7 month booking dilemma when modifying original home resort booking

[Maddiesmum03]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn’t find anything similar on searching!
I have a stay booked at BWV (my home resort) in a 1bed for next May. I want to drop the first night to free up some points to book a studio at SSR for a a few days before and the night I’m dropping, if I don’t drop the night, I’d have to buy several one time points and I don’t really want the hassle of phoning to buy them at 9am when I could book online at 8am!
I don’t have many points left to play around with, I’ve already borrowed most of what I have, hence the swap from the 1 bed to studio!
I need a strategy to get it booked, and I’m scared to modify my BWV reservation first then risk not being able to get the days I need in the studio (I know SSR is always easier to snag, but these are the low point weeks and there is already patchy availability everywhere else……..I’ve just thankfully been able to snag a studio at the Poly for the very beginning of our trip!)
I wondered if I could snag the first couple of days I need a the 7 month window with the points I have, then drop the BWV night, and then modify the SSR stay using the points freed up from dropping the BWV stay? My question is then basically, can you modify a reservation at the 7 month window to add more nights, when the nights you are adding are theoretically beyond your 7 month window?

I would love to be able to book the studio, then drop the day from the one bedroom, but I don’t have the points, and don’t want to borrow any of the points I do have which then won’t be needed if everything goes to plan. Thanks in advance for any insights anyone has

 

[TDK44]

My question is then basically, can you modify a reservation at the 7 month window to add more nights, when the nights you are adding are theoretically beyond your 7 month window?

If I'm understanding you correctly, then yes, you can do this. You can always book 7 days past your booking window for a continuous reservation. So if you locked in say 2 nights with the points you have and wanted to add 2 more nights after dropping 1 night at BWV to free up those points, you could do that.

That being said, while no one in the 7 month booking window could book those following nights (since you'd be locked into a room at exactly 7 months and no one can start a reservation at 7months+2days), there's no guarantee that someone who has the 11 month home resort priority couldn't book the available room in the time it took for you to drop the BWV room and modify your reservation. Likelihood of this happening? Probably zero. But theoretically possible.

If I were in your shoes, I would book the first night or two of the SSR room at exactly 7 months online when you can, and then call Member Services to have them drop the night at BWV to pick up more nights on your SSR reservation. They should be able to do this without you getting stuck in no-man's-land.

Good luck!

 

[eticketplease]

I’d have to buy several one time points and I don’t really want the hassle of phoning to buy them at 9am when I could book online at 8am!

Call now and buy and book a reservation with OTUP anywhere as long as it is more than 31 days out and in the use year that your May trip will occur.

After the call cancel that reservation and then the points will be available for your 8 am booking when you need them.

 

[Maddiesmum03]

If I'm understanding you correctly, then yes, you can do this. You can always book 7 days past your booking window for a continuous reservation. So if you locked in say 2 nights with the points you have and wanted to add 2 more nights after dropping 1 night at BWV to free up those points, you could do that.

That being said, while no one in the 7 month booking window could book those following nights (since you'd be locked into a room at exactly 7 months and no one can start a reservation at 7months+2days), there's no guarantee that someone who has the 11 month home resort priority couldn't book the available room in the time it took for you to drop the BWV room and modify your reservation. Likelihood of this happening? Probably zero. But theoretically possible.

If I were in your shoes, I would book the first night or two of the SSR room at exactly 7 months online when you can, and then call Member Services to have them drop the night at BWV to pick up more nights on your SSR reservation. They should be able to do this without you getting stuck in no-man's-land.

Good luck!

Thank you! I’m thinking this is a good plan if I go with dropping the BWV night.

 

[Maddiesmum03]

Call now and buy and book a reservation with OTUP anywhere as long as it is more than 31 days out and in the use year that your May trip will occur.

After the call cancel that reservation and then the points will be available for your 8 am booking when you need them.

Thank you, that sounds like a perfect plan if I decide to stick with the BWV reservation and need those extra few points, It’s not something I’d considered as I’ve never been in this position before!

 

[eticketplease]

Thank you, that sounds like a perfect plan if I decide to stick with the BWV reservation and need those extra few points, It’s not something I’d considered as I’ve never been in this position before!

Remember you can buy the full allotment and bank the extra BWV points that you could then use at 11 months next year.

 

[Maddiesmum03]

Remember you can buy the full allotment and bank the extra BWV points that you could then use at 11 months next year.

So you can buy the full 24 points even if you have your own points left to borrow? I never realised that, it’s a bit of a game changer!

