If you do have the points, the points will be deducted if you make the reservation online, unless you drain your account with a dummy reservation first and later cancel the dummy reservation. The easiest thing to do if you have the points in your account is just call and ask that the points not be deducted from your account yet. I'm holding a reservation right now for which I intend to use my annual Chase CC cert, which won't be issued for a few more weeks. It's noted that the cert will be provided prior to my planned October stay, the points have not been deducted, but the reservation is set.