Can MS reallocate to use borrowed points with no current availability?

[pangyal]

I'm sorry if I didn't search correctly, but I am hoping one of you can answer this for me (I feel I should know, but guess I am not as omnipotent and all-knowing as I thought).

We have an AKL contract with a June UY. I have a reservation for August 2017 and no remaining points in this 2017 UY. I am looking to make a reservation for my dad to come next March, but this would require borrowing the 141 points from the 2018 UY. So far so good.

However, if he decided not to come, I am not using 141 points just for me and my son during that time, so I'd want to cancel it. I know that the borrowed points would therefore go into the 2017 UY. I could rent them, but I'd rather have the AKL points.

So, is it possible for MS to use the borrowed points to cover the existing August '17 reservation in the event we cancel the March booking before then, and keep my non-borrowed points from the 2017 UY, which I would then be able to bank? This is with the knowledge that there will not be current availability for the room we have in August that would allow for a simple cancel/rebook (Club Studio- guaranteed not available). Would this be circumventing the "borrowing is final" rule?

Apologies if I am missing the obvious as to why this would not be allowed- I'm just not clear on this one! Thanks!

 

[CMNJ]

You can reallocate borrowed points to a current reservation as long as it would not violate home resort priority window (which it seems it wouldn't in this case). I had a family member cancel on us earlier this year and we were able to call MS to reallocate the borrowed points to our studio's reservation (despite lack of current ability). Just keep in mind you would have to know your dad isn't going to be able to go next March by this July (31 or more days prior to your august 2017 trip) or won't be able to reallocate and then bank the 2017 points.

 

[pangyal]

You can reallocate borrowed points to a current reservation as long as it would not violate home resort priority window (which it seems it wouldn't in this case). I had a family member cancel on us earlier this year and we were able to call MS to reallocate the borrowed points to our studio's reservation (despite lack of current ability). Just keep in mind you would have to know your dad isn't going to be able to go next March by this July (31 or more days prior to your august 2017 trip) or won't be able to reallocate and then bank the 2017 points.

Thank you for the quick reply- I admit, this was not what I expected to hear!

Can they reallocate for different resorts if it's within the 7-month window, I wonder? We would be borrowing more than our studio will be for August, but we are also doing a split stay with VGF.

 

[CMNJ]

Thank you for the quick reply- I admit, this was not what I expected to hear!

Can they reallocate for different resorts if it's within the 7-month window, I wonder? We would be borrowing more than our studio will be for August, but we are also doing a split stay with VGF.

Was the VGF reservation made with VGF points or using the AKL points (not sure if you own VGF too)? If it was made during the 7-11 mo window they aren't supposed to allow you to reallocate (it violate the home resort priority). If you made that reservation with the same AKL contract I'm sure they could do it. We used BLT points to book 2 Poly studios (so obviously at less than 7 mo) but then had to cancel one so had MS reallocate the borrowed points to the other Poly reservation we were keeping. We cancelled at about 6 weeks so the points were able to be banked (but I would think point reallocation changes to the reservation at 30 days or less would be treated the same as any other change causing the points to go into holding unless you received a "pixie dust" exemption).

If the points are from another contract (i.e. Diff home resort than the borrowed points but not violating the home resort window) I'm really not sure if they can/will reallocate.

 

[pangyal]

That makes perfect sense. We own VGF too, but we also booked a Poly night another time with that same AKl contract so I have a feeling they would prefer to keep it in the same contract. I am very happily surprised that this is possible at all!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

You need to ask to have the points reallocated at least 31 days in advance of check in for the August trip otherwise the points they free up from that will go into holding.

If you have a reservation you made in the 7 month window then they can reallocate any points from any contracts to it that are in the same Membership UY. For a home resort priority booking it needs to be a contract from that same home resort unless there is availability for that room at 7 months which would in essence be a new booking with the reallocated points.

 

[Dean]

I'm sorry if I didn't search correctly, but I am hoping one of you can answer this for me (I feel I should know, but guess I am not as omnipotent and all-knowing as I thought).

We have an AKL contract with a June UY. I have a reservation for August 2017 and no remaining points in this 2017 UY. I am looking to make a reservation for my dad to come next March, but this would require borrowing the 141 points from the 2018 UY. So far so good.

However, if he decided not to come, I am not using 141 points just for me and my son during that time, so I'd want to cancel it. I know that the borrowed points would therefore go into the 2017 UY. I could rent them, but I'd rather have the AKL points.

So, is it possible for MS to use the borrowed points to cover the existing August '17 reservation in the event we cancel the March booking before then, and keep my non-borrowed points from the 2017 UY, which I would then be able to bank? This is with the knowledge that there will not be current availability for the room we have in August that would allow for a simple cancel/rebook (Club Studio- guaranteed not available). Would this be circumventing the "borrowing is final" rule?

Apologies if I am missing the obvious as to why this would not be allowed- I'm just not clear on this one! Thanks!

If you have the points in your account and they are either for the same home resort or originally made on or after 7 months they can reallocate but there is a small risk they could lose the reservation doing so. If you could go ahead and get them into the August 17 reservations so that March was with bankable points, that would be best that way you'd be able to have bankable points in your March 18 reservation. I don't think they'll be able to swap points from the 2 different time frames with existing reservations but even that's worth a call to MS.

 

[pangyal]

I wanted to update this thread in case anyone else was wondering about the success of this process- I was absolutely successful in having MS borrow the 141 points needed for the March reservation for our AKL stay, reallocating exactly 141 points to existing July/August reservations (all made with the same AKL contract, though the one in August was a Poly reservation), and thereby ensuring that we can simply bank the points back into the 2018 UY should my dad decide not to come.

I so appreciate everybody's help and responses on this !

 

[CarolMN]

Happy outcome. Than ks for letting us know what you did and how it turned out.

 

[Spartan86]

Yes, thank you. And just so I'm following the thought process correctly: Dad's "decision point" has now been pushed out to 1/31/18, your banking deadline for your June UY?

 

[pangyal]

Yes, thank you. And just so I'm following the thought process correctly: Dad's "decision point" has now been pushed out to 1/31/18, your banking deadline for your June UY?

Yes, that is correct . Definitely afforded us more breathing room on that front, but we always do split stays and he needs to now make up his mind quickly about whether he wants a VGF studio or a one bedroom at Boardwalk !

Now, the only thing I am not sure of is whether they are able to do this with partial points. We somehow managed to cobble together two existing reservations' worth of points for this summer plus three remaining points in the current UY, and miraculously, it all added up to exactly 141. What I don't know, but suspect they can do, is whether they can sort of split up a reservation to swap out only some of the points in this manner if the numbers aren't so exact (which I imagine they wouldn't be, 99% of the time!).