Where To Use Returned Reservation Points

[schnebs]

My wife and I are looking at using our DVC points to book a hotel reservation at the Tokyo Disney Resort in April of 2023? but we’re not sure what’ll happen if we have to cancel or if the Tokyo Disney Resort Hotels cancel our reservations ( which thanks to COVID seems like a possibility).

The DVC website mentions that if a reservation for Tokyo is cancelled more than 15 days out, the reservation points go back into the use year that the points would have been used (which would be our 2023 use year, since our UY starts in April). But the website mentions that we can’t use the reservation points to book a DVC resort stay or an Intervals international stay. So what exactly CAN we book with the reservation points, and will that be subject to the rule that we have to book within 60 days of our planned arrival date like if these were vacations points in a holding account?
Any clarification the folks on the board could provide would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Sandisw]

One place They can be used for the Disney collection which includes non DVC hotels at WDW.

They key with reservation points is that you can not book abs travel in the last 4 months if your UY.

But, since these will already be in that status, that won’t apply. I do not believe there is any penalty.

But you will pay the additional $95 fee and the point charts for those hotels change yearly and are much higher than normal DVC

 

[_auroraborealis_]

To be honest, I would not book Tokyo on points in the current environment. Once they return to reservation points their use is highly constrained and on a timeline that can be a challenge. A lot of people have had problems with points from cruise and international bookings during COVID and it remains a big risk until there is more confidence in business operations working a certain way.

Cash is always more flexible. You can rent out points and book cash, and if you have to cancel you have highly usable cash.

 

[HHISand]

I would not book Tokyo on points. We had a trip planned for May 2020 (a year ahead of time) and considered using points. Then I did the analysis of how much the points were worth rented and then how much the Tokyo rooms would cost for cash. Huge difference! Much more cost effective to rent points and pay cash. In fact the point rental not only paid for Tokyo Disney stay but rest of stay (two more weeks in airbnb in Japan). Of course we didn't end up going to Japan in 2020 but we had already rented the points. So now we have the cash we received from the point rental to use whenever we are able to rebook the trip. If we had booked with points we would have ended up with Reservation Points that probably would have expired.

 

[DebbieB]

I agree, I would not do it. People got burned during the COVID close, especially for cruises which didn’t come back for a long time. They would not convert them back to DVC points and they expired at end of use year.

 

[MouseyMin]

I agree too. Don't use your points. There are a Sheraton and Hilton on the Monorail line that are wonderful upscale hotels and very inexpensive by Disney World standards. I stayed at the Sheraton and had a wonderful time there.