Someone explain cash bookings to me

[Caren]

I've seen reference to booking some room nights for cash at a discount. Can I do this at the same time as I make the reservation on points? How much of a discount is it? Does the room booked on cash have to be tied to a stay booked on points or can I book an entire stay on cash only and still get the discount? Is there any kind of a DVC discount on the non-DVC resorts?

 

[chalee94]

I've seen reference to booking some room nights for cash at a discount. Can I do this at the same time as I make the reservation on points?

yes. to get the discounted DVC rate, you would have to call MS.

How much of a discount is it?

25%

Does the room booked on cash have to be tied to a stay booked on points or can I book an entire stay on cash only and still get the discount?

if available, you could book a cash only stay.

Is there any kind of a DVC discount on the non-DVC resorts?

no.

 

[Caren]

Thanks!

I just thought of a couple more questions. Is the pool of rooms you can book for cash the same as the ones you book for points? In other words, might there sometimes be a room available for cash when none is available for points?

Also, can it be worthwhile to book a weekend day for cash to save the points?

 

[hellerjw]

Yes, there can be cash rooms available when there are none available on points. These cash units come from the small percentage of rooms reserved for maintenance, from member trades, etc and their inventory is tracked separately from the points inventory.

This happened to us when we wanted to do a quick weekend stay at HHI in February. Only 1 night was available on points but both were available on cash and we got the 25% discount ($82/night) , making it cheaper than the local chain hotels and we got a larger studio to boot.

You can't pay for the same night with a combination of points & cash, it has to be one of the other. But MS can link the 2 reservations so you shouldn't have to move.

 

[5forDiz]

25% member cash discount is not always available even if the room is available to book on cash through MS. Sometimes 25% discount may become available at a later date for the nights you want to book cash if discount wasn't available when you first call to book.