Wyndham’s Booking Windows

Q. What are the booking rules? When can I book? What can I book?

A. Wyndham has three main booking windows.  It is very important that you familiarize yourself with these windows, as they will affect your chances of getting the room you want, at the resort you want.  I’ve heard many people say, “I tried booking a year out and everything is already booked!”.  Had that person familiarized themselves with the booking windows (explained in the directory), they would have realized they were trying to book too far out.  They were trying to book, and during a period they were not eligible to book in.  Your membership will determine when and where you can book during these windows.  Once you have figured them out, it won’t be difficult to determine what you can book, during what time frame.  The bottom line, don’t book too early and don’t book too late. 

Advanced Reservation Priority (ARP) – 13 months to 10 months and 1 day from the date of check-in. 

During this period, people who own deeded property at specific resorts can book deeded inventory, at that resort only.  CWA owners can book CWA designated inventory at a participating CWA resort.  During this window, you cannot combine points from multiple contracts, unless they are the same contract type.  If you own CWA points, and Bonnet Creek points, you cannot combine them to book an ARP reservation.  If you own 100,000 Bonnet creek points and 200,000 CWA points, you can book up to 100,000 points with one contract, and up to 200,000 points on the other.  You cannot book a 300,000-point reservation during this window.  You have to book a minimum of 3 nights in this booking window[1].  The maximum is 14 nights in one reservation.  If you need to book longer, you have to create a new reservation.  If you need a large room during the prime season at your home report (or CWA resort for CWA owners), this is when you want to book that room. 

Reciprocal Advanced Reservation Priority (RARP) – 11 months

In most cases, you will only have RARP booking benefits if you are Gold or Platinum VIP. There are some rare instances where an owner will be given RARP to a specific resort. So they may own Patriots Place but were given RARP to Governor’s green. If you have RARP to a specific resort, it would be listed under the contract information in the “My Ownership” section of the website. This benefit allows VIP to book any RARP participating resort at 11 months. If you have RARP to a specific resort, you can only book that one at 11 months. You can book either deeded or CWA designated inventory. You are not limited to a specific inventory with the exception of Presidential Reserve and Margaritaville. You cannot book Presidential Reserve rooms or Margaritaville at 11 months.

Standard – 10 months to 91 days from check-in. 

During this period, you can combine points from all contracts and book at any resort.[2][3]  Owners can book both deeded and CWA inventory in this booking window.  If you want a larger room during the prime season at a resort that is not your home resort, you will want to book precisely 10 months to the day from check-in. Doing this will give you your best chance, of getting what you want. During Prime season, you have to book a minimum of 3 nights and a maximum of 14 nights in one reservation with no more than 7 nights of the reservation going into the next booking window. For example, if you have a two-week reservation that spans over the ARP booking window and standard booking window, no more then seven nights can be in the ARP booking window and no more then 7 in the standard booking window. If eight nights are in ARP booking window and 6 nights are in the standard booking window, you would have to break up the reservation, because you have more then seven nights of your reservation in the ARP booking window. So your 14-night reservation would have to look something like this:

Reservation 1: (7) nights in the ARP booking window, (total of 7 nights)

Reservation 2: (1) nights in the ARP booking window and six nights in the standard booking window (total nights 7)

Total nights between the two reservations are 14.

Express – 90 days to 1 day from check-in

During the express window, you can book a minimum of 2 days during any season[4].  To book one night, you have to wait until 14 days from check-in.  During this period, you may borrow points from next year, or rent points for $12 per 1,000 points.

Issues with bookings

Every once in awhile, you’ll probably run into a glitch. For me, the site has worked 98% of the time. In the IT world, that considered above the threshold of what is considered good or acceptable. However, not everyone is so lucky. The one glitch I ran across for a couple of resorts, is when you hit the book button, the circle spins and then nothing. What makes this issue tricky to fix is that it’s hard for IT to reproduce. So, for example, my problem was limited to a specific week and specific room type. It was that way for a couple of weeks. I was lucky that the rep on the phone had the same issue, so it was reproducible. That gives them one puzzle piece. If that issue didn’t occur for them, IT might not have been able to reproduce it. If you cannot reproduce the problem, you have no way of examining what is happening. They can reproduce my error; however, sometimes observing behavior is not enough. Sometimes, they need more puzzle pieces to find a commonality that will help them pin down the issues. It can be full of mysteries. If you ever wanted to be a detective, but couldn’t, try being a server admin.

Another example of a glitch happened to an owner who had two contracts with different use years. One started October 1st and another January 1st. She wanted to book something in November. The system didn’t recognize that she received a new allotment of points on October 1st, so it thought she didn’t have enough points. The rep at Wyndham she spoked to, said it was a known glitch. That issue would be hard to track down, because not everyone has multiple use years, and not everyone has that issue. If no one calls with the problem, they cannot pinpoint where the issue originates. It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. That’s why it’s so important to report any IT issues you have. They cannot fix a problem if they don’t know it exists. Also, the more people that inform Wyndham of the problem, the more puzzle pieces that have to finish the picture, and solve it. Even if you think it’s a waste of time, call in any way. You could be helping one hundred people that have the same issue.

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[1] Some Club Wyndham resorts, as well as some Associate and Affiliate locations may have a higher or lower minimum.  If the minimums are different, it should be noted in the points chart.  If you have trouble booking three nights, see if your luck changes by booking 4 or 5. Some may only allow you to choose certain days of the week to check in and check out.  This is not always advertised and may require some trial and error. 

[2] Margaritaville has different booking privileges, so not all memberships can book Margaritaville at 10 months. 

[3] Some Associate and Affiliate resorts, do not allow you to book 10 months out.  Some may be limited to six months out.  These locations are not managed by Wyndham and do not have to follow the same booking rules.

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[4] Some Affiliate and associate locations may still require a minimum of 7 days, and only allow you to check-in during certain days of the week.  These locations are not managed by Wyndham and do not have to follow the same booking rules.