What to do with a small number of points?

[snoopy5386]

We have a very small number of points leftover from our current use year. The points will expire in June 2012 or June 2013 if we bank them. We don't have another DVC trip planned until fall/winter of 2013. We are staying with my in laws at Bonnet Creek in October of 2012, so I could use the points to add one more night to our trip. Another option would be to gift a night at a resort to SIL who lives locally. But even to stay one night in the low season requires double the amount of points that we have, requiring us to borrow. WWYD? We are fairly new DVC members so this is the first time anything like this has ever come up.

 

[dianeschlicht]

It would be easier to answer if you could say how many points or which resort. Obviously, it has to be at least 25 or 50 as a minimum. I guess given those parameters, I'd probably use them to add a night to the previously planned trip.

 

[Sandisw]

I would add another night to your October 2012 trip!

 

[snoopy5386]

Am I allowed to mention the number? I thought that was against the rules so that is why I didn't mention it in my first post. We've got 5 points left and our home resort is AKV.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'd offer them for transfer. Someone else might be just a few points short for a reservation they want. If you can't get them transferred, I'd bank them just in case your plans change and you go earlier than you think you will.

But, I would not borrow from the future for just one extra night somewhere that required me to move. The "street value" of those five points is $50. I hate moving, and I wouldn't move resorts to save $50. If it came to that, I'd just as soon let them expire.

 

[snoopy5386]

Yeah, the idea of the extra night with having to borrow is not appealing to me either. Especially with two small kids and hauling all of their crap everywhere. I'm thinking either offering them to SIL and using Disney's points to complete the reservation (4 more points needed in the low season) as her bday gift or offering them for transfer.

 

[sherylcin]

I had this situation a couple of years ago and just offered the 5 points on the sale/trade board. Ended up gifting them to someone who just needed to finish a reservation.

 

[disneydivermom]

We are in a similar situation. 5 points from 2010 banked to 2011 and have to be used by Oct 2012. I don't want to lose them or try to re-sell them so we decided to change our 1 day stay at Hilton Head (on drive home) to a 1 bedroom rather than studio. We will be using a couple of our 2011 points but think its worth it for a stay with 2 adults and 2 kids.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I had this situation a couple of years ago and just offered the 5 points on the sale/trade board. Ended up gifting them to someone who just needed to finish a reservation.

Yep. That's what I'd do with only 5-10 points and nothing else I could do with them.

The only downside is that creates the one transfer per year, but since most people never use them anyway, and they're not staying at DVC next year, that certainly shouldn't be an issue in this particular case.

 

[lilpooh108]

I would add a night to your oct 2012 trip and don't borrow next year's points, just buy the $15 one time use points from disney. That way you get an extra night for $75 if you just need 5 more points

 

[ckdipp]

Why not bank them? You never know what trips you might take next year!

 

[dmoore22]

Why not bank them? You never know what trips you might take next year!

That's what we do. Each year we find that we have a small number of points to bank. When you make reservations DVC always uses the banked points first so they are not lost. It has gotten so that we end up accumulating enough over time to take a long weekend during the F&W Festival. This may sound convoluted but I'll try to explain. The qualifier here is that subsequent reservations are made within the use window so they are not forfeited. Let's say in year 1 you have 5 points that you bank. You take a trip in year two for the same amount of points in year one. DVC uses the banked points first and you now end up with 10 points to bank at the end of year two. You bank those points. Year three you use the same number of points remembering that DVC uses the banked points first. Now you have 15 points to bank at the end of year three, etc. etc.