Question about having to cancel a DVC booking

[zackiedawg]

This may sound like an amateur question from a member since 1996, but I have never had to cancel a DVC reservation, so I'm not sure what the process is and how late it can be done.

I have a stay booked for Dec 9-13 at Saratoga Springs, 1-bedroom. My mother suffered an aneurysm and is currently hospitalized, so I'm still waiting to see her progress for recovery and if she'll need any assistance, rehab, etc, and if so, when. It's possible this may run into the December trip, so I may have to cancel it and look to rebook sometime down the road.

How late can I cancel the trip and not lose the points? I'm trying to hold off as long as possible to give time to gauge her recovery, so the longer I can wait to cancel without losing the points, the better.

Once canceled, I assume the points aren't just standard 'banked' points - would there be any further restrictions on when those points would need to be used by?

I've already got an early February trip booked, and I typically go every 3 months or so - so if I needed to cancel the December trip, I'd probably look to use the points for a June/July trip.

Any help appreciated.

 

[drusba]

As long as you cancel 31 days or more out from date of arrival, all the points will go back into your account the same way they went into the reservation. Cancel 30 days or less out and all points go into holding, must be used by end of the existing use year, and cannot be used to make a reservation except at 60 days or fewer before arrival. (Also, even if canceled 31 days or more out, any points that went into the reservation as banked or borrowed points, remain banked or borrowed when they come out of the reservation and must be used by the end of the use year.)

Another issue is banking current use year points. Any current use year points in the reservation can be banked into the next use year by no later than the end of the eighth month of your use year. Thus, depending on your use year, you may have to cancel more than 31 days out if you want to bank any points, e.g., if there are any April 2023 points in the reservation, you need to cancel by Nov 30, 2023 to be able to bank them.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I’ve never had to cancel so can’t help you with that but just wanted to say sorry about your mother and hoping she has a speedy recovery

 

[zackiedawg]

This could be tricky - my use year comes up Dec 1 - the trip is booked Dec 9 - so I guess if I canceled between Dec 1 and Dec 7, then I would be able to use the holding points by Nov 2024 since I'll be in the new use year. If I canceled in November, I'll still be in my current use year.

I don't mind the holding points as long as I can still use them for the use year of Dec 2023 to Dec 2024 as I would usually have at least 3 more trips during that time.

And thank you for the thoughts on my mother. Her aneurysm burst while she was at a Walgreen's store, so the EMTs came promptly as soon as it happened and got her to surgery - the doctor said 70% or more who have a burst in the brain like hers would have died - had she been at home, nobody may have known for hours or even days.

 

[drusba]

This could be tricky - my use year comes up Dec 1 - the trip is booked Dec 9 - so I guess if I canceled between Dec 1 and Dec 7, then I would be able to use the holding points by Nov 2024 since I'll be in the new use year. If I canceled in November, I'll still be in my current use year.

I don't mind the holding points as long as I can still use them for the use year of Dec 2023 to Dec 2024 as I would usually have at least 3 more trips during that time.

And thank you for the thoughts on my mother. Her aneurysm burst while she was at a Walgreen's store, so the EMTs came promptly as soon as it happened and got her to surgery - the doctor said 70% or more who have a burst in the brain like hers would have died - had she been at home, nobody may have known for hours or even days

It is not an issue of doing the actual act of cancellation during your use year. If you have Dec 2023 points in the reservation (which would be the "current" use year points for that Dec trip), as long as you cancel 31 or more days out (including even if you canceled today), all those points would go back into your Dec 2023 use year, and could be used anytime during Dec 2023 or banked into Dec 2024 use year.

If your arrival date is Dec 9, 2023 and you cancel by Nov 8, 2023. no points would go into holding, but Dec 2022 points that were banked Ito Dec 2023 use year that are in the reservation would remain banked and would have to be used by no later than a trip that ends Nov 30, 2024.

If you cancel anytime from Nov 9 to Dec 8, all points would go into holding and would have to be used by Nov 30, 2024, with the problem that they can be used only to reserve a room 60 days or fewer out from date of arrival.

 

[zavandor]

Some time ago there was a bug with holding points. If you had another reservation, withing 60 days you could reallocate the holding points into that reservation and free up non-holding points.
I don't know if it's still true. It seems like a bug, because it would really decrease the penalty for having holding points.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Nothing to add about canceling but I hope that your mother has a speeding recover.

 

[DaveNan]

@zavandor is correct. Holding is not nearly as big of a penalty for members will numerous reservations each UY. As @drusba shared. Points associated with a reservation if cancelled before 31 days, stay in the same UY as that reservation. UY23 points, banked UY 22 points, or borrowed UY24 points all need to be used now in UY 23. "Free'ed up" original UY 23 points can be banked to UY 24 before the standard banking window closes. Any existing reservation can be "rebooked" at any time and the available points will be used in a specific order, or you can call MS ans have them rebook it using the points as you would like. I believe the std order is 1) holding, 2) borrowed, 3) banked, 4) OTU, 5) transferred (bankable), 6) current UY (bankable). The loophole @zavandor was referring to is.... Even if you cancel inside of 30 days and the points go into holding, your Feb trip can be used to consume the holding points. Between 60 and 30 days before that trip, "rebook" the trip. The trip will now use all of your holding points because it was booked within 60 days of the trip, the points "replaced" with the holding points will return to their original status, likely current UY, still bankable. Even if banked or borrowed points are made available, they can now be used to book something out to the end of the UY they are now in (Nov 30 for your case), no longer restricted to the 60 day rules. If you wait till with within 30 days of that Feb stay, it does you no good. The "free'ed points" from that booking are within 30 days of that trip, so they go into holding.

 

[zavandor]

I would add that it seems a bug to me, if it still works. So there's risk it would stop working at any time. If possible, cancel 31 days of more before, hut if you really cannot, then trying to apply this costs nothing.

 

[DaveNan]

I agree in is a bug, or a noted exception between the intent and letter of the cancellation/holding policy and the coding in applying points to reservations. DVC has spent the effort to maintain point and reservation integrity around the 11 month and 7 month advantage and transferred points between accounts. I think they have chosen not to put a priority on closing this loop hole, but they could at any time. I had a situation around a cancelled reservation related to a hurricane 2 years ago. They were not supposed to put the points in holding, but my points ended up in holding based on how MS processed the early check-out. I called MS and was trying to work with them to remove the points from holding because they were related to a park closure due to the hurricane that impacted park operations. The MS cast member said, don't worry, this will be easier to resolve if we just wait a few weeks and then "rebook" a reservation I had on the same membership that was 2.5 months off. So, at least for now MS knows about the loop hole and actually encouraged me to take advantage of it, rather than going through a review process and manually processing and exception, which was justified. But, I agree... they could close this at any time.

 

[zackiedawg]

Many thanks all. That's a relief to know it shouldn't be too difficult to cancel if need be - I will still wait as long as possible to do so to give her time to see how recovery is going. She's likely going to be in the hospital at least 2 more weeks - maybe 3-4 more. After that, it could be more hospital, or could be a rehab facility, then we'll see if she can get to her home...I'm thinking I should know her longer term outcome around Thanksgiving week, so that's when I'll likely make the decision to cancel or not.

Thank you for the suggestion on how to work around the 60 day booking issue, by applying those points to the February trip by rebooking within that 60 day window. That seems the best way to ensure the points get used from holding. If it were just a solo trip, I'd cancel outside of the 31 days - but because the trip also involved a friend flying in from TX, I'm trying to delay as long as possible to give maximum chance that we can keep the trip and she may be out of the woods and either home or in a short rehab by then.