Curious about one time use points vs borrowing

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

If you are short 20 points for a reservation do you borrow from the following year or purchase one time use points? What do you factor in when deciding?

Newer member so haven't had to do this yet but was curious.

 

[nalajms]

I always borrow... borrow till my points are all used up then add-on. I figure at some point we'll stop going so much or skip a year and "replenish".

 

[MAO]

I'd borrow. Like nalajms, if you end up using more of your yearly points every year such that you end up borrowing all of next years points, it's probably time to consider adding on. Or taking a year off from Disney. Certainly, there may be situations where you'd want to do the one-time points - most likely, I'd think, when you've already allotted this year's and next year's and, possibly, the year after's points. But as a general rule, I'd borrow.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I'd also borrow until I used up those points. Might as well use what I've already paid for rather than pay for more while I still had some available. Also, the one time use points can only be done at 7 months so if you are looking to book during your home resort booking window then you either need to borrow your own points or get a transfer for that resort from another owner.

 

[Anal Annie]

What they all said. I wouldn't "buy" one-time use points until I ran out of everything we had available to borrow in our next year. Then I'd worry about "buying" one-time points next year if I needed to. (But by then I'd hope to have re-banked our next years points again.) I would also attempt to plan more frugally for the next time - go to a resort that uses fewer points or go in a lower point value season or drop down a view or something…lastly I'd drop a night. We tend to try to do anything we can to not have to spend $ out-of-pocket.

 

[Minniesgal]

I wouldn't buy one time use points unless I couldn't borrow

We mostly book our 3 home resorts so are 11 month bookers so I wouldn't want to have to wait until 7 months to book the last day i am way to OCD for that

 

[jillmc40]

I am planning on buying OTU in August...Here is why:

We just went in April - stayed 4 nights at VGF (Home) then a week at our other timeshare.
We are going to stay at VWL (first night) and Boardwalk for SWW Memorial day weekend
We were PLANNING on staying next Easter with the same hotel scheme as our past trip but something happened...DH loved VGF so much that he doesn't want to go to the other timeshare. He would rather stay at VGF the whole time even if it is less than 10 days!
SO - now I have booked Sun - Thursday at VGF using current year and borrowed leaving me 8 points for next year. I could bank them for our next trip but I would rather use the 8 and get a few OTU points and have the first night (Saturday instead of Sunday now) at AKL (which we all love also). We are planning on taking a year off after next Easter and I don't want to run the risk of losing them in case we take 2 years off , I would rather use them up and go on from there. I do feel like we will end up buying more points at some point resale, and use those when we want to stay somewhere other than VGF. Of course this could all change between now and August, but so far that is the *plan*...

 

[Hollymom1229]

So far with borrowing and banking we have never had to buy OTU points in 11 years of membership. I would always borrow first, then adjust the next year. Each time we realized we were borrowing more than we liked we bought more points, which is how 160 became 185 and then became 290. We have also varied where we stay and when, we've stayed in everything from a AKV Concierge Studio in December to an OKW 2BDR in August. We figure if we use more points this year, we'll stay in a smaller room or at a resort that requires less points the next year.

 

[Fastpassminus]

I am using OTU points for my Sept trip. I just bought resale & this is kinda a last minute trip. I saw 4 nights at BLT available BUT I wanted a 5 night trip. I had plenty of points BUT the previous owner had banked them so I couldn't get the points I needed for that 5 TH night. I was going to pay OOP for an AOA suite. It would have been 300.00 OOP for 1 night. I only had to rent 10 more points to get into a 1 bedroom standard at Kidani. So for we are saving 150.00 by staying at Kidani for the first night instead if AOA!! In this case it worked out really well for us. I rented the banked points through Davids a week later!

 

[bwvBound]

Ah, hmm .. I seem to be going mostly against the trend? In 11 years of DVC vacationing, I've used all or nearly-all available OTU points twice. I've also rented a large block of points transferred into my account for a family gathering (a "one time" event). In every case, I could have borrowed -- but figured that each year would bring its own opportunities for small excesses, better to hang on to my regular points.

So, I tend to use OTU or rented/transferred points before borrowing as long as I can book the reservation by phone. If I can only book online -- then I must borrow rather than rent OTU. (Right, folks?)

EDITED TO ADD: Ah-ha! I know why I'm different! Most folks here likely book during the Home Resort Reservation window (>7 months) when OTU points are not available. All my reservations are booked <7 months ... so I have the OTU option!

 

[Dean]

If you are short 20 points for a reservation do you borrow from the following year or purchase one time use points? What do you factor in when deciding?

Newer member so haven't had to do this yet but was curious.

Unless one would be freeing up very high demand resort points or trying to piece together enough points for a future trip that wouldn't work otherwise, it rarely makes sense to buy the OTU points rather than borrowing. It's be MUCH better and almost always cheaper to borrow and be completely out then look at other options for the potentially lost trip. Then one can try something else (many non Disney or non DVC options), rent a reservation privately, do a one time or periodic transfer, try to a short notice or eventually do an add on or new additional contract or similar.

 

[bwvBound]

Unless one would be freeing up very high demand resort points or trying to piece together enough points for a future trip that wouldn't work otherwise, it RARELY makes sense to buy the OTU points rather than borrowing. It's be MUCH better and almost always cheaper to borrow and be completely out then look at other options for the potentially lost trip. Then one can try something else (many non Disney or non DVC options), rent a reservation privately, do a one time or periodic transfer, try to a short notice or eventually do an add on or new additional contract or similar.

Hey, Dean -- I've changed one word in your post. Does my edit agree with your intention?

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

Thank you for the insight!

 

[Dean]

Hey, Dean -- I've changed one word in your post. Does my edit agree with your intention?

Yes, I'll blame it on autocorrect.

 

[tb1972]

I have purchased a few points (10) in the past. It was our first year of DVC membership and I wasn't too familiar with borrowing. Now, I think I would borrow.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

If I have nothing to borrow from and I have too few points left to book anything with, I purchase OTU. It lets me use the balance of my points rather than lose them and allows me to manipulate the reservation myself.

 

[Sammie]

10 or under needed I buy, over that I borrow.

 

[bumbershoot]

When we had nothing left at all to use, I bought OTU. Can't see a point where I, personally, would put out money to get the OTU points when I had points in my account that I could use for no extra money.

 

[gdrj]

For me buying would never make sense. Borrowing = no add'l out of pocket. If I needed to I would rent points (never have). We do not mind split stays so I have combined hotel stays with DVC stays which in most cases works out cheaper than renting and gives us a chance to stay somewhere new. We have done this with POR (both), Dolphin, DTD resorts The B resort, DoubleTree, Best Western!

 

[bumbershoot]

If I needed to I would rent points (never have).

But sometimes you can end up with needing something like 12 points; to me, not worth renting for (especially if it's not a full day's worth of points for the stay).