Points Questions - Banking and Exchanging

[Melcatfish]

Hi,

i am trying to convince DH that DVC would be a great way to give us the chance to travel to WDW on a more regular basis but i have a couple of questions:

First can you only bank points for one year? (i.e. they have to be used the following year?)

Secondly i see people saying that they used points to book a cruise. Can someone tell me how many points are needed to book for example a 4 night wonder cruise for a family of 4 in late August (Dream Season)

Finally, how difficult is it to get bookings away from your home resort at the 7 month window for August? DH is a teacher so we HAVE to go in school holiday times.

Thanks
Mel
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[Kevin Stringer]

Hi Mel

I can answer a couple of your questions.

Yes, you can only bank points for one year. If you bank, they must be used the next year. However, you could use 3 years points in one year for a spectacular blow out holiday (grand villa or such) by banking one year and borrowing another year.

I have never had a problem with the 7 month window. As long as you are prepared to ring up and book bang on the 7 month window you should pretty much get what you want. As proof, we booked Hilton Head for this August and this is reported to be the most difficult DVC property to get into during the summer.
We actually missed the 7 month window by a couple of days and so only got 3 out of the 5 nights we wanted originally. We went on the wait list for the other 2 and they came through within a couple of weeks.

Hope this helps.

Kev

 

[mikki.young]

If there is one resort you want to stay at more than any other then buy at that resort so you can book at 11 months. The bigger DVC gets the more people there will be trying for the 7 month window.

 

[Hilary]

The bigger DVC gets the more people there will be trying for the 7 month window.

There will be more people trying to book, but there will also be more rooms to book - although, admittedly, not necessarily at the resort you want.

My theory (based on no hard facts whatsoever! ) is that this should only impact on the smaller resorts as, for every room booked at 7 months in one resort, there should (in my theory anyway ) be another one freed up elsewhere. It seems logical to me that this could cause more problems booking at the smaller resorts but fewer problems for the larger resorts - or have I missed some vitally important factor?

 

[Kevin Stringer]

I agree Hilary.

The only downside to more resorts (and thus rooms) is that it may be difficult to get into the smaller resorts, such as Hilton Head, at peak times. If you are flexible I can only see it being easier.

There must be a considerable number of people in any one year using their points for the cruise or swapping out using Interval International. This must free up space at DVC resorts.

Kev

 

[mikki.young]

The freed up space on II goes to II members not DVC members. A lot of members prefer to pay cash for cruises as the perception is that is better value than points. The most popular resorts are the smaller resorts - Beach Club, Boardwalk and Wilderness Lodge. You can almost guarantee to get into SSR because it is huge and OKW comes a close second in size but these are seen as being a long way from the parks.

I think my point about the 7 month window was that if there is a resort you particularly want to stay at then, unless it is one of the big ones, you want to have an 11 month shot at getting in there.

4 night cruise in august this year - category 7 cabin is 171 points per person for the first two and then somewhere between 80 and 100 per head for the next 2 depending on age.

 

[Melcatfish]

Hi,

Thanks for the info. If we can free up the funds and IF I can get DH to agree then I am torn between a BWV Resale or points at the new Villas at Animal Kingdom. i guess as a newer resort it will be quite large so by the theory above i would be better off going for Boardwalk and i could go down the resale route and it would cost less.

Mel
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[Melcatfish]

Also, on a completely different note, I have to confess to being somewhat addicted to reading the Stringer Family Very British Trip Reports... The links for the newer reports on your site were broken when i looked the other day - any alternative place to view the most recent ones Kevin?

Mel
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[Kevin Stringer]

Also, on a completely different note, I have to confess to being somewhat addicted to reading the Stringer Family Very British Trip Reports... The links for the newer reports on your site were broken when i looked the other day - any alternative place to view the most recent ones Kevin?

Mel
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Mel - thanks very much for letting me know about this. I wasn't aware my web site was unavailable. I'll sort it out as soon as I can.

Kev