OTU points and paid membership program

[Sandisw]

Has anyone with MMB been able to purchase the BOGO OTU points under a membership not eligible for membership extras? I thought I read somewhere that this was possible as the ability to do it was tied to the owner and not the membership but member serviced told us we could only purchase under our direct membership.

I had not heard that and none of the terms and conditions say that an owner has to apply the deal to memberships that are eligble if they have more than one.

Ours are all eligible now so I can’t even try to see if I got the same answer.

 

[hokiekkghl]

Has anyone with MMB been able to purchase the BOGO OTU points under a membership not eligible for membership extras? I thought I read somewhere that this was possible as the ability to do it was tied to the owner and not the membership but member serviced told us we could only purchase under our direct membership.

Member services told us that a couple weeks ago when my husband tried. I bought MMB first and used the BOGO OTU points on our eligible membership with no problem. We then bought my husband MMB to do the same on our second use year which is resale. The first call they told us he couldn't buy them bc the BOGO was only available to purchase for our eligible membership use year. We called and tried again last night using only the resale membership info. He asked right away for the BOGO to book a night in April, 20 minutes later (mainly waiting for supervisor approval) we were good to go with no issues or mention of only being able to buy for the eligible membership. I'd definitely try calling again and talking with a different person. Good luck!

 

[Sandisw]

Member services told us that a couple weeks ago when my husband tried. I bought MMB first and used the BOGO OTU points on our eligible membership with no problem. We then bought my husband MMB to do the same on our second use year which is resale. The first call they told us he couldn't buy them bc the BOGO was only available to purchase for our eligible membership use year. We called and tried again last night using only the resale membership info. He asked right away for the BOGO to book a night in April, 20 minutes later (mainly waiting for supervisor approval) we were good to go with no issues or mention of only being able to buy for the eligible membership. I'd definitely try calling again and talking with a different person. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing. This also confirms what I was told that owners with more than one membership can get the benefit of more than one owner buys and then accesses it on the second membership.

 

[DanCali]

I bought 24 points to use for a reservation at 7 months out at Vero Beach and had an interesting thing happen which didn't seem right.

First, I made the reservation at exactly 7 months out by calling. We went through the BOGO process and I asked the rep to use the 24 OTU points and some leftover points from 3-4 resorts, including BLT, also leaving a handful of other leftover points unused at a different resort with the intention to bank.

I then decided to add a night to one of my BLT reservations at 7+ months out, so I wanted to free up those BLT points from the Vero reservation. I was going to apply the remaining unused points to the Vero reservation (and needed to borrow just a few more). But when I went to modify the Vero reservation made by the rep and reorder the contracts, I noticed that the contracts were "locked" like you see on a home resort reservation - I couldn't uncheck any contracts, and adding others wouldn't have helped me free up the BLT points. That seemed very off because OTU points were used and I don't own at Vero, so it was clearly made inside 7 months.

This also happened at night, so there was nobody to call. Fortunately, the Vero dates were still available to book in the same unit type, so I canceled the Vero beach reservation and rebooked it while applying the contracts in the new desired order (the OTU contracts were visible to use, as mentioned on these boards). I then checked again and this new reservation did not have the contracts "locked".

Did anyone else have this happen that a CM's reservation with OTU points "locks" the contracts like in a home resort reservation?

 

[Sandisw]

I bought 24 points to use for a reservation at 7 months out at Vero Beach and had an interesting thing happen which didn't seem right.

First, I made the reservation at exactly 7 months out by calling. We went through the BOGO process and I asked the rep to use the 24 OTU points and some leftover points from 3-4 resorts, including BLT, also leaving a handful of other leftover points unused at a different resort with the intention to bank.

I then decided to add a night to one of my BLT reservations at 7+ months out, so I wanted to free up those BLT points from the Vero reservation. I was going to apply the remaining unused points to the Vero reservation (and needed to borrow just a few more). But when I went to modify the Vero reservation made by the rep and reorder the contracts, I noticed that the contracts were "locked" like you see on a home resort reservation - I couldn't uncheck any contracts, and adding others wouldn't have helped me free up the BLT points. That seemed very off because OTU points were used and I don't own at Vero, so it was clearly made inside 7 months.

This also happened at night, so there was nobody to call. Fortunately, the Vero dates were still available to book in the same unit type, so I canceled the Vero beach reservation and rebooked it while applying the contracts in the new desired order (the OTU contracts were visible to use, as mentioned on these boards). I then checked again and this new reservation did not have the contracts "locked".

Did anyone else have this happen that a CM's reservation with OTU points "locks" the contracts like in a home resort reservation?

There seems to be something new that people are seeing with locked contracts at 7 months.

There is a thread about it.

 

[Ariel620]

Has anyone with MMB been able to purchase the BOGO OTU points under a membership not eligible for membership extras? I thought I read somewhere that this was possible as the ability to do it was tied to the owner and not the membership but member serviced told us we could only purchase under our direct membership.

