Changing reservation to use borrowed points

[lark]

I currently have a reservation in 2010 that uses banked 2009 points and 2010 points.

I'm thinking about doing another unplanned trip soon. To do it, I would need some 2010 points to be freed up so that I could borrow them. I'm willing to do this by using borrowed 2011 points for my 2010 reservation.

My question is, is this a simple change? Can I just call up MS to apply borrowed 2011 points instead of 2010 points to my reservation, or do I need to cancel it and rebook it. Is there any danger that if I do that, I will lose it? In other words, will some wait list request get filled as soon as I cancel so that I cannot rebook? Any other options here?

 

[RobDoc]

MS should be able to help you with this without problem. I'd just explain what you need to do before doing anything to make sure they understand.

What you are doing is reallocating borrowed 2011 points into the reservation you already have in 2010 to free up 2010 points to be borrowed for a reservation during your 2009 Use Year.

I would emphasize that you hope to be able to do this without cancelling the existing reservation. As long as all of the points are from the same account, there should not be a problem.

Good luck!

 

[lark]

Thanks Doc. One other thing I should have mentioned that is perhaps a complication -- is there any way for me to have MS check availability for the 2009 dates before I've modified the reservation and borrowed the points. In other words, will MS check availability for me first, even though I won't actually have points to confirm it?

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks Doc. One other thing I should have mentioned that is perhaps a complication -- is there any way for me to have MS check availability for the 2009 dates before I've modified the reservation and borrowed the points. In other words, will MS check availability for me first, even though I won't actually have points to confirm it?

Yes, MS should be able to check availability for you before making any changes to your existing reservation. Last summer, when I was trying to change my reservation and would call to see what was available and they were more than happy to tell me.

 

[RobDoc]

Thanks Doc. One other thing I should have mentioned that is perhaps a complication -- is there any way for me to have MS check availability for the 2009 dates before I've modified the reservation and borrowed the points. In other words, will MS check availability for me first, even though I won't actually have points to confirm it?

Absolutely. They will be able to check availability for you before making any other changes ... and that would be wise before trying to borrow any points.

Good luck!

 

[lark]

Thanks everyone.

 

[lark]

I just thought I would post a follow up here, since I did all this today.

As it turns out, I was NOT allowed to simply change my reservation to use borrowed points. I did have to cancel the reservation. Sort of. Perhaps others have had different experiences, but I got a pretty seasoned CM and she was emphatic that I could not do it without canceling my reservation.

Anyway, this is how it all played out. I have a June use year. I had a 6-day reservation for July 2010, which used all of my banked 2009 and most of my 2010 points. I wanted a reservation for January 2010 at the VGC, which required about 60 points. I did not have enough 2010 points left to borrow. The CM began by checking my dates in January 2010, and found they were in fact available. She then said that to get me 2010 to borrow for the reservation, I would need to cancel my July 2010 trip and rebook it. She looked at availability and told me that my July 2010 trip was not currently available, and so it would be at risk of going to a waitlist if I canceled. In fact, she said it probably would go to waitlist if canceled, because it's a high demand view category (BLT MK view).

But then what she did was calculated how many days of the June 2010 trip I would need to cancel to free up enought points to borrow and book the Jan 2010 trip. She found that by canceling onlly the last day of the trip (because it's a Saturday with high points), I would free up enough points to make my Jan 2010 reservation, and she also was able to confirm that the last day was at that point still available. She said that so long as I was cancelling either days at the beginning or end, but not the middle, of my July 2010 trip, that they could be canceled and then added back without affecting the entire reservation. So, she put me on hold and 10 minutes later, I had everything I wanted. I "watched" online as she did it in my account, and she did it exactly as she said she would. First, my June 2010 trip was modified to 5 days, then the borrowing transaction of my 2010 points into 2009 went through to book the January 2010 trip, then the borrowing transaction of my 2011 points went through, then my June 2010 trip was amended to include back the added day. Sorry for so much detail -- just thought it might be helpful to someone in a similar situation.

 

[RobDoc]

Thanks for the report - glad MS found a way to accomplish what you wanted to do without losing your MK view villa!

 

[lark]

Thanks Doc. She really knew her stuff, which was helpful.

 

[babyburrito]

Thanks for sharing. I am going to be in the same situation soon because I am going to book a trip for oct 2010 at the 11mo mark using banked 2009 and current year 2010 points. But I may end up making a reservation for spring at VGC and would have to use 2011 points. I just hope that I don't loose my oct ressie due to waitlisting. Thanks for the heads up.