Can someone explain the whole booking thing if you have points in 2 resorts?

[NHDisneyMom]

Hi,

I'm another newbie - just bought into BLT. I already have questions about points and adding on down the line.

The kids are young enough that a one bedroom will suffice for now, but I know in the future we will probably add on. I have seen posts where people have points in more than one resort - like BLT and OKW. If I understand correctly, they get the 11 month booking window for both resorts - yes? no? Do you have to split your points, meaning only use your BLT points when you want to stay at BLT or only your OKW when you want to stay there? I thought points where points and you could use them all in one year regardless of the resort you call home. How does the booking window work if you own in two different resorts - I guess that's my question. And are their any caveats to owning two different resorts? I know we also enjoy staying at BC so we may consider that down the line in the resale market. Maybe even OKW if we can get more points cheep and still use them to stay at BLT in a two bedroom.

Sorry if this is not clear, I'm still just getting the hang of this.

Thanks!

 

[5forDiz]

Hi,

I'm another newbie - just bought into BLT. I already have questions about points and adding on down the line.

The kids are young enough that a one bedroom will suffice for now, but I know in the future we will probably add on. I have seen posts where people have points in more than one resort - like BLT and OKW. If I understand correctly, they get the 11 month booking window for both resorts - yes? no? Do you have to split your points, meaning only use your BLT points when you want to stay at BLT or only your OKW when you want to stay there? I thought points where points and you could use them all in one year regardless of the resort you call home. How does the booking window work if you own in two different resorts - I guess that's my question. And are their any caveats to owning two different resorts? I know we also enjoy staying at BC so we may consider that down the line in the resale market. Maybe even OKW if we can get more points cheep and still use them to stay at BLT in a two bedroom.

Sorry if this is not clear, I'm still just getting the hang of this.

Thanks!

Prior to 7 month booking window opening you cannot combine points from more than 1 resort. From 11 months through 7 months + 1 day before check-in date you would like points may only be used to book reservation at the specific DVC Resort that they are "tied" to.

So, you cannot combine points from 2 or more resorts to take advantage of 11 month booking window at all resorts that you own, ie BLT points are only able to book BLT at 11 months, OKW only able to book at OKW at 11 months, etc. Between 11 months thru 7 months+1 day you COULD NOT use BLT points & OKW points to book a reservation at BLT; only your BLT points would allow you to book BLT during this priority booking window (aka owner's priority booking window).

If you want to combine points from BLT and OKW for the purpose of booking a trip with points from both resorts at either BLT or OKW (or any other DVC Resort for that matter whether you own points there or not) then this may only be done at 7 month or less before check-in date you'd like.

Members who own at more than 1 resort often bank &/or borrow points at each resort to take advantage of priority booking window every 2nd or 3rd year, so your BLT points banked into next upcoming Use Year would give you 2 years worth of BLT points to book with at 11 month window every other year, or with both banking & borrowing 3 years worth of BLT points to book with at 11 month window every third year.
Hope this helped

 

[NHDisneyMom]

Thank you very much - that did indeed help a great deal!

 

[lumpydj]

Prior to 7 month booking window opening you cannot combine points from more than 1 resort. From 11 months through 7 months + 1 day before check-in date you would like points may only be used to book reservation at the specific DVC Resort that they are "tied" to.

So, you cannot combine points from 2 or more resorts to take advantage of 11 month booking window at all resorts that you own, ie BLT points are only able to book BLT at 11 months, OKW only able to book at OKW at 11 months, etc. Between 11 months thru 7 months+1 day you COULD NOT use BLT points & OKW points to book a reservation at BLT; only your BLT points would allow you to book BLT during this priority booking window (aka owner's priority booking window).

If you want to combine points from BLT and OKW for the purpose of booking a trip with points from both resorts at either BLT or OKW (or any other DVC Resort for that matter whether you own points there or not) then this may only be done at 7 month or less before check-in date you'd like.

Members who own at more than 1 resort often bank &/or borrow points at each resort to take advantage of priority booking window every 2nd or 3rd year, so your BLT points banked into next upcoming Use Year would give you 2 years worth of BLT points to book with at 11 month window every other year, or with both banking & borrowing 3 years worth of BLT points to book with at 11 month window every third year.
Hope this helped

Great explanation! I would add only one thing to this. For you to easily use all your points together at the 7 month mark, they should all have the same UY. If they are in the same UY, then they are all under one membership and you will have one pool of points at 7 months to use as you need. However, if they have different UY's, you will have 2 different memberships. If this is the case, you will need to transfer points between the memberships and you will not be able to combine points from the 2 resorts for one night's stay. For example, if you need 25 points for a night's stay at BLT, and you have 20 in your current BLT membership contract, you can't transfer 5 more points from OKW to combine with the other 20. You'll need to transfer the full 25 from the OKW resort to fully book the night. At least that's how I understand it...

 

[CoachG]

Along these same lines lets say you have two 160 pt contracts - one at BLT and one at OKW. I understand that in year 1 you could use the BLT and borrow from year 2 BLT while banking year 1 at OKW.

My question is when it comes to year 2 can you use your year 1 banked and current year 2 OKW points to book OKW at 11 months (just to be sure you have something) but then at 7 months see if BLT is available and if it is then switch your reservation?

Also just a quick side question on BLT - can you request certain floors to stay on or are the floors arranged by room type? We'd like to stay at BLT for the ease of the monorail but have members of our party that would not feel comfortable staying on the upper floors of the resort.

 

[erionm]

Along these same lines lets say you have two 160 pt contracts - one at BLT and one at OKW. I understand that in year 1 you could use the BLT and borrow from year 2 BLT while banking year 1 at OKW.

My question is when it comes to year 2 can you use your year 1 banked and current year 2 OKW points to book OKW at 11 months (just to be sure you have something) but then at 7 months see if BLT is available and if it is then switch your reservation?

Yes.

Also just a quick side question on BLT - can you request certain floors to stay on or are the floors arranged by room type? We'd like to stay at BLT for the ease of the monorail but have members of our party that would not feel comfortable staying on the upper floors of the resort.

Yes, you could request a low floor. All floors have a mix of all room sizes.

 

[DenLo]

. . . .
Also just a quick side question on BLT - can you request certain floors to stay on or are the floors arranged by room type? We'd like to stay at BLT for the ease of the monorail but have members of our party that would not feel comfortable staying on the upper floors of the resort.

If you request a standard view room you would be guaranteed to not have a room above the fifth floor. Standard view rooms begin on the 1st floor. Some lake views are as low as the second floor, MK begins at the 3rd floor.

You can find view information on BLT on work2plays thread, here's the link. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2257082