Is this how it works at 7 months when using points from another resort?

[Inkmahm]

I haven't done this before and I think I'm confused. I have a reservation at my AKV home for next March that I made as soon as I could using my AKV points. I also have points at VWL that I banked into my October 2007 UY. Now that we are at the 7 month mark for my AKV reservation, I'm trying to switch from using 2007 UY AKV points to using my banked 2006 to 2007 VWL points.

I called this morning to switch the first night of the reservation. No problem, the MS rep used my VWL points to cover the first night of our trip. But then she gave me a whole new reservation number so it will be like I'm setting up a brand new reservation at AKV using my VWL points. I still have the complete old reservation using AKV points in the meantime. The MS rep says she won't cancel that first reservation until the second is done. Can't they just substitute my VWL points for my AKV points on the reservation I already have?

My issue is that the total reservation is currently 292 AKV points (all of my 2007 UY and 92 borrowed from 2008). I have 168 VWL points I want to use towards the reservation so in the end, I'll have a 292 point reservation that consists of 168 VWL and 124 AKV points. I'm not seeing how that will work the way the MS rep has me doing this.

 

[chalee94]

I still have the complete old reservation using AKV points in the meantime. The MS rep says she won't cancel that first reservation until the second is done. Can't they just substitute my VWL points for my AKV points on the reservation I already have?

and how exactly would that be different than allowing you to use VWL points at 11 months?

to keep things fair, they should absolutely make you cancel your old reservation and make a new one based on availability. if someone with AKV points is on the waitlist ahead of you, then they should have priority over you if you are trying to make a reservation with VWL points.

 

[bobbiwoz]

So, you're switching over day by day. At some point in the system, you're going to have used all of your VWL points, and I'm guessing at that point MS will link the two reservations together.

I've never had enough points to keep both reservations. So, at some point, you'll have what you need. It's good that you're going day by day, if a day becomes unavailable with VWL points, I guess you'll just keep that with AKV points and try for the next day using VWL on the next day.

Bobbi

 

[Inkmahm]

and how exactly would that be different than allowing you to use VWL points at 11 months?

to keep things fair, they should absolutely make you cancel your old reservation and make a new one based on availability. if someone with AKV points is on the waitlist ahead of you, then they should have priority over you if you are trying to make a reservation with VWL points.

It's fair because I can't switch to use VWL points unless there IS a 2 bedroom villa available to book on the day I call. As long as there is a villa available for me to book right now, I can switch to use my points from the other resort instead.

The way they are doing it though, I am currently tying up TWO villas for the same night.

 

[Inkmahm]

So, you're switching over day by day. At some point in the system, you're going to have used all of your VWL points, and I'm guessing at that point MS will link the two reservations together.

I've never had enough points to keep both reservations. So, at some point, you'll have what you need. It's good that you're going day by day, if a day becomes unavailable with VWL points, I guess you'll just keep that with AKV points and try for the next day using VWL on the next day.

Bobbi

I still don't get it. I must be dense this morning.

Tomorrow I will add another night to the new reservation so I'll have 133 VWL points used there and I'll still have the 5 nights for 292 total reservation using the AKV points.

Monday when I call, I'll want to use my remaining 35 VWL points towards night #3 and use 18 AKV points for the rest of night #3. I'll use 106 AKV points for the last two nights which I already have reserved. In the end, my reservation should look like this:
Night#1 VWL points 80
Night #2 VWL points 53
Night #3 VWL points 35
AKV points 18
Night #4 AKV points 53
Night #5 AKV points 53

If I have to, I can use all VWL points for night #3 so I'd have 3 nights of VWL on the new reservation. At that point, would they cancel the first 3 nights of the original reservation and just link the remaining two nights with the new reservation for the first 3 days?

 

[bobbiwoz]

I hope that someone with exact experience joins us. I had "trouble" one time, MS told me that she couldn't mix points from 2 different resorts for the same night unless it was to "use up" remaining points from one of them.

I have been able to change the first 2 days of a reservation...I had 5 nights BWV, and switched the first two over to BCV with the BWV points at 7 months. MS just kept the last 3 nights BWV with the same reservation number. There was no problem with that, I know that's different because of 2 resorts, but in a way it's the same, it's deleting the first couple of days from an original reservation. So what you are asking at the end...linking your two reservations, one with VWL and one with AKV points would work. It's that night that mixes both sorts of points that I am totally not sure about, sorry.

Bobbi

 

[chalee94]

nm

 

[Inkmahm]

I hope that someone with exact experience joins us. I had "trouble" one time, MS told me that she couldn't mix points from 2 different resorts for the same night unless it was to "use up" remaining points from one of them.

I have been able to change the first 2 days of a reservation...I had 5 nights BWV, and switched the first two over to BCV with the BWV points at 7 months. MS just kept the last 3 nights BWV with the same reservation number. There was no problem with that, I know that's different because of 2 resorts, but in a way it's the same, it's deleting the first couple of days from an original reservation. So what you are asking at the end...linking your two reservations, one with VWL and one with AKV points would work. It's that night that mixes both sorts of points that I am totally not sure about, sorry.

Bobbi

I'm thinking I might just make it easier and forget trying that mixed point night. I have all of 2007 VWL points to use in addition to the banked 2006 points, so I can just use 18 of those 2007 points to make it an even 3 nights of VWL and 2 nights of AKV points. That would be less complicated. I think. As long as they can just cancel the first 3 days of the original ressie.

 

[Inkmahm]

nm

What?

 

[PamOKW]

Once we're past the 7 month mark, points is points. You can combine them.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

The way they are doing it though, I am currently tying up TWO villas for the same night.

