Could I use this trick to book earlier using holding points?

[Ronald Duck]

We cancelled a points-heavy January trip, and we still have 68 points in holding for our current use year (ending November 30). I'm aware that I can only book with those points within 60 days of travel, but I was wondering if this is a way of opening up my booking window:

Can I make a reservation now using points borrowed from next year, and then call back when I get within 2 months of my booked dates and substitute the holding points for the borrowed points?

Thanks, DVC experts!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm, pretty sure that you would only be able to switch IF the reservation was available. Plus the borrowed points would stay in the use year they were borrowed into. That doesn't seem to help if you can't use them this UY.

 

[vicki_c]

I agree with Bobbi - once those points are borrowed, they can't go back so you would be in the same boat with unusable points. It might make you able to get the reservation you want since you avoid the 60 day window, but you might as well just let the holding points expire at that point since you can't put the borrowed ones back.

 

[Ronald Duck]

Gotcha! I knew my idea was too good to be true! We'll take our chances on 60 days!

 

[disneynutz]

Gotcha! I knew my idea was too good to be true! We'll take our chances on 60 days!

See ya at Saratoga!

Bill

 

[DisneyStoryMania]

See ya at Saratoga!

Bill

LoL Yep see you guys there.....

 

[Lexxiefern]

LoL Yep see you guys there.....

You never know! I just had to deal with holding points and I was able to get BWV. We always stay at BWV so I waitlisted and within a week we got AKV. Both of these were less than 60 days out. Good luck!!

 

[Dean]

We cancelled a points-heavy January trip, and we still have 68 points in holding for our current use year (ending November 30). I'm aware that I can only book with those points within 60 days of travel, but I was wondering if this is a way of opening up my booking window:

Can I make a reservation now using points borrowed from next year, and then call back when I get within 2 months of my booked dates and substitute the holding points for the borrowed points?

Thanks, DVC experts!

If your gong to make the trip anyway and would otherwise use the borrowed points (they can't be rebanked), then there are possibilities you could work with. I know a lot of people will cringe when they read this but you could book with other points then call back and see what's available and possible pick up some days with the holding account points and cancel those days with the non hold account points.

 

[dianeschlicht]

If your gong to make the trip anyway and would otherwise use the borrowed points (they can't be rebanked), then there are possibilities you could work with. I know a lot of people will cringe when they read this but you could book with other points then call back and see what's available and possible pick up some days with the holding account points and cancel those days with the non hold account points.

Dean, the problem with that method is that is would be much the same as booking your home resort at 11 months out, and then exchanging the home resort points for non-home resort points after the 7 month booking window opens WITHOUT rebooking. It can't be done, because the points you want to use were not available to use when you booked the reservation.

As I see it, the only way you could do that is if you completely rebooked if there was an available unit at 60 days out.

 

[chalee94]

Dean, the problem with that method is that is would be much the same as booking your home resort at 11 months out, and then exchanging the home resort points for non-home resort points after the 7 month booking window opens WITHOUT rebooking. It can't be done, because the points you want to use were not available to use when you booked the reservation.

i've misunderstood him on this too - but i think he means just the nights with availability (and more availability than just the villa he is cancelling) 60 days out. in an ideal scenario where you were using current pts and were still within banking deadlines, you might be able to bank forward the freed-up current pts and use up some "holding pts" for a reservation.

the problem is the OP is using borrowed pts, which can't be banked forward into the next use year...so pts would still be going to waste and nothing would really be gained.

 

[CarolMN]

Dean just means that there may be one or two nights of the desired reservation that are available. If so, then the appropriate nights of the existing reservation could be cancelled and the holding points could be used to re-book those nights, while keeping the other nights of the reservation. Then the returned points could be banked.

My only "cringe" would be the chances of losing the reservation while the CM makes the changes. Not all CMs are equally good at this type of thing. Their remedy for making a mistake seems to be "we'll put you at the top of the waitlist". That doesn't really work for me, LOL.

I don't think I'd chance it unless the available nights were at either the very beginning or very end of the existing reservation. I would not chance it if the available nights were in the middle. I'd be too worried something would go wrong and I'd end up without a usable reservation.

 

[Dean]

Dean, the problem with that method is that is would be much the same as booking your home resort at 11 months out, and then exchanging the home resort points for non-home resort points after the 7 month booking window opens WITHOUT rebooking. It can't be done, because the points you want to use were not available to use when you booked the reservation.

As I see it, the only way you could do that is if you completely rebooked if there was an available unit at 60 days out.

As noted by others, it's making separate reservations and linking to the remaining days of a given reservation and is no different than trying to use non home resort points at a resort you own some points at. There are always ways to stack the deck in your favor but they are not going to be guaranteed. My impression for the OP was that using the holding account points was paramount, not getting the reservation itself. But there are risks if you cancel any days and try to get them back with the other points.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I was speaking from trying to do something similar back a couple years ago. I had booked AKV at 11 months and at the 7 month mark, I wanted to exchange some of those AKV points (to bank them) for OKW points. They would not let me do that without cancelling and rebooking.

 

[Dean]

I was speaking from trying to do something similar back a couple years ago. I had booked AKV at 11 months and at the 7 month mark, I wanted to exchange some of those AKV points (to bank them) for OKW points. They would not let me do that without cancelling and rebooking.

If there's availability for any days you can accomplish the same task without risking losing what you have already, if not, it would be a cancel and rebook situation. And you can Wait list if needed.

 

[dianeschlicht]

If there's availability for any days you can accomplish the same task without risking losing what you have already, if not, it would be a cancel and rebook situation. And you can Wait list if needed.

Exactly.