50th wedding anniversary @ Aulani- trade/transfer Q

[Kidoctr]

We've been members since 2005 so this isn't a new dance for me but I'm way confused on what to do right now - I hope someone can help. Here's what we're hoping for and what we have:

Aulani 1-7 August 2013 for my in-laws' 50th anniversary
15 people
We are SSRS and AKV home w March use year - I already banked our 2012 points early this year before we made this decision (doh)
We would like to book an ocean view grand villa for 11 of us. The other 2 couples will need studios. (view doesn't matter)
For 2013, we have 1285 points available (banked, allotted, and borrowed). The breakdown is:
385 banked points (175 from SSRS x 2, 35 from AKV)
450 allotted
450 to borrow

For those dates, this is what I'm seeing:
ocean view grand villa 954 points (this is the one request my in-laws made)
deluxe std view studio 132 points x 2 = 264 points
total needed = 1218 So we do have enough points to cover all of this but we are also planning a trip to orlando in october for a conference so I need some extra points for a 1 or 2 bedroom probably at BW.
Our dates are a *little bit* flexible. We have not booked airline tickets yet.

So I can book as early as January for our trip. Let me see if I have this right.... I can only use borrowed points (450) to book in january? So I could try and get the studios booked. If I opted to transfer in some points (since I'm going to need some extra points anyways), can I use those transferred points AND borrow from 2013 to book in January? If I can get my hands on some Aulani points transferred in, then I could book now and use borrowed points too? I'd love to trade points but don't know how that would work since my use year is in March. We had some non-bankable points to use this year and are already booked for Aulani w some friends at the end of January (call it a "scouting party" lol). We got 1 garden view studio and 1 ocean view studio even though we wanted 2 std views at about 5 months out - not too bad but it is january.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Kidoctr]

I don't know if it matters but my MIL will need an accessible room - don't know how accessible the grand villas are.

 

[RobDoc]

We've been members since 2005 so this isn't a new dance for me but I'm way confused on what to do right now - I hope someone can help. Here's what we're hoping for and what we have:

Aulani 1-7 August 2013 for my in-laws' 50th anniversary
15 people
We are SSRS and AKV home w March use year - I already banked our 2012 points early this year before we made this decision (doh)
We would like to book an ocean view grand villa for 11 of us. The other 2 couples will need studios. (view doesn't matter)
For 2013, we have 1285 points available (banked, allotted, and borrowed). The breakdown is:
385 banked points (175 from SSRS x 2, 35 from AKV)
450 allotted
450 to borrow

For those dates, this is what I'm seeing:
ocean view grand villa 954 points (this is the one request my in-laws made)
deluxe std view studio 132 points x 2 = 264 points
total needed = 1218 So we do have enough points to cover all of this but we are also planning a trip to orlando in october for a conference so I need some extra points for a 1 or 2 bedroom probably at BW.
Our dates are a *little bit* flexible. We have not booked airline tickets yet.

So I can book as early as January for our trip. Let me see if I have this right.... I can only use borrowed points (450) to book in january? So I could try and get the studios booked. If I opted to transfer in some points (since I'm going to need some extra points anyways), can I use those transferred points AND borrow from 2013 to book in January? If I can get my hands on some Aulani points transferred in, then I could book now and use borrowed points too? I'd love to trade points but don't know how that would work since my use year is in March. We had some non-bankable points to use this year and are already booked for Aulani w some friends at the end of January (call it a "scouting party" lol). We got 1 garden view studio and 1 ocean view studio even though we wanted 2 std views at about 5 months out - not too bad but it is january.

Any suggestions appreciated.

With a March Use Year, an August, 2013 trip falls in your 2013 Use Year - so it's good you banked your March, 2012 points. You may use those banked points, plus points current from the 2013 Use Year and also borrow points from your 2014 Use Year.

Trading points can be a little tricky (and we do not see a lot of that on the Rent/Trade Board) since you would only be allowed one transfer per Use Year. However, it can be done, but you should get started immediately to have them in your account by the time you want to make the 7 month reservation.

I'd actually suggest seeing if you can rent the points you'll need for the Aulani villas on the Rent/Trade or contact www.DVCrequest.com for help. It sounds as though the critical component will be the Oceanview GV for your stay and that may not even be available at this time for next August.

The accessible requirement doesn't change any of the point needs, only the availability issue.

It sounds like a wonderful 50th Anniversary! I hope you are able to put all of the pieces together!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

With a March Use Year, an August, 2013 trip falls in your 2013 Use Year - so it's good you banked your March, 2012 points. You may use those banked points, plus points current from the 2013 Use Year and also borrow points from your 2014 Use Year.

Trading points can be a little tricky (and we do not see a lot of that on the Rent/Trade Board) since you would only be allowed one transfer per Use Year. However, it can be done, but you should get started immediately to have them in your account by the time you want to make the 7 month reservation.

I'd actually suggest seeing if you can rent the points you'll need for the Aulani villas on the Rent/Trade or contact www.DVCrequest.com for help. It sounds as though the critical component will be the Oceanview GV for your stay and that may not even be available at this time for next August.

The accessible requirement doesn't change any of the point needs, only the availability issue.

