No longer able to call at 7 months and reallocate points

[Mia Kylie and Co]

I'm a newbie with DVC so I apologize for not being well versed on the in's and out's. We closed on 2 different home resorts this year. Our home resorts are Grand Floridian and Animal Kingdom Lodge. For our first trip (2018) we booked a couple nights at GFV at 11 months out. At that time I had told our sales rep that we were planning a big trip in 2019 for my parents and wanted to stay in a 2 bedroom at GFV. He suggested that at 7 months I call MS and have them reallocate my AKL points to the existing trip so that I could get the GFV points put back in my account. Giving me a larger amount of GFV points to work with for our big 2019 trip at 11 months. I did this at 7 months and this was easily taken care of. Literally just called and asked to use AKL points for my existing GFV trip. Points were added back to my GFV contract instantly.

However, today I had called MS regarding a separate trip and was surprised to hear that they will no longer allow reallocating points at 7 months. I was told that the only way to get points back would be to completely cancel my reservation and rebooking with non-home resort points. (Esentially losing my reservation.) Just curious if anyone else has heard this?

 

[Cyberc1978]

That is true. You never could reallocate points on a reservation made in the 11-7 month booking window. If you could that would also circumvent the home resort booking window.

You can however reallocate points on a reservation made within the 7 month window.

 

[zavandor]

This is not new. If you use the home resort advantage to book a stay, then you cannoy reallocate the points at 7 months.
If you book a stay with VGF points at 7 month for another resort, then later you can reallocate the points and free the VGF points.
I think that if you book at 11 months at VGF and later you buy another VGF contract that has some banked points, you can reallocate the banked point into the existing reservation to free up the other points.

 

[Mia Kylie and Co]

That is true. You never could reallocate points on a reservation made in the 11-7 month booking window. If you could that would also circumvent the home resort booking window.

You can however reallocate points on a reservation made within the 7 month window.

Right. But what I'm not understanding is why I no longer can reallocate after 7 month mark? Was this a one time thing that I was allowed to do?

 

[zavandor]

Right. But what I'm not understanding is why I no longer can reallocate after 7 month mark?

Let's say I have a VGF 100 points contract and other 300 points at ssr. If what you say were possible, I could book at 11 months at vgf, then at 7 months reallocate. This way I have still 100 VGF and 200 SSR points. Then I book again at VGF at 11 months and at 7 months reallocate. I now have 2 reservations at VGF, 100 VGF points and 100 SSR points. I book again at 11 months at VGF and then reallocate. I now have 3 reservations for a total of 300 points at VGF and still 100 points at VGF that I can bank. I have transformed my ssr points into vgf points
That's the reason it's not possible to reallocate points used during the home resort window.

 

[Mia Kylie and Co]

This is not new. If you use the home resort advantage to book a stay, then you cannoy reallocate the points at 7 months.
If you book a stay with VGF points at 7 month for another resort, then later you can reallocate the points and free the VGF points.
I think that if you book at 11 months at VGF and later you buy another VGF contract that has some banked points, you can reallocate the banked point into the existing reservation to free up the other points.

I see. I must have been given a one time reallocation for the 2018 trip. As I had used the home resort advantage for the stay and then was able to call at 7 months and reallocate. I understand why they wouldn't want to do this. Just surprised the rep had told me this was a tip that he suggested I use in the future.

 

[Mia Kylie and Co]

Let's say I have a VGF 100 points contract and other 300 points at ssr. If what you say were possible, I could book at 11 months at vgf, then at 7 months reallocate. This way I have still 100 VGF and 200 SSR points. Then I book again at VGF at 11 months and at 7 months reallocate. I now have 2 reservations at VGF, 100 VGF points and 100 SSR points. I book again at 11 months at VGF and then reallocate. I now have 3 reservations for a total of 300 points at VGF and still 100 points at VGF that I can bank. I have transformed my ssr points into vgf points

Great way to describe it. Thank you!

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

Right. But what I'm not understanding is why I no longer can reallocate after 7 month mark? Was this a one time thing that I was allowed to do?

