Canadian - Aulani trip coming up but travel restrictions

[Tmarmac]

Hi everyone,
I am Canadian and an owner at Aulani. I have a trip planned during the Christmas holidays (booked pre-Covid) and was assuming that Aulani would be closed and my borrowed points would return to the original use year (February 2021) and that the February 2020 point used might also be useable in 2021.
Now Aulani may open on November 1, which would be great, but the Canada-US border is still closed and we would need to quarantine for 14 days (unless this changes) upon the return to Canada (assuming we will have negative Covid tests so we don't need to quarantine in Hawaii too).

All the information on DVC cancellations seems to be considering the timeline that the Disney World resorts were closed with respect to putting points back to original years and extending deadlines and I am concerned that if I wait to see if there will be quarantines/flights I will lose all the 2020 and 2021 points I borrowed since my family won't be able to travel to the US (and back to Canada) without quarantining.

Have any other Aulani owners had different info from member services than what was posted on the website for the Disney World resort owners? I called member services and they said they didn't know what the policies would be and that I didn't need to do anything now, but my banking window is closing soon.

Basically should I cancel now and bank my 2020 points and just lose my 2021 borrowed points that I won't be able to use before the end of January? Or wait it out and trust DVC will help me if there are no flights and we have to quarantine up return to Canada (if there is a 14 quarantine upon return to Canada, the flights will be cancelled because it will be almost empty).

thanks for any insights or advice you have!

 

[CarolMN]

Can't really tell you what DVC would do. AFAIK, once the resorts opened, they didn't do anything for international travelers who couldn't enter the U>S> or even for domestic travelers from states who imposed quarantines or for those who reside in states that Florida restricted from entry. So, I don't think they will do anything for Canadians, either, but of course, I do not know.

If I were in your situation, I would cancel the reservation and save what I could because IMO, the pandemic will get worse this fall and the border is unlikely to open and quarantines unlikely to change.

But before I banked, I would check RCI to see if there were anything acceptable IN CANADA that I could use my points for. If yes, I do that and pay for it with the borrowed points and as many of the current use year point as needed. Then I'd bank the rest.

Good luck

 

[Sandisw]

As far as we know, they are still returning borrowed points, even for trips that are being canceled now that resorts are open, It could, however, change at any time,

If I were you, and worried about saving the points, I’d probably call MS and find out if they are still doing it, and then cancel and bank.

But, they have not made any exceptions to what happens with points because of travel restrictions, but only based on the closings and openings.

 

[FinnFogg]

I’m also Canadian and an Aulani owner. I was on a call with Member Sevices in Friday, and they confirmed that borrowed points are still being returned to their original use year (although she also noted that that could change anytime).

 

[CarolMN]

OP - Since they are currently returning borrowed point, I'd definitely cancel and bank the current use year points. That would be my first choice.

But don't wait too long if that's what you decide to do - returning borrowed points could change at any time and they will probably not give us any notice!

 

[drusba]

You have only two days to determine what you are going to do. It is my understanding that if you cancel now, any points borrowed into 2020 will be returned to original 2021 use year. The fact that Aulani is reopening should not make a difference. (When I cancelled a late Aug WDW trip with a Feb use year, that is what happened, even though WDW had already reopened in July.) You should probably call MS to confirm that. More important is that any Feb 2020 points currently in the reservation can be banked if, and only if, you cancel by Sep 30 and bank the points by Sep 30..

 

[DebLovesPooh]

I would definitely cancel, bank what you can, and hopefully your borrowed points will be moved back. For me, I’m making decisions on what I know to be true today, because who knows what can change tomorrow.

 

[Tmarmac]

Thanks everyone! I have cancelled and banked my current year points. Member services alsosaid my borrowed points will be moved back to the original use year in the next three weeks, so that is fantastic news. I will lose some points I had banked since I can't use them and there isn't enough for an RCI transfer but my aunt lives in Florida and maybe she has or a friend would like a free night or two.
A good result and I am so relieved it is resolved!

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks everyone! I have cancelled and banked my current year points. Member services alsosaid my borrowed points will be moved back to the original use year in the next three weeks, so that is fantastic news. I will lose some points I had banked since I can't use them and there isn't enough for an RCI transfer but my aunt lives in Florida and maybe she has or a friend would like a free night or two.
A good result and I am so relieved it is resolved!

Just want to add that the system does do a sweep to return borrowed points on Thursday.

I have had a few cases where it didn’t get them all but was told that it would the following week..sure enough it did,

So, if you see some go back and not all, just give it a few weeks!

 

[TonyaG83]

Thanks everyone! I have cancelled and banked my current year points. Member services alsosaid my borrowed points will be moved back to the original use year in the next three weeks, so that is fantastic news. I will lose some points I had banked since I can't use them and there isn't enough for an RCI transfer but my aunt lives in Florida and maybe she has or a friend would like a free night or two.
A good result and I am so relieved it is resolved!

thats what I did with my fall trip... cancelled, had expiring points, so I gifted them to a friend who is a local. she got some pixie dust too - they upgraded her from a studio at BCV to a 1 bedroom.

I rebooked for end of April, hopefully the borders are open by then