Who has combined points with a friend?

[dianeschlicht]

Has anyone ever combined points with a DVC member friend to book a combined trip? I was wondering if it is best to transfer one person's points to the other's account or if the reservations should be made independantly and linked.

 

[Laurajean1014]

We just did this for an April 06 trip. He transferred his points into my account and I placed the ressie. It worked out great.

We were afraid that if we booked Sun-Thurs on one person and Friday-Sat on another's ressie, technically they are two separate ressies and we could be asked to move. We did not want this to happen.

 

[dianeschlicht]

That's what we thought too, but I thought perhaps someone had tried doing linked reservations.

 

[Pinnie]

Yes we have done this on a few occasions with a friend. I deposted points into his account so we could share a two bedroom at VB.

The only time it gets tricky is when you are combining points with different use years.

pinnie

 

[jekjones1558]

Just make sure neither of you will need to transfer in the opposite direction at a future time this year...

 

[kathleena]

We've done it both ways and had no problem at all. The only issue comes from having separate Use Years.

Dont' ask me to explain it because I never did get it, I just know it was an issue.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Okay, now THAT could be an issue. We have a March use year and they have June. Do the transfered points retain the use year? I thought there was some issue with that.

 

[DebbieB]

Okay, now THAT could be an issue. We have a March use year and they have June. Do the transfered points retain the use year? I thought there was some issue with that.

I ran into that issue about 2 years ago when I combined points with 2 other DVC member friends. We were booking 4 nights at BWV for late April 2004. One friend had OKW points she wasn't going to use, so she booked the first 3 nights at the 7 month mark (September 2003). The other friend has a BCV August use year and I have a BWV April use year. She transferred points into my account so that I could book the last night when the 7 month mark hit for that night. The first friend already confirmed that a standard view 1 bedroom was available for all the nights when she called for the first 3. So when I called for the last night, they told me my friend's BCV points needed to be banked. I said why would they have to be banked when they were August 2003 points and our stay was April 2004. They said they became April 2003 points when they were transferred into my account. The long and short of it was they had to be manually banked in order to use them and it was an overnight process. I was really upset that we could lose the standard view room (luckily it was a Saturday night). It all worked out when I called in the morning and was able to make the reservation for the last night and linked it to the first 3 nights my other friend already booked. My friend who booked the first 3 nights got a revised reservation for 4 nights. There was no problem when we checked in, it was considered all 1 stay.

 

[kathleena]

Okay, now THAT could be an issue. We have a March use year and they have June. Do the transfered points retain the use year? I thought there was some issue with that.

oh, no, I knew you would ask me to explain!

But I can't!

I know that my UY was August and hers was Feb. We took 4 trips together and I know on the first or the second one of them there was an issue. I can't remember if it was banked or borrowed points that did it or what - but there was an issue to work around. For the third - we had her book OKW for the entire week and then at 7 mos - I booked two days and she let two days go. They linked the ressies - but because the first two days were my days - it was all in my name. And then the 4th one, I booked the whole thing.

So - don't fear about linking the ressies - it was not a problem at all.

 

[luv2vacation]

My brother and I recently combined points for our trip. I made the first couple of nights from my borrowed points and he made the other nights for his current use year. We did it this way just in case something happened and one of us could not go. His points would remain his and mine would still be mine. We did this all in one phone call to MS. They said it was no problem to do it this way and it was one ressie under my name.

 

[robinb]

Okay, now THAT could be an issue. We have a March use year and they have June. Do the transfered points retain the use year? I thought there was some issue with that.

No, you can bank transferred points.

We shared an OKW Grand Villa with friends over NYE 2003. We have OKW and BWV points and they have BWV points. We made the reservation and when their UY started (in Feb, after the trip) they transferred their points into our BWV account. I used some points and then ended up banking a bunch into our next use year. It worked out very well.

If we were trying to get into a resort that we both own, I would have them transfer the points ahead of the reservation.

It worked so well last time that we're doing it again this year . The Grand Villa (which is bigger that either one of our houses!) really spoiled us. Our friends get the master bedroom this time, though.

 

[dianeschlicht]

It looks to me like the different use year problem comes when the points have different home resorts. In this case, both of us have OKW points, just different use years.

 

[robinb]

It looks to me like the different use year problem comes when the points have different home resorts. In this case, both of us have OKW points, just different use years.

I don't think it's a problem at all. Our friends, with a BWV Feb UY, deposited their points into our BWV Aug UY account with no problems. I was able to use some of those points and even bank most of them into the next year.

 

[married@wdw]

We've done this with my in-laws several times. It is very easy for us because we have the same use year and resort, but they always transfer points into our account and we take care of the ressie (I'm the planning freak in the family). It always works out great.