Switching to banked points for existing reservation

Lauren in NC · Oct 12, 2015

I swear I've seen this asked before, but can't find it with search. I've currently got a reservation set up using my 2016 UY points. I have some 2015 UY points on the same contract that I'm not sure yet if we'll use this year. If I end up banking them, would I be able to call in to Member Services and ask them to use up those points first for my existing reservation?

southerngirl528 · Oct 12, 2015

Hi LaureninNC, just give MS a call and ask them to "reallocate" the points used by your rez to use the oldest points first, which should be your 2015 points. If those points are not already banked you would need to bank them ahead if your rez is in your 2016 use year. They can walk you through the entire process.

LisaS · Oct 13, 2015

And don't be surprised if you get a MS CM who tells you it's not possible. That happened to me when I did this exact thing some time back. I told the CM I knew it was possible to substitute the newly-banked points into the existing reservation so she put me on hold, then came back and said she consulted another CM and then went ahead and made the substitution.

Lauren in NC · Oct 13, 2015

Thank you both!

BillPA · Oct 13, 2015

Just be sure to bank the points by your normal banking window. And they need to be the same resort as well, you cant just swap out points from resort A for a reservation at resort B. Home resort priority still applies.

lilkitty819 · Oct 14, 2015

As far as I know they should use your banked points first even tho you have not banked them yet. But I would still ask member services.

paults · Oct 15, 2015

lilkitty819 said:
As far as I know they should use your banked points first even tho you have not banked them yet. But I would still ask member services.

MS will not bank your points unless you tell them too or do it yourself on-line. If I'm wrong it new to me.

lilkitty819 · Oct 15, 2015

paults said:
MS will not bank your points unless you tell them too or do it yourself on-line. If I'm wrong it new to me.

Was referring to the original poster, they have a ressie. for next year but haven't banked there points for this year yet. When they do member services should use those points first after they bank them this year.

southerngirl528 · Oct 15, 2015

If any MS advisor doesn't know what "reallocate" means, they must be REALLY, really new. As in, not out of training yet. If you use the verbiage, "reallocate" they will immediately know what you are trying to do and if there are situations with points that may need to first be banked they should be readily explain the details. And it is absolutely correct that MS will never bank your points without being directed to as it is a final transaction. And because it is a final transaction, even when asked to bank your points, they should reiterate, "You do understand this will be a final transaction?".

I can't count the times I have asked for points to be reallocated because I wasn't sure about banking when I first secured a rez, or if I have cancelled/changed one rez that contained "older" points that needed to be used first. It is a very easy process for MS to do this. When you are booking a rez online, if you have multiple contracts as I do, it will offer you the options to choose in order which contracts to pull points from first, 2nd, etc. And it shows whether there are banked or borrowed points in each contract.

LisaS · Oct 16, 2015

lilkitty819 said:
Was referring to the original poster, they have a ressie. for next year but haven't banked there points for this year yet. When they do member services should use those points first after they bank them this year.

MS will use the banked points first for any new reservations you make after banking the points. They won't assign those newly banked points to any existing reservations unless you call and ask them to reallocate.

disneyberry · Oct 16, 2015

Do we know that reallocating points is officially allowed/standard procedure? I recall a number of discussions in the past where MS refused to reallocate because the nights/reservation in question were fully booked, so cancelling those nights and rebooking using banked wouldn't be possible.
Have they actually made their systems smart enough to reallocate without losing the reservation now?

Also, I forget what happens if you try to reallocate within 30 days of arrival? Do you end up with holding points?

I have an annoying situation where I have banked points which can only be accessed over the phone (sort of like when you try to use transferred points), and I've missed a couple of rooms that have popped up on the website CRA(Page) because I'm navigating MS's phone menu or waiting on hold. The last CM I spoke with told me I should just grab the night online if I see it, and then call in to reallocate, but I'm afraid to do that if reallocation is a depends-on-the-CM-you-get thing. *sigh*

KAT4DISNEY · Oct 16, 2015

disneyberry said:
Do we know that reallocating points is officially allowed/standard procedure? I recall a number of discussions in the past where MS refused to reallocate because the nights/reservation in question were fully booked, so cancelling those nights and rebooking using banked wouldn't be possible.
Have they actually made their systems smart enough to reallocate without losing the reservation now?

