

I was thinking about this some more. I think that holiday availability consists of three main factors: (i) the type of system used to book the holidays, (ii) the general availability of the club, and (iii) the psychological member perception of availability. On the last point, as a member, if you feel like there will be a feeding frenzy on the availability when released and scarceness increases the perceived value psychologically, you probably have that many more people going for the same days, because they feel they must to get their fair share. From a personal perspective, I believe that to be the case. I don't worry about the holidays as much any more now that we've got a drawing rather than a release date (don't have to be ready by the keyboard at midnight on a certain date). I've also gotten our picks each time, and picked up holidays after the drawings, and heard the member stats, so I've gotten very comfortable going with the flow. I suspect I'm not alone.

vineyarder

I saw a couple of emails that went out on this issue... for Xmas 2009/New Years 2010, the lottery will just be for PE legacy members for PE contributed properties, since UR members had the ability to book UR contributed properties long ago... then for Xmas 2010 / New Years 2011 all members (UR, PE and UE) will all be in the lottery for all properties.