Seriously Confused/Banking Point Questions

[Mich Mouse]

Hi All and Happy New Year!!!

Question 1

I am debating on booking a one bedroom or two studios for our holiday 2007 trip to BWV. If I book two studios is it possible that they can be adjoining? Somehow I think that this is not possible, but I am sure someone here will know for sure.

Question 2

I currently have 140 points left from our August 2006 use year. I also have a 2007 trip already booked. Why didn't member services just use the old 2006 points when we booked our 2007 vacation? Is it becaue they have to be banked first? I looked on the member website and it seems that we have those 2006 points sitting there waiting to be banked. Do I have to specifically ask to use old points first? I thought they just did this?

I'd like to book another 2007 trip for the holidays, and I need to understand the point thing first....If I book a December 2007 trip, using 2006 points, before our banking deadline in January 2007, What happens to the points if I need to cancel? Planning this far in advance during the month of December has me thinking...Shouldn't our 2006 points be used during our first trip in 2007? The first trip is in August, the second I am planning is in December.

Can anyone clear this up for me???

Thanks in advance for any help you may provide.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I have tried to answer within the quote of your original post.

Hi All and Happy New Year!!!

Question 1

I am debating on booking a one bedroom or two studios for our holiday 2007 trip to BWV. If I book two studios is it possible that they can be adjoining? Somehow I think that this is not possible, but I am sure someone here will know for sure.
No, there will not be connecting rooms, but you should be able to get them close to each other.

Question 2

I currently have 140 points left from our August 2006 use year. I also have a 2007 trip already booked. Why didn't member services just use the old 2006 points when we booked our 2007 vacation? Is it becaue they have to be banked first? I looked on the member website and it seems that we have those 2006 points sitting there waiting to be banked. Do I have to specifically ask to use old points first? I thought they just did this?
Yes, the 2006 points will need to be banked first unless your 2007 ressie is still within your 2006 use year. In other words, if the ressie you already made is for a trip that occurs before Aug. 1st, that trip is in your 2006 use year.
I'd like to book another 2007 trip for the holidays, and I need to understand the point thing first....If I book a December 2007 trip, using 2006 points, before our banking deadline in January 2007, What happens to the points if I need to cancel? Planning this far in advance during the month of December has me thinking...Shouldn't our 2006 points be used during our first trip in 2007? The first trip is in August, the second I am planning is in December.
Okay, so BOTH your 2007 trips occur in your 2007 use year, so yes, you definetly need to bank those '06 points first. Once you bank them, they become '07 points, and MS will use them for the first ressie. I would actually make sure they do that though.

Can anyone clear this up for me???

Thanks in advance for any help you may provide.

 

[Mich Mouse]

Thank you for your helpful response

The holiday trip for 2007 needs to be booked next week....(Gottta get that standard view BWV for this all to work.)

Do I bank points first then make the ressie? Of will I I have no points to make a ressie since they are banked?

My banking deadline is January 31st and the trip must be booked around January 8th. So, If these points are not banked they stay as 2006 points ?

Not sure what to do here.

 

[JimMIA]

Hi All and Happy New Year!!!

Question 1

I am debating on booking a one bedroom or two studios for our holiday 2007 trip to BWV. If I book two studios is it possible that they can be adjoining? Somehow I think that this is not possible, but I am sure someone here will know for sure.

I don't think there is any way to assure that two studios will be adjoining -- or even close to each other, for that matter. But you can link them and request that they be as close as possible. The CMs will do the best they can, but there are no guarantees.

I don't have any personal experience with this, so hopefully a BWV owner can give you some more specific advice.

Question 2

I currently have 140 points left from our August 2006 use year. I also have a 2007 trip already booked. Why didn't member services just use the old 2006 points when we booked our 2007 vacation? Is it becaue they have to be banked first?

Depends on when that trip is. Your August '06 points can be used between Aug 1, 2006 and July 31, 2007. If your trip is after August 1, 2007, they would only be able to use 2007 points for that trip.

I looked on the member website and it seems that we have those 2006 points sitting there waiting to be banked. Do I have to specifically ask to use old points first? I thought they just did this?

They are supposed to use banked points prior to using current year allocations. However, if you have not banked the points, they're not psychic so they're not going to automatically bank your points and then use them. You have to make that decision. You also should double-check your ressie (before you hang up with MS) and be sure you understand what points were used from where. You can correct mistakes later, but it's a lot easier to catch them when they occur.

I'd like to book another 2007 trip for the holidays, and I need to understand the point thing first....If I book a December 2007 trip, using 2006 points,

WHOA! Stop right there. You can't book a December 2007 trip with August 2006 points! You can bank your 2006 points into 2007 and use them, but unbanked 2006 points expire on July 31, 2007.

