Booking Disney resorts using Chase UR Points?

[DLgal]

Has anyone done this? Do you get to control your reservation in MDE, do online check in, room requests, etc?

I can book a Disney resort for my solo trip this fall and by using the UR points, it's like getting a 30% room discount. I have enough points to pay for my hotel AND airfare, but I want to make sure that I will still get magic bands, DME, online check in, etc.

 

[hurt817]

Has anyone done this? Do you get to control your reservation in MDE, do online check in, room requests, etc?

I can book a Disney resort for my solo trip this fall and by using the UR points, it's like getting a 30% room discount. I have enough points to pay for my hotel AND airfare, but I want to make sure that I will still get magic bands, DME, online check in, etc.

Yes - you'll have to call UR Travel & they will have to call Disney to get the official Confirmation #. Then you can link it in your MDE & have all the normal perks & access. It's the same as a cash reservation. So awesome!! I booked AKL thru UR for July & have already done online check in, choose my magic bands, etc!

 

[DLgal]

Yes - you'll have to call UR Travel & they will have to call Disney to get the official Confirmation #. Then you can link it in your MDE & have all the normal perks & access. It's the same as a cash reservation. So awesome!! I booked AKL thru UR for July & have already done online check in, choose my magic bands, etc!

Thanks! Good to know I have to call UR Travel to get a confirmation number. That is what I was wondering about. Enjoy your trip!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Has anyone done this? Do you get to control your reservation in MDE, do online check in, room requests, etc?

I can book a Disney resort for my solo trip this fall and by using the UR points, it's like getting a 30% room discount. I have enough points to pay for my hotel AND airfare, but I want to make sure that I will still get magic bands, DME, online check in, etc.

We just did this for a 4 night stay in Feb. We could have gone value or moderate for free or BWI for $800. We did BWI and it was well worth it! As pp mentioned, call for your Disney reservation to put into MDE and you can still get FP, MBs, etc just like usual.
Love, Love Love, Chase UR points! I never ever thought I'd give up my Southwest Visa but this is waaay better, more flexible, and we can still convert to SW RR points if we decide to use them that way. But I digress....

Yes, it can be done!

ETA: Keep in mind the cost in points fluctuates with Disney's prices. I was about to book, hesitated not knowing it was the last day of Disney's 25% off promo. The next day when I was ready, it was a LOT more points. Grr... Some are refundable, some at not. Our reservation was refundable which makes me further regret that I didn't just jump on it when I first found it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks! Good to know I have to call UR Travel to get a confirmation number. That is what I was wondering about. Enjoy your trip!

IIRC, they didn't have a clue about entering into MDE. I think I got a bit of runaround between Chase UR and Disney but I think it was Disney that finally gave it to me after I gave them everything about me except a DNA sample.

 

[DLgal]

We just did this for a 4 night stay in Feb. We could have gone value or moderate for free or BWI for $800. We did BWI and it was well worth it! As pp mentioned, call for your Disney reservation to put into MDE and you can still get FP, MBs, etc just like usual.
Love, Love Love, Chase UR points! I never ever thought I'd give up my Southwest Visa but this is waaay better, more flexible, and we can still convert to SW RR points if we decide to use them that way. But I digress....

Yes, it can be done!

ETA: Keep in mind the cost in points fluctuates with Disney's prices. I was about to book, hesitated not knowing it was the last day of Disney's 25% off promo. The next day when I was ready, it was a LOT more points. Grr... Some are refundable, some at not. Our reservation was refundable which makes me further regret that I didn't just jump on it when I first found it.

LOL...I will be transferring points to Southwest for my flight!

One question, when you book, do they take the points away immediately? And is the remainder ($) due immediately as well? I might upgrade my resort like you did.

 

[WaywardMemphian]

LOL...I will be transferring points to Southwest for my flight!

One question, when you book, do they take the points away immediately? And is the remainder ($) due immediately as well? I might upgrade my resort like you did.

If you have a CSR, book Southwest by CALLING the UR #. Even if using a CSP, call and compare the points needed from each, plus you GET Rapid Rwards points by booking through Chase with UR points by CALLING. Southwest isn't on the Web booking engine .

If you need Southwest points you could use their hotel booking engine and look for hotels with Bonus points and then pay with your rewards card. I used my CSR for 3x UR points. For 6 nights at the Residence Inn DC Capitol I got 29,000 Southwest points and nearly 6,000 UR points for our upcoming trip.