 

[eticketplease]

So you can buy the full 24 points even if you have your own points left to borrow? I never realised that, it’s a bit of a game changer!

Yes, I’ve been doing it for years since I mainly book at seven months out in one bedrooms and if you are eligible for MMB, you can get the 24 one time use points for the price of 12.

 

[Judique]

If I'm understanding you correctly, then yes, you can do this. You can always book 7 days past your booking window for a continuous reservation. So if you locked in say 2 nights with the points you have and wanted to add 2 more nights after dropping 1 night at BWV to free up those points, you could do that.

That being said, while no one in the 7 month booking window could book those following nights (since you'd be locked into a room at exactly 7 months and no one can start a reservation at 7months+2days), there's no guarantee that someone who has the 11 month home resort priority couldn't book the available room in the time it took for you to drop the BWV room and modify your reservation. Likelihood of this happening? Probably zero. But theoretically possible.

If I were in your shoes, I would book the first night or two of the SSR room at exactly 7 months online when you can, and then call Member Services to have them drop the night at BWV to pick up more nights on your SSR reservation. They should be able to do this without you getting stuck in no-man's-land.

Good luck!

Before I did any dropping of the one bedroom I would check to see if there was another available. And, yes, I would book with the points I had available (so long as canceling didn't put them into holding status later on.)

If I were worried about the process I would either buy enough one time use points as suggested or wait and let MS do it for you. I would also use whatever points I had to book the initial nights before calling MS. See bolded above.

For me, I'm never much worried about the process. I jump in and do what I want and hope for the best, stalk, waitlist, etc. But that's just me booking stuff mostly for my own use. When I'm booking with family coming along, I'm a bit more careful.

 

[Maddiesmum03]

Before I did any dropping of the one bedroom I would check to see if there was another available. And, yes, I would book with the points I had available (so long as canceling didn't put them into holding status later on.)

If I were worried about the process I would either buy enough one time use points as suggested or wait and let MS do it for you. I would also use whatever points I had to book the initial nights before calling MS. See bolded above.

For me, I'm never much worried about the process. I jump in and do what I want and hope for the best, stalk, waitlist, etc. But that's just me booking stuff mostly for my own use. When I'm booking with family coming along, I'm a bit more careful.

Thank you!
Today was the day! I booked the first two days at SSR at 8am exactly, then with my heart in my mouth, I modified my BWV 1 bedroom stay and went back in to modify the SSR booking. I had several minutes of panic when the website announced “you do not have enough points to complete this booking even after borrowing” as I’d spent the last couple of weeks meticulously calculating points! I redid the maths and couldn’t see what was wrong, so I tried again and it worked. I assume I’d tried too soon and the points I’d released from the BWV booking hadn’t updated and in my account. I can now relax! Thank you everyone for your advice

 

[AstroBlasters]

Swapping BWV for SSR….

 

[eticketplease]

Swapping BWV for SSR….

I think it was a last-minute decision to add on a night or two otherwise they would’ve just booked the standard boardwalk studio, which is probably the same price or less

 

[Maddiesmum03]

Swapping BWV for SSR….

I Know! I snagged Boardwalk view 1 bedroom for 8 nights of our stay back at the 11 month window, with the plan to book a Poly studio for the first 6 nights. I’ve never stayed at the Poly and it has been on my wish list for some time. My available points worked out EXACTLY for the stay! My plan B was to book those 6 nights in another MK resort, or AK failing that.
When booking my flights from UK, it was going to work out cheaper to fly in a night early and stay somewhere for that first night. I booked one of the Disney Springs off site hotels and all was good.
However, some weeks ago I checked the Poly studio availability and one of the nights was already gone, so I had to do a rethink of my strategy. As the days went on, more and more days became unavailable but the higher point nights at the very beginning (last night of April and then Friday, Saturday) were still available, so I came up with a plan to cancel the off site, stay for the first few days at the Poly and then offset the high point use by booking SSR, AKL or OKW for the nights in between. I had to juggle points and it grieved me to cancel one of the BWV nights, but it was the best option for me.
I managed to snag 3 nights Poly studio resort view, 5 nights SSR studio and then the 7 nights BWV to finish. I’m happy with the split stay, it’s not my first choice, but at least I’m getting to experience the Poly and it will be my first time at SSR also!
I had seriously underestimated how hard it would be to book early May at the 7 month mark. By the time I could book, there was literally no studio availability anywhere other than SSR!