What happens to the points if I need to cancel? Planning this far in advance during the month of December has me thinking...

Good thing...because if you don't, you're going to make a mess of this.

Shouldn't our 2006 points be used during our first trip in 2007? The first trip is in August, the second I am planning is in December.

If you are not planning any more trips prior to July 31, 2007 -- you need to bank your remaining 2006 points into 2007. THEN, and only then, make your ressies for the August 2007 trip...using the banked points. When you make the December 2007 ressies, use any leftover banked points before dipping into the regular 2007 allocation.

If you do it that way...if you need to cancel the August ressie, you still have a full year to use those banked points. Your normal 2007 allocation can be banked forward into 2008, but your banked points will be "use or lose" for 2007.

If you've already made those August '07 ressies, MS has undoubtedly used 2007 points. When you call to make the December ressie, ask them to switch that August ressie to the newly-banked points and use 2007 points for the later ressie. That will give you more flexibility with the "use or lose" banked points, and additional time to make banking decisions with the 2007 points.

 

[Mich Mouse]

I don't think there is any way to assure that two studios will be adjoining -- or even close to each other, for that matter. But you can link them and request that they be as close as possible. The CMs will do the best they can, but there are no guarantees.

I don't have any personal experience with this, so hopefully a BWV owner can give you some more specific advice.

Depends on when that trip is. Your August '06 points can be used between Aug 1, 2006 and July 31, 2007. If your trip is after August 1, 2007, they would only be able to use 2007 points for that trip. They are supposed to use banked points prior to using current year allocations. However, if you have not banked the points, they're not psychic so they're not going to automatically bank your points and then use them. You have to make that decision. You also should double-check your ressie (before you hang up with MS) and be sure you understand what points were used from where. You can correct mistakes later, but it's a lot easier to catch them when they occur.

WHOA! Stop right there. You can't book a December 2007 trip with August 2006 points! You can bank your 2006 points into 2007 and use them, but unbanked 2006 points expire on July 31, 2007. Good thing...because if you don't, you're going to make a mess of this. If you are not planning any more trips prior to July 31, 2007 -- you need to bank your remaining 2006 points into 2007. THEN, and only then, make your ressies for the August 2007 trip...using the banked points. When you make the December 2007 ressies, use any leftover banked points before dipping into the regular 2007 allocation.

If you do it that way...if you need to cancel the August ressie, you still have a full year to use those banked points. Your normal 2007 allocation can be banked forward into 2008, but your banked points will be "use or lose" for 2007.

If you've already made those August '07 ressies, MS has undoubtedly used 2007 points. When you call to make the December ressie, ask them to switch that August ressie to the newly-banked points and use 2007 points for the later ressie. That will give you more flexibility with the "use or lose" banked points, and additional time to make banking decisions with the 2007 points.

Thanks, Jim

Yes, I did make the August 2007 reservations, using 2007 points. I definitely do not want to cancel this ressie, since I called day to day to get the BW view. If I understand you correctly I must now bank the remaining 2006 points, and then make the December 2007 reservations. Then I will ask MS to use the remaining 2006 points for August 2007. My December 2007 ressie will then be made with 2007 points, giving me a better chance of using them if I must cancel.

So I can bank my remaining 2006 points tomorrow and then make a reservation on January 8th using those banked points? Banked points are available for your immediate usage?

Thanks again!!!

 

[LisaS]

Yes, I did make the August 2007 reservations, using 2007 points. I definitely do not want to cancel this ressie, since I called day to day to get the BW view.

I believe MS can "swap" the points for you without canceling your August reservation since you aren't trying to substitute non-BWV points for the BWV points used to make the reservation. Ask the MS CM about swapping in banked points for the '07 points originally committed to that reservation.

If I understand you correctly I must now bank the remaining 2006 points, and then make the December 2007 reservations. Then I will ask MS to use the remaining 2006 points for August 2007. My December 2007 ressie will then be made with 2007 points, giving me a better chance of using them if I must cancel.

First step is to bank the '06 points first thing when you call MS. You can also bank points online -- very handy since you can do that even when MS is closed - but in this case I would call them to bank the points and swap the banked '06 points into the Aug reservation. MS is very busy today since they have been closed for 2 days. Try them this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon but avoid early morning since they will be extremely busy!

Then call back on Jan 8th to begin making your day-by-day Dec reservation using up the remaining banked '06 points first, finishing it off with '07 points.

So I can bank my remaining 2006 points tomorrow and then make a reservation on January 8th using those banked points? Banked points are available for your immediate usage?

Yes, banked points are available for immediate use so you can bank and do the point swap during the same phone call with MS.

Good luck!

