Reply To: Sharing cabanas at CocoCay
+1 to @BrerScientist’s lottery suggestion. It seems to resolve the “horde of trampling nerds” problem. Once the server is getting pummeled, it’s basically a lottery anyway.
The tricky bit is what to do with folk who’d be happy with multiple options. The simplest would be to allow folk to “enter” once, for the category of their highest priority. The other would be to let folk enter once per category and then draw the Cabanas then the Blue Shells, and Tiki’s.
The problem with that arrangement is that some folk might prefer Blue Shells to Tiki’s and vice versa, but would ultimately be happy with either.
Wait I’ve got it! Each booking reference that’s interested puts in a ranking of what they want, Ordering only the things they are interested in. If you’re interested in just Cabana’s you only put in Cabana’s, eg. 1- Tiki, 2- Blue Shell. Whatever order suits them, only including what they like.
All booking references are then put into a single draw pile. Entry order is then randomized then pulled off the queue. A selected entry will get their first choice if it’s available, and is then pulled out of the running. If their first choice isn’t available, then they get their second choice, and so on.
If a booking reference is unable to have any of their choices, then they are put on the wait lists for those choices.
This works for the folk who managed to get through already. You either let them keep their choices, or not.