Also, I forget what happens if you try to reallocate within 30 days of arrival? Do you end up with holding points?

I have an annoying situation where I have banked points which can only be accessed over the phone (sort of like when you try to use transferred points), and I've missed a couple of rooms that have popped up on the website CRA(Page) because I'm navigating MS's phone menu or waiting on hold. The last CM I spoke with told me I should just grab the night online if I see it, and then call in to reallocate, but I'm afraid to do that if reallocation is a depends-on-the-CM-you-get thing. *sigh*

I've done it quite a few times without issue.

Either way - if the room is outside of 30 days and you have the points there isn't really anything to be lost in booking the room. The worry that they wouldn't recallocate is not one I'd have.

southerngirl528 · Oct 16, 2015

Long ago I worked MS, and I can assure you that reallocating is an everyday thing. No special exception needed at all. And they do NOT have to cancel your rez to do it. I know they use a different system now than years ago but even on an old system we could simply go into the rez, and rechoose the points to use. The computer will automatically use the oldest points first. If you have multiple contracts the CM will walk you through options. ALL advisors are well trained on this. "Reallocation" is the term I would use so they know immediately what you need.

LisaS · Oct 17, 2015

As far as I'm aware the only time you cannot reallocate is if you booked in the 11-month window and then at 7 months out you ask them to substitute non-home points when there is no current availability for the nights and room type you are already holding. In other words, if there is availability to book those nights at that point in time using non-home points then it's OK to reallocate the non-home points into the reservation, otherwise MS is not supposed to do it.

As I stated earlier, if you get an MS CM who tells you that you cannot reallocate, just insist (politely of course) that you know it's possible to do it. When this happened to me I suspect I got someone new and either she really did think it was not possible to reallocate or she was confused and thought I was trying to substitute non-home points into a reservation made 11 months out when there was no current availability.

It's an interesting question about what happens if you reallocate within 30 days of check-in. I would not expect that the freed up points would go into the holding account since you aren't canceling a reservation. If the system did leave you with points in holding I think you could make a good case to MS to put the points back into your account without restrictions.

disneyberry · Oct 17, 2015

Thanks everyone. I'll report back if I have to reallocate, since I'm probably going to be within 30 days. So we'll see what happens.

Sandisw · Oct 18, 2015

disneyberry said:
Thanks everyone. I'll report back if I have to reallocate, since I'm probably going to be within 30 days. So we'll see what happens.

Just a reminder, changes within 30 days will put any points you "free" up into holding. That puts big restrictions on them in terms of only being eligible to be used 60 days or less from a reservation.

This is completely different aspect than just asking for a reallocation. If you plan on doing this, do it at least 31 days out of the trip so that when you free up those 2016 points, they will still be 2016 points with no restrictions and not 2016 points in holding.

LisaS · Oct 18, 2015

Sandisw said:
Just a reminder, changes within 30 days will put any points you "free" up into holding. That puts big restrictions on them in terms of only being eligible to be used 60 days or less from a reservation.

This is completely different aspect than just asking for a reallocation. If you plan on doing this, do it at least 31 days out of the trip so that when you free up those 2016 points, they will still be 2016 points with no restrictions and not 2016 points in holding.

I could see it going either way. If the system is programmed to put any freed points at 30 days or less into holding, then disneyberry will have an issue but might still be able to plead her case to have the points reinstated. But I could also imagine that the system does not do this in the case of a reallocation since she isn't canceling a reservation. The point of the holding account is that if you cancel at the last minute then you are restricted to using those points for last minute availability. In this case disneyberry isn't canceling her existing reservation so she shouldn't be penalized but as I said, the unknown here is what does the system software actually do in this case.

supersnoop · Oct 18, 2015

When I tried to reallocate points within 30 days, I was told the freed up points would go into holding. That was probably a year ago.

jillmc40 · Oct 18, 2015

I had just called the other day to make sure I could do it and the cm told me anything within 31 days they will go into holding.

LisaS · Oct 18, 2015

Thanks for the responses.

Switching to banked points for existing reservation

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