Question regarding point expiration?

[Quadman]

If points are expiring on Feb 28th, can they be used for a stay with a check in on Feb 27 for 5 nights (Check out well past expiry)?

I am hoping the resident experts will save me the time it will take to flip through all the paperwork to find the answer on my own before MS open in the morning.

Thanks

 

[RobDoc]

No, they could be used for the nights of the 27th and 28th, but on March 1 points must be from the current Use Year in order to make the reservation. Those points expiring on February 28 cannot be used past that date.

 

[DavidRoss]

What Quadman says is correct. However, if you make a reservation for several days and the stay is under one reservation, all the points are considered "used" at the time of checkin. They don't take the points day by day. So, when you check-in on 2/27, all the points would be used at that time even though you had a reservation that carried over into March. It doesn't seem quite fair does it?

 

[Quadman]

What Quadman says is correct. However, if you make a reservation for several days and the stay is under one reservation, all the points are considered "used" at the time of checkin. They don't take the points day by day. So, when you check-in on 2/27, all the points would be used at that time even though you had a reservation that carried over into March. It doesn't seem quite fair does it?

Doc after reading the boards for the past few years I'd be a fool to do anything but bow to the wealth of knowledge you have.....

So is what David Ross says correct, or am I misunderstanding something here??

 

[RobDoc]

All reservations are considered complete the day of arrival. If you have a reservation that spans two Use Years, all points (regardless of Use Year) are charged on the first day of the reservation- whether you checked in or not. You cannot cancel a reservation on arrival day and have the points put in a holding account- they are already considered used by DVC. If you cancel that reservation within 30 days of arrival- the 2004 Use Year points would still have to be used, from the holding account, by February 28, 2005 and the other points would have to be used by February 28, 2006 (also from the Holding Account).

In this case, while you may want to call MS tomorrow and see if they would allow it based on the comments you're questioning, points MUST be current for any date they will be used for a reservation. As I already mentioned, March 2004 points will be accepted for a reservation for any date thru February, 2005- but will not be accepted for any dates past February 28. If you use 2005 Use Year points to continue that same reservation, they would be considered "used" for that reservation on February 27, 2005 when you check into the resort.

DVC has been known to make exceptions to these policies on a case-by-case basis. This usually happens with weather related events (blizzards, hurricanes) but MS has also been generous with some personal circumstances in the past (as they should be, IMHO). However, these exceptions are normally made for events regarding arrival at the resort- not at the time of making the reservation.

If MS allows you to use 2004 Use Year points to be used after their expiration date when you call tomorrow, consider yourself very fortunate and please post the results of the conversation here.

Good luck!

 

[PamOKW]

I think two different circumstances are being discussed.

#1 -- You have points that are expiring 2/28. You have not yet made a reservation for the end of February/early March. You can use the expiring points to book through the night of February 28. To stay March 1, you will need to use points from your March 2005 Use Year (or borrowed from March 2006).

#2 -- You are checking in for a stay starting February 27-March 3. As soon as you check-in on February 27 you have "used" all the points whether you stay for the entire stay or not. In fact, if you don't show up at all and don't call cancel, all the points are "used" in that instance as well.

As Doc mentions, every rule has its exceptions in extenuating circumstances.

 

[gjw007]

Okay, this is a somewhat interesting topic as there seems to be more variables and complications than I would have thought.

I have an August use year. Let's say my points are current and none used for the year. For simplicity I have only enough points for a one-week trip and I plan my trip to be exactly one week using those points.

I decide to go to DVC during the last week of July but it spills over a couple days into August. So the trip straddles July and August.

Is the jist of this conversation that August 2004 use year points must be used for the reservation during the August 2004 use year and that the days that spill over into August 2005 will come from the August 2005 use year?

Do the all the points for the trip come from my August 2004 use year or part from the August 2004 use year and part from the August 2005 use year. The later doesn't seem to make much sense because I can bank the necessary August 2004 use year points into the August 2005 use year and use them during the August 2005 use year? Why then would you be charged partially against the August 2004 use year and the August 2005 use year when the policy would let you bank them into the next use year and use them anyway? For that matter, given the dates of the trip, why force you to do the banking? If I fail to bank the points under this arrangement, I lose the points forever.

Or are we talking about August 2004 use year points that were banked into the August 2005 use year and then attempt was to use those points during July 2006 with a few days spillover into August 2006?

The simplest thing seems to be to try avoid rollovers into different use years which is not a problem for me as I don't plan my vacations to Orlando for July but it does seem to make life a wie bit more complicated.

 

[RobDoc]

In your example- the 04 points banked into 05 are now 05 points (even though they can't ba banked again). For a reservation spanning two Use Years (04/05), the nights that fall in the 04 UY will need to use 04 points (either previously banked, current or borrowed) and the nights in the 05 UY will have to use 05 points (either banked from 04, current 05 or borrowed from 06).

In the original question, I think Quadman is asking about renting reservation points that will expire on Feb 28 and can only be used at non-DVC resorts. Those circumstances don't change the use of the points at all- the expiration deadline will expressly limit the dates those points may be used (they cannot be used for any date after 2/28/05).