Can we NOT book a trip in the last 4 months of our UY for one of those months??

[edk35]

I was reading the NEW Planner and that caught my eye. I am sure I knew this already but thought I would chat it up with you all. Our UY is Oct. We are going to WDW in July. It says according to the rule of 4 that we must bank (knew this) by May 31st. So....basically that means I can't add a day to our trip if it were available??? I need to book that prior to May 31st? Is that right??? So what do people do that do LAST MINUTE trips? I swear I have seen that on here...where people decide to go last minute and there is availability or they add a day at the end after they are already there. Please clear this up for me.

 

[LisaS]

It depends on your Use Year and is one of the reasons why some of us believe that UY matters. If you pick a UY where most of your trips fall within the first 8 months of your UY then you are covered for things like this as well as wait list issues. For example, if you had a June UY, your July trip would fall within the second month of your UY when you still had 6 months yet to bank your points.

In your case where you are traveling in the last 4 months of your UY and will be past your banking deadline, you would have to borrow points to cover this situation.

 

[Chuck S]

You can book and travel at DVC resorts during the last 4 months of your use year. For non-DVC venues, you can still travel during the last 4 months, but you have to make the reservation arrangements before the end of your banking deadline.

 

[joandegennaro]

Please correct me if I am wrong but the way I understand it is with my Oct UY and the May 31 deadline to bank point you could still add a day to a trip planned for July but you would either use current UY points that you didn't bank for some reason (these points would be lost as of Oct 1st in the use them or bank them or LOSE THEM situation. However if I had banked say my 09 points into 2010 then I would have to borrow some of my 2010 points into my 09 UY as my banked points would only available for use in the 2010 UY. Do I have this right? Am fairly new at this so please correct me if I'm not correct.

TIA

 

[Sandisw]

Please correct me if I am wrong but the way I understand it is with my Oct UY and the May 31 deadline to bank point you could still add a day to a trip planned for July but you would either use current UY points that you didn't bank for some reason (these points would be lost as of Oct 1st in the use them or bank them or LOSE THEM situation. However if I had banked say my 09 points into 2010 then I would have to borrow some of my 2010 points into my 09 UY as my banked points would only available for use in the 2010 UY. Do I have this right? Am fairly new at this so please correct me if I'm not correct.

TIA

Yes, once you bank your points, it is final and you can not get them back if you decide you want to travel again in that UY.

So, with your Oct UY, after May 31st, any trips you plan between June 1st and September 30th, would need to be "paid" for using borrowed points from the next UY.

The rule of four, that the OP is talking about, ONLY applies to non-DVC reservations. In those cases, you must book the trip prior to the 4 month window in you want to travel then.

For DVC reservations, you can call any day and book for the next, regardless of what part of your UY you are in, as long as you have the eligible points.

 

[DebbieB]

Again, the rule of 4 only applies to non-DVC resorts. I have an April use year and once booked a February night at BCV one week before.

 

[DenLo]

Please correct me if I am wrong but the way I understand it is with my Oct UY and the May 31 deadline to bank point you could still add a day to a trip planned for July but you would either use current UY points that you didn't bank for some reason (these points would be lost as of Oct 1st in the use them or bank them or LOSE THEM situation. However if I had banked say my 09 points into 2010 then I would have to borrow some of my 2010 points into my 09 UY as my banked points would only available for use in the 2010 UY. Do I have this right? Am fairly new at this so please correct me if I'm not correct.

TIA

To one Denise from another Denise, take a deep breathe, relax everything is okay. No reason to get scared.

If today you added a day to your reservation in July you could use banked points from 2008, current UY, 2009, points or borrowed points from your 2010 use year.

The fact that your reservation is after your May 31st banking deadline is not a factor. That banking deadline is to insure that if you have any points that are not going to be used in 2009 you can bank them forward into the next year, 2010 and then use them for reservations starting October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011.

Now the tricky part is if you should have to cancel your July 2010 reservation after May 31st, the points used for the reservation must be used by the last date of the current use year, September 30th for you. If you do not use these points by September 30th you could lose them.

That is why some DVC members do not like to travel in the last four months of their use year, because you can't bank the points if you have to cancel a reservation after the banking deadline.

BTW, yes even if you banked the points into 2010 and then borrowed them, if you cancelled the reservation you would have to use those points by September 30th. Borrowed and/or banked points stay in the use year you move them to.

 

[Sandisw]

I was reading the NEW Planner and that caught my eye. I am sure I knew this already but thought I would chat it up with you all. Our UY is Oct. We are going to WDW in July. It says according to the rule of 4 that we must bank (knew this) by May 31st. So....basically that means I can't add a day to our trip if it were available??? I need to book that prior to May 31st? Is that right??? So what do people do that do LAST MINUTE trips? I swear I have seen that on here...where people decide to go last minute and there is availability or they add a day at the end after they are already there. Please clear this up for me.

You can book DVC resorts at any time. The rule of four applies to non-DVC reservations.

However, once you bank your points, that is a final transaction and you can not undo it if you decide you want to travel again during that UY. So, if you decide after May 31st, to extend your July 2010 vacation, and have already banked all of your 2009 points, then your only option would be to borrow 2010 points to cover it.

That is one of the reasons why traveling toward the beginning of your UY is beneficial. It allows you to make changes to trips while you are still in your banking window.

For example, we have a June UY and travel, for the most part travel in August. Since that is only two months into my UY, I can add days to that trip right up to the travel time because I won't have yet banked my points (since I have until January 31st to do that).

 

[edk35]

You can book DVC resorts at any time. The rule of four applies to non-DVC reservations.

However, once you bank your points, that is a final transaction and you can not undo it if you decide you want to travel again during that UY. So, if you decide after May 31st, to extend your July 2010 vacation, and have already banked all of your 2009 points, then your only option would be to borrow 2010 points to cover it.

That is one of the reasons why traveling toward the beginning of your UY is beneficial. It allows you to make changes to trips while you are still in your banking window.

For example, we have a June UY and travel, for the most part travel in August. Since that is only two months into my UY, I can add days to that trip right up to the travel time because I won't have yet banked my points (since I have until January 31st to do that).

Oh okay gotcha. You would think after over 3 years I would understand this. LOL I RARELY BANK ANY POINTS. LOL Maybe that is why. If anything we borrow. We used to go in Nov. and Jan. then we went home for our first DVC trip in Aug. 07 and enjoyed the summer trip so we have gone the past 2 July's now as well.

 

[CMOORE185]

Besides DVC resorts rule of 4 does also not apply to RCI and World passport