Buying at multiple resorts?

[wbstafford]

I have a quick logistical question. We will be buying DVC resale very soon, and have two resorts we love and can't decide between. As for the 7 to 11 month window, can you use ALL of your points in that window, or only the points for THAT RESORT in that window. I mean, if we bought 100 at one resort, and 100 at another resort, in the 7-11 month window, can we use all 200 on one of the resorts? Or would we be limited to using 100 at 7-11 month and the other 100 less than 7 months.

I hope I'm making sense. Essentially we would like to buy at two resorts and flip-flop between them each year, using all 200 points. Would we be able to use them all in the 7-11 window?

Thanks for any help or clarification.

 

[tom1944]

Each resort is on their own 11/7 month schedule.

I am making the same decision as you and considering buying both but alternating years I stay at each.

If I need 300 points for my vacation, I will buy 150/160-point contracts at each and use the banking of points to go alternate years.

I am only going to start with one contract but hopefully it will be a loaded contract.

 

[sndral]

I have a quick logistical question. We will be buying DVC resale very soon, and have two resorts we love and can't decide between. As for the 7 to 11 month window, can you use ALL of your points in that window, or only the points for THAT RESORT in that window. I mean, if we bought 100 at one resort, and 100 at another resort, in the 7-11 month window, can we use all 200 on one of the resorts? Or would we be limited to using 100 at 7-11 month and the other 100 less than 7 months.

I hope I'm making sense. Essentially we would like to buy at two resorts and flip-flop between them each year, using all 200 points. Would we be able to use them all in the 7-11 window?

Thanks for any help or clarification.

This is a question that pops up every so often. You can only use the points assigned to that resort for home resort booking priority (11-7 months.)
If you could combine them to use before 7 months it would defeat home resort booking & we’d all own 25 points at our favorite expensive resort & 500 points at the cheapest DVC resort .

 

[wfjny]

We have 250 points at BLT, which we bought opening year

A few years ago, we went on a tour of the Floridian (pre covid). What the salesperson there explained to me:

Booking a trip across multiple contracts can be done, but it is not easy. What he said was the easier approach would be to buy the small contract (at the time it was 50 points). Then make the Floridian a once ever three year visit. Bank year one, go in year two while borrowing the points form year 3. That would give you 150 points every three years. In the mean time, you can always increase your points and add to that contract if finances allows.

Now, as covid proved, the rules can change. Not that it was a bad strategy. But you must remember, no matter what someone says, the only thing that matters is what is in the contract.

Having said all of that, we did not buy any points at the Floridian. We still have our BLT points, and we use them up every year. We have been very happy with our purchase, and who knows, we may buy even more one day.

 

[Sandisw]

Where points can be used is based on where they are deeded, regardless of what else an owner owns.

What some people will do is using banking and borrowing to buy at two and alternate each year which one to stay at, or do split stays.

 

[supersnoop]

Banking and borrowing may allow you to use twice the points every other year if you switch back and forth between resorts.

 

[bakerworld]

Booking a trip across multiple contracts can be done, but it is not easy. What he said was the easier approach would be to buy the small contract (at the time it was 50 points). Then make the Floridian a once ever three year visit. Bank year one, go in year two while borrowing the points form year 3. That would give you 150 points every three years. In the mean time, you can always increase your points and add to that contract if finances allows.

We did this with Beach Club. We purchased 55 points to use every other year.

I don't know what he meant by it not being easy to use multiple contracts. At 7 months the booking tool lists all contracts and you check the hierarchy of how you want to use them. The plus of waiting for 7 months to book is that if you change your mind of how you wanted to use the contracts you have more ability to change it so you can use points differently. We were only in that situation once but it did work.

 

[D-Trick]

I mean, if we bought 100 at one resort, and 100 at another resort, in the 7-11 month window, can we use all 200 on one of the resorts?

Think of it like this:

Imagine if this was true. Everyone would just buy a single 25 or 50 point contract at every resort and have 450+ points at their disposal for the 11 month window anywhere they wanted. That makes the 11 month booking priority pointless in this scenario.

 

[SkampyOne]

I'm in a similar position as the OP, but also travel at different times of the year so the additional stress of trying to figure out one UY with a single banking/use by calendar had me nervous! My "plan" is now to buy smaller contracts at each (why choose when you love both?!?) with UY about six months apart and see if I can plan trips accordingly to avoid the whammy. Assuming both show up in a single dashboard, should be relatively simple to manage, no? I don't tend to do long trips where I would need heftier point amounts or have to worry about transferring and then being restricted to 7 months, or trying to combine reservations or any other workaround that's out there.

 

[tom1944]

We made our initial offer today and we are already discussing a second resort in the future

We are thinking about using our points alternate years

I doubt we will make a second purchase for a year or two though

 

[DVCsloth]

We own at 3 resorts and usually stay in 1br's. One strategy we like to use is book our resort 11 months out in a studio and then try to modify at 7 months for a 1 BR using non home resort points. This way we can alternate between our home resorts and sometimes modify it for non-home resorts.

