Back in early 2022, I published an article about DVC rules not all members know exist. Today, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the topic and discuss some other rules you might not know about. There is a lot of information to unpack as a DVC member. Instead of taking a deep dive into the Public Offerings Statement (POS) or other documents, I thought this time, we could focus on topics that come up more often. Hopefully, some of this information will be useful to you and your DVC journey!
Holding Points
Holding points tends to be a topic that gets asked about a lot in DVC groups. On their website, DVC refers to the Holding Account as a “parking space” for vacation points from a DVC reservation that has been canceled or modified in the 30-1 day window. Basically, points go into holding when you either cancel a reservation between 30-1 day(s) before the check-in date or if you modify a reservation within this timeframe to a reservation that uses fewer points, leaving you with leftover points. The most important things to remember about holding points are this:
- Holding points can be used to book a new DVC reservation that checks in 60 days or less away. This is a rolling 60-day window. For example. If I have points in holding today, (publishing this on September 20th, 2023), I can use them to book a stay that checks in now until November 19th, 2023. Tomorrow, you’ll be able to book out as far as November 20th, 2023 and so fourth. It is important to note if you plan to book anything day of, you will need to call member services to see if there is any inventory, as day of inventory is not available on the Member Booking Tool.
- Holding points can’t be banked or borrowed. They expire at the end of your current use year.
- If you have qualifying points (direct or resale purchased prior to March 21, 2011), holding points can be used for the Disney Collection (except Disneyland Resort in California and Tokyo Disney Resort hotels), or Concierge Collection. You can make the reservation more than 4 months before the end of your Use Year for a Check-In date that is 60 or less days before the new Check-In date.
- Also with qualifying points, you can make reservations for Disney Collection at Disneyland Resort in California and Tokyo Disney Resort hotels, or the World Collection, as long as the reservation is booked 60 or less days before the new Check-In date. While the Disney Collection and Concierge Collection are not great uses of points, they are certainly better than losing points.
Transfer Points
We talked about transfer points in the previous article when it came to rules surrounding compensation for transferred points. But the rules regarding transferring and using these points can sometimes be confusing. So, let’s dive into some important information on transfer points.
- In order to transfer points from one member to another, Member Services now requires both members to be present on the phone. This can easily be accomplished through merging the call so both members can take part. We also did this with friends we shared larger accommodations with and we were both in the same room so it made it easy.
- Both members taking part in a transfer must be up to date on dues and any direct DVC loan payments.
- In order to transfer points, they can not have been previously banked or borrowed prior to the transfer. The original owner of the points maintains responsibility to pay the annual dues on transferred points.
- Transfer points maintain their home resort and use year, even if the recipient has a different use year and home resort(s).
- You are limited to one transfer (in or out) per membership per use year. This means that since we just completed a transfer with some of our February use year points in June, we are able to do another transfer once we are in our February 2024 use year. While this is the official rule, DVC has been lenient in the past with members who have more than one membership and doesn’t always count a transfer within the same owner’s memberships against your one transfer a year. Your mileage may vary here.
- I do want to add a reminder here (as we talked about in our last Rules You Might Not Know About series) that the exchange of money for transfer points is technically “strictly prohibited” per DVC. Transfers are meant by DVC as a way to share larger accommodations with friends, move points between your own memberships, or for gifting.
One-Time-Use Points
One-Time-Use Points are something that could be helpful in your time of need. We have found ourselves using a few here and there when we just needed a few more points to add that extra night. Here are some important facts about One-Time-Use points you might not know.
- A member can purchase up to 24 One-Time-Use points per use year.
- One-Time-Use points may be used for booking DVC stays at the 7 month (or less) window only and can’t be used for any home resort booking window.
- They can also be purchased for Disney Collection and World Collection provided the booking window is open for the trip being booked.
- These points can only be purchased through calling member services and as part of a reservation booking. They can’t be purchased and placed into your account (although we have a possible work around for this if needed for a waitlist, but that is for another time).
- Currently, One-Time-Use Points costs $20 per point ($17.77 + $1.16 (6.5% tax) + $1.07 resort tax).
- Purchases of One-Time-Use Points are non-refundable and can’t be banked, borrowed or transferred. They expire at the end of the use year. However, if you have to cancel your reservation, you can reuse them for another trip before they expire.
- Availability can be limited or suspended (though we have yet to see them run out or stop selling them, even during the time when borrowing was limited to 50%).
Maximum Days You Can Book
When it comes to the quantity of days you can book using your DVC membership, there are some minor restrictions that are important to note:
- At the 11-month booking window for home resorts and 7-month booking window for non-home resorts, members can book up to 7 consecutive nights starting with their check-in day. Unfortunately, if you are staying longer than seven days, you will have to book each day after that separately as the window opens up. As an example, today is September 20th, 2023 and the 11-month window is as far out as August 20th, 2024. Right now, I can book August 20-26 (checking out on the 27th) for seven total nights. If I wanted to book as far out as checking out on the 29th, I would have to book the 27th tomorrow, and the 28th, the next day. The same goes for non-home resort bookings at the 7-month window as well.
- The maximum total days you can have for one single reservation is 30 days. While this isn’t something that will affect the general population of DVC members, it is something to note if you plan to use DVC as your snow-bird home away from home for an extended period of time. You are able to stay for 30 days, check out, and check back in for another 30 days. This is most likely due to Florida law defining transient public lodging establishments as where someone can reside for 30 days or less at a time. There might be concern over “living” somewhere longer than 30 days and the ability to claim residency or tenancy.
Reservations Crossing Use Years
It is important to keep in mind if traveling at the end of one month and the beginning of another that you are not able to book a single reservation that crosses Use Year’s. This is only the case when it’s your Use Year. If you have a February Use Year, you can book stays that cross any month easily, aside from January into February. This is because of the rules of points and how they must be used within their Use Year. For a February Use Year member trying to book a stay from January 28th – February 4th, 2024, they would have to book January 28th – February 1st (checking out on the 1st) with 2023 Use Year points and February 1st – 4th with 2024 Use Year points. Because you will be using two separate “buckets” of points, this will have to be two separate reservations.
Hopefully, you were able to find some useful information here. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and what other DVC Rules you’d like to learn more about in the future!
As always, stay tuned to DVCFan.com for lots of information and news on all things DVC, and join in the conversation over in the DVC Fan Facebook group.
