How to Approach Holding Points

A strange thing happened to me in late October. I was mere days away from a stay at Disney’s Old Key West Resort, yet I hadn’t been medically cleared. My doctor didn’t provide me with the final authorization until the week of my visit.
Had she advised me not to go, my DVC Points would have entered the nebulous realm no member wants to experience. I would have possessed DVC Holding Points. Eek!
So, what are DVC Holding Points, and how should you approach their usage when you have some? Let’s discuss the finer points of one of DVC’s most confusing concepts.
What Are DVC Holding Points?
I’ll take the definition straight from Disney’s official site. “A Holding Account is a “parking space” for Vacation Points from a Disney Vacation Club Resort reservation that has been modified or canceled 30 days to 1 day before your scheduled Check-In date.”
In my example, I would have canceled five days before my scheduled Walt Disney World visit. In the process, my standard 82 DVC Points for a six-night stay would have converted to 82 Holding Points. In case you haven’t guessed, Holding Points are much worse, although they’re still perfectly fine to use.
When you book a Disney resort using DVC Points, the system generally works the same. You can book anything at your non-Home Resort up to seven months in advance and anything at your Home Resort up to 11 months in advance. DVC members use DVC Points all the time, as that’s the status quo.
Alas, when you perform a cancellation of a DVC reservation within 30 days of your planned visit, your DVC Points convert to Holding Points. The latter points come with additional rules, making them somewhat more challenging to book.
What Are the Restrictions on DVC Holding Points?
Again, here’s the explanation straight from Disney. “Vacation Points in your Holding Account will be good until the end of your Use Year when they will expire. You can use them like you would your regular Vacation Points, except that reservations must be made within 60 days of your Check-In. Vacation Points in a Holding Account also cannot be banked or borrowed.”
So, in my example, my Use Year is December. Had I canceled that reservation, I would have had until November 30th to utilize those points…which isn’t long. Obviously, most cancellations don’t occur that close to the rollover of the Use Year. So, this is an extreme example based on personal events.
Let’s change the details to say that my Use Year is April. In that scenario, I would have had until March 31st to use the points in my Holding Account. However, I could only book a room if I intended to stay there within the next 60 days.
In such scenarios, availability becomes the primary sticking point. Generally, only a handful of DVC rooms have open reservations during the final two months. Thus, familiar booking options with plentiful inventory, such as Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa and Disney’s Old Key West, are the places where you’re most likely to use Holding Points.
You should understand that Disney itself thinks of Holding Points as a kind of punishment. Here’s a planDisney discussion on this subject: “In some ways, a Holding Account is like a penalty account –– while you won’t lose Vacation Points by canceling or modifying after the 31-day deadline, making changes to your reservation after that date attaches restrictions to those Points.”
How Should You Approach Holding Points?
Let’s begin with a statement of the obvious. You should avoid Holding Points whenever possible. Sometimes, life intercedes and forces last-minute cancellations. Still, a good practice is for you to perform a headcount six weeks before your intended visit. Make sure that everyone believes they can make the trip. If anyone is on the fence, you should reconsider. I say this because Disney acknowledges that Holding Points are messy, “a penalty account.”
When you have Holding Points, your next approach is to evaluate the calendar. Consider your Use Year and how many months/weeks you have until your Holding Points expire. Since you cannot Borrow or Bank them, you need to use them quickly. In many instances, you’ll only have a short time to find and book new travel dates.
Also, please remember that last-minute bookings are more challenging than ever at DVC. So, the pickings will be slim. A fallback option I recommend is to contact DVC Rental Store and discuss whether you can book your Holding Points in exchange for money.
That’s probably not your preferred choice, but your choices are limited here. Grabbing some quick cash is a decent contingency plan, although you should know that this method isn’t sure to work. The availability restrictions limit the value of the Holding Points.
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