Unfortunate situation

[Bob H]

Hello all,

As you know the terrorists attacked NYC and Washington DC today. It was a great tragedy!

I had booked a 2BR BWV and a 1BR BWV for starting this Sunday. Total value about 432 points.

Some of the people going for us don't feel safe flying anymore, plus the fact that Disney closed today made them feel more uneasy.

We called DVC and they told us that we could reschedule our points anytime before the end of January. (we can not use the "one-time lifetime exemption" because we used that once already), and we can not bank them or rent them out.

I have heard that you can book rooms for certain time periods and then try to rent them out to people, perhaps through an auction on Ebay.

So I am writing for guidance...

How do you go about booking a room and letting someone else use it?
Are there drawbacks?
Do you have any other suggestions?

I need answers almost immediately because our check in is scheduled for this Sunday and we need to change our reservations before then.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Bob.

 

[teri]

Bob, go over to the DVC Rent/Trade board, look at the FAQ there. It may help! Here is the link... DVC Rent/Trade Board

 

[rogers803]

Bob,

Try this link. I found it on Ebay. Maybe they could give you some info.

Good luck,
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1273932603

 

[fkj2]

You might have to change resorts as BWV might be booked for the holidays. Check availability at the other resorts. It seems people either try to rent points or actually reserve time and rent that specifically.

You might want to check with "Dean" here on the boards who probably can answer any question you can think of about this problem.

Did you think about checking with Member Services again? I would like to think they could consider the circumstances involved here and make some exception and at least give you some extra time to reschedule your points.

 

[Bob H]

Hello again,

Thank you all for your suggestions (public and private). We did call MS and they allowed us to bank 232 of the 432 points to be used by the end of January 2003. So at least we have our 2002 points back, plus we could borrow from '03 for another big event if we so chose.

I am either going to try to rent the remaining 200 points on the rental board, or I am going to make multiple reservations for December/January studios and try to Ebay them.

Thanks again,

Bob

 

[tkmcw]

Just wondering when the points you were using for your reservation were going to expire? We have points expiring this month and can not use them.

Tom

 

[Bob H]

We have a February use year. We had points that we banked from last year. We had this years points (200), and we had borrowed next years' points (200). Total about 432.

MS gave us back 232. Where that math came from, I don't know, but from my understanding, I have to use the '02 points by the end of this January because we borrowed them and we couldn't turn around and bank them again. We were still far enough away from our use month that they allowed us to bank this year's points.

My understanding is that since you are so close to your use year, you will lose them all when they expire. I haven't done it yet, but you might try renting them, or placing a weekend getaway somewhere nice and they try ebaying them.

Bob

 

[robinb]

Tom:

I see from your info that you're in Japan ... a little far away to use those points this month . I visited Japan last October and had a great time.

I would suggest that you put your points up for sale over on the Rent/Trade board pronto. The going rate for points is about $10, but I would sell them for much less since your points are in many ways "distressed". They expire in 2 weeks and many people are canceling their vacation plans in light of this week's tragic events. Price them to sell and you will be able to get your maintenance fees back.

Or ... if there are a lot of points, request the one-time-only banking exemption.

 

[missnrowdy]

Hi Bob, are your points still available? I'd like to discuss this with you if they are. Email me at missnrowdy@aol.com

 

[Pa@okw95]

Bob, I drive from Connecticut when I go to WDW. I stopped flying long ago because flying for me was no longer any fun with all the troubles you can face with flying and this was before 9/11/01. You could drive. With two adults driving you could get there with one over night stay on the way down and on the way back. That might be another consideration. There will no crowds at WDW so it might be a very enjoyable time to go and get away from all this and surely what is to come in a couple of weeks.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

If you aren't staying at OKW you might consider catching the train. Make an event out of it. Even if you are staying at OKW you could drive to Lorton, VA and catch the autotrain.

Of course now you've gotten half your points back its probably a moot point.

 

[BobH]

Just thought I'd say hello and let you know we have screen names that are almost identical. Good Luck with your vacation plans.

BobH