Questions about DVC for someone who changes reservations alot!

[MermaidsMom]

My name is MermaidsMom, and I change my reservations alot!!
There, I have publically admitted it! Now, I am willing to work to change this bad habit, but how does changing reservations work with the DVC? I have done a search but must not be using the right keywords because I am sure that this has been discussed here before. Thanks!

 

[riggins]

Hi MermaidsMom-
If you change your reservations more than 30 days before your trip, there is no penalty; although depending on the time of the year, you will find availability is pretty limited at 30 days out if you are trying to change your resort.

If you are less than 30 days from check-in, the points will be put into a holding account. Holding account points can be used within the use year, but you can't make the reservation more than 60 days in advance. So, while you don't lose them, depending on availablity, you might have a hard time using them. You can't bank or borrow them.

Hope that helps
Leslie

 

[MermaidsMom]

Thanks! And if I understand this correctly, banking these points is only possible during certain times of your use year-
Example:
If I cancelled before 30 days, but AFTER the point in my use year that I can bank, then I must use those points somewhere before the end of my use year no matter what. Is that right? Can you rent the points that would be put in the holding account for a late cancellation?

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by MermaidsMom
Thanks! And if I understand this correctly, banking these points is only possible during certain times of your use year-
Example:
If I cancelled before 30 days, but AFTER the point in my use year that I can bank, then I must use those points somewhere before the end of my use year no matter what. Is that right?

Yes. If you don't/can't, the points expire and are lost.

Can you rent the points that would be put in the holding account for a late cancellation?

Yes. (But you would actually be renting a reservation, not points). Keep in mind that you may only make a reservation with holding account points 60 days or less ahead of the desired arrival. Therefore, you may find availability limited. In other words, you can't rent a reservation/points if there are no rooms left to rent.

HTH.

 

[jmminarik]

And if you borrow points from the next year, these need to be spent in the use year they to which they were borrowed.

DVC may not be the best choice if you need to change your ressies alot. Unlike hotels where you have an almost unlimited number of options around WDW, there are a finite number of rooms at WDW DVC resorts. While there may be a thousand empty rooms in the hotels, you'll be hard pressed to get a DVC room on points during early December if you're calling in October. Well, maybe SSR&S's imminent opening will open things up a bit, but we with the ability to plan 11 months out and stick to it will make it harder for 'last minute' planning.

Hope this helps.
Joe

 

[OneMoreTry]

You will need to book quite far in advance if you want assured reservations at BCV, BWV, VWL. I guess we don't know about SS yet. I'm not sure that's much different from popular non-DVC on-site lodging.

My impression is that you will always be able to find something somewhere at DVC even on short notice. Except maybe at Xmas, but then again you would probably have a hard time getting ANY lodging at that time on short notice.

OKW usually has availability, I think.

 

[BWVDee]

I agree, if you intend to change your reservations alot and especially if you want to make changes very near the trip dates, you might want to rethink DVC.
DVC resorts tend to book up fairly quickly; with certain times of the year and certain resorts booking even more quickly.
DVC is a super flexible timeshare ownership with a great choice of resorts and villa sizes etc but it is not always easy to flip flop reservations around, especially once you are well into the 7 month or less window.
A suggestion though, is to change your trip planning habits! That's what I have had to do. DVC does require some planning. I am one that hardly ever books 11 months in advance because I go to FL about every 3 months for business and many times do not know the exact dates that far ahead. However as the number of DVC owners continues to grow it gets more difficult to get the resort and accomendations I want. So I have had to change my trip planning habits and now do book as far in advance as I can and then cancel if needed.
Good luck!

 

[FredS]

My immediate reaction to your question was that changing reservations is NOT a problem. You may not be able to book exactly what you want on short notice, and you do have to make some effort to keep up with your banking deadlines, but in comparison to my other timeshare DVC is a breeze to change reservations.

I tend to make reservations 3-4 months out. I have moved several, including last year at BCV during Memorial Day weekend, shifting a couple of days and adding a unit, booking on short notice at BWV (standard view) and also at OKW and never suffered a penalty (like many timeshares if you try to change a reservation) or not had availability.

Again, I am sure that this is not ALWAYS the case, but it has proven extremely easy and flexible and for the most part you are not locked into a reservation. I have been extremely pleased with how flexible the system is.

 

[MermaidsMom]

Thank you everyone! One more question, how easy is it to book outside resorts/hotels? Take The Plaza in NYC (or any) for example. How far in advance must you request it? I assume more difficulty during holidays but has anyone ever called at the last minute (like the week before) and gotten into one of these resorts?

 

[mzzbuzzlightyear]

I must confess that whenever I have made reservations 11 months in advance, I have had to cancel for one reason or another.

I have found out that if one is persistent, Reservations usually become available. I learned this many years ago when the only Hotels were the Contemporary, Polynesian and the Golf Club.

As a matter of fact, I made reservations for a 2 BR OKW for Feb 14 -Feb 18, and 1 BR at BWV for Feb 18-Feb22 on Jan 13.

If you really want to join DVC, DO IT!!!

June

 

[Pumbaa_]

I used to cahnge my ressies all the time too, before joining DVC. Primarily to get a better rate or change hotels.

Now that I have joined DVC, i do not do that. There is no more constantly checking to see if a better rate is out and at what resort. Not sure if that is why you change your ressies lots, but you will find with DVC it changes how youplan your resort stay, ALOT! So much nicer now, the points are the points are the points. We decide what hotel we prefer, if we want to move over the weekend or not and are done with it. Sure is a better way for us!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

It's more cost effective to use your points for DVC stays instead of other timeshares or hotels. But you can do it. You just get less for your points

 

[Dean]

If you can plan 11 months out, then tend to change with 7 months or more left, DVC is ideal. It will likely work well if you tend to change at 3-4 months out IF YOU CHOSE YOUR USE YEAR WELL. There are no fees and the only penalties are those mentioned related to banking deadlines and the like.

OTHO, if you tend to change last minute, you should not buy DVC. Just make cancellable reservations with what ever code you can find. Also, do not rent points in this situation as they are usually rented out non refundable.