Cash regular hotel ressie to points?

[nd43]

Very specific scenario. We are now on the waiting list for DVC. In the meantime, we made a single day reservation in the regular GC hotel for the summer for a standard room. If our wait list comes through in time, through an exchange, could we use points to pay for this standard hotel room reservation?

I have seen a room rate point chart for the standard hotel rooms at GC but I have no idea how that works or if it works if you started with a cash ressie! Since it is all Disney, I am not sure if that is easier then RCI, etc.

We will have extra pts this first year as we have already taken our DW vacation so we would have the pts available for the room and could still bank most for 2014.

 

[DebbieB]

Very specific scenario. We are now on the waiting list for DVC. In the meantime, we made a single day reservation in the regular GC hotel for the summer for a standard room. If our wait list comes through in time, through an exchange, could we use points to pay for this standard hotel room reservation?

I have seen a room rate point chart for the standard hotel rooms at GC but I have no idea how that works or if it works if you started with a cash ressie! Since it is all Disney, I am not sure if that is easier then RCI, etc.

We will have extra pts this first year as we have already taken our DW vacation so we would have the pts available for the room and could still bank most for 2014.

Cash reservations never turn into a points reservation. It would be a cancel and rebook based on availability. Just because cash rooms are available, it doesn't mean a DVC points room is available, I actually experienced this first hand about 5 years ago at GCH. I ended up staying at PPH, which had points availability. Another thing to consider is if you make the hotel reservation and cancel, you cannot use them for a DVC reservation, they remain "reservation points" which can only be used outside DVC.

 

[nd43]

Cash reservations never turn into a points reservation. It would be a cancel and rebook based on availability. Just because cash rooms are available, it doesn't mean a DVC points room is available, I actually experienced this first hand about 5 years ago at GCH. I ended up staying at PPH, which had points availability. Another thing to consider is if you make the hotel reservation and cancel, you cannot use them for a DVC reservation, they remain "reservation points" which can only be used outside DVC.

Thank you for the response. So that we understand this, if decided to use our points on a regular Disney hotel room in the future (ignoring for the moment if this is an efficient use of points or not) the "availability" of regular hotel rooms that can be booked using points is a subset of the overall available hotel rooms at the hotel? In essence, there is a limited number of regular hotel rooms at a given Disney hotel that be be reserved using DVC points? We are just trying to understand how this works when you get outside of the DVC resorts and use the point charts for regular hotel rooms in the various Disney collection properties Disney has provided! (For instance, they say a standard view hotel room in the GC is 63 points during the week but no real info on how you make such a reservation or if there are limits on availability if you want to do this)

Sorry upfront for our ignorance in this area!

 

[RobDoc]

... (For instance, they say a standard view hotel room in the GC is 63 points during the week but no real info on how you make such a reservation or if there are limits on availability if you want to do this).

To make the non-DVC option you can call MS and they will assist. For the WDW non-DVC hotels, there is a $95 charge per reservation (same for DCL, Concierge Collection, Adventure Collection, and World Passport Collection) at the time the reservation is made. That fee is waived for the DL properties and, of course, for DVC reservations.

I don't recall DVC providing information about availability limits, but it would be within their power to do so. If there are limits, they could also be set by the resort itself and not necessarily by DVC. There have certainly been limitations for DCL in the past for reservations made using points.

 

[DebbieB]

Thank you for the response. So that we understand this, if decided to use our points on a regular Disney hotel room in the future (ignoring for the moment if this is an efficient use of points or not) the "availability" of regular hotel rooms that can be booked using points is a subset of the overall available hotel rooms at the hotel? In essence, there is a limited number of regular hotel rooms at a given Disney hotel that be be reserved using DVC points? We are just trying to understand how this works when you get outside of the DVC resorts and use the point charts for regular hotel rooms in the various Disney collection properties Disney has provided! (For instance, they say a standard view hotel room in the GC is 63 points during the week but no real info on how you make such a reservation or if there are limits on availability if you want to do this)

Sorry upfront for our ignorance in this area!

Yes, only a limited number of hotel rooms are set aside for DVC. Same for cruises - only a limited number for DVC. The reason is when a member trades out, a DVC room goes to CRO to be sold by them. That's why sometimes there are cash reservations available at DVC resorts and not points. They only want a limited number going through this process.

 

[nd43]

Thanks!

 

[Deb & Bill]

You don't want to forget about the rule of four. You cannot both book and stay in a non-DVC Disney collection during the last four months of your use year. DVC needs more time than that to get the villa sold (that represents your points) to pay for your trip.

 

[taaren]

You don't want to forget about the rule of four. You cannot both book and stay in a non-DVC Disney collection during the last four months of your use year. DVC needs more time than that to get the villa sold (that represents your points) to pay for your trip.

The rule of four does not apply to the DLR hotels. I've stayed on soon-to-be-expiring points booked days before we checked in at the DLH several times.