Changing my ressie at 7 mos tomorrow-First time, have questions

[BWV Dreamin]

Ok, tomorrow I am going to call at 9 am. to switch a reservation from my home resort BWV to VWL. I have never done this before. When I call MS, I am going to ask if they have availability at VWL for my same accomodations at BWV (studio). If they do, then I am going to ask have my reservation changed to VWL. My questions are, they will cancel my BWV first, then make a new reservation? I have borrowed points, so will all the points carry over to the new reservation (they are exactly the same amt. of pts for each resort). I can't imagine anything else I need to do. Any comments here would be appreciated!

 

[drusba]

For you to use the points in the current reservation for the new reservation, they must take the step of cancelling your prior reservation first before doing the new one. Since points are the same, they will just take points from prior reservation and put them in the new one but you should always verify that is what is being done. Note, I am assuming when you say you have borrowed points, you mean those that are already in the BWV reservation. If you happen to have borrowed points sitting around outside of that reservation, you should have them, after cancelling BWV, use those points as part of the new reservation and remove a like amount of current points.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

For you to use the points in the current reservation for the new reservation, they must take the step of cancelling your prior reservation first before doing the new one. Since points are the same, they will just take points from prior reservation and put them in the new one but you should always verify that is what is being done. Note, I am assuming when you say you have borrowed points, you mean those that are already in the BWV reservation. If you happen to have borrowed points sitting around outside of that reservation, you should have them, after cancelling BWV, use those points as part of the new reservation and remove a like amount of current points.

Yes, you are correct. There are only enough borrowed points for the reservation. Thanks for your help...seems simple enough, but just when you think that.......

 

[thepops]

yes that should work. They will check availability, then (hopefully ... i.e most times) they will put a hold on the new room, then cancel the old one and book the one they held. I did it for our spring trip and it worked just fine.

 

[dismedvc]

Not to try and scare you, but at the bottom of the thread "Is this new", we got a little off track and began discussing how if MS must cancel your existing reservation to "free up" the points for the new reservation, it is possible you could end up with nothing. Chuck S (one of the moderators) posted the following in that thread, with regard to why you might not be able to get your original reservation back once it is cancelled, even if your new reservation can not be completed.

From Chuck S. "I would assume it is put back into inventory or snagged by the auto waitlist right away. There have been occasional reports of people losing their reservation after cancelling to book another that "disappears" between the time the original is cancelled and the CM tries to book the new one."

If the last poster is correct and they can put a hold on the new room, that would solve the problem, but no one mentioned that in the other thread.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Not to try and scare you, but at the bottom of the thread "Is this new", we got a little off track and began discussing how if MS must cancel your existing reservation to "free up" the points for the new reservation, it is possible you could end up with nothing. Chuck S (one of the moderators) posted the following in that thread, with regard to why you might not be able to get your original reservation back once it is cancelled, even if your new reservation can not be completed.

From Chuck S. "I would assume it is put back into inventory or snagged by the auto waitlist right away. There have been occasional reports of people losing their reservation after cancelling to book another that "disappears" between the time the original is cancelled and the CM tries to book the new one."

If the last poster is correct and they can put a hold on the new room, that would solve the problem, but no one mentioned that in the other thread.

Ok, I will make sure I get a seasoned CM and ask them to put a "hold" on the VWL ressie before cancelling my BWV ressie. Hope this can be done! I'm sure I will lose my original ressie because it is a BWV View studio. They usually go quick.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I hope it all goes as it should!

Bobbi

 

[bellazachmom]

Please post about your experience when you are through with everything tomorrow, I would really like to hear how it turns out for you.

I would also really like to hear if they were able to put the new room on "hold" because, if so, that cerrtainly IS something new!! And a definite improvement, I might add!!

In early August I called MS for a VERY last minute trip so that I could take part in the DVC Castle Suite Tour being offered over Labor Day Weekend. I called and told the CM what I needed and she was very helpful, trying to find me anything that would work. I was open to any size, any resort and would even move each night if neccessary! The only problem was the night of the 31st, there was nothing available, anywhere. She then offered to look for rooms to make a cash reservation. While doing so she suddenly says, "oh wait, looks like we have a 1 BR at SSR now" and I quickly say , "BOOK IT!!!" about half way through getting my information she says, "Uh oh, looks like it's gone" -- WHAT?!?!? I asked why rooms couldn't be held while the paperwork was completed and she said that the system wouldn't allow that. This happened 2 more times before we were finally able to get me a room!

Now, I understand why a member shouldn't be able to hold a room while trying to decided if they want it or not, even though I think that would be a nice perk, however I do think that once MS tells you that something is available and you say that you want it and start the reservation process that it should not be possible to then loose that room!!

Anybody else have a thought on this?

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I had a CM "hold" a reservation for me earleir this month because of a problem with the way our points were showing up that meant that the tech poeple needed to finalize the reservation.

I was booking a BW view studio at the 7 month window using some current BW points, some borrowed BW points and a lot of transferred SSR points. After the CM told me I had the room and confirmed the correct number of remaining BW points in my next UY, she went, "oh no, there is something wrong with your points" and put me on hold for about 10 minutes. After she returned to the line, she said that the points weren't correct and that the tech staff would need to resolve the issue but that the reservation was "held" and would be confirmed within a few days.

I got the call confirming the reservation 2 days later and it also showed up correctly online.

Since I had tried to reserve some of these nights in a BW view a few days earlier and was told there was no availability, I think that the hold may have been necessary, but since it was ultimately confirmed, I will never really know.

This makes me think that there is a work around for "holding" a reservation of which some CMs are aware. When you need to switch reservations, it may pay to shop for an experienced CM. -- Suzanne

 

[bellazachmom]

I had a CM "hold" a reservation for me earleir this month because of a problem with the way our points were showing up that meant that the tech poeple needed to finalize the reservation.

This makes me think that there is a work around for "holding" a reservation of which some CMs are aware. When you need to switch reservations, it may pay to shop for an experienced CM. -- Suzanne

Good to know!!

The CM that was helping me was AMAZING and did all kinds of things to try and get me a room and she seemed just as frustrated as me when things kept disappearing,

Glad to hear that everything worked out for you! Have a great trip!

 

[janni518]

This may all work out well with my current campaign for more points. "We have to have enough to book two ressies!!!"

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Just got off the phone with MS. A studio for VWL was available. I asked could she hold the rooms while she cancelled and rebooked the new request. CM said she could only hold the room IF I WANTED TO BORROW POINTS (or if I had other pts. available in the current contract UY to use). Of course I said "no". So basically, no they can not hold the available rooms as they cancel your current ressie and rebook the new one. Hope this info helps others.......looks like more pts. will be needed for future changes, especially during highly desired times. Thanks all!

 

[dismedvc]

Congratulations on everything working out.

I called MS yesterday about a dinning reservation, and after that was complete, I asked the CM a couple of questions that have been debated in this forum. These questions only took a minute, two at he most, after they finished my dinning reservation, and I appologize for anyone who had to wait on hold a little longer yesterday afternoon when contacting MS.

First, I asked about holding a new room while the old room was being cancelled and they told me the same thing they told the PP; it can not be done unless you have enough points to make the second before cancelling the first, or were willing to borrow points to make the second.

I also asked if I could go on the waitlist to make sure my first reservation was not cancelled before my second reservation was confirmed, and I was told that you cannot waitlist if they are currently showing availability.

Finally, I was told that they can no longer see the number of rooms available, so when they tell the change you are requesting is available, there is no way of knowing if that means just one room, which might "disappear" once your first reservation is cancelled or if there are several rooms so you would not have to worry as much.

The title of this post is how I feel.