one time use question

[4luv2cdisney]

If at 7 months any days of an already booked trip are still available, can you buy OTU points and reallocate to free up current use year points (so they can be banked)?

To make clearer....
I could be short exactly 6 points for a 2019 trip unless I count on getting 2 standard view studios at BWV for Thanksgiving. It is my home resort, but I do not want that stress. Technically, I would only need to get 1 standard view, but I'd really just like to know I can book P/G view and not have to be worried about it.

So, I was thinking if any of my nights for my already booked 2018 trip are still available at the 7 month mark, I could buy one time use points and just bank some 2018 points. Is that allowed? Or is there another way to achieve the same goal that I'm not seeing?

 

[supersnoop]

I don’t think that’s allowed. One time use points can only be purchased when making the reservation. Perhaps if they treat it as a cancel/rebook, but they can’t cancel nights out of the middle of the reservation.

 

[CarolMN]

Don't think I'd risk it unless the available night was either the first night or the last night. Too big a risk of losing the reservation, IMO. Thanksgiving is a popular time and there are surely waitlists for that week. YMMV.

 

[nfceagles]

I once made a 1 night reservation that I didn't intend to use in order to purchase OTU points. Later cancelled that reservations and had those point available for me to use elsewhere. I think it was because I wanted to book a room as soon as possible online and not have to wait for member services to open which would have been necessary if I'd needed to purchase OTU points. Not sure if that will help you in any way because you'd have to hope they'll be willing to swap those points out for ones in your existing reservation.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

I once made a 1 night reservation that I didn't intend to use in order to purchase OTU points. Later cancelled that reservations and had those point available for me to use elsewhere. I think it was because I wanted to book a room as soon as possible online and not have to wait for member services to open which would have been necessary if I'd needed to purchase OTU points. Not sure if that will help you in any way because you'd have to hope they'll be willing to swap those points out for ones in your existing reservation.

So, where did those OTU points go when you cancelled? Just got added into your regular UY balance?

Really, what I need is a transfer, but finding someone with same UY and home resort that only wants to transfer a small amount of points isn't going to be easy. Good thing I have a while to figure it out.

 

[CarolMN]

So, where did those OTU points go when you cancelled? Just got added into your regular UY balance?
.............(snip)...........

The OTU points would go back into your account, but you would not be able to see them online. They would expire at the end of the use year and you would have to call MS to use them for something else.

 

[Cyberc1978]

I don’t think that’s allowed. One time use points can only be purchased when making the reservation. Perhaps if they treat it as a cancel/rebook, but they can’t cancel nights out of the middle of the reservation.

I agree it should be a cancel/rebook and then you need to hope that the day wont get snatched up by a WL. If they day(s) are still open during 7 months I would call MS. Normally the systems will use regular points first and then you can buy OTUP. So you might need to drop 1 day and then do a dummy reservation and then have them book the day using OTUP and then combine the reservations again. Afterwards you can cancell the dummy reservation and bank the points. I know it sounds cumbersome and maybe MS have an easier way of doing it.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

I agree it should be a cancel/rebook and then you need to hope that the day wont get snatched up by a WL. If they day(s) are still open during 7 months I would call MS. Normally the systems will use regular points first and then you can buy OTUP. So you might need to drop 1 day and then do a dummy reservation and then have them book the day using OTUP and then combine the reservations again. Afterwards you can cancell the dummy reservation and bank the points. I know it sounds cumbersome and maybe MS have an easier way of doing it.

The best I can think of is if a night is available at the beginning or end of my dates, I can call and book it purchasing OTU points and then modify my existing reservation (dropping the day I just reserved off) and then have them merged or linked or whatever they do.

I don't believe there is a requirement to be "out of points" to purchase OTU points. Just have to make sure MS is allocating they way you want.