Advice for choosing use year purchasing resale

[JABEAR]

Looking for some insight on which use year to be searching for. We will mostly take vacations in October and December. Which use year do you feel will be best suited for us and why?

 

[disneynutz]

October because you have 8 months starting October 1 to bank your points.

Bill

 

[gripp35]

October would be best for your current scenario. The alternate way to look at it is that December, February and March would be your worst options...

 

[chalee94]

buying resale vs. direct has nothing to do with UY month...you really can choose either way (although waiting may be involved in either situation).

remember that all of your pts through 2040 and beyond are already added to your account when you buy the contract. you can call at 11 months out based on your home resort, not UY...UY month has nothing at all to do with when you call to book.

so you really have a couple of issues limiting you:

1) UY tells you when your pts are valid for stays.

so for a silly example, if your UY month is oct, then your 2020 UY pts are valid for stays from oct 1, 2020 through sept 30, 2021.

2) you can only bank ahead one year or borrow from one year ahead. and once you bank or borrow pts, they cannot be moved again.

so if you borrow your 2020 pts into 2019, they would be valid for stays beginning on oct 1, 2019. but your 11 month window for oct 1, 2019 doesn't open till nov 1, 2018, so your 2020 UY pts are not available for booking until that point.

use year month is mostly an issue if you need to cancel.

some examples:

if you have an oct UY and a sept 2013 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out (in july), your banking window closed on may 31, 2013 so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation before they expire on sept 30, 2013.

if you have an oct UY and an oct 2013 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window won't close until may 31, 2014 so you'd have until then to decide whether to use current year (2013) pts for a reservation in that UY or else bank them to the next year. (you'd still need to use banked and borrowed pts by sept 30, 2014. as stated in #2 above, you can only move pts one time.)

if you have an oct UY and a sept 2013 trip and you need to cancel 5 days out, the pts would turn into "holding" pts so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation subject to a 60-day-out limitation - but that won't matter since they expire on sept 30, 2013...which is less than 60 days out.

if you have an oct UY and an oct 2013 trip and you need to cancel 5 days out, the pts would turn into "holding" pts so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation subject to a 60-day-out limitation - but at least you'd have 12 months before they expire on sept 30, 2014 to decide what to do with them.

more info about UY is here if you need it (you may want to bookmark this thread for later reference):

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1942668

 

[JABEAR]

Thank you for the info, especially the link to the thread regarding the subject. From what it said, try to get a use year no more than 7-8 months prior to your regular vacation schedule.

 

[JABEAR]

Ok, after some thought, since we will be going in October and December wouldn't a December use year work best?

 

[disneynutz]

Ok, after some thought, since we will be going in October and December wouldn't a December use year work best?

No because if you have to cancel a October vacation, and you will, you won't be able to bank your points and you will need to use the points before December 1, or you forfeit them.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

Ok, after some thought, since we will be going in October and December wouldn't a December use year work best?

nope.

put aside whatever you think you know about UY and read my post (#4) again. i even gave you examples why it's potentially bad to travel late in your UY, such as going in oct when you have a dec UY.

 

[luckyman_apd]

You want your UY to be BEFORE your intended travel months. If your use year is Dec, and you plan an October trip, you will be using points from the use year beginning with the December 10 months prior to your trip. Since your banking window closes after 8 months, you won't be able to bank the points if you had to cancel the Oct. trip for some reason. Then you would lose the points as soon as the next December came.

UY is really only important if you have to cancel a trip, and then having an open window to bank those points if need be.

 

[JABEAR]

nope.

put aside whatever you think you know about UY and read my post (#4) again. i even gave you examples why it's potentially bad to travel late in your UY, such as going in oct when you have a dec UY.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my question. Your expertise in this area is unquestioned.

You want your UY to be BEFORE your intended travel months. If your use year is Dec, and you plan an October trip, you will be using points from the use year beginning with the December 10 months prior to your trip. Since your banking window closes after 8 months, you won't be able to bank the points if you had to cancel the Oct. trip for some reason. Then you would lose the points as soon as the next December came.

UY is really only important if you have to cancel a trip, and then having an open window to bank those points if need be.

Perfect response, thank you!