Borrowing points deadline?

[chitwndan]

When must you borrow the points from a future contract year to "pay" for your vacation.

I am planning our 1st DVC trip for the 1st week of June. I'd like to do a split stay between AKV and BLT.

As an owner of BLT I want to try and secure MK view rooms for our entire stay, but plan on canceling 1/2 of them for less expensive AKV rooms at the 7 month booking window.

To afford this trip we will need to borrow from 2016 points to pay for it, and I don't want to lose the points when we switch to a less expensive room.

Do I need to borrow all the points up front when I make my reservation, or do they just need to be there by some deadline before the trip?

 

[disneynutz]

Points need to be available in your account when you book the reservation.

If you are using current and borrowed points and you cancel and book somewhere else, make sure that MS uses the borrowed points first.

Depending on your UY you may be able to bank the unused regular points, that is why UY is important.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The points will have to be borrowed at the time you make the BLT reservation. As Bill mentioned what should be done is for the borrowed points to be used and current points returned to your account when you switch the reservation to AKV. You could then bank into your next UY as long as you were within your banking deadline.

However - AKV is quite large and unless you are trying for the value or concierge rooms then you should have little trouble booking that at 7 months for June. I'd just book the BLT portion you intend to keep at 11 months and then book the AKV at 7 months. Or if you feel the absolute need to have something booked BLT standard view for the time you intend to switch to AKV.

 

[chitwndan]

Points need to be available in your account when you book the reservation.

If you are using current and borrowed points and you cancel and book somewhere else, make sure that MS uses the borrowed points first.

Depending on your UY you may be able to bank the unused regular points, that is why UY is important.

Bill

Bill and Kathy that is an excellent idea!!! It will work for my UY.

I am considering just booking the BLT days, as you note AKV should be no problem as we were planning on either standard or Savannah views. I guess because this is our 1st trip, and because we will be taking our nieces for their 1st, and likely last trip until they are working/paying (our youngest will just be under age 3 and we can squeeze into a 1BR.) I don't want to take any/many chances.

Thank you both, you answered my question and gave me some options to consider.

 

[chitwndan]

Wait, I just re read your 1st line of:
"Points need to be available in your account when you book the reservation"

So I am getting my 1st points in Feb 2015, which sounds like it means:

Once I get my membership number, I can borrow my 2015 points to book the BLT portion of the reservation right away. But will need to wait until Feb 2015 to borrow from 2016 to book the remainder of the vacation?



That's a bit scary. I'm not complaining, it just adds the uncertainty of not being able to book until 5 mo out.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Wait, I just re read your 1st line of:
"Points need to be available in your account when you book the reservation"

So I am getting my 1st points in Feb 2015, which sounds like it means:

Once I get my membership number, I can borrow my 2015 points to book the BLT portion of the reservation right away. But will need to wait until Feb 2015 to borrow from 2016 to book the remainder of the vacation?



That's a bit scary. I'm not complaining, it just adds the uncertainty of not being able to book until 5 mo out.

Nope - you're fine. You can book the BLT at 11 months or less in advance and you can book the AKV at 7 months in advance.

When you book a vacation does not matter - just that you have points that are valid for the dates you wish to stay.

With a Feb UY and booking a trip in June of 2015 that means you can use any banked 2014 points (once banked the 2014 points would be valid for stays from Feb 1, 2015 to Jan 31, 2016), current 2015 points (valid for stays from Feb 1, 2015 to Jan 31, 2016) and you could borrow 2016 points (normally valid for stays from Feb 1, 2016 to Jan 31, 2017 but once you borrow them then must be used for stays from Feb 1, 2015 to Jan 31, 2016). When you call to book never depends on your UY - it's always 11 months for home resort and 7 months for any others. The date of your stay just determines what points can be used for that reservation.

As I mentioned - the points will be borrowed at the time the reservation is made. You also do not borrow ahead of time like you would need to bank prior to making a reservation. In fact, you cannot borrow unless you have a reservation that you are making that requires borrowing.

In essence when you purchased DVC you received all the points until the end of your contract - there's no waiting for the first day of your UY for them to be deposited. But you can't make reservations several years in advance so usually it's just 3 years of points that really matter at any time (sometimes 4 if you would happen to book crossing the start of you UY).

 

[chitwndan]

Got ya. Thanks. I thought I understood the UY and when you could book. But that sentence just threw me off for a minute.

Thank you both again. Now I understand what my options are and can weight the pros and cons.

I'd rather not bank 2015 points into 2016, but I'd also rather to have the 2nd half of our trip unbooked ... Decisions, decisions.

I'll probably go with the latter, but will need to discuss with the DW.

 

[chalee94]

Got ya. Thanks. I thought I understood the UY and when you could book.

yeah, UY is when you "use" the pts for a stay. UY has nothing at all to do with when you can book.