Multiple home resorts question

[momto3gr8boys]

Hi, I have a few questions regarding owning at two different resorts. Numbers are hypotheticals.

Let's say I have 150 Poly points and 100 HH points.

If I were to book a room at the Poly at 11 months out for 250 points, I understand I can only pull from my Poly pool. I wouldn't have enough to book a bungalow unless I borrowed from the following year. Now at 7 months out, assume a bungalow is still available. Would I be able to cancel and rebook using the combined Poly and HH points, thus putting the 100 borrowed points back into my account and reserving my 11 month window for the following year? Or would it all come from one resort's bank before pulling from the other? Would use year matter here?

Can points from different use years/different resorts be combined for any resort at 7 months out? So using the above numbers, would I be able to book a room for 250 points at OKW at 7 months out without borrowing?

Regarding different use years, if I can't get the same month, are closer months more desirable than months far apart? For instance my current use year is April. If I can't find April, would June be better than November, or once you separate UYs it doesn't matter?

We are debating adding on points, and I understand the importance of buying where you want to stay, and having enough to book at that resort at 11 months out. We have that with our current contract, but beyond that, if we are looking to be able to add extra trips and are flexible with time and location, is it better to go with the best deal you can find (understanding that contract expiration and dues play a factor in the point price) or does buying where you want to stay still take priority?

Is there anything else I'm missing here that you think is important when going this route?

Thanks!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Banking and borrowing are final transactions. While if the bungalow were still available at 7 months you could cancel/rebook or reallocate points, the borrowed points would stay in the UY you borrowed them into. You couldn't bank them, either. Banking and borrowing are both permanent transactions that move the effective use deadline of the points.

 

[bobbiwoz]

The current UY points could be banked if you are still in your banking period. That way you would have points to use in the following UY. Member Service is very good about freeing up points that you are still allowed to bank.

 

[rer1972]

You can do what you are asking. It could be risky in regards to trip cancellation, and the availability of the bungalows.

 

[disneynutz]

Separate UY's are separate memberships, doesn't matter if they are both yours or you and someone else. The only way to use those points is to transfer or book two separate reservations if an extended stay. Transferring has it's own issues and rules, I don't transfer after doing it once and losing our reservation because of MS CM.

Bill

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Thanks for the answers!

What is involved in transferring points between UYs? Can you transfer prior to making a reservation in anticipation of booking a room 7 months out, or does it need to be done as the reservation is being made? And I assume since you need to call to have it done you are losing out on that first hour 7 months out.

And as a follow up, is it only UYs that are separate and need transferring, or does this pertain to different resorts even if they have the same UY?

Oh, and if you were to book two separate reservations, can you do that to combine one trip? Say 3/3-3/6 under one UY and 3/7-3/10 under the other? I'm assuming you could request a link and hopefully stay in the same room if you book the same category.

 

[kboo]

Thanks for the answers!

What is involved in transferring points between UYs? Can you transfer prior to making a reservation in anticipation of booking a room 7 months out, or does it need to be done as the reservation is being made? And I assume since you need to call to have it done you are losing out on that first hour 7 months out.

And as a follow up, is it only UYs that are separate and need transferring, or does this pertain to different resorts even if they have the same UY?

Oh, and if you were to book two separate reservations, can you do that to combine one trip? Say 3/3-3/6 under one UY and 3/7-3/10 under the other? I'm assuming you could request a link and hopefully stay in the same room if you book the same category.

Transfers can only be done between memberships. And as I understand it, a different home resort but same UY is the same membership, but a different UY is a different membership. So, this: "And as a follow up, is it only UYs that are separate and need transferring" You can transfer at any time, but the points retain their HR and UY.

We have BLT Feb UY and VGF Aug UY. We did not mind separate UY because we plan to use our points separately - VGF will be used primarily for staying at VGF, and BLT will be used for BLT and for "sleeping around." Although having 2 separate UY does allow you to transfer points, I don't plan on doing that any time soon. Instead, the 2 separate UY will (eventually) be used for vacations at different times of year: Feb UY will be used for Feb and April school breaks and late summer breaks. August UY will be used for late summer, Thanksgiving, Xmas, and February. The nice thing about having 2 staggered UY was that now there are no months where we would be booking trips in the 4 months past our banking window. That said, this year we are using BLT points over Thanksgiving and VGF points in April 2019.

I don't see us transferring points but could see us using both memberships for a single trip by booking a split stay at 11 months and then possibly switching out half of the stay at 7 months. For example, booking 5 days in late August using VGF and 5 days using BLT, then switching the BLT part of the stay at 7 months to BCV or BWV if there's availability. Does that make sense? I could see doing a point transfer if I had 2 UY at the same resort and wanted to book, say, a GV at the 11 mo window.