It sounds like the CM was just being lazy, becuase yes, she could just cancel the first night booked with AKL points when she booked the night with VWL points. She is probably waiting until you are ready to cancel as many nights as you going to and then do it one transaction.

I would guess she feels comfortable about doing this because there is not a high level of demand for those nights at this time. That shoud be good news for you and your ability to rebook.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[Inkmahm]

It sounds like the CM was just being lazy, becuase yes, she could just cancel the first night booked with AKL points when she booked the night with VWL points. She is probably waiting until you are ready to cancel as many nights as you going to and then do it one transaction.

I would guess she feels comfortable about doing this because there is not a high level of demand for those nights at this time. That shoud be good news for you and your ability to rebook.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

I just looked at my account online and even though she said she wasn't doing the cancellation day by day, she did! I currently have a one day reservation using VWL points and then the next 4 days using AKV points on two separate reservation numbers. So she DID cancel the first day of the original ressie so I'm not holding up 2 two bedroom villas afterall. Yay!

I think I'll still stick with making the third night easy and just use all VWL points for it. Doesn't really matter in the end, I guess.

 

[CarolMN]

I just looked at my account online and even though she said she wasn't doing the cancellation day by day, she did! I currently have a one day reservation using VWL points and then the next 4 days using AKV points on two separate reservation numbers. So she DID cancel the first day of the original ressie so I'm not holding up 2 two bedroom villas afterall. Yay!

I think I'll still stick with making the third night easy and just use all VWL points for it. Doesn't really matter in the end, I guess.

Members have been reporting "losing" reservations when they are trying to switch (especially with AKV reservations).

Sounds to me like the CM is just making the reservation with the VWL points before canceling the one made with AKV points. Since you have enough points in your account to do that, it's in your best interest to do it that way.

AFAIK, the computer doesn't allow "substitution" - it's always technically been a cancel and rebook process. Maybe the CM just didn't explain very well what she was actually doing to use the VWL points. But she really was making sure you had a place to sleep at the AKV no matter which points you ended up using, LOL!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I just looked at my account online and even though she said she wasn't doing the cancellation day by day, she did! I currently have a one day reservation using VWL points and then the next 4 days using AKV points on two separate reservation numbers. So she DID cancel the first day of the original ressie so I'm not holding up 2 two bedroom villas afterall. Yay!

I think I'll still stick with making the third night easy and just use all VWL points for it. Doesn't really matter in the end, I guess.

Great!

 

[chalee94]

What?

after reading some in between posts, i just decided to wait and read more to make sure i understood correctly...that's all.

i have been unclear on whether you could cancel individual days of an extended reservation where you didn't make it day-by-day. looks like you can, so that's good to know going forward.

 

[Inkmahm]

Members have been reporting "losing" reservations when they are trying to switch (especially with AKV reservations).

Sounds to me like the CM is just making the reservation with the VWL points before canceling the one made with AKV points. Since you have enough points in your account to do that, it's in your best interest to do it that way.

AFAIK, the computer doesn't allow "substitution" - it's always technically been a cancel and rebook process. Maybe the CM just didn't explain very well what she was actually doing to use the VWL points. But she really was making sure you had a place to sleep at the AKV no matter which points you ended up using, LOL!

You're correct. When I called today to add the next day on the new reservation being made with the banked VWL points, I said to be sure to make that reservation BEFORE canceling the same night on my original reservation with the AKV points. The CM laughed and said something like "oh, so you know about that." We had a nice discussion about how for the last 6 months, they've been having issues with losing reservations when canceling one to book another and ending up with neither. She said the guests get really irritated when that happens.

I'm lucky that we have extra points so I can book the new night before canceling the old one and then don't have to worry about losing the night completely.

 

[Inkmahm]

after reading some in between posts, i just decided to wait and read more to make sure i understood correctly...that's all.

i have been unclear on whether you could cancel individual days of an extended reservation where you didn't make it day-by-day. looks like you can, so that's good to know going forward.

I'm not quite sure I understand your comment. I made the original reservation day by day and now I'm making the new reservation day by day and dropping days from the original reservation day by day, too. I think I could also have waited until 7 months from the last day of the reservation to switch it all at once, but that's more risky if the rooms have sold out in the meantime.

 

[bobbiwoz]

... She said the guests get really irritated when that happens. ..

.

This is such an understatement...just by itself, it gets me irritated!

I am very very happy that it's working out for you!!!

 

[LisaS]

You're correct. When I called today to add the next day on the new reservation being made with the banked VWL points, I said to be sure to make that reservation BEFORE canceling the same night on my original reservation with the AKV points. The CM laughed and said something like "oh, so you know about that." We had a nice discussion about how for the last 6 months, they've been having issues with losing reservations when canceling one to book another and ending up with neither. She said the guests get really irritated when that happens.

I learned something interesting the other day about changing a reservation. I wanted to change the dates on my AKV reservation. I did not have enough AKV points to hold the old reservation while booking the new one and I mentioned to the CM that I was concerned about losing both reservations. To my surprise, the MS CM didn't do a "cancel and rebook" but instead was able to modify my existing reservation. I got the new dates and have the same confirmation number as my original reservation. I know that you can modify a reservation by adding or dropping days at the start or end of a reservation, but I didn't know they could do a complete date change this way.

 

[Inkmahm]

I learned something interesting the other day about changing a reservation. I wanted to change the dates on my AKV reservation. I did not have enough AKV points to hold the old reservation while booking the new one and I mentioned to the CM that I was concerned about losing both reservations. To my surprise, the MS CM didn't do a "cancel and rebook" but instead was able to modify my existing reservation. I got the new dates and have the same confirmation number as my original reservation. I know that you can modify a reservation by adding or dropping days at the start or end of a reservation, but I didn't know they could do a complete date change this way.

Interesting. I didn't know that was possible, either.