point at non-dvc wdw resorts

[jwmccullough]

Greetings Friends!
Hope everyone is doing well and planning their next WDW vacation!
I am currently trying to plan a get away in early October, but when I called MS on Friday, they told me that there were no Studio or 1BR available for the night of October 9 (Sun). That sort of caught me by surprise, but I got to thinking about it and perhaps I could use points to stay at a non-DVC WDW resort, such as the Contemporary.... I know they have put the point equivalents in the member guides, but I have received a 2005 member guide, so I only have the 2004 guide to go by. My questions to the board are:
has anyone done this? and what were your experiences in doing this? Any suggestions are very welcome!
Thank you in advance
Jess

 

[traycie2201]

HI you can go on waitlist for the night you are missing or use the points to stay elsewhere but it may be easier to just book offsite for one night, we have resort swopped on nearly every holidy as we want to try all the resorts and never found it to be a problem.

 

[Caskbill]

If you'd like to know, the points for the Contemporary for the night of Sunday, Oct 9, 2005 are:

Garden Standard, 31 points
Garden, 35 points
Tower, 43 points

Keep in mind if you waitlist your DVC resort and also make a reservation using points at a WDW hotel resort, those points are converted into Reservation points. If your waitlist then comes through, and you cancel the WDW hotel, those Reservation points are returned to your account (Provided you cancelled 6 days or more prior to scheduled arrival), but cannot be used in the future for any DVC Resort or World Passport Collection, and will expire at the end of the use year. (in other words, they cannot be banked).

You might also see if there's a cash rate through CRO available at your DVC resort. Cash rooms come out of different inventory than point rooms.