Tips for booking multiple nights within a month of stay?

[DVCSunDevil]

My wife and I are kicking around the idea of booking a couple nights in December to see the Christmas decorations. We would be flying from Upstate NY, so it takes a little more planning compared to members living within driving distance. However, we are now within a month of the dates we want to go. Obviously, studio rooms are tough to get. I keep checking in and occasionally there is a room available for only one of the nights we want to travel. My worry is booking the one evening, only to then have no luck finding a room for the other evening. If we can’t find a room for that 2nd evening we would need to cancel our reservation for the one reserved evening and those points would go into “holding”. Does anyone have any tips on how to navigate this?

We also have a week visit plannned in January. If we had to cancel a reservation for December and those points go into holding, can I call Member Services and have those “holding” points used for the January reservation (i.e. swap them for points that were already used for that reservation)? I have until the end of January to bank, so if I could use those points in holding for the January reservation that is already booked then I would still be able to bank that same amount of points. I don’t know if that is possible, though.

 

[starry_solo]

My wife and I are kicking around the idea of booking a couple nights in December to see the Christmas decorations. We would be flying from Upstate NY, so it takes a little more planning compared to members living within driving distance. However, we are now within a month of the dates we want to go. Obviously, studio rooms are tough to get. I keep checking in and occasionally there is a room available for only one of the nights we want to travel. My worry is booking the one evening, only to then have no luck finding a room for the other evening. If we can’t find a room for that 2nd evening we would need to cancel our reservation for the one reserved evening and those points would go into “holding”. Does anyone have any tips on how to navigate this?

We also have a week visit plannned in January. If we had to cancel a reservation for December and those points go into holding, can I call Member Services and have those “holding” points used for the January reservation (i.e. swap them for points that were already used for that reservation)? I have until the end of January to bank, so if I could use those points in holding for the January reservation that is already booked then I would still be able to bank that same amount of points. I don’t know if that is possible, though.

@Sandisw can answer the question.

Did you book the January visit within the past 7 months? Or did you use your home-resort (11 month) booking advantage?

 

[DVCSunDevil]

@Sandisw can answer the question.

Did you book the January visit within the past 7 months? Or did you use your home-resort (11 month) booking advantage?

Both. We are doing a split stay. We booked our home resort at 11 months for the full week, then booked half of the week at 7 months at another resort. We just removed half of the week at our home resort (the same nights we are staying at the 2nd resort) yesterday, since we wanted to keep that full week for making our ADRs. We are hoping to use those points that just got added back into our account from cancelling the January 1/2 week for the nights in December.

 

[starry_solo]

Both. We are doing a split stay. We booked our home resort at 11 months for the full week, then booked half of the week at 7 months at another resort. We just removed half of the week at our home resort (the same nights we are staying at the 2nd resort) yesterday, since we wanted to keep that full week for making our ADRs. We are hoping to use those points that just got added back into our account from cancelling the January 1/2 week for the nights in December.

Have you merged the reservation yet? If not, don't do it until after you've modified that reservation to use your holding points from the December trip, if that doesn't go.

If the reservations have been merged, I have no idea.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Have you merged the reservation yet? If not, don't do it until after you've modified that reservation to use your holding points from the December trip, if that doesn't go.

If the reservations have been merged, I have no idea.

No, we haven’t merged the reservations. We never merge them when doing split stays.

 

[Sandisw]

You would be able to swap the holding points from Dec to January as long as you are more than 31 days out from the start of the January trip.

Since you are doing a split stay, each would have its own window.

So, depending on the exact nights, you may be able to do what you want if both Dec nights don’t come through.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

You would be able to swap the holding points from Dec to January as long as you are more than 31 days out from the start of the January trip.

Since you are doing a split stay, each would have its own window.

So, depending on the exact nights, you may be able to do what you want if both Dec nights don’t come through.

Thank you!

 

[tarheellovesdisney]

My wife and I are kicking around the idea of booking a couple nights in December to see the Christmas decorations. We would be flying from Upstate NY, so it takes a little more planning compared to members living within driving distance. However, we are now within a month of the dates we want to go. Obviously, studio rooms are tough to get. I keep checking in and occasionally there is a room available for only one of the nights we want to travel. My worry is booking the one evening, only to then have no luck finding a room for the other evening. If we can’t find a room for that 2nd evening we would need to cancel our reservation for the one reserved evening and those points would go into “holding”. Does anyone have any tips on how to navigate this?

We also have a week visit plannned in January. If we had to cancel a reservation for December and those points go into holding, can I call Member Services and have those “holding” points used for the January reservation (i.e. swap them for points that were already used for that reservation)? I have until the end of January to bank, so if I could use those points in holding for the January reservation that is already booked then I would still be able to bank that same amount of points. I don’t know if that is possible, though.

We have a stay for the 2nd week of Dec that I have been stalking and changing our reservations for. I've had really good luck with the waitlist, surprisingly with less than a month before the trip. One night I waitlisted and it filled the next day (this was for BWV) and the other WL only took a few days.