Banked points and reservations

[Callie]

Hi all!
We are planning to use points banked from this year in September. (We have a September use year, so 2022 points).
If we have to drop a day or two from the reservation a week or two after booking, will there be any sort of hold on those points? I’ve tried to get a good understanding of everything but this one has me stumped. So say we book for 7 nights but decide to drop 2 nights, those points go back into our account to use by August 2024, correct?

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

I believe the rules for banked points are that they remain in the use year to which they have been banked.

 

[kes601]

Hi all!
We are planning to use points banked from this year in September. (We have a September use year, so 2022 points).
If we have to drop a day or two from the reservation a week or two after booking, will there be any sort of hold on those points? I’ve tried to get a good understanding of everything but this one has me stumped. So say we book for 7 nights but decide to drop 2 nights, those points go back into our account to use by August 2024, correct?

They'll remain in 2023 (since they will have already been banked) but as long as you shorten the reservation PRIOR to 30 days from check-in date then the points don't go into holding. The only "restriction" is that they will have to be used in your 2023 UY as banked points can't be banked again.

 

[Callie]

Thanks guys! I had tried to look things up and only saw the holding thing. I wanted to make sure we would be ok.

 

[Mexacajun]

They'll remain in 2023 (since they will have already been banked) but as long as you shorten the reservation PRIOR to 30 days from check-in date then the points don't go into holding. The only "restriction" is that they will have to be used in your 2023 UY as banked points can't be banked again.

So what if you book something for after your use year. Say my use year is October and I book a trip for December. They will use points for that use year I assume. But what if I bank points from my current year before the new use year comes, will they adjust the points they take to be my banked points first? Or does it use points according to what you have at time of booking?

 

[zavandor]

If you try to piece together a reservation at 7 months and play with waitlists, stalking, split stays and multiple reservations, when dropping days you may end up with banked points in your account while some of your reservations use current year points.
In that case, you don't need to call MS, just hit the modify button on a reservation that uses current points, go through the modify process (choose dates, resorts, confirm dates, confirm names, confirm contracts, final confirmation) without changing anything. At the end, banked points will be used first and you'll free up current year points.

 

[Sandisw]

So what if you book something for after your use year. Say my use year is October and I book a trip for December. They will use points for that use year I assume. But what if I bank points from my current year before the new use year comes, will they adjust the points they take to be my banked points first? Or does it use points according to what you have at time of booking?

If you bank points after you have made a reservation, they will not automatically reallocate them into your reservations. You must do it yourself or call. But, as long as you are still at least 31 days out from the reservation you want them to be swapped into to, its not an issue.

 

[Mexacajun]

If you bank points after you have made a reservation, they will not automatically reallocate them into your reservations. You must do it yourself or call. But, as long as you are still at least 31 days out from the reservation you want them to be swapped into to, its not an issue.

Super thanks. I didn’t want to book because I was not sure if I would have points banked and wanted them used first. But if I can call and swap that is perfect!