I kept my Southwest Card after I got a CSR , the anniversary points negate the annual fee plus sometimes I get a nice chuck of points for referrals and with nieces and nephews as newbie college grads, I've shown then the sign up bonus trick for some cheap trips and I collect on my advice.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

LOL...I will be transferring points to Southwest for my flight!

One question, when you book, do they take the points away immediately? And is the remainder ($) due immediately as well? I might upgrade my resort like you did.

Points were deducted immediately and we had to pay in full at the time. I wasn't aware that we could book on swa using UR points. That is interesting.
We had to choose American Airlines only because they had better flight times but I will keep that in mind for the future.
We did earn AA miles for our flight.

 

[DLgal]

If you have a CSR, book Southwest by CALLING the UR #. Even if using a CSP, call and compare the points needed from each, plus you GET Rapid Rwards points by booking through Chase with UR points by CALLING. Southwest isn't on the Web booking engine .

.

Hold up.

I am super confused. I was just going to do a 1:1 points transfer UR-->RR. That way I can have control over the flight and rebook if it drops in price. Are you saying it might cost less southwest points by calling the UR travel line? I don't understand.

 

[DLgal]

Points were deducted immediately and we had to pay in full at the time. I wasn't aware that we could book on swa using UR points. That is interesting.
We had to choose American Airlines only because they had better flight times but I will keep that in mind for the future.
We did earn AA miles for our flight.

Southwest is a travel partner with Chase UR. You can transfer UR points to your Rapid Rewards account at a 1:1 ratio.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hold up.

I am super confused. I was just going to do a 1:1 points transfer UR-->RR. That way I can have control over the flight and rebook if it drops in price. Are you saying it might cost less southwest points by calling the UR travel line? I don't understand.

That's the gist I got from pp but I've never done it. We booked our flights on AA through the UR website, directly using UR points. We could have transferred our UR points into AA miles but it was easier and required fewer points to book through UR and no need to be concerned with the ridiculously limited AA reward availability. Try both ways and see what's cheaper.
I guess it depends on when you're flying and what the odds are that your prices will drop. It's a gamble. Once you convert those points to RR points, you can't turn them back into UR points. I wonder if you book a SW flight directly using UR points, what is the cancellation policy? I know our flights on AA were non-refundable.

 

[WaywardMemphian]

Hold up.

I am super confused. I was just going to do a 1:1 points transfer UR-->RR. That way I can have control over the flight and rebook if it drops in price. Are you saying it might cost less southwest points by calling the UR travel line? I don't understand.

The value of Chase Sapphire points are 1.5 for the Reserve and 1.25 for the Preferred. Southwest has varying redemption rates but the trend is down over the years. Southwest does not show up when you use the UR booking search engine just like it doesn't with KAYAK or the others. However, if you call UR tell them the flight use the UR points via Chase to book it. You should earn RR points when you attach the passengers membership #s on the booking. If it takes less points to book directly with Southwest (Don't forget to include what you earn for the flight from Southwest by booking thru UR) that is the best value and you should transfer over to Southwest.

I have never had to rebook so I can't speak to the process of rebooking, I usually have had good luck with booking the best price cause I book during sales have learned the price range that a certain destination will fluctuate between.

 

[WaywardMemphian]

This is an example.

From Memphis(where I usually fly from) on a nonstop flight to Tampa on July 22nd.
Fare is $93 or 5,578 RR points, that's nearly a redemption value of 1.7(1.66) from Southwest. IF I booked through UR, the points needed is 6,200 UR points, I would only gain 465 RR points via Southwest. Therefore, transferring to Southwest is the best deal.

Now, what if I want to fly into Orlando from Memphis on the same day? The earliest nonstop which would give me a whole afternoon to enjoy after travel to MCO is $179 or 11,653 points direct from Southwest. That is about 1.53 cents per point which is nearly the same as my Reserve UR points at 1.5, so that's using 11,933 UR points, but I would earn 945 RR points via Southwest. I gain 280 RR points at Southwest.

I didn't include the fees that are not covered when you use RR points which is $5.60 extra if redeeming via Southwest, that's basically a little more than 5% penalty on the $93 dollar Tampa fare.