Advice on hotel/early entry

[Jennifer_W]

Hi all! We are going to US/IOA next week (arriving late Saturday night, leaving early the next Saturday morning) for President's Week. As of now, we have a place to stay at a friend's vaca rental. BUT, I got an email from hotels.com today saying that my award points are going to expire in about 4 weeks. (Don't give me too much notice or anything!) Anyway, I think that if I booked one night thru hotels.com & paid for it, then we could get a secpnd night for free with the award points.

SO, that being said, would it be worth the rigamarole to leave the vaca rental, check into Cabana Bay (say EARLY Sunday morning, to check our luggage and get early entry) for Sunday & Monday, then check out & go back to the rental for the remaining 4 nights?

 

[damo]

Definitely! Staying onsite, even at Cabana Bay which doesn't get you unlimited express access but does give you early admission, gives you a whole different feel for the resort.

 

[Jennifer_W]

Definitely! Staying onsite, even at Cabana Bay which doesn't get you unlimited express access but does give you early admission, gives you a whole different feel for the resort.

And do you think doing it the Sunday & President's Day would be the best use of early entry--those are supposed to be the busiest days of our trip, according to Touring Plans. My only hesitation is that we won't be getting to our rental until about midnight, and to take advantage of the early entry we'd have to get to Cabana Bay by what, like 7:00 to get luggage checked & get our key cards??? Or even earlier?

 

[damo]

Each night onsite will get you two days of early entry. Can you perhaps do two separate nights? Not sure how far away your villa is. Perhaps you only bring a small change of clothes along.

 

[christophfam]

I'd stay onsite too, but I don't know if I'd rush to do it Sunday morning after a late night Saturday. Why not book Mon/Tues night? Early entry will be even more valuable since it won't be quite as crowded and there will be less people running to Gringotts.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi all! We are going to US/IOA next week (arriving late Saturday night, leaving early the next Saturday morning) for President's Week. As of now, we have a place to stay at a friend's vaca rental. BUT, I got an email from hotels.com today saying that my award points are going to expire in about 4 weeks. (Don't give me too much notice or anything!) Anyway, I think that if I booked one night thru hotels.com & paid for it, then we could get a secpnd night for free with the award points.

SO, that being said, would it be worth the rigamarole to leave the vaca rental, check into Cabana Bay (say EARLY Sunday morning, to check our luggage and get early entry) for Sunday & Monday, then check out & go back to the rental for the remaining 4 nights?

Award points? Expiring? Free nights at hotels.com aren't supposed to expire unless there's been a change.

 

[Jennifer_W]

Award points? Expiring? Free nights at hotels.com aren't supposed to expire unless there's been a change.

Yeah, the email from hotels.com said that since I hadn't had any activity in 11 months that unless I booked one more night and used my (then newly earned) 1 free reward night by March 9, that my 9 banked nights (9 compl,eted stays) would "disappear" from my account. Very frustrating, for sure!

 

[bumbershoot]

Yeah, the email from hotels.com said that since I hadn't had any activity in 11 months that unless I booked one more night and used my (then newly earned) 1 free reward night by March 9, that my 9 banked nights (9 compl,eted stays) would "disappear" from my account. Very frustrating, for sure!

Holy carp, you're right.

"Your nights will not expire as long as you keep your account active at least once every 12 months. This means you must collect a night or redeem a Free Night in that time, and when you do, the expiry date will be extended for another 12 months. "

Are you thinking you can book a night and then use a free night for the very next night? Our rewards have NEVER posted that quickly. We have been using the site since 2009 (constantly thanks to DH's work travel, which I suppose is why I didn't realize they would expire) and DH has always been home *at least* two days from a trip before the nights post.

Can you book a local hotel instead, now, and then use the free night you earn now for Uni later?

 

[Jennifer_W]

Holy carp, you're right.

"Your nights will not expire as long as you keep your account active at least once every 12 months. This means you must collect a night or redeem a Free Night in that time, and when you do, the expiry date will be extended for another 12 months. "

Are you thinking you can book a night and then use a free night for the very next night? Our rewards have NEVER posted that quickly. We have been using the site since 2009 (constantly thanks to DH's work travel, which I suppose is why I didn't realize they would expire) and DH has always been home *at least* two days from a trip before the nights post.

Can you book a local hotel instead, now, and then use the free night you earn now for Uni later?

Yeah, I called hotels.com and after a confusing talk with a person for whom English was not their primary language, he finally admitted that I would have to stay one night (we leave for FL in 2 days!) and then wait for the night to post and rebook for a second night while we are in Florida! First the guy told me he could book them both for me no problem. But there is a problem because the cancellation date would be past already. Ugh!!! Since we have a back-up hotel, we're going t oroll the dice & try it for one of our last nights. Eek!

 

[bumbershoot]

Darnit. Was hoping I was wrong again.