Booking before "Borrowing" window?

[Scrappy_Tink]

Please bear with me, I'm confusing myself, so I don't know if I can explain this right:

this is what I want to do for a "grand" vacation:

160 bank
160 UY points
160 borrow

= 480 pts

Okay, let's say my 7 months out for reservations (not a "home" resort) is two months before my "borrow" window (for example, I want to make reservations in October for a May vacation, my use year is December, so I can't borrow the final points needed until Dec 1). Can this be done, or do I have to wait until I'm 5 months out from intended vacation to be able to borrow the last points needed?

I'm going crazy trying to figure this out!!

 

[disneynutz]

UY December. Current UY is 2008, Dec 2009 you get 2009 points. You would bank 2008 points, use 2009 points, and borrow 2010 points for a May 2010 vacation.

 

[Anthony1971]

Using what you have time is now Dec. use year
banked 160
You receive 160 dec 09
you can make a reservation to STAY DEC 09 using all of your banked current and boroowed points.
you could have made this reservation in Januray 09 at your home resort.
The time you call does not matter (subject to 7 11 booking windows) it is when you stay.

 

[DebbieB]

There's no such thing as a "borrowing window". When you make a reservation, they look at the use year the dates of stay are in. You can borrow points from the use year following. Points don't "deposit" when your use year starts. They are already in your account for all future years.

 

[jel0511]

Let me try to simplify if for you... say you want your "grand" vacation in May 2010 and you'd already banked your 2008 points, you could call in Oct when your 7 month window opens and use your banked points, current year 2009 and borrow your 2010 points to booked what you want. There is no window for borrowing as noted above, they just look what's in your account at the time the reservation would take place, for a may 2010, you'd have your banked points and your current year points available and would have the ability to borrow into the next year at that time. does that help?

 

[Snowie]

Do the points actually get borrowed when you make the reservation or when you check in? It is my understanding that you can't return the points once you borrow them. If you had to cancel the vacation would the points already be borrowed?

 

[jel0511]

Do the points actually get borrowed when you make the reservation or when you check in? It is my understanding that you can't return the points once you borrow them. If you had to cancel the vacation would the points already be borrowed?

Points are borrowed once ressie is made. So if ressie is canceled, points remain in the use year they were borrwed into and can't be put back.

 

[Sandisw]

When you call to make a reservation, MS looks to see what UY that trip will happen.

Once that is determined, they will look to see what points will be available "at the time of travel" for that trip. All trips can be paid for with "banked" points from the UY prior to travel, the current UY points, and borrowed points from the following UY.

So, let's say you want to book a trip at a non home resort in May 2010. You call in October 2009 to book the trip (7 month window). With a Dec UY, that May 2010 trip will fall in your Dec 09 UY. That means, you can "pay" for it using "banked" 2008 points, 2009 points, and borrowed 2010 points.

As long as you will have the points, MS will book it for you.

Good luck!!

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

Thank you guys so much!! Before the answers started rolling in, I called member services, and she explained the same. She also used as an example, that right now you can book a cruise 24 months out, and no one would be in (what I called) the "borrowing" window for the points you might want to use.

For some reason, I didn't think you could borrow more than 12 months out of your use year. I'll get this sooner or later! I should be a pro by the time I make my first ressie...well, less confused anyway!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

. . . For some reason, I didn't think you could borrow more than 12 months out of your use year. I'll get this sooner or later! I should be a pro by the time I make my first ressie...well, less confused anyway!

AS noteed above, you are partially right, that you cannot use borrowed points for a vacation that takes place earlier than the prior UY for those points.

Just think of it as 2 separate questions. First, when I can book the resort I want?

And entirely separately, do I have enough points for the reservation I want?

For example, if I don't own at BLT, I can't book a vacation for next August until next January, which is 7 month prior.

And, to answer my second question, to book my August 2010 vacation (using a Dec UY), I can use points banked from a Dec 08 UY, current in a Dec 09 UY and borrowed from a Dec 10 UY. So I can add these up and see if I have enough! -- Suzanne