Question about holding points

[AKLFan3]

My family and I decided we've had enough of the Michigan winter and we are taking a 3 night trip in 2 weeks to OKW. I was shocked they had availability for a 1 BR, and everything was going well until the CM tried to book it, and found that someone else had just taken the 1 BR on the 3rd night. So then she said we could either do OKW on the first 2 nights, then SSR on the last night. And I said that's fine, but then quickly started calculating the points and realized we didn't want to use that many for this trip. Then she suggested we should just bump our vacation up 1 day and stay all 3 nights at OKW. So I said that's fine, then the CM said that since SSR required extra points, 5 of our points would go into holding. The thought of some of our points going into holding scared me quite a bit because I was afraid they would expire by our October UY. But after I got off the phone with her, I calmed down a bit and started wondering if our holding points would go towards our OKW trip in April, then the remaining points can be banked. Am I correct in my thinking? Please let me know if you need additional explanation or would like me to explain more clearly. I'm a bit confused myself and also in a very bad mood since by moving our trip 1 day earlier, we have to pay more in airfare and the entire process caused my family and I to get into an argument. Thanks for your input.

 

[drusba]

Unfortunately, you are incorrect. I am not sure why they did what they did but if you now have 5 points in a holding account, they must be used for a trip by the end of your use year and you can call to reserve with those points only 60 days or less before going and you won't be able to just switch them into that OKW ressie.

 

[Chuck S]

It depends. I assume your April trip is already booked, and it is farther out than 60 days?

If that is the case, then no, they should not reallocate the points to use your holding points UNLESS there is still availability for your dates at the 60 day mark.

 

[AKLFan3]

It depends. I assume your April trip is already booked, and it is farther out than 60 days?

If that is the case, then no, they should not reallocate the points to use your holding points UNLESS there is still availability for your dates at the 60 day mark.

The April trip is already booked and it is 77 days away. I'm not sure what you mean by "unless there is still availability for your dates." I will call them tomorrow and ask exactly what I did and how we can prevent them from going to waste. I hope we won't have to book a 4th trip because then we will have to borrow from next year just to use those 5 points.

 

[Chuck S]

The April trip is already booked and it is 77 days away. I'm not sure what you mean by "unless there is still availability for your dates." I will call them tomorrow and ask exactly what I did and how we can prevent them from going to waste. I hope we won't have to book a 4th trip because then we will have to borrow from next year just to use those 5 points.

By availability for your dates...

If at 60 days out from your reservation dates, when holding points can kick in, there is still a room available to book as a new reservation then they can switch out the points. If there isn't a room available for a new reservation, they are not supposed to switch an existing reservation to use holding points...otherwise that would totally defeat the purpose of putting them into holding in the first place.

 

[AKLFan3]

By availability for your dates...

If at 60 days out from your reservation dates, when holding points can kick in, there is still a room available to book as a new reservation thn they can switch out the points. If there isnt a room available for a new reservation, they are not supposed to switch an existing reservation to use holding points...otherwise that would totally defeat the purpose of putting them into holding in the first place.

Okay, I understand. Thanks for explaining. At 60 days from our April trip, should I call to ask if they can use our holding points towards the reservation? Or do they automatically use them and leave the non-holding 5 points or however many points we have left of this UY for us to bank?

 

[Chuck S]

You will need to call.

 

[dvc_john]

deleted

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

It seems to me they should have used the holding points for the 3 day OKW trip in 2 weeks, since that ressie was made less than 60 days out.

The did. Except the SSR room was 5 more points than the OKW room. So, when they rebooked the 3rd day at OKW, they used holding account points to do it -- they just weren't able to use them all, because more were put in holding than were needed.

 

[dvc_john]

The did. Except the SSR room was 5 more points than the OKW room. So, when the rebooked the last day at OKW, they were able to use most of the holding account points from cancelling the SSR room -- except 5.

Sorry - I just realized that and deleted my response.

 

[AKLFan3]

I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I called MS today to ask if our points that went into holding can be applied towards our April reservation, even though we are not within the 60 day time period. After I explained my confusing phone call with MS yesterday, the CM put in a request to return our points and put them towards the April vacation. She said it would take 24 hours, but we're all set. I'm very relieved our extra points will not expire.

 

[flyerron]

I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I called MS today to ask if our points that went into holding can be applied towards our April reservation, even though we are not within the 60 day time period. After I explained my confusing phone call with MS yesterday, the CM put in a request to return our points and put them towards the April vacation. She said it would take 24 hours, but we're all set. I'm very relieved our extra points will not expire.

Thats great. Things don't always work that well that quickly. My experience with MS has been excellent & they seem to somehow get it right after a discussion. Apparently others don't have as good luck.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

I see you are a recent buyer. I am assuming they gave you 2007 use year points that you will use this trip. Any of these 2007 points that are left over must be used by 10/2008. You can use them in april or you can bnk them and use them next year (up until 10/09). But remember that if you bank points you must do so 4 months before they expire which means you must bank them by 6/08 or lose them. I hope this helps. I will probably buy at AKV this week. The current promotion ends next Mon 2/18/2008 As a new owner at AKV do you have any advise for me? Any regrets or wish I should haves? I am tempted to wait until the new Contemporary Villas go on sale. I have heard rumors that it may be this year but there is no guarantee. My 1st choice for home resort is BWV or The Beach Club, but there are no incentives on them plus there lease expires 8 years before AKV does. Enjoy your vacation.
JOE

 

[AKLFan3]

I see you are a recent buyer. I am assuming they gave you 2007 use year points that you will use this trip. Any of these 2007 points that are left over must be used by 10/2008. You can use them in april or you can bnk them and use them next year (up until 10/09). But remember that if you bank points you must do so 4 months before they expire which means you must bank them by 6/08 or lose them. I hope this helps. I will probably buy at AKV this week. The current promotion ends next Mon 2/18/2008 As a new owner at AKV do you have any advise for me? Any regrets or wish I should haves? I am tempted to wait until the new Contemporary Villas go on sale. I have heard rumors that it may be this year but there is no guarantee. My 1st choice for home resort is BWV or The Beach Club, but there are no incentives on them plus there lease expires 8 years before AKV does. Enjoy your vacation.
JOE

Yup, we bought in December, and know we have to bank by May 31.

As for regrets, we don't have any yet because we haven't taken our first trip using DVC yet. Our first trip is in 2 weeks. But from our very short experience with using member services, I would make sure to ask if there are any guaranteed views available at whatever resort you want, and to ask what will the consequences be on your points when making a booking. In my experience, MS doesn't volunteer information unless you ask them. They just do what you tell them to do since they assume you understand the entire process. So if you have a question or want to double check something, make sure to do it before they press the "book" button. If you prefer BWV or BCV for your home resort, you may want to try buying resale through the Timeshare Store. I haven't used it, but a lot of forum members say it is a great alternative. If AKV isn't your preference, don't buy there because you may end up always wishing that you were staying at your favorite resort each trip you take. Don't rely on the fact that you will try to book BCV or BWV at 7 months because you may not get availability. On the other hand, if you are perfectly happy staying at AKV, even though it isn't your preference, then definitely purchase.