 

[Mich Mouse]

Thanks, Lisa S.


I called MS and it was not nearly as confusing as I had thought. My 2006 points were used for my August 2007 reservation, they just switched them, so there was no need to bank anything. Now the extra points are 2007, and I have another year to decide what to do with them.

 

[RobDoc]

I called MS and it was not nearly as confusing as I had thought. My 2006 points were used for my August 2007 reservation, they just switched them, so there was no need to bank anything. Now the extra points are 2007, and I have another year to decide what to do with them.

I would verify what has been done in this case. If you have an August Use Year, any points remaining from your 2006 UY will expire on July 31, 2007 and these could NOT be used for a reservation in August, 2007 unless they have been banked. In this case, it sounds as though MS may be gone ahead and banked those points so they could be used for the reservation in August, 2007.

I would call tomorrow and just re-verify that those points have been baked and used for the reservation in August. They should also be able to give you the banking number for the transaction that made them available for use after July 31. I'm sure you will be fine, but I'd sure want to have MS verify that you will not be losing any points from the current Use Year. In order for the 2006 points to be used after July 31, they MUST have been banked.

 

[LisaS]

Thanks, Lisa S.

I called MS and it was not nearly as confusing as I had thought. My 2006 points were used for my August 2007 reservation, they just switched them, so there was no need to bank anything. Now the extra points are 2007, and I have another year to decide what to do with them.

MS had to bank the points in order to use them for your Aug '07 reservation. Take a look online and you should see that your remaining '06 points were banked by MS today.

I'm glad everything worked out for you!

 

[Mich Mouse]

MS had to bank the points in order to use them for your Aug '07 reservation. Take a look online and you should see that your remaining '06 points were banked by MS today.

I'm glad everything worked out for you!

Thanks again for explaining all this, but I am not sure why those points had to be banked?

The August 2007 reservation was already made. They just changed the points and used the 2006 points for the 2007 reservation. You are saying they had to bank them first? Then they applied them?

 

[Chuck S]

Thanks again for explaining all this, but I am not sure why those points had to be banked?

The August 2007 reservation was already made. They just changed the points and used the 2006 points for the 2007 reservation. You are saying they had to bank them first? Then they applied them?

Yes, because otherwise the 2006 points would expire on July 31, 2007. They had to be banked into the Aug 2007 use year to be available for reservations in August 2007.

 

[Mich Mouse]

Thanks, Chuck.

MS likely didn't want to confuse me any further....

So If the August 2007 ressie had to be cancelled, since they are 2006 points, they must be used by the end of the use year they are banked into, right? I have an August use year so those points would need to be used by July 31 of 2008? I just want to understand this all so there are no surprises.

It is a bit complicated, but I am a new owner, so with help and patience, I'll eventually get it right.

Thanks again to all!!

 

[LisaS]

Thanks again for explaining all this, but I am not sure why those points had to be banked?

The August 2007 reservation was already made. They just changed the points and used the 2006 points for the 2007 reservation. You are saying they had to bank them first? Then they applied them?

Maybe this will help. I find it helps to think about points this way, with an August Use Year:
Your '06 UY points are valid for stays from 8/1/06 - 7/31/07
Your '07 UY points are valid for stays from 8/1/07 - 7/31/08
Your '08 UY points are valid for stays from 8/1/08 - 7/31/09
etc.

If you bank your '06 points, then they are valid for stays from 8/1/07 - 7/31/08. So in order to use Aug '06 points for a stay in Aug '07 the points have to be banked first.

I expect that in your call to MS, you said something like "I have points left in my '06 UY and I would like to use those for my Aug '07 reservation instead of the '07 UY points." To MS that would mean that you want to bank those remaining '06 points so that you can use them for that reservation and I expect that is exactly what they did. Normally MS tells you that "Banking is a final transaction and once banked, the points cannot be returned to their original Use Year and will expire on July 31, 2008." and would give you a confirmation number for the banking transaction. Do you remember getting a confirmation number during the call?

Again I suggest you take a look at your account online. You should see the banking transaction there. I'll log in to my own account in a minute so I can tell you exactly where to look for it.

 

[LisaS]

To see if there is a banking transaction, log in to the members' website and go to "My DVC", "Points".

Under "Total Vacation Points Summary", expand the section for "Use Year August 2006" You should see that both the "Total Vacation Points Remaining" and the "Total Vacation Points Available to Bank" are both 0.

Click on the link "View Activity statement" to view a page showing every point transacation for your account. The list shows the most recent transctions first so the first or second line item should list today's banking transaction. It will look something like this, where "nn" is the number of points you banked today and the "0" is your point balance for your '06 Use Year:

01.02.2007 Bank points to use-year 08/07 from 08/06. <nn> 0