 

[sethschroeder]

We are thinking about using our points alternate years

keep in mind that people have lost point because they didn't use them. If you go this route I would go the borrowing route instead of the banking route. You completely use the following years points when booking this years trip so that way you are not banking a bunch of points that have to be used in a smaller time window.

 

[supersnoop]

but also travel at different times of the year

When you travel throughout the year, I suggest a different approach to selecting a use year. What are the three consecutive months when you are least-likely to travel? Pick a use year immediately after that. Remember, the best use year gives you some additional flexibility in the event you have to cancel at the last minute. If you have lots of flexibility in your life or you tent to not have to cancel, it doesn't matter as much.

 

[jimschwerk]

We

I have a quick logistical question. We will be buying DVC resale very soon, and have two resorts we love and can't decide between. As for the 7 to 11 month window, can you use ALL of your points in that window, or only the points for THAT RESORT in that window. I mean, if we bought 100 at one resort, and 100 at another resort, in the 7-11 month window, can we use all 200 on one of the resorts? Or would we be limited to using 100 at 7-11 month and the other 100 less than 7 months.

I hope I'm making sense. Essentially we would like to buy at two resorts and flip-flop between them each year, using all 200 points. Would we be able to use them all in the 7-11 window?

Thanks for any help or clarification.

We have 3 "homes" that we purchased all within a year of our 100 Saratoga direct that we use for short stays in between the 2 main stays when we just want to hang at the pool and Disney Springs or take a leisurely boatride to Olivia's at OKW. Or we use the SSR points at 7 months just to go somewhere different. We also own 250 Boardwalk and 150 Boulder Ridge, both resale, and do split stays most of the time. That way we book at 11 months for both resorts. Even if we choose to go to a "non-home", we always book our home resorts at 11 months first to guarantee a rez and then modify or waitlist them at 7 months. Poly is almost always available at 7 as well as AKL. We have had great luck waitlisting resorts that aren't always available at 7. So at the end of the day, don't over think it. Buy where you prefer to stay. You can almost always make it work if you are patient and creative. Btw, Boardwalk is our fav resort so we never substitute for that. We have annual passes so we reserve EPCOT the entire BW stay and love just wandering in and out after a day at the Luna Park pool!

 

[Straulin]

I'm in a similar position as the OP, but also travel at different times of the year so the additional stress of trying to figure out one UY with a single banking/use by calendar had me nervous! My "plan" is now to buy smaller contracts at each (why choose when you love both?!?) with UY about six months apart and see if I can plan trips accordingly to avoid the whammy. Assuming both show up in a single dashboard, should be relatively simple to manage, no? I don't tend to do long trips where I would need heftier point amounts or have to worry about transferring and then being restricted to 7 months, or trying to combine reservations or any other workaround that's out there.

I haven’t done this but from various posts I have read, my understanding is all points on an account have to be the same use year. To have different use years you set up different accounts. So you wouldn’t have a single dash board. You can transfer points from one account to another but once transferred those points cannot be banked. I don’t know if you can transfer banked or borrowed points.

 

[kboo]

I'm in a similar position as the OP, but also travel at different times of the year so the additional stress of trying to figure out one UY with a single banking/use by calendar had me nervous! My "plan" is now to buy smaller contracts at each (why choose when you love both?!?) with UY about six months apart and see if I can plan trips accordingly to avoid the whammy. Assuming both show up in a single dashboard, should be relatively simple to manage, no? I don't tend to do long trips where I would need heftier point amounts or have to worry about transferring and then being restricted to 7 months, or trying to combine reservations or any other workaround that's out there.

That's what we have - 2 UYs 6 mo apart, sometimes we use the different home resorts for a single split stay, booking at or around 11 months in advance. Other times we will throw in a shorter trip on just one resort's points. E.g. for 2023 most of our points (from 2 different memberships) were booked for a stay at Aulani at about 5 months in advance. Then we booked two later shorter WDW trips each using a different home resorts (and memberships).

I doubt we will make a second purchase for a year or two though

Ha. We bought our second home resort 8 months after first buying in to DVC. at last 1 month of that was ROFR/estoppel. Good luck.

So you wouldn’t have a single dash board. You can transfer points from one account to another but once transferred those points cannot be banked. I don’t know if you can transfer banked or borrowed points.

you have a single dashboard that shows all of your upcoming stays and waitlists regardless of the contract/UY/membership. When you go to book a trip, then you need to toggle between memberships. but it's all on 1 screen, if that helps. Not too hard with 2 UY, though if I add on anywhere, even if it's a new home resort, I will only look at those 2 UYs. (Famous last words - if I saw a perfect VGC contract in a 3rd UY I'd have to revisit this.)

As for transferring points, I am still a novice, but I think you can only transfer current UY points. Once transferred, you can bank them if you're within the banking window. You can't transfer borrowed points, and you can't borrow transferred points (since by definition you're transferring current UY)