Booking Policy Question

[misskari]

Im going to be making my FIRST DVC booking and I want to be sure I get it right!

I have 200 points but will need to borrow 50 to 100 points from next year

So I want to reserve a 3 BR Villa at OKW, yet my home resort is SSR. So from all that I have read I should book at 11 months out at SSR, and then once I'm 7 months out do I call and transfer to OKW? Can you have two bookings at one time?

Or do I keep SSR reservation and be waitlisted (I'm not sure I understand this aspect) for OKW if there's none available? Can you have multiple waitlistings at one time? Is there a max of # of reservations at one time?

I've gone through my Reservation Tools book, but it doesn't really get into the nitty gritty details like this scenario. Is there a more comprehensive guide with all the tips & tricks on reservations that you know of?

THANK YOU FOR ANY GUIDANCE!

 

[DenLo]

Booking at SSR at the 11 month mark will insure that you have a room for your dates. And then at the 7 month mark you call MS to see it you can switch to an OKW GV. If the GV is available MS will cancel your SSR reservation and use your current points and borrow additional points needed for the OKW reservation.

You are limited to two waitlists at a time. You might want to read the Home Resort Rules and Regulations which will give you more details about booking, waitlists and borrowing. Or Understand Your Vacation Points, which is on the MS website.

Congratulations on your recent purchase and good luck with your first reservation. The CMs at MS are very nice and helpful. I still remember how easy they made it for us when we made our first reservation in 2009.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

One issue with this plan is if you plan on booking a GV at SSR is that it will take a lot more points that OKW and if you are having to borrow for OKW that will be pulling even more points in that have to stay in the UY.

What time of the year are you planning on going? That could make a difference in the recommendations.

 

[dianeschlicht]

You can do this online without calling MS as long as you know what you want is available. I had an OKW GV booked at 11 months but wanted to exchange for an AKV/Kidani 2 bedroom at the 7 month mark. I was going to call, but instead checked every day and saw there was available inventory at AKV. Then at 7:55 AM ET, I got online and cancelled my OKW GV. I then picked the Kidani 2 bedroom and waited for 8:00 to click "book". I got exactly what I wanted. Now, I know there was a chance I couldn't get it, but I was pretty confident it would be there. This was for Dec. 15-24, so it was an important Christmas booking.

If you are booking the GV at OKW at a popular time, I think it might be difficult, since the GVs there are so few points and one of the best values in DVC.

 

[misskari]

One issue with this plan is if you plan on booking a GV at SSR is that it will take a lot more points that OKW and if you are having to borrow for OKW that will be pulling even more points in that have to stay in the UY.

What time of the year are you planning on going? That could make a difference in the recommendations.

Kat4Disney - thanks for the heads up on this, I didn't even consider this point. As I understand it once you borrow points from a year and if you don't use them for the original planned trip they still stay in that year, correct? I have a Feb use year, so if we cancel the SSR to do the OKW (which then would take less points) we'd have to use the points before Feb 2014 right?

We're planning an extended family (9 people) trip for Oct 2014. OKW looks to be the best bang for the buck (point) here,

 

[drusba]

Points borrowed from Feb 2015 would need to be used by Jan 31, 2015. However, when you switch ressies at 7 months out, you will be able to use up any borrowed points first for the OKW ressie and thus what you should be left with is 2014 points that you can bank.

As to what you will probably face: SSR is the easiest resort to get at 7 months out and even in Oct you can get an SSR GV at 7 months out. However, be aware that Oct is otherwise one of the high DVC demand times of the year and you may have problems getting an OKW GV at 7 months out.

 

[Dean]

Im going to be making my FIRST DVC booking and I want to be sure I get it right!

I have 200 points but will need to borrow 50 to 100 points from next year

So I want to reserve a 3 BR Villa at OKW, yet my home resort is SSR. So from all that I have read I should book at 11 months out at SSR, and then once I'm 7 months out do I call and transfer to OKW? Can you have two bookings at one time?

Or do I keep SSR reservation and be waitlisted (I'm not sure I understand this aspect) for OKW if there's none available? Can you have multiple waitlistings at one time? Is there a max of # of reservations at one time?

I've gone through my Reservation Tools book, but it doesn't really get into the nitty gritty details like this scenario. Is there a more comprehensive guide with all the tips & tricks on reservations that you know of?

THANK YOU FOR ANY GUIDANCE!

You need to plan around the possibility you may not get OKW. Assuming you are looking at late 2014 and that you'll have to wait list, you could easily miss your banking deadline for any extra points with a Feb UY. I'd suggest you book SSR but maybe one night less or possibly a 2 BR plus a studio which should be less points than the OKW GV and will decrease your risk. Decide on a plan B & C. You should be able to get a 2 BR and studio at OKW fairly easily and it'll be cheaper than the GV by a fair amount (you mentioned best bang for your buck).