What happens if you run out of points?

[Enna]

Sorry for another newbie question, but I haven't seen this answered anywhere.

What happens if you run out of points? (Obviously, addonities is an answer, but we're trying to stay immune to that until CRV is offered.)

For example, if we need to borrow from our 2009 use year for 2008, but still want to vacation in 2009 BEFORE we can borrow 2010 points, what do we do?

Is there a way to continue a reservation on cash without having to switch rooms?


Also, if we wanted to host some relatives in the future but were a few points short, is there a way to make up the difference in cash?


Thanks for any words of wisdom you can offer!

 

[gracelrm]

You may link a cash reservation with a points reservation. We do this to add an extra day or to avoid high points for weekends at HH. We've never had to check-out and check back in. It's taken care of by linking the reservations through MS. The only stipulation that I know is that the day has to be reserved as either points or as cash, not a combination of both. For instance if you had 18 points left and the room was 24 points - you could not use 18 points and pay the remainder with cash. It's a full day on one or the other. Sometimes it's possible to have someone on the Rent/Trade board to transfer points into your acct. for a certain amount per point. But I wouldn't depend on that if needing points becomes a frequent event.

HTH

 

[Deb & Bill]

You can't use a combination of points and cash for a single villa/room for a single night. It's either all cash or all points for a single night. Sometimes DVC will have cash reservations available to members that you can link to your points reservations. Sometimes you might be able to get a 25% discount on those cash nights, but not always.

You can request a transfer of points from another member, but you can only transfer in or out once a year. There is not supposed to be any compensation for transferring points from one member to another, but people do it. Why else would you want to transfer to another member? Except for an odd point or two? You can't transfer banked or borrowed points, must be current year points. But you can bank points that have been transferred to you.

 

[Enna]

Ok, so if I were planning ahead and worked out a point transfer agreement, what is the timeframe for banking & expiration? Does it follow the original points, or the use year/banking guidelines for my points?


Thanks for the info on linking a cash reservation. That alone might be enough to make our points stretch far enough.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Ok, so if I were planning ahead and worked out a point transfer agreement, what is the timeframe for banking & expiration? Does it follow the original points, or the use year/banking guidelines for my points?


Thanks for the info on linking a cash reservation. That alone might be enough to make our points stretch far enough.

The points that you have transferred into your account retain the use year and resort that they were before they were transferred.

 

[Enna]

Thanks, Deb!

 

[DebbieB]

When I was short on points, I would reserve a Friday or Saturday night on member cash and link it to my reservation. For an OKW 1 bedroom in May, it was about $320 and I saved 48 points. That's less than $7 per point. The price may be higher now, it was about 3 years ago.

 

[crisi]

A lot of people also switch resorts. We've "extended" our stay by one night booking over at AKL because we always wanted to stay there. Other people fly in late and book the first night in a cheap airport hotel. Some DVCers take entire trips on CASH - revisiting their favorite resorts or trying resorts they didnt get a chance to before DVC.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

For example, if we need to borrow from our 2009 use year for 2008, but still want to vacation in 2009 BEFORE we can borrow 2010 points, what do we do?

As soon as you can book a vacation in your 2009 UY, you can borrow 2010 UY for that vacation, so this issue would not come up.

Of course, there may be times you don't want to borrow because once borrowed, points cannot be returned to the original UY. And, sometimes, even with borrowing, you may not have enough points. Then, the strategies others suggested will help streeeeeeeetch your points.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[dianeschlicht]

Suzanne is correct. As soon as you can book a 2009 ressie, you can borrow the 2010 points to book it.

 

[Enna]

Thanks for the suggestions. Now that I'm looking at my notes, we have an August use year. If we wanted to travel in June or July 2009, we would be doing that on borrowed 2009 points, and wouldn't be able to borrow 2010 points yet.

Typically this wouldn't be an issue, but we're trying to plan a trip to include the two grannies and whatever extended family they would want to include in their accomodations. Although we could wait 'til 2010 and bank the 2009 points, we know that anything can happen in that year, and at nearly 70 my mom isn't getting any younger.

The options of a point transfer, avoiding weekends or paying cash to extend the stay all seem like perfectly workable options.

Thanks for thinking this through with me!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I think I have it. You want to travel in your 08 UY (Aug 08 - July 09), but won't have enought points from 08 and 09 left after other trips.

You are right that you cannot use '10 UY points in your 08 UY.

Any possibility that you could schedule your trip for August 09, which would be in your 09 UY?

If not, then the other suggestions for receiving trasnferred points, renting a reservation and using cash are your only options.

Best of luck -- Suzanne