Some advice please

[franw]

Well, my worst fear has come true and that is we never matched on the waitlist for our November reservations. I made a backup reservation at the BWI for a portion of our family that is coming in for a reunion but I have a hole in the dates where the waitlist never materialized for me. Now I will have to bank 76 points to be used by January 2. There is no way I can make another trip to WDW over the holiday period after just spending 2 weeks there in November! What can I do? Do they ever give anyone a break and allow you more time to rebook. I am sure there wouldn't even be any rooms available now even if I was able to go back. I would think that if you can't use your points because a waitlist didn't come through they would be a little more relaxed or am I being unreasonable. I can't even imagine being able to rent the points out at this point in time, would you? I guess newcomers like myself don't quite grasp the details like the folks that have belonged for a long period of time. I just don't understand how they can expect you to take a second trip within 60 days. We will be using over 200 points for our confirmed stay at the VWL. Would someone take pity on me and walk me through this.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Now I will have to bank 76 points to be used by January 2

If you can bank those points, you will have longer than January 2, to use them (or at least a different day). The last day to use banked points is always the last day of the month prior to the beginning of your use year. What is your use year and what year's points did those 76 come from? That info will help a lot.

You could always use them for a disney collection room at one of the hotels to use them up if they can't be banked.

HBC

 

[RobDoc]

Have you asked to placed back on the waitlist?- inside of 30 days, you need to request to be placed back on the list and again at 7 days prior.

I'm not clear on why you'd need to bank your points and then use them by January 2. If you can still bank them, you'll have until the end of your next Use Year to use the points.

You aren't expected to take another trip within 60 days. You just need to either use points or bank them by the end of your Use Year. Banked points must then be used by the end of the Use Year into which they were banked.

If your November trip still has 7 days or more before arrival, you might still find that the waitlist can work for you. If not, and you can still bank the points, just plan to use them next year. You might still plan to bank them ASAP and borrow from you rnext Us Year if your waitlist does come thru.

Good Luck!

 

[lat]

I think you may have a bigger problem. If you say your pts will expire on 1/2 which is not possible, I would assume you have a December use year which means your pts will expire on 11/30. After the December use year, the next one is a Feb use year which will not have pts expire until 1/31.

In addition, if you have holding pts from a reservation that is cancelled within 30 days, I don't believe these points are bankable.

MS does not allow people to bank outside of the rules. I ended up renting out some of my pts at a lower price and donated some others to a charity.

Best of luck!!!

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Another option might be to use the points for a getaway weekend or gift weekend to a non-DVC resort on points from the resort collection.

 

[Lew]

If you can't bank the points you might want to consider the following:

• Use your points to pay for part of your guests' stay at a WDW resort that is part of the Disney Collection.
  
• Use your points for a short stay near your home at a Concierge Collection hotel.

Good luck...

 

[PamOKW]

Fran -- Let's start from the beginning. 1) What is your Use Year? 2) Did you actually book anything with the points that now need to be cancelled? If so, are you outside of 31 days from check-in? 3) Have you got someplace for everyone to stay all the days of your trip?

If you answer the above, maybe we can walk you through your options.

Worst case, if the points are going to expire, is it possible to have your guests stay at "any" available DVC rather than BWI?

 

[franw]

I'm sorry to be so scattered on this but this is my first time using my points. My use year is February. I had been taking the days offered to me as they became available on the waitlist so I did confirm three days at the BCV that are now within 8 days of the trip starting. I will use the cash reservation at the BWI instead of having my son's family move into three different resorts during their stay as they have two babies. I did renew my name on the waitlist 30 days before the reservation. I was told today that I will be taken off the waitlist automatically 7 days before the requested date. I was also told that I would have to bank and use the points from the cancelled reservation within 60 days. We are not cancelling our trip but using some cash reservations now. As the waitlisted dates dribbled in one at a time, I thought for sure I would end up with all the dates I needed. I believe all the resorts are now sold out for the dates we are staying there. Therefore, I don't think I would be able to use those points during our upcoming stay towards a different resort. I thought November would be an extremely quiet month at WDW but now realize that I was wrong. If the banked points are usable through the end of January I may be able to arrange a trip for a friend who is quite ill but I don't think she would be able to travel prior to the end of January. I hope you are able to better understand my situation now and I am very appreciative of your advice.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

You have until this Friday to bank 50% of your points and November 30, to bank 25% of your points. So no matter what you will be able to bank some of those points. That will allow you to use them through January 31, 2005.

Bank the points by this Friday and if your wait list comes through, you can borrow some from 2005. It will be a wash.

HBC

 

[PamOKW]

If I understand correctly, your trip starts in 8 days. If you have points that have not yet been commited to a reservation, you can still bank the points. As HBC said, you have until Friday to bank up to 50% of your total allotment of points. You would still have until the end of Nov. to bank a total of 25% of your points.

If you have points that are already being used for a reservation that you now wish to cancel, then those points will go into Holding. They will have to be used by January 31, 2004.

HBC makes a very good suggestion. You could continue to try and get your missing nights to come through and then "borrow" from 2004 to pay for the room if you have already banked your points.

I'm sorry this didn't go more smoothly for you. I hope you have a wonderful trip anyway!

 

[franw]

Thanks so much for walking me through this. I will be sure to bank my points by Friday and will bank the points that I have committed to the BCV reservation. Maybe I'll get lucky and something will become available for my missing day. If not, I think I can gift the points to my friend for a trip in January. Regardless, we will have a great time and I am so appreciative of the kindness of everyone. One of these days I'll be more savvy about this whole membership program and I will pass on the kindness shown me. Thanks again.