Using Points Across Years

[fumanchu2488]

I am booking my first stay using my DRR points I purchased last year. Background is I bought 100 points. Rented 84 of them this year and had 16 I banked to next year. I want to book a stay next May using 2019 banked, 2020 and some 2021 borrowed points. Here are my questions:

My stay used points from 3 UY. I want to add another night. Do I need to book that night separately or can I add a night to the reservation online?

I want to buy more for direct points whenever the sales office opens. It would be a small 50 point contract but I am hoping they would bank my 2019 points so I would have another 100 points for use. If this happens can MS go in and change the points used on an existing reservation to using my banked and borrowed points which would allow me to bank excess 2020 points?

Now that I am using this I have no idea how people track points, UY and banking/borrowing linked to reservations. Especially you guys who have huge contracts with multiple UY and multiple stays a year. Is there any tricks or tips?

 

[WilsonFlyer]

It's all one reservation. Points just must be available for the day it is booked from the UY that day falls on. This is always true regardless when during your UY it may be. It's like paying for your stay with two different checks from two different banks. It's still all the same stay. It's really that simple. Don't over-complicate it.

 

[fumanchu2488]

I guess my real question is what about modifying or changing the reservation and how do you track points? Specific to this reservation.

One of the reasons I bought at RR was the tower studio. Not for my family but for my parents or in-laws. I booked a deluxe studio and a tower studio. The grandparents don't like to stay the whole time so I booked us 6 nights and them 3 nights.

First, I am not really sure where the points were used. Second, neither are big planners so I really won't know if they are coming or not until probably Christmas time or so. If I end up cancelling their reservation, is there a way to make sure that it is all 2020 UY points so if I do not use them I can bank them?

If I end up buying more points and having 50 banked points to use on the reservation, can I 'swap' the 2019 banked points with 2020 points from the new points and bank my 2020 points?

 

[drusba]

It is possible to track points via the DVC site: go to DVC site>My DVC>My Dashboard> and then go through two items: "View Transactions" in the Full Statement of Vacation Point Activity, and under Contract Information for applicable year go to "View Complete Activity Statement."

Via those methods, it is often tedious and problematic task to figure out points in a particular reservation, though it can be done. Nevertheless, the wisest thing you could do in the future is to prepare and keep your own list of used points for any particular reservation.

As to swapping points, it is possible to modify a reservation online (without cancelling first and thus not risking losing a reservation), by swapping banked or borrowed points that are not in a reservation with regular use year points that are in a reservation -- if it is a reservation made 11-months out, the points being exchanged must be for the same home resort; if it is a reservation made in the 7-month window, the points can be from different resorts. Online, you just follow the modification process of the reservation system and it will redo the same reservation you have by using firsts any banked and borrowed points before regular use year points.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

MS is pretty good and pretty flexible with applying points. I would let them do it as opposed to doing it online yourself it it was me. The only thing you have to remember is that borrowing is a one-way transaction. Once you've borrowed points, you cannot put them back. You can remove them and apply points banked from 2019 instead, but you can't put them back in 2021. They become forever 2020 points at that point.

 

[JessM1234]

I have a follow up question on this one

If I have 7 nights worth of SSR points banked to my August 2020 use year, they expire July 31 2021. Could I use them for a 7 night stay with a check-in date of July 31, 2021? Or would that reservation force me to only use 1 night of banked points, and then 6 nights of 2021 use year points?

 

[Fangorn]

I have a follow up question on this one

If I have 7 nights worth of SSR points banked to my August 2020 use year, they expire July 31 2021. Could I use them for a 7 night stay with a check-in date of July 31, 2021? Or would that reservation force me to only use 1 night of banked points, and then 6 nights of 2021 use year points?

The latter. Points must be used by their expiration date. You won't be able to book 8/1/21 and beyond using those banked points, as they will have expired.

Steve