It sounds like a wonderful 50th Anniversary! I hope you are able to put all of the pieces together!

And just to add, the OP can book at the 7 month window with all the points in her 2013 UY, including those banked from 2012 and those borrowed from 2014. So if she has 1285 points available, she can book or WL all 3 rooms. -- Suzanne

 

[Kidoctr]

And just to add, the OP can book at the 7 month window with all the points in her 2013 UY, including those banked from 2012 and those borrowed from 2014. So if she has 1285 points available, she can book or WL all 3 rooms. -- Suzanne

Ah, now this is what I don't understand. With a March use year, can I still use my 2014 borrowed points before March 2013? The 7 month window is in January and I figured I couldn't get to (use) my 2013 points until March 1. IOW, I was under the impression that only 450 points can be borrowed before March and then the rest was available in March. Is that wrong? If I can, in fact, use my 2013 points (all 1285 of them) in January, then we don't have a problem and I can just rent points for October later. Geez, I hope that made sense ~

 

[Deb & Bill]

Ah, now this is what I don't understand. With a March use year, can I still use my 2014 borrowed points before March 2013? The 7 month window is in January and I figured I couldn't get to (use) my 2013 points until March 1. IOW, I was under the impression that only 450 points can be borrowed before March and then the rest was available in March. Is that wrong? If I can, in fact, use my 2013 points (all 1285 of them) in January, then we don't have a problem and I can just rent points for October later. Geez, I hope that made sense ~

It's not when you borrow the points, but when you borrowed them for. So you are borrowing them for an Aug 2013 trip. You can borrow them up to 11 months out if they are the same home resort that you need them for. Or seven months out for a non-home resort. So you can borrow the Mar 2014 points for your Aug 2013 trip to make the reservation seven months out.

 

[Kidoctr]

Thank you all! This makes more sense now and I'm not as worried about having to get a reservation at Aulani in March for an August trip. I'll just plan on booking first thing in January. I just checked availability of the ocean view GV in June and it's still available so maybe that'll be the case in August too.

 

[Dean]

We've been members since 2005 so this isn't a new dance for me but I'm way confused on what to do right now - I hope someone can help. Here's what we're hoping for and what we have:

Aulani 1-7 August 2013 for my in-laws' 50th anniversary
15 people
We are SSRS and AKV home w March use year - I already banked our 2012 points early this year before we made this decision (doh)
We would like to book an ocean view grand villa for 11 of us. The other 2 couples will need studios. (view doesn't matter)
For 2013, we have 1285 points available (banked, allotted, and borrowed). The breakdown is:
385 banked points (175 from SSRS x 2, 35 from AKV)
450 allotted
450 to borrow

For those dates, this is what I'm seeing:
ocean view grand villa 954 points (this is the one request my in-laws made)
deluxe std view studio 132 points x 2 = 264 points
total needed = 1218 So we do have enough points to cover all of this but we are also planning a trip to orlando in october for a conference so I need some extra points for a 1 or 2 bedroom probably at BW.
Our dates are a *little bit* flexible. We have not booked airline tickets yet.

So I can book as early as January for our trip. Let me see if I have this right.... I can only use borrowed points (450) to book in january? So I could try and get the studios booked. If I opted to transfer in some points (since I'm going to need some extra points anyways), can I use those transferred points AND borrow from 2013 to book in January? If I can get my hands on some Aulani points transferred in, then I could book now and use borrowed points too? I'd love to trade points but don't know how that would work since my use year is in March. We had some non-bankable points to use this year and are already booked for Aulani w some friends at the end of January (call it a "scouting party" lol). We got 1 garden view studio and 1 ocean view studio even though we wanted 2 std views at about 5 months out - not too bad but it is january.

Any suggestions appreciated.

I doubt you'll have much success for that choice. I'd agree with renting the points so you can book now, even then, be prepared to go with 2 BR units and not the 3 BR. Maybe two 2 BR units instead. Have a backup plan in case you can't get anything workable for the group.

 

[DisWitt]

I agree that your biggest challenge is going to be booking the GV's at 7 months for prime season. I tried to check dvcmember.com for you, but it's not showing anything right now - that doesn't mean nothing is available, it means that the system is offline for some reason. Truly, this is the exact reason we have AUL as our home resort. Those prime dates in Hawaii will book up 11 months in advance.

And I don't think that transferring points from an AUL owner will solve your problem because you can't book the whole stay. 2 nights might muck up the week for someone else, but you may be really doing a complex dance of WL and walking reservation.

I'd just pray hard for an open reservation come your 7-month window and be on the phone or web early. And then be flexible with your dates a little if you can. I moved our vacation back by 1-day this year and was able to use all mileage tickets on AA versus having to pay for tickets.

Good luck! ... and may the reservation odds be ever in your favor...

 

[Kidoctr]

Happy to report that I got points transferred in (it was VERY easy) and got online on jan 1 and booked the OV GV, OV 2 bdrm, and OV studio so everyone is going to be very pleased! Whew! One hurdle down. Next hurdle is solving the transportation issues - 16 people is going to be challenging!

 

[lodge]

That's easy... teleport there!! You are doing great.... good for you!