Points Made New Again!

[rugelus]

I had to cancel a room reservation with less than 30 days notice. The points were placed in a "Holding Account" and I was afraid I would lose the points. A cast member at Member Services helped so I wanted to pass the word.

Since I had another reservation coming up in the same use year the Member Service Rep suggested I call within 60 days of the upcoming reservation and ask to use the Holding Account Points for that reservation.

I did what she suggested and saved the points. I am now able to bank them to next year.

Maybe everyone knows about this but I was happy to find out I could do this. We use our points and I could not stand the though of losing some of them for a year.

THANKS DVC!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Are you saying that when you within 60 days of your next trip she cancelled part of the reservation for that trip and replaced it with the points that were in your holding account from the earlier trip? And then you were able to bank the points freed up from the upcoming trip because you were outside of the 30 day period for those points?

I'm glad it worked out for you. It would be nice if when sending out the dues statement DVC also sent out a form to help members maximize their points by reminding them of ways to best manage them. If your situation worked out as I outlined it above that's really a case of making sure you use the points with the earliest expiration first even if that involves a little bit of extra work for you and the DVC CM.

 

[rugelus]

I think making the call and saving the points was well worth it.

 

[Debbie Jean]

I think making the call and saving the points was well worth it.

I was told the same thing this morning. I had to cancel a reservation in January and reschedule for March. Was told to call at 60 days out and they would use the points in the holding account for the new reservation.

I'm glad to hear it worked smoothly!

 

[CarolMN]

MS should only be doing this (using holding points and freeing up current year points from an existing reservation) if there is still availability for the same date and unit size/type when you call to make the substituition.

If the CM just substitutes the holding points for the current year points, it would defeat the whole purpose of the holding account. And it wouldn't be fair to anyone on the waitlist for the date(s)

I would be very surprised if a CM did this for a member if there were no availability. AFAIK, the CM must cancel and rebook to do this.

Best wishes -

 

[Caskbill]

MS should only be doing this (using holding points and freeing up current year points from an existing reservation) if there is still availability for the same date and unit size/type when you call to make the substituition.

If the CM just substitutes the holding points for the current year points, it would defeat the whole purpose of the holding account. And it wouldn't be fair to anyone on the waitlist for the date(s)

I would be very surprised if a CM did this for a member if there were no availability. AFAIK, the CM must cancel and rebook to do this.

Best wishes -

I agree, that's the way it should work, AFAIK also.

It's along the same lines as booking at a home resort at 11-months, and at 7-months changing the points that were used over to a non-home resort. This can only be done if there is availability.

 

[Dean]

MS should only be doing this (using holding points and freeing up current year points from an existing reservation) if there is still availability for the same date and unit size/type when you call to make the substituition.

If the CM just substitutes the holding points for the current year points, it would defeat the whole purpose of the holding account. And it wouldn't be fair to anyone on the waitlist for the date(s)

I would be very surprised if a CM did this for a member if there were no availability. AFAIK, the CM must cancel and rebook to do this.

Best wishes -

I agree though I can tell you DVC is inconsistent in this area. They have substituted points when the days were not available.