Looking at your original post, if you are just looking for sleep around points, I think it would still be helpful to match your UY. But it also depends on why you're looking to get the points. If HR doesn't matter, then matching UY makes it a lot easier to manage. Or, if you want to add on at a resort you already own, then try to match UY. Or, another way of putting it - I wouldn't get 2 different UY unless I had an affirmative plan for why I want to use 2 different UY. I also think having more than 2 memberships gets hard. If we were to add on SSR for cheap sleep around points, I would only look at contracts in Feb or Aug UY at this point. And probably Feb UY, because I wouldn't be planning to use SSR points over the winter holidays. I would not go for a different UY just because it seemed like a better up front deal.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Transfers can only be done between memberships. And as I understand it, a different home resort but same UY is the same membership, but a different UY is a different membership. So, this: "And as a follow up, is it only UYs that are separate and need transferring" You can transfer at any time, but the points retain their HR and UY.

We have BLT Feb UY and VGF Aug UY. We did not mind separate UY because we plan to use our points separately - VGF will be used primarily for staying at VGF, and BLT will be used for BLT and for "sleeping around." Although having 2 separate UY does allow you to transfer points, I don't plan on doing that any time soon. Instead, the 2 separate UY will (eventually) be used for vacations at different times of year: Feb UY will be used for Feb and April school breaks and late summer breaks. August UY will be used for late summer, Thanksgiving, Xmas, and February. The nice thing about having 2 staggered UY was that now there are no months where we would be booking trips in the 4 months past our banking window. That said, this year we are using BLT points over Thanksgiving and VGF points in April 2019.

I don't see us transferring points but could see us using both memberships for a single trip by booking a split stay at 11 months and then possibly switching out half of the stay at 7 months. For example, booking 5 days in late August using VGF and 5 days using BLT, then switching the BLT part of the stay at 7 months to BCV or BWV if there's availability. Does that make sense? I could see doing a point transfer if I had 2 UY at the same resort and wanted to book, say, a GV at the 11 mo window.

Looking at your original post, if you are just looking for sleep around points, I think it would still be helpful to match your UY. But it also depends on why you're looking to get the points. If HR doesn't matter, then matching UY makes it a lot easier to manage. Or, if you want to add on at a resort you already own, then try to match UY. Or, another way of putting it - I wouldn't get 2 different UY unless I had an affirmative plan for why I want to use 2 different UY. I also think having more than 2 memberships gets hard. If we were to add on SSR for cheap sleep around points, I would only look at contracts in Feb or Aug UY at this point. And probably Feb UY, because I wouldn't be planning to use SSR points over the winter holidays. I would not go for a different UY just because it seemed like a better up front deal.

Thank you, kboo. This helps a lot! We own at Poly, so the supply to add on is low. I would most likely be looking for "sleep around" points, but I am not in a hurry, so waiting for the right UY seems to make the most sense right now.

 

[goofy kc]

We have one membership that is designated the 'guest' pool (AKL). When we have family and friends we use these points. The remaining contracts are a different use year - making it easy for us to pull from a variety of resort contracts as well as ensuring we have points at our favorite resorts (BWV and Poly). Sometimes we don't have a trip planned with a guest (rarely) and we can use those points for a bonus trip (this year spring break in AK Club Level), or renting points.

I have borrowed between the memberships once but try to consider them separate 'things' for the sake of sanity.

 

[disneynutz]

Having more than one membership/UY means more work and more to keep track of. If one membership can have it's problems from time to time, having two doubles that. Unless you have a great reason for doing so, life is easier if you only have one UY. A vacation should be fun and easy, many aspects of a Disney vacation, booking, ADR's, extras, MDE, FP, waking up early to book and hoping that you can get what you want, why add to that with multiple UY's.

Bill

 

[Dean]

Thank you, kboo. This helps a lot! We own at Poly, so the supply to add on is low. I would most likely be looking for "sleep around" points, but I am not in a hurry, so waiting for the right UY seems to make the most sense right now.

I would only add the same UY unless both doing a contract large enough to stand alone AND having a specific plan where a different UY works better. I would not do so just because it's difficult to find something right now or a possible increase. Exceptions would be very difficult to find options like VGF or VGC or for VB or HI for subsidized contracts. That said, it's not that difficult to transfer and work from one contract but it generally requires one to call for reservations rather than reserving the entire option online.

In your stated situation in the OP, I'd likely book part with the Poly points and then try for the rest at 7 months without borrowing. As for adding Poly, you could see if that's your preference. If they'll put you on a waitlist to purchase, they might lock in the current price in doing so.