Question about owning points at 2 resorts

[Cathy K.]

Hi,
In 2003 my DH and I bought 150 points at BCV. We've had 2 trips home since then and have another one coming up in December. While we were there in August we drove over to see SSR. My husband really liked it and when we got the offer letter in the mail for the deal on Phase II with the 2 Annual Passes bonus we decided to go for it and yesterday we bought 150 points at SSR.

We decided this would allow us to get a 2 bedroom in the next few years if we want to bring friends or extended family and allow us to spend lots of time at WDW in a studio when we are retired.

Now, to my questions. For those of you who own at 2 resorts how do you manage to book a 2 bedroom at one resort using all points if you want to book at the 11 month window? My use year for both resorts is December. Do I borrow all my BCV points into one year and use them and bank my SSR points for the next year? Or am I being just way to obsessive and booking at 7 months should be ok?

Thanks,
Cathy K.

 

[KarenP99]

We have 150 BCV and 150 VWL, both December use years.

At the 11 month window, if I want to stay a week, I will book as many nights at each resort as I can. Meaning if I want to really stay at BCV, I would book the weekend nights & as many others as I could, then I would book the remainder of the nights at VWL using my 150 there. At the 7 month window, I would then call MS and *hope* that there was availibility to switch the VWL to the BCV for those nights.

Hope that helps.

 

[tjkraz]

The other thing you can do is to use Banking and Borrowing to flip-flop home resorts each year.

Example:

2005 stay: Use 2005 and 2006 (borrowed) points to book BCV at 11 months. Bank 2005 pts for SSR.

2006 stay: Use 2005 (banked) and 2006 points to book SSR at 11 months.

In each case, you have 2 yrs worth of points (300) to work with.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by Cathy K.
snip...For those of you who own at 2 resorts how do you manage to book a 2 bedroom at one resort using all points if you want to book at the 11 month window? My use year for both resorts is December. Do I borrow all my BCV points into one year and use them and bank my SSR points for the next year? Or am I being just way to obsessive and booking at 7 months should be ok?...snip

You can do the 11 month "flip-flop" as tjkraz suggests, and as you already seem inclined. I think KarenP99's method also has a lot to be said for it, tho I think I would reserve the low points weeknights at 11 months at the resort where you want to stay most, as the weekend nights are more likely to be available still at the 7 month mark.

In our circumstance, we own at BWV, our original "home", and just took advantage of the great SSR incentive. So assuming we want to stay a week at BWV, and we happen to be a little low on points there, we get the hard to get weeknights at 11 months using our BWV points, as many as we can muster. At the same time we make a ressie at SSR for the remaining nights (so we definately have something). Then at 7 months, we call MS and try to get the mostly weekend SSR nights at BWV; if they are not available, well, at least we're higher up on the waitlist.

Good question!

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by KarenP99
We have 150 BCV and 150 VWL, both December use years.

At the 11 month window, if I want to stay a week, I will book as many nights at each resort as I can. Meaning if I want to really stay at BCV, I would book the weekend nights & as many others as I could, then I would book the remainder of the nights at VWL using my 150 there. At the 7 month window, I would then call MS and *hope* that there was availibility to switch the VWL to the BCV for those nights.

Hope that helps.

I'd suggest booking the weeknights at the 11 month window and booking the weekend nights (Friday and Saturday) at the 7 month window. FWIW, the weekday nights always book more quickly than the weekend nights because of the cost differential. Waitlists for weekend nights seem to come through more quickly as well.

I think you would increase your chances of getting eveything you need if you did it that way. JMHO. YMMV.

Best wishes -

 

[jel0511]

We own at two resorts, but actually enjoy staying at two resorts on our trips. Since we travel down for two weeks, but like to vary the number of days per year at each place. I book everything I can at both my home resorts, and at the 7 month window, I do the tinkering. I also book the weekday nights first, and the weekend nights are the ones I usually am tinkering with. If you want to constantly flip flop resorts every year, the borrowing/banking scenario will work. If you don't, and have a preference of one over the other and don't want to switch. Use whatever points you have available to book the weekday nights at your home resort, and book the weekend nights at the other resort. AT the 7 month window, make any changes you need to and if you can't waitlist.