Member services told us that a couple weeks ago when my husband tried. I bought MMB first and used the BOGO OTU points on our eligible membership with no problem. We then bought my husband MMB to do the same on our second use year which is resale. The first call they told us he couldn't buy them bc the BOGO was only available to purchase for our eligible membership use year. We called and tried again last night using only the resale membership info. He asked right away for the BOGO to book a night in April, 20 minutes later (mainly waiting for supervisor approval) we were good to go with no issues or mention of only being able to buy for the eligible membership. I'd definitely try calling again and talking with a different person. Good luck!

Thanks for the question and for the confirmation it worked for you. I tried to do this right when MMB started and was told by member services it would not work, so I only bought MMB for myself and applied the OTU points to our eligible membership. I am going to call again and ask to buy the MMB for my husband and to add the OTU points to our other not-benefit-eligible contract and see if it will work.

 

[Road_Dog]

Sorry if this was answered but I briefly searched and couldn't find the answer.

My UY is Oct. I'm planning ahead for a May '26 stay, where I will be booking at 7-months. Luckily, 7-months prior is October, so any OTU points I buy in October for this May booking will apply to the UY I want to use them in.

My question is, how does MMB factor in to this? If I buy MMB in October so I can get the BOGO OTU points:
1. Will I only have MMB until the end of calendar year 2025? Outside of the savings MMB would provide me on the purchase of the OTU points, this would make MMB kind of pointless since our trip isn't until the following calendar year
2. If I buy OTU points as part of a BOGO offer with my MMB, do those OTU points still adhere to the normal expiration rules? (i.e., if bought in month 1 of my UY, they'll be good to use until the end of my UY).

 

[eticketplease]

Sorry if this was answered but I briefly searched and couldn't find the answer.

My UY is Oct. I'm planning ahead for a May '26 stay, where I will be booking at 7-months. Luckily, 7-months prior is October, so any OTU points I buy in October for this May booking will apply to the UY I want to use them in.

My question is, how does MMB factor in to this? If I buy MMB in October so I can get the BOGO OTU points:
1. Will I only have MMB until the end of calendar year 2025? Outside of the savings MMB would provide me on the purchase of the OTU points, this would make MMB kind of pointless since our trip isn't until the following calendar year
2. If I buy OTU points as part of a BOGO offer with my MMB, do those OTU points still adhere to the normal expiration rules? (i.e., if bought in month 1 of my UY, they'll be good to use until the end of my UY).

MMB period is 1/12/2025 until 12/31/2025

1. Yes it is only good until the end of the year.
1a. We do not know if MMB is continuing so it may still be a good idea to purchase for the BOGO OTUP for a total of $339 (12 OTUP x $20 + MMB Fee of $99) This essentially is renting points at $14.13 a point if you get all 24 OTUP
2. Yes
2a. OTUP rules still apply you can only acquire a maximum of 24 during a use year.
OTUP expire at the end of the use year you purchased them in (for you it will always be best to buy on 3/1 for a 10/1 booking and then cancel the res to use them on future bookings until 9/30)
OTUP can only be used for 7 month bookings and have no Home Resort Priority

 

[Road_Dog]

MMB period is 1/12/2025 until 12/31/2025

1. Yes it is only good until the end of the year.
1a. We do not know if MMB is continuing so it may still be a good idea to purchase for the BOGO OTUP for a total of $339 (12 OTUP x $20 + MMB Fee of $99) This essentially is renting points at $14.13 a point if you get all 24 OTUP
2. Yes
2a. OTUP rules still apply you can only acquire a maximum of 24 during a use year.
OTUP expire at the end of the use year you purchased them in (for you it will always be best to buy on 3/1 for a 10/1 booking and then cancel the res to use them on future bookings until 9/30)
OTUP can only be used for 7 month bookings and have no Home Resort Priority

Thanks. We're looking to book at Aulani in May '26, specifically mid-May. This makes our 7-month booking window to be mid-October. I'll have 350 points (200 of Oct '25 UY and 150 borrowed from Oct '26 UY) but the room type we want is 372 points.

I'm concerned about the room type (2-bedroom Pooly Garden view) being available, and if I have to add-on OTU points at the time of booking (which can only be done over the phone), I'm concerned the phone rep will be "too slow" and not get what I want in time.

Would you suggest that I add MMB on October 1st, call in and make a dummy booking for the extra 22 points, and cancel once off the phone? that would leave me the ability to book online in mid-October when I'm officially 7-months out from our planned days.

The downside I see to this is, if the 2-bedroom Pool Garden view isn't available and we have to "settle" with Island garden, then purchasing the OTU points wasn't necessary.

 

[eticketplease]

Thanks. We're looking to book at Aulani in May '26, specifically mid-May. This makes our 7-month booking window to be mid-October. I'll have 350 points (200 of Oct '25 UY and 150 borrowed from Oct '26 UY) but the room type we want is 372 points.

I'm concerned about the room type (2-bedroom Pooly Garden view) being available, and if I have to add-on OTU points at the time of booking (which can only be done over the phone), I'm concerned the phone rep will be "too slow" and not get what I want in time.