You can do the reallocation, even today, if the room you are booking is still available. Think of it as cancelling your old reservation with home resort points, and replacing it with a new reservation with non-home resort points.
But if you are trying to do this at a time of year when the resort is fully booked, you cannot do that without risking that you would lose your reservation. This is as it should be, because otherwise, there would be no advantage in having home resort points.

 

[Mia Kylie and Co]

I see. I must have been given a one time reallocation for the 2018 trip. As I had used the home resort advantage for the stay and then was able to call at 7 months and reallocate. I understand why they wouldn't want to do this. Just surprised the rep had told me this was a tip that he suggested I use in the future.

Great way to describe it. Thank you!

 

[Dean]

You can always book nights that match up at 7 months out and later by swiping the reservation around, you have effectively reallocated at 7 months out. And the wait list can aid in this, esp at VGF.

 

[CarolMN]

I see. I must have been given a one time reallocation for the 2018 trip. As I had used the home resort advantage for the stay and then was able to call at 7 months and reallocate. I understand why they wouldn't want to do this. Just surprised the rep had told me this was a tip that he suggested I use in the future.

Doubt you got an exception. More likely, there was still VGF availability left for the reservation you made during the home resort priority period. So the CM just went ahead and re!eased the VGF points and made the reservation with Your AKV points. You can legally do that.

 

[Mia Kylie and Co]

Doubt you got an exception. More likely, there was still VGF availability left for the reservation you made during the home resort priority period. So the CM just went ahead and re!eased the VGF points and made the reservation with Your AKV points. You can legally do that.

Gotcha. That makes sense. Thanks everyone!

 

[drusba]

The actual rule is that you cannot reallocate 7 month points to a 11 month reservation unless that new reservation is open, independent from the one you already have, at the time you are trying to do the change. If it is independently open, there is no problem in doing the switch of points on your reservation because you would be gaining no advantage over others who want to reserve at 7 months out.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I see. I must have been given a one time reallocation for the 2018 trip. As I had used the home resort advantage for the stay and then was able to call at 7 months and reallocate. I understand why they wouldn't want to do this. Just surprised the rep had told me this was a tip that he suggested I use in the future.

Your guide told you something that would circumvent the home resort priority rules. Never should have been suggested. Never should have been allowed.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Your guide told you something that would circumvent the home resort priority rules. Never should have been suggested. Never should have been allowed.

Agree!

 

[hcortesis]

Numerous times, probably 8-10, I have used my VGF points to book the VGF at 11 months, and then switched them out with my beach club points. Haven't done it this year however.

 

[CMNJ]

Numerous times, probably 8-10, I have used my VGF points to book the VGF at 11 months, and then switched them out with my beach club points. Haven't done it this year however.

Honestly I’ve heard others mention this in the past. Personally I’m glad they are starting to enforce this if they previously didn’t. I own BWV and BLT because I have strong feelings about where I do and do not want to stay. The thought of someone using their BLT or BWV points multiple times to secure accommodations at 11 months and then swapping them out with SSR points would make me angry. If I miss out because a other BLT owner books sooner so be it but not with SSR points!

 

[Sandisw]

Numerous times, probably 8-10, I have used my VGF points to book the VGF at 11 months, and then switched them out with my beach club points. Haven't done it this year however.

If you have gotten CM's to do this for you and there was not availability still for what you had already booked, then you got some major pixie dust. But, it should not ever be allowed to happen. It is one rule that I hope they always enforce.

 

[hcortesis]

If you have gotten CM's to do this for you and there was not availability still for what you had already booked, then you got some major pixie dust. But, it should not ever be allowed to happen. It is one rule that I hope they always enforce.

Honestly, it happened so often it really didn't feel like it was out of the norm. And maybe it wasn't.

 

[aokeefe]

I have an upcoming split stay booked (one home resort booked at 11 months and a non home resort booked at 7 months) We recently closed on another resale with points expiring. I called to ask them to re-allocate points so I could use the expiring points (I hadn't even thought doing this would be circumventing the 11 month booking window) The CM said she could allocate to the non home resort but not the home resort and explained why. Made total sense to me and I appreciated the explanation. So hopefully this is being enforced.