2 week old member- VB booking question

[Tammyology]

Hello,
I am a very new member, (2 weeks as a matter of fact). I have a question about booking a 3 night 2 br villa at Vero Beach in July of 04. I have already banked my point for this year. I can make a reservation as early as December, but i was wondering what the possibility would be to get the rooms if i waited until my use year. (February) Should I borrow, and book 7 months out, or should I take a chance and book 5 months out and not have to borrow? What is the best with your experience with booking?

 

[JimC]

First, Congratulations and Welcome Home

You do not need to wait until your use year to make a reservation. The points are applied out of the use year of the reservation, not the booking.

If I misunderstood your question, let me know.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Tammyology
Hello,
I am a very new member, (2 weeks as a matter of fact). I have a question about booking a 3 night 2 br villa at Vero Beach in July of 04. I have already banked my point for this year. I can make a reservation as early as December, but i was wondering what the possibility would be to get the rooms if i waited until my use year. (February) Should I borrow, and book 7 months out, or should I take a chance and book 5 months out and not have to borrow? What is the best with your experience with booking?

First of all, congratulations on the purchase and WELCOME HOME!!!

You seem to be confusing use year with the reservation windows. Your use year has nothing at all to do with when you can make a reservation.

Since you say that the earliest you can make your July reservation for VB is December, I am assuming that VB is not your home resort and therefore you must use the 7 month window. If VB were your home resort, you could make the reservation this month (August, 2003).

You do not need to have points in your account when you call to make the reservation. The points need to be in your account at the time of your stay.

If you have a February use year and have banked your 2003 points, those points are good for a stay between 2/1/2004 and 1/31/2005. In addition to that, you get a new allotment of points on 2/1/2004 that are also good for a stay between 2/1/2004 and 1/31/2005. It appears that you will have plenty of points available for the July stay.

Go ahead and make the reservation when your 7 month window opens in December. I do not think you will have a problem getting the reservation at the 7 month window. Good luck!

 

[Tammyology]

What i need to know is if i wait to use my banked points, what are the chances that i will get my room request just 5 months out? Or am i better off using borrowed points and conforming a reservation 7 months out?

 

[Richyams]

Again. you are laboring under a misconception.

All that matters is that the points are available during the time of the stay.

All that matters for making reservations is the 7-11 month window. As soo as the seven month window opens, you can reserve using any points that you want. MS will usually use banked points first, but it is a good idea to confirm that.

 

[Tammyology]

Thank You so much, that helped me alot, however that does open another question...
If i make my reservations in December (with all my points banked until February) will they use my banked points or my borrowed points for that stay in July?

 

[Richyams]

There no 'borrowed' points in any of this.

How could you borrow 2004 points for a 2004 stay?

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Tammyology
Thank You so much, that helped me alot, however that does open another question...
If i make my reservations in December (with all my points banked until February) will they use my banked points or my borrowed points for that stay in July?

Tammy - MS will use whatever points you tell them to use. Be sure to specify when you call to make the reservation. My advice is to use the banked points first. Then the 2004 points could be banked into 2005 if you later find that they are "extra"

 

[Tammyology]

Thanks a lot,

I was not clear on the fact that the points did not need to be available at the time of the reservation.

Thank you all for your help.

I understand now.

Now that all that is clear up.....

Do i have a good chance on getting a 2 br in July at VB next summer? If i book in December?

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Tammyology
...(snip)........

Do i have a good chance on getting a 2 br in July at VB next summer? If i book in December?

I think you have a very good chance. If one or more of your days is not available when you call, ask to be put on the waitlist. FWIW, I don't think that will be necessary. Many have reported getting VB at the 7 month window. (I have, although not for July). There are quite a few 2 bedroom units.

Good luck!

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by Tammyology
Do i have a good chance on getting a 2 br in July at VB next summer? If i book in December?

You will not know until you call MS. In the summer of 2002(July) we tried to book a 1BR for 5 night, at 7 months out, using leftover OKW pts. We only could get the 1st 3 nights in a 1BR, so we waitlisted and it never came through.So we just went up to OKW for the last 2 nights(we like 1BR's). The studio was available at VB though for the last 2 nights if we would have wanted it.
We decided to go up to OKW after 3 days at VB and be closer to the airport.

 

[PamOKW]

Just to walk you through this.

February 2003 you got points that could be used for reservations through January 31, 2004. You banked those points. They must now be used for trips taken between February 1, 2004 and January 31, 2005. They are your "banked" points.

February 2004 you will get points that you can use for trips from February 1, 2004-January 31, 2005. You may also choose to bank these points if you don't need them all.

If you need additional points for any trip taken between February 1, 2004 and January 31, 2005, you may "borrow" them from your January 2005 allotment. Once borrowed, they must be used by 1/31/2005.

You want to take a trip to Vero in July 2004. You can call 7 months out from check-out day -- this will be in December. At that time, you can use the points you banked from 2003 and the points you'll be getting in February 2004. If you need more, you can borrow them from 2005. MS generally uses the banked points first, but you can confirm this with them as you are making the reservation.

You never know what will be available until you call. You can also allow some time for the wait list to work. People's plans change and openings happen all the time. Just have a "back up" plan in mind as ncligs suggests.