Changing Cash to Points?

[kristenrice]

We are awaiting ROFR so I hope I am not jumping the gun here....

We are planning a large (14 people so far...DSis might not be done yet!) family trip in 2012. Dad is paying for everything! He was planning on renting DVC points for a 7-night stay in 2 OKW 2BR's. We already know someone willing to take care of this for us and he owns at OKW. Now, we are in the process of buying at AKV. We plan on banking and borrowing so that we have all 300 of our points available. IF we stayed at OKW, our 300 points would cover the weeknights and we'd pay cash for the weekends....perfect! We wouldn't *need* to rent points.

Now, here's my question... Mom and dad are coming with us in 2010 for a stay at AKV in a 2BR. If they fall in love with that, it might behoove (no pun intended) us to take advantage of our 11-month booking window and book at AKV instead. But, our 300 points will only be enough to reserve 4 weeknights instead of 5. I am sure we can rent/transfer the extra points from our friend, BUT they wouldn't be AKV points. Can I book, say Th-Sat nights on cash and then switch the Th to a points reservation at the 7 month window? Dad has said this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip so we'd love to make it as special as possible for him. He fell in love with OKW when DH (then DFi) and I took him in 2001. He is a very nostalgic person so that is why his heart is set on OKW. We love it there too, but I would love to "show off" AKV, especially to my SiL...she can be a little sometimes..(oh, the reasons some of us buy DVC! ) FWIW, we are not planning on travelling around Easter, Christmas or the first weeks in December. We're looking at possibly February or June. I REALLY do not want to have to deal with at waitlist.

Any thoughts?? Suggestions???

 

[Deb & Bill]

There is no guarantee on the cash nights. If you book them through CRO, you may have to move. If you book then through DVC, they may or may not be available for points at a later date.

Then again, 2012 is a long way off. Who knows what could happen by then.

 

[DebbieB]

Points & cash reservations come from different inventories. You can't just switch the reservation between them. You would have to cancel the one and rebook it as the other (if available). It's not a way to get around the waitlist.

 

[5forDiz]

We've only booked cash reservation for 1 night with that very same night wait-listed for points so I don't know if this scenario would apply to a cash reservation for multiple nights :

About a month prior to our points reservation we booked an extra night through Member Services as cash reservation ( the cash reservation was linked to our points reservation so we could avoid changing rooms and at the time we booked 25% DVC discount was available as well . ) We were also wait-listed for this night on points. Approximately 2 weeks later the wait-list came through. We did call to double check if in fact the cash reservation was cancelled when the wait-listed came through and it was.

Not sure if this would be exactly how it would go if you have a cash reservation for 2 or more nights and then just want to drop one of those nights - MS would be best to guide you through this ( maybe you'd need to set up each night of cash reservation individually instead of one reservation lumping all the cash nights together ? ).

 

[kristenrice]

I am assuming, based on your responses, that my safest bet will be to use our points for the Su-Th and just pay cash for the other 3 nights. This way, I won't have to worry about a waitlist and we won't have to deal with point transfers and such. Will we have to move, or can the reservations be linked?

Thanks for the quick replies! I still think that we'll end up at OKW...Dad likes to stick with what he knows and is not always willing to try something new.

 

[RobDoc]

I am assuming, based on your responses, that my safest bet will be to use our points for the Su-Th and just pay cash for the other 3 nights. This way, I won't have to worry about a waitlist and we won't have to deal with point transfers and such. Will we have to move, or can the reservations be linked?

Thanks for the quick replies! I still think that we'll end up at OKW...Dad likes to stick with what he knows and is not always willing to try something new.

If the cash nights are reserved thru MS, they will be linked to the point reservations and you won't need to move. If you reserve the cash nights thru CRO, thsy cannot be linked and you might need to change rooms. If reserved thru MS there is also a chance for the member's discount of 25%.

Good luck!

 

[Deb & Bill]

And if the discount is available, you might only be able to get one room on member discount.