Talk to me about pts in holding

[jolynne28]

I have a split stay coming up beginning of June, all 4 nights are booked, but one night is MK resort area, and I would like it to be either BCV or BWV. I've been stalking and so far nothing.

If I get within the 31 day window for that night, and the resort I want pops up, can I do the following: Open a browser window with the resort I want and select the night. Then switch to a second browser window to cancel what I have for that night so those points go into holding. Then go back and finish my booking, using these holding points. Are they available for immediate booking? And also, once you start a booking, is that room held briefly while you complete the process? I don't want to be in a situation where I cancel what I have, but then someone else snags what I'm trying to book and I'm left with nothing.

Is this all too complicated and I should just stick with what I've got? TIA!

 

[CarolMN]

Don't cancel the 1 night in the MK resort area! Just use the MODIFY button associated with that reservation.

During the modify process you can select the night that popped up for BCV or BWV. The system will not cancel the night you have until the night you want is secured and it will reuse the points from the MK reservation.

Very little risk if you use the MODIFY process. If for some reason someone "beats" you to the night you want, you will still have the MK area reservation.

Good luck!

 

[jolynne28]

Don't cancel the 1 night in the MK resort area! Just use the MODIFY button associated with that reservation.

During the modify process you can select the night that popped up for BCV or BWV. The system will not cancel the night you have until the night you want is secured and it will reuse the points from the MK reservation.

Very little risk if you use the MODIFY process. If for some reason someone "beats" you to the night you want, you will still have the MK area reservation.

Good luck!

Thanks for this! So just to be clear, I can MODIFY within the 31 days with no penalty? Why happens to the extra points that I used to book the VGF? Both BWV & BCV are less points for the same night.

 

[jolynne28]

And now that I've typed that out I realize that I will have a small number of points in holding if I modify within 31 days since the rooms I want take less points, which isn't ideal and there wouldn't be a good way to use them this summer without borrowing from next year since I have a banking deadline of May 31st w/Oct UY. Looks like if I don't get what I want in the next 10 days or so I should just stick with what I have.

 

[CarolMN]

It's true that modifying (or cancelling) within the 30 day window will result in holding points if the new reservation takes less points than the old one.

So the 'keep what you have or modify' decision depends on how much you want to be in the EPCOT area. For example, I once 'kissed 5 points goodbye', because I didn't want to move. I had all my nights in standard view except the last, which was in a preferred view. I grabbed the last night in standard view a few days prior to check in and had no way to use the 5 points in holding. Didn't care. Was worth it to me to stay in the same room for the entire trip.

So the question to you - is being at BCV or BWV for that night worth the points you will lose? Entirely a subjective question and members' answers will vary.

 

[jolynne28]

Good point. I don’t think I’m wanting to burn very many points since our stay is already split between 3 resorts, but I’d be willing to give up 3-5 to make it work.

 

[Hubalorian]

I don’t know how much flexibility you have in terms of travel date. If you end up having some points leftover and add on some one time use points and extend your stay by a day at whatever resort has availability if any. Just another situation to consider. Hoping the best for your situation!

 

[jolynne28]

I don’t know how much flexibility you have in terms of travel date. If you end up having some points leftover and add on some one time use points and extend your stay by a day at whatever resort has availability if any. Just another situation to consider. Hoping the best for your situation!

I would love to extend, but we're only available for the 4 nights. I was able to pick up a BRV room for the night I want at an Epcot resort, the points would be an equal swap, so I'll drop the VGF for that night and hope that something pops up before we arrive! I just realized that the night I'm trying for BWV/BCV is an Epcot extended evening hours night, so might be harder than I thought.

I didn't realize you could modify reservations within the 31 days, so this thread has been very helpful!