Reservation Window Question

[jread]

DVC noob - in the process of purchasing 120 points in Saratoga Springs. I understand I can book at other resorts, but the reservation window reduces from 11 to 7 months. My questions is, if I also purchase 200 points at Aulani Villas, can I pool the combined points (320) for an Aulani reservation at the 11 month window?

 

[tinglebell]

DVC noob - in the process of purchasing 120 points in Saratoga Springs. I understand I can book at other resorts, but the reservation window reduces from 11 to 7 months. My questions is, if I also purchase 200 points at Aulani Villas, can I pool the combined points (320) for an Aulani reservation at the 11 month window?[/

I don t think so as you can only use 11 month frame at your home.

 

[JudyS]

DVC noob - in the process of purchasing 120 points in Saratoga Springs. I understand I can book at other resorts, but the reservation window reduces from 11 to 7 months. My questions is, if I also purchase 200 points at Aulani Villas, can I pool the combined points (320) for an Aulani reservation at the 11 month window?

No. At the 11 months window, you would only be able to use your 200 Aulani points to book Aulani.

Disney has thought about this approach, and made sure it never happens.

 

[belor]

Don't forget you can always bank and borrow to accomplish the same thing, so if on the 1st year you want to go to Aulani for a 320 point vacation, you can use the current year 200pts and borrow 120 from the next year. At the same time you can bank 120 @ Saratoga, so the next year you will have 240 Saratoga points to use and 80 Aulani. With this you can get 11 months at Aulani and 11 months at Saratoga (not that you will really need it for Saratoga, except for a couple weeks out of the year)

-john-

 

[jread]

Thank you for this clarification. So at the 11 month window I can only use current, banked or borrowed Aulani points, but at the 7 month window I could use a combination of Aulani and Saratoga points. Is that right?

 

[belor]

Yes, At the 11 month point if you own at Aulani, DVC will allow you to use points for a stay there in any way you would like - banked and borrowed points have the same booking window as current.

-john-

 

[icydog]

Home resort = 11 to 7 months
Other resorts =7 months or less

 

[colamedia]

I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but seem to recall something like if the 2 resorts have the same use year, so they are the same account, you can move points between resorts.
If they have different use years, they are different accounts and you definitely can't do it.

I've only one purchase and not taken a lot of interest in multiple accounts so could easily be confused.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but seem to recall something like if the 2 resorts have the same use year, so they are the same account, you can move points between resorts.
If they have different use years, they are different accounts and you definitely can't do it.

I've only one purchase and not taken a lot of interest in multiple accounts so could easily be confused.

Resorts are always resorts. They do not morph into another resort. But if they are under one master contract, the points can be easily combined at seven months out. If they have different UYs they are different master contracts and can be transferred from one to the other to combine at seven months out. So Aulani will always be Aulani and SSR will always be SSR.

 

[blondietink]

As others have said, you cannot combine the home periods of different resorts to benefit you at one resort at 12 months.

Depending on when you want to go to Aulani resort, you should not have trouble booking at the 7 month mark. If you want to go during a notoriously busy season, like Christmas or Easter, you would need the 8-12 month booking as an Aulani owner. Also if you want one of the very few standard view villas which give you more bang for your points, those also tend to sell out very fast, too.

We currently have our 2nd trip to Aulani planned and had no trouble booking at the 7 month window. First time was a September booking, the next one is in April.

 

[Southerngirl528]

Very good explanation, Belor.

And I have had the same experience as Blondietink re: booking at Aulani at the 7 month window. I've been to Aulani 3 different trips and neither of my home resorts is Aulani (thus I had to wait to book at 7 months or less in advance), and have had no issues booking. I did have to wait list for mid-Sept this year as I was trying to book no more than 4 months out and the nights I wanted were before the the Disney Hawaii cruise so Aulani was in very big demand for pre and post Hawaii cruisers. I booked what was available and wait listed for my desired ocean view studios. Waitlist came through for me. Yay!!

 

[lily28]

I find it is very hard to book rooms like hotel room or studio that cost fewer points during the summer at the 7 month mark. I couldn't even get 1 night during July 4 in a studio this year in between my 2 weeks of timeshare stay. I wait listed and waited for 7 months but it never filled. I ended up staying at a backup hotel. I got so frustrated that I bought a small Aulani contract

 

[Southerngirl528]

Lily28, sorry to hear of your difficulties but I am not surprised at all. Here's why…. it's a supply vs. demand thing.

You are trying to book categories of rooms that have a very small availability due to the sheer numbers. On the hotel rooms I think there's only something like 6 or 7 available to book on points. So it only takes that few members that DO own at Aulani to book and those are gone.

The lower points studios are also in very high demand and there are only so many so again, those with home resort priority will snap those up first. I have had great luck with my wait listing because I do not try to get rooms that are either in exceedingly high demand or extremely low supply. I know my odds would be very, very slim to get those because of that dreaded supply/demand.

I always book Ocean View at Aulani so I've had no issues because those do not book up first. I would never try to wait list a standard view at BWV for example because I know they are booked very quickly at 11 month inventory release to BWV owners. But I can tell you I have had success wait listing and getting GV's at resorts where I do not own, but I haven't even tried to get a GV at a resort where I do not own and they only have 6 of them. Not worth my time. I have gotten GV's at AKL for example and I do not own there. Conversely, I bought enough points at Vero many years back to be able to book one of their fabulous Beach Cottages for 2 or 3 nights in the summer months because I knew there are only 6 of them and at 7 months I would mostly likely never be able to get one.

I think if you can possibly swing trying for a slightly pricier (points-wise) room at Aulani you would not hit the same issues you've had. If you can't, then sounds like a great plan to buy those Aulani points, then by banking and borrowing you can triple the amount you have to book what you prefer. Good luck!

 

[frank808]

I believe disney conveyed 8 hotel rooms to dvc. This was for the grand villa and a couple of rooms that were used to make room for Ulu Cafe.