Did the rules change with reallocation of banked points?

[jo-jo]

Hi,

Just want to see if I'm crazy or not. Almost 10 months ago I made a reservation at BLT. A few months ago I banked some BLT points (use yr Dec). I just called to see about reallocation of the banked BLT points for the nights that fall after Dec 1. I was told she would have to cancel and rebook and there is nothing available for those dates. I told her thank you and goodbye. Do I have my facts wrong???

 

[erionm]

...

 

[drusba]

Contrary to what is stated above I have booked 11 months out and then been able to swap in newly banked points from the same resort months later beyond the 7 month window without having the ressie cancelled and re-booked. You might want to call again and try for a different MS rep.

 

[mousefan1972]

Contrary to what is stated above I have booked 11 months out and then been able to swap in newly banked points from the same resort months later beyond the 7 month window without having the ressie cancelled and re-booked. You might want to call again and try for a different MS rep.

I have, as well. The key is that the home resort was the same, and I was not trying to circumvent the 11 month home resort booking rule.

 

[lilpooh108]

I called last month and they toldme to cancel and rebook

 

[BrerNashville]

I've done it as well, but I was trying to switch points between two reservations. THAT is something that can't be done without cancelling and rebooking one of the reservations.

I had a long standing October ressie at BLT (Oct use year) using 2012 pts. In June, 2012, I made an 8 day ressie at BLT for May, 2013 using borrowed points from 2013. I wanted to reallocate the borrowed points to the 10/2012 trip, and use 2012 UY points for my May, 2013 trip. in case we needed to cancel it, I could bank the points if they were the 2012 points, but not if they were the borrowed 2013 points.

I couldn't just switch the points. MS had to cancel my May, 2013 reservation to free up those borrowed points, switch those borrowed points into the October 2012 ressie (which did not require a cancellation of the 10/2012 ressie), then rebook the May 2013 trip with the 2012 points that had just been freed up. Luckily, my dates and room type were still available. All of the aforementioned reservations were originally made during the 11 month priority.

In the future, if I need to do the same thing, I will book a dummy reservation so that I can pull borrowed points into the current year, cancel that reservation, use those borrowed points to rebook an existing reservation, freeing up current years points, then book the new reservation with the current years points at my 11 month window.

 

[jo-jo]

In my case it was extra points, just banked from the 2011 use yr, they weren't being used for another trip.

I got a call back from member service and they thought perhaps the CM was confused with using a different home resort. I told her I said BLT points for the BLT trip. Well, any way it was taken care of.

 

[Dean]

In my case it was extra points, just banked from the 2011 use yr, they weren't being used for another trip.

I got a call back from member service and they thought perhaps the CM was confused with using a different home resort. I told her I said BLT points for the BLT trip. Well, any way it was taken care of.

For the same home resort OR reservations made at 7 months or after, you should have been allowed to make the change.

 

[LisaS]

I've done this as well (substitute banked points from the same resort into a reservation made 11 months out) but only after convincing the MS CM that this was allowed. She said she would check with her supervisor. She came back on the phone a few minutes later and it was all done.

 

[Breyean]

I asked about doing a reallocation for an upcoming reservation which did not involve either of my home resorts or the 11 month window. The CM told me the rules changed 4 years ago (she was very specific) and that was no longer allowed.

I told her I had done a similar reallocation just last year for a trip this past January, again not at one of my home resorts, and there was no problem doing it.

She said what i wanted to do this time couldn't be done because there were no other rooms available for my dates at that resort, and she couldn't cancel and rebook.

I told her the last time it was for a GV during marathon week at WDW and there were not any open either when I called about the reallocation. I said the CM then just got a supervisor to use her screen to cancel and rebook in some magic way that kept me from losing the reservation.

She told me they shouldn't have done that and it was against the rules and they were lucky they didn't get caught, since, as she said, they have not been allowed to do that for four years.

At that point I just gave up. Maybe I'll try calling back after reading this thread, but she seemed so sure of herself and I didn't want to ask a CM to do something that would potentially get her into trouble, so I forgot about it until now.

 

[disneynutz]

There is a difference between the rules and what should happen and what can happen. If the MS system doesn't not restrict a certain transaction, you might find a CM who will do all sorts of things with your reservations and points.

Bill

 

[Dean]

I asked about doing a reallocation for an upcoming reservation which did not involve either of my home resorts or the 11 month window. The CM told me the rules changed 4 years ago (she was very specific) and that was no longer allowed.

I told her I had done a similar reallocation just last year for a trip this past January, again not at one of my home resorts, and there was no problem doing it.

She said what i wanted to do this time couldn't be done because there were no other rooms available for my dates at that resort, and she couldn't cancel and rebook.

I told her the last time it was for a GV during marathon week at WDW and there were not any open either when I called about the reallocation. I said the CM then just got a supervisor to use her screen to cancel and rebook in some magic way that kept me from losing the reservation.

She told me they shouldn't have done that and it was against the rules and they were lucky they didn't get caught, since, as she said, they have not been allowed to do that for four years.

At that point I just gave up. Maybe I'll try calling back after reading this thread, but she seemed so sure of herself and I didn't want to ask a CM to do something that would potentially get her into trouble, so I forgot about it until now.

While my opinion is that a change should be a cancelation and rebooking, I think you got a rogue CM. I'd call back and ask again. As long at the reservation were made at or after 7 months, it shouldn't matter.

 

[maburke]

There is a difference between the rules and what should happen and what can happen. If the MS system doesn't not restrict a certain transaction, you might find a CM who will do all sorts of things with your reservations and points.

Bill

And conversely, something might not be against the rules, but they simply don't have the technology or training to do it.

I reallocated points just a week ago for a reservation made after the 7-month mark to banked points from a resale that had just closed. So yes, it can be done.

 

[zumbergc]

I had points reallocated for a 7 month reservation a few months ago. The first time I called the cm didn't know how to do it and wanted to cancel and rebook the reissue.
I called back and got another cm and they took care of it with no problem.

Call back and get someone else.

 

[CarolMN]

.......(snip)........Call back and get someone else.

Or send an email. Be very specific with what you want done , the points you want to free up and the points you want to use. Be sure to clearly state that you do not want to use the reservation in the process.