OTU and MMB Questions

[DoubleBaconBLT]

I just bought a direct contract (December UY) and booked my Welcome Home stay for December. I was initially told I could buy OTU points to use for this, so I bought MMB to make them cheaper. When it came time to book, they said I could not buy OTU points until my contract had fully closed, so I went ahead and booked the Welcome Home stay without them.

1. What's the best way to make full use of the discounted OTU points available? Is there a way to buy them after my purchase fully closes, then swap out the points I used for the upcoming stay to use the OTU points instead? Or will that require me to cancel and try to rebook (which is impossible with a Welcome Home stay)?

2. Can I buy one set of OTU points before my December UY hits and use them for that December stay, then buy another set in December for a stay in the first half of 2026? I'm guessing not because that would mean using 48 OTU points within the same UY. With MMB I've seen some people have been able to use the discount twice because they buy and use one set of OTU points for before their UY and another set for after - just wondering if there's an official policy on this.

3. Per the OTU policy, you can only buy 24 OTU points per Use Year. Does that apply to when you buy them, or when the reservation is that you intend to use them? So for example, if I buy OTU points in October for a stay in January with a December UY, would that purchase count as 2025's OTU purchase since they were bought in 2025? Or would it count as 2026's since the points are being used in 2026? Does the year assigned to OTU points change based on calendar year or use year? Date of purchase or date of use?

4. On a related note, OTU points expire at the end of the use year assigned to them. How is that assigned? I imagine it can't be the case that it's assigned based on the UY in which the points were purchased because then someone with a December UY wouldn't be able to buy OTU points for stays early in the year without them expiring before the stay rolls around. So I'm guessing the year is assigned based on when the points are initially planned to be used. How does this work when you cancel or modify that booking though? So for example, if I buy OTU points now for a stay in January, but then cancel that January stay, the OTU points would go back into my account. Would they be 2025 UY points expiring 11/30/26, or 2024 UY points expiring 11/30/25 at that moment? It feels like they should be 2025 UY points expiring 11/30/2026, but wanted to confirm.

5. Do you have to be out of available points to buy OTU points? So for example, do I need to make a "dummy" booking for say, March, then buy OTU points, then cancel the March booking? Or can I just buy OTU points for whenever without needing any shell games?

 

[Brian Noble]

1: You can reallocate which contracts are used, and change the order in which they are used.
2: You may acquire up to 24 OTU points total in each Use Year. For December, any stay occurring between 12/1/25 and 11/30/26 is in your 2025 UY. See #3 for the reason for this.
3: OTU Points belong to the UY in which they are originally used to book, not the date on which they are bought.
4: See #3.
5: No.

 

[Genie+]

You don’t need to be out of points to buy OTUP, but you do a need an available room to book within the next 7 months to make the transaction. Member Services cannot just load them into your account. They have to apply them to something, like a reservation or AP.

If wishing to buy the full 24pts, a good reservation is the standard 1BR at AKV-Kidani on a January weeknight. Just make sure to pick a date where it shows available.

Once you’re done with that phone call, you can cancel the dummy AKV booking. Then the OTUP will show in your account available to be used within the UY the were purchased.

 

[Genie+]

PS- I needed another 10 OTUP on a different membership, so I had to go find an available 10pt reservation within the next 7 months in order to do the transaction with member services.

 

[Sandisw]

To add, you need to be at least 31 days or more from your Dec trip to swap or the freed up points go into holding.

You will also have to find a fake night that occurs after Dec 1st, 2025 to buy them so when you cancel they are in the 2025 UY.

As mentioned, once bought, they are the same UY as the trip and will expire at the end of that.

People who have been able to buy more than one set at a discount have done it because two different owners bought MMB and then purchased them on a different membership that they own. .

I have only seen one report where someone was able to sneak it through on the same membership.

 

[Genie+]

There’s alot of little details to keep track of lol.

 

[DoubleBaconBLT]

1: You can reallocate which contracts are used, and change the order in which they are used.
2: You may acquire up to 24 OTU points total in each Use Year. For December, any stay occurring between 12/1/25 and 11/30/26 is in your 2025 UY. See #3 for the reason for this.
3: OTU Points belong to the UY in which they are originally used to book, not the date on which they are bought.
4: See #3.
5: No.

Thanks so much for this info! Seriously, it's so great having DVC veterans here to help with all my questions.

I would assume that if I buy OTU points to book something in my 2025 UY, then cancel it, those points are "locked" into that UY. So I could use them any time that UY, but I couldn't use them for a stay in the prior or subsequent UY.

 

[Genie+]

Thanks so much for this info! Seriously, it's so great having DVC veterans here to help with all my questions.

I would assume that if I buy OTU points to book something in my 2025 UY, then cancel it, those points are "locked" into that UY. So I could use them any time that UY, but I couldn't use them for a stay in the prior or subsequent UY.

Yes

 

[MyDogTink]

You don’t need to be out of points to buy OTUP, but you do a need an available room to book within the next 7 months to make the transaction. Member Services cannot just load them into your account. They have to apply them to something, like a reservation or AP.

If wishing to buy the full 24pts, a good reservation is the standard 1BR at AKV-Kidani on a January weeknight. Just make sure to pick a date where it shows available.

Once you’re done with that phone call, you can cancel the dummy AKV booking. Then the OTUP will show in your account available to be used within the UY the were purchased.

To add on to this excellent example, once the AKV reservation is cancelled and the OTUP are freed up, you have to modify your Dec trip so that the OTUP are applied to it and the UY points are freed up. After you cancel the AKV booking, the system won’t automatically apply the OTUP to your Dec trip. And as Sandi said, this needs to be done 31 days prior to your Dec trip.

All good advice here. I’m just pointing out some unintended consequences you want to avoid/be aware of.

 

[Genie+]

To add on to this excellent example, once the AKV reservation is cancelled and the OTUP are freed up, you have to modify your Dec trip so that the OTUP are applied to it and the UY points are freed up. After you cancel the AKV booking, the system won’t automatically apply the OTUP to your Dec trip. And as Sandi said, this needs to be done 31 days prior to your Dec trip.

All good advice here. I’m just pointing out some unintended consequences you want to avoid/be aware of.

Yes - good point!

Another thing I learned from this recent experience - don’t be alarmed when attempting to book a new reservation with your OTUPs if the system says you don’t have enough points to book. The blue button to proceed should still light up, and further on is where the system will recognize the OTUPs.

This won’t happen if you have enough regular points to cover the transaction, but I bought OTUP because we did not.

That threw me for a loop. Wish I knew to expect that because at the time I found the room stalking and it flustered me enough to check my other contract/membership and I lost the reservation (probably to the waitlist I had set up on my other membership lol). Fortunately another room came along a couple hours later. Looked like people were walking reservations into May.