Why do you buy points at 2 resorts?

[DreaGirl]

My DH and I were discussing how many points we need to purchase. I mentioned that some people split their points between two resorts. He asked why and I said I didn't know.

So, what are the reasons you buy at two different resorts? If you can book 11 mo. out, can you use all your points from both resorts or just the points you have at that resort?

 

[wdw1972]

You can only use the points at *that* resort at 11 months. For example, with 150 BWV points and 150 AKV points you can only book 150 points worth at either resort at 11 months (without borrowing). At 7 months you can use all 300 points to book anywhere.

I own at 4 resorts and my reason is simple. I make multiple trips/year and want the 11 month window for as many trips as possible. That way I'm assured of ALWAYS getting what I want (well, except possibly concierge AKV with the new booking rules).

So, I use my BCV points for the trips during Food & Wine or Flower & Garden, when walking "home" from Epcot is important. I use AKV points for trips when I plan to relax there - generally in relatively cool weather months. I also own HH and OKW, but tend to use them elsewhere since I haven't been able to get to HH for years, and have more OKW points than I really need. So, I'll use them for my annual May BWV trip, and the Saratoga Springs or Vero trips each year.

 

[eva]

wdw1972 is correct. We own at 4 resorts too. But that is split over 650 points. We utilize banking and borrowing for different resort points for different types of trips. We love to stay in GV's quite a bit and really need that 11 month window to do that.

 

[4Pluto]

By banking and borrowing, you can get the 11 month advantage at multiple resorts.

Say you have 150 points and you need all of them for the reservation you want for the time of year you want to travel. If you had only 1 home resort (say SSR), then you would have the 11 month advantage each year but only at SSR.

Say you have 75 points at SSR and 75 points at AKV. The first year, you use the 75 points from SSR and borrow 75 points from next year's SSR and then you have the 11 month advantage for all of your points at SSR. The next year, you use your banked 75 points plus your current 75 points at AKV and reserve AKV with the 11 month advantage. Now you can switch between resorts every year using the 11 month window.

Not that necessarily need an 11 month window; some times of year and for some resorts its important, but other times of year don't require the 11 month advance notice. And if you don't normally reserve more than 7 months in advance, it doesn't matter. On the other hand, if you like a challenge, using both banking and borrowing, you can juggle three resorts to give yourself the 11 month advantage for three different resorts for visits every three years.

Hopes that helps.

 

[lisareniff]

We own at BCV and VB. We alternate years between going to VB and WDW. So with our VB point we bank them one year and use 2 years worth for a Beach Cottage for 5 nights. We have more BCV points so we do a full week plus every other year with what ever banking and borrowing needs to be done.

 

[disneynutz]

My DH and I were discussing how many points we need to purchase. I mentioned that some people split their points between two resorts. He asked why and I said I didn't know.

So, what are the reasons you buy at two different resorts? If you can book 11 mo. out, can you use all your points from both resorts or just the points you have at that resort?

Today you can pretty much get your desired reservation at 11 months. If you only have 1 resort that you really like, buy that resort. If you like a couple and want to trade off, you might want to buy at 2. In the future if 11 month bookings get harder to make, then you might want 2 resorts to increase your odds of getting what you want.

 

[delmar411]

and then there is also adding on where ever the best deal is at the time.

We don't travel normally at peak times so it doesn't matter a whole lot if we have to wait until the 7mth window at some point.

 

[MagikMom]

We bought a HH contract in 2001 and then added on at SSR in 2003. We originally bought HH because the dues were cheaper and in order to get reservations at HH during the time of year we like to go we really need the 11 month window. We added on at SSR because that was the new resort at the time. We usually are not to picky about where we stay at WDW as I like experiencing all of the different resorts so the 7 month window is fine for us if we don't feel like staying at SSR.

 

[DreaGirl]

Thanks for all the responses. I can see now why some would like to have points at 2 different resorts. I think having one resort will work for us now, but also see how adding on at a different resort would work later down the road.