Holding Account Advice

[gracelrm]

As you can see from my countdown, our 834 point extended family vacation is just a little over two weeks away. These points come from banking, using and borrowing (wish I had that many points in a years time though!) Anyway, a family member found out some really bad news about his health yesterday and there is a possibility the whole vacation may have to get canceled. All this depends on many things, but we're trying to think and plan ahead. If we have to put that many points into a holding account - what are our options? Can you book a cruise? Can you deposit them in II for use next summer? What suggestions would you have if our worse case scenario actually happens? Our use year is February. Are the points good until the end of February or Jan. 31st?

TIA

 

[CRobin]

That is terrible news.

I have no experience with the holding account, but you will likely get some good suggestions and clarifications on the rules here.

In the interim, call MS immediately and give them the situation. They will likely be able to provide you with some options.

Good Luck.

 

[PamOKW]

I agree that you should discuss the situation with MS and see what they can do.

With a February Use Year, all the points wil have to be used for stays ending with the night of January 31, 2005.

When you make reservations, they can only be used for trips 60 days or less from your arrival date.

If you are booking a non-DVC option, you can use them to make a reservation that is 60 days or less from arrival but the reservation also has to be made before the final 60 days of your Use Year. In other words, you can take a trip in December or January, but the reservation must be made prior to December 1.

 

[BillPA]

Sorry to hear about the family illness. You will no doubt receive lots of Pixie Dust and prayers from the DIS-DVC family.

There is a once in a life time exception to the rules. Do call MS and see what they can do for you. They are a great bunch and will work with you.

Please this is not meant to sound uncaring, but if the person is feeling well enough, a little magic might be a good thing right now.

 

[gracelrm]

So we could book a cruise, but would have to do so 60 days prior to embarking and couldn't book it any later than Dec. 1st. Anyone know if a family of five could ever get booked on a cruise at such a late date? What about a trade through II? Any ideas about that?

 

[Ksp]

Best wishes for your family member!!
I'd call MS and talk over your options....you never know....there may even be an open spot on the cruise. From pricing work I've done - and I think that I've seen a lot of similar opinions - you may not want to use your points for the cruise, but maybe rent them out to pay for the cruise.
You could also ask MS if you could do one person on points, the rest cash.....etc.
I think you have a lot of options. Did you happen to take out trip insurance?

 

[gracelrm]

No trip insurance. Never thought we'd need it. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens before calling MS, I'm sure they wouldn't offer to help unless it was certain that we'll have to cancel. Hopefully we'll know more this Friday when all the test results are in and the meeting with the doctor occurs. Any other ideas are certainly appreciated.

 

[JimC]

Sorry to hear about the health problem. My wife went in the hospital two weeks before our February 04 trip. We put the OKW resort points in a holding account and rescheduled the AKL points to our August trip. Our use year for those points is February so we have plenty of time to rebook.

The airline rescheduled our FF tickets with no penalty.

Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.

 

[JLS]

I don't have any experience with holding account, but I feel sad for you and just want to say best wishes. Hope everythings works out with your family and, less importantly, with your points.

-Jenn