Cancellation strategy for future bookings...

[Mr Smith]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but when I do a search on cancellations a million threads show up.

I ran into an issue with a reservation for this weekend that is making me consider if should be buying the cancellation protection for bigger point use reservations. We have a studio for this weekend in Vegas. For fun I looked to see what it would cost to book a 1 bedroom with kitchen though open season. As we have dietary restrictions the kitchen is a huge plus. The open season price is a very good deal. Realizing I can't change my existing reservation within the 60 day window, I would have to forfeit the reservation to make the new open season reservation. With that restriction it no longer makes sense.

Although it isn't a big deal for small point reservatoins, it made me consider my homeweek Lagoon oceanfront annual reservation. If something comes up last minute and I am unable to go (work/illness/etc), I would be forfeiting a $2k reservation if I couldn't sell or find someone to use it. Now it starts to make sense to buy the protection if I believe there is a greater than 1/20 chance that I would ever need to cancel last minute.

Has anyone completed a breakdown of what amount of points would be break even for the cancellation protection? Could be easily figured out if someone had intimate knowledge of how often a trip gets cancelled within 60 days due to unforseen reasons.

 

[HuskerATL]

It is only $79 to protect the points so and if we have a trip that could get cancelled, due to work or guests, we get it.

 

[Mr Smith]

In the future I will be certainly be doing it more often. However, there is a point where it doesn't make any sense. For example, my studio reservation was 1500 points. Doesn't justify spending $79 to save points worth $150 or less. Same would be true for reservations up to how many points, 5,000 or less?

 

[PigsDad]

Note: the window for making changes is 60 days, but you can cancel your reservation at 31 days out and receive all of your points back. You will only forfeit the reservation fee. That is true for Club Season reservations and Home Week reservations (and RCI reservations).

I have only bought the cancellation protection once, as I feel the probability of having to cancel within the 30 day window is very low, but for higher point reservations, it is certainly something to think about.

Kurt

 

[frank808]

The open season price is a very good deal. Realizing I can't change my existing reservation within the 60 day window, I would have to forfeit the reservation to make the new open season reservation. With that restriction it no longer makes sense.

This is in the rules regarding open season rates.

Reservations booked with ClubPoints and later canceled cannot be rebooked into the same resort for the same time period using Open Season rental rates.

Do not know if HGVC follows this rule closely. You would not be able to use OS rates, if available, for a room canceled booked with HGVC points.

Sent from my SM-T290 using Tapatalk

 

[Mr Smith]

This is in the rules regarding open season rates.

Reservations booked with ClubPoints and later canceled cannot be rebooked into the same resort for the same time period using Open Season rental rates.

Do not know if HGVC follows this rule closely. You would not be able to use OS rates, if available, for a room canceled booked with HGVC points.

Sent from my SM-T290 using Tapatalk

I had no idea about this rule. Seems a bit silly as it could potentially cost them money. If you wanted to upgrade the room, as is my case, they are not only preventing you from spending more money on this stay but also losing an additional reservation when you book another stay with the points saved from the original reservation. I could see them not allowing you to book the same type of room, but they would still lose out on an additional reservation.

When I called in they allowed a one time “exception” to allow me to book the upgraded room if I paid a $99 booking fee. Was awfully nice of them to bend the rules so they could take my money. . They insisted I buy the cancellation fee in the future for this situation. However, if they are willing to change the reservation for $99 I would rather pay the extra $20 when this situation happens. I will be buying the cancellation protection for future reservations that use over 10,000 points. At a value of roughly $1,000 in points I would only have to use it 1 out of ten times within 30 days of check in to essentially breakeven. Was just curious if anyone had data that showed how often this actually happens within a hotel/timeshare system to more accurately calculate the risk.

If you do buy the protection do you recover all the fees as well as points or do you lose the $79 fee as well as any booking fee?

 

[GT75]

If you do buy the protection do you recover all the fees as well as points or do you lose the $79 fee as well as any booking fee?

You lose all fees (both cancel protection and booking fees).

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Currently my wife and i both have very senior parents, so i usually get the cancelation insurance in case something comes up with them.

So far the only time i have actually used the insurance was when HGV put Hawaii on sale very close to on one of our trips. I called in and had them rebook the trip with fewer points..

 

[mandl]

I seem to recall back in the day HGVC had a yearly fee that covered your cancellations (this was when they were offering the service to ship your luggage). They've definitely changed things up over the years.

 

[Talent312]

I seem to recall back in the day...

I had to walk to school, 5 miles in the snow and it was uphill, both ways.
And I grew up in Miami !

There was none of this "online booking" for affiliated resorts or RCI.
We could call and ask them to check for us, for no additional fee.

Ahhh. The good old days.
.

 

[brp]

I seem to recall back in the day HGVC had a yearly fee that covered your cancellations (this was when they were offering the service to ship your luggage). They've definitely changed things up over the years.

They have this now to a degree for bHC owners. There's an All Inclusive fee (I think it's like #129 now) that covers all reservations (including HGVC reservations) and, effectively, eliminates the fees on cancellation since there is no reservation fee paid.

Cheers.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Note: the window for making changes is 60 days, but you can cancel your reservation at 31 days out and receive all of your points back. You will only forfeit the reservation fee. That is true for Club Season reservations and Home Week reservations (and RCI reservations).

I have only bought the cancellation protection once, as I feel the probability of having to cancel within the 30 day window is very low, but for higher point reservations, it is certainly something to think about.

Kurt

We have surplus points right now due to the fact that we have purchased a Condo in Honolulu right across the street from the HHV, where we have used most of our points in the past. We have booked some vacations with our points but if we can't go and need to cancel losing our points and having to stay in Honolulu in the winter rather than going somewhere else is really not too much of a sacrifice.