Would you suggest that I add MMB on October 1st, call in and make a dummy booking for the extra 22 points, and cancel once off the phone? that would leave me the ability to book online in mid-October when I'm officially 7-months out from our planned days.

The downside I see to this is, if the 2-bedroom Pool Garden view isn't available and we have to "settle" with Island garden, then purchasing the OTU points wasn't necessary.

You can do this now.
Book something for on or after 10/1/25 and then cancel it. I would suggest going with the whole 24 points since your MMB price is the same if you get 1 OTUP or 12 (+12 free).

I’m not sure if you have already borrowed points or not but if so you can bank any extra of your 2025 points as it will apply the borrowed points first. You would also need to select the OTUP contracts to use first when booking.

 

[Ariel620]

Has anyone with MMB been able to purchase the BOGO OTU points under a membership not eligible for membership extras? I thought I read somewhere that this was possible as the ability to do it was tied to the owner and not the membership but member serviced told us we could only purchase under our direct membership.

I had not heard that and none of the terms and conditions say that an owner has to apply the deal to memberships that are eligble if they have more than one.

Ours are all eligible now so I can’t even try to see if I got the same answer.

Member services told us that a couple weeks ago when my husband tried. I bought MMB first and used the BOGO OTU points on our eligible membership with no problem. We then bought my husband MMB to do the same on our second use year which is resale. The first call they told us he couldn't buy them bc the BOGO was only available to purchase for our eligible membership use year. We called and tried again last night using only the resale membership info. He asked right away for the BOGO to book a night in April, 20 minutes later (mainly waiting for supervisor approval) we were good to go with no issues or mention of only being able to buy for the eligible membership. I'd definitely try calling again and talking with a different person. Good luck!

Thank you one more time to everyone for these comments. I can now confirm that it was possible for me too, even though when I asked in Jan, I was told by member services that we could not do this.

But today I did. I already bought my BOGO OTU points with my MMB in Jan. Today, I also bought BOGO OTU points for my husband on his MMB even though we only have one eligible (grandfathered) membership. His BOGO OTU points were applied to our non-benefit-eligible resale contract that we bought only a year ago.

I'm really happy about this! So in total we got 48 points for only $480.

 

[TexasJedi]

I started my own thread on a related topic a few days ago because I had missed this but figured it would be more helpful to share my experience:

I'm wanting to stay a night in March 2026, but with an April UY, I really want to use OTUP instead of risking losing bankable points.

I've booked a placeholder reservation at my home resort for the stay just to be safe, and I called into Member Services explaining my intentions. They said "no problem," booked me two nights at Vero Beach for the fall with OTUP that added up to exactly 24 points. As soon as they confirmed it was complete, they offered to go ahead and cancel the reservation, so I said yes, and now have the points sitting in my account as ready to use between now and April 2026.

It was super easy and straightforward. Now I won't have to call in at the 7-month mark and can book for myself based on what's available and/or set up a waitlist for some options if I can't get what I'm looking for.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Thank you one more time to everyone for these comments. I can now confirm that it was possible for me too, even though when I asked in Jan, I was told by member services that we could not do this.

But today I did. I already bought my BOGO OTU points with my MMB in Jan. Today, I also bought BOGO OTU points for my husband on his MMB even though we only have one eligible (grandfathered) membership. His BOGO OTU points were applied to our non-benefit-eligible resale contract that we bought only a year ago.

I'm really happy about this! So in total we got 48 points for only $480.

Wow that sounds great.

Do you have 1 or more memberships?(UY) normally you can only get 24 OTUP per UY.

 

[Ariel620]

Wow that sounds great.

Do you have 1 or more memberships?(UY) normally you can only get 24 OTUP per UY.

I have 3 memberships with 3 different use years (all resale, but one is an old one grandfathered in to all the perks), but they were able to apply my husbands BOGO OU points to a membership that does not have the perks.

 

[Cyberc1978]

I have 3 memberships with 3 different use years (all resale, but one is an old one grandfathered in to all the perks), but they were able to apply my husbands BOGO OU points to a membership that does not have the perks.

Aaarh like that.

I also get the bogo for my resale membership.

 

[eticketplease]

I started my own thread on a related topic a few days ago because I had missed this but figured it would be more helpful to share my experience:

I'm wanting to stay a night in March 2026, but with an April UY, I really want to use year, I really want to use OTUP instead of risking losing bankable points.

I've booked a placeholder reservation at my home resort for the stay just to be safe, and I called into Member Services explaining my intentions. They said "no problem," booked me two nights at Vero Beach for the fall with OTUP that added up to exactly 24 points. As soon as they confirmed it was complete, they offered to go ahead and cancel the reservation, so I said yes, and now have the points sitting in my account as ready to use between now and April 2026.

It was super easy and straightforward. Now I won't have to call in at the 7-month mark and can book for myself based on what's available and/or set up a waitlist for some options if I can't get what I'm looking for.

lol I was waiting for you to post.

Glad it worked out for you!!