Changing Resort at 7 Months On Line

[cchron]

If I have an existing reservation at my home resort and want to change to another resort at 7 months can I do that on line without first cancelling my home resort reservation? When I check for availability at the second resort it doesn't seem to give me the option to cancel my existing reservation and use those points for the new one. I would hate to cancel my home resort only to find no availability at the second resort and then not be able to reinstate my original reservation.

 

[zavandor]

Someone tried opening two browsers windows. With one you start the new booking, while with the other you are ready to cancel the old booking.
When you are in the screen when the system asks which points you want to use, the room is locked for a few minutes, so you cannot loose it. You can now cancel the other reservation and reload the page, you should see the points and finish booking.

However before attempting this it's better to make a trial run and see if it's still working.

 

[Muhlenberg]

Definitely try it ahead of time. I tried doing the two (different) browser thing to book two rooms right at 11 months, but apparently it "recognized" that I was already signed on. I'm assuming it knew my IP address, but who knows, for whatever reason it didn't work for me. (I subsequently tried that again, and it didn't work then, either.)

The safest thing is to call MS, but then you lose the 1 hour online advantage.

ETA...it could be that I'm just plain inept and that's why it didn't work...but who knows...

 

[drusba]

I did test the two browser thing (three times) by making a reservation and then seeing if I could change it. Could not do it because the window in which I had locked in the new reservation before taking points would not renew to show I had the points from the cancelled trip to use. In fact what it did when I tried to renew is take me back to the first reservation page where you choose resort and room and nothing is yet locked in.

 

[Sandisw]

If you have to cancel before changing, I would plan to call MS. It's, in my opinion, a little risky. One thing you could do is check to see if there is availability still for what you have booked before canceling since if there is, then at least if something happened with the new one, there'd be a better chance of getting back what you had.

IMO, though, until its really an option to replace the existing with the new, I'd use MS.

 

[nala1128]

I am in the same situation... I wonder if you could do it using 2 different computers. Look up what you want at 7 months and if its available, use the other computer to cancel existing reservation, then book the new one... Anyone have experience doing it this way?

 

[maburke]

I am in the same situation... I wonder if you could do it using 2 different computers. Look up what you want at 7 months and if its available, use the other computer to cancel existing reservation, then book the new one... Anyone have experience doing it this way?

The answer, at least so far, is no.

I did test the two browser thing (three times) by making a reservation and then seeing if I could change it. Could not do it because the window in which I had locked in the new reservation before taking points would not renew to show I had the points from the cancelled trip to use. In fact what it did when I tried to renew is take me back to the first reservation page where you choose resort and room and nothing is yet locked in.

I tried the same thing, and had the same result. Once your new reservation is locked in, your choice of points from which to draw is also locked in. I also refreshed to get the points that I could see on my other browser were available, and it took me back to the first screen. By the time I put my request in again, the room I wanted was gone. I did manage to get my previous room back.

 

[n2mm]

Just wanted to mention that recently I canceled a reservation on line and the points did not go back into my accounts instantly. At first I was nervous, but I actually had to log out and log back in before my point balance was correct. So if that is normal, then you would/could lose your reservation that you are hoping to reserve while you wait for your points to go back to your balance. Since I had points, I just booked my new reservation and used my points, then canceled my old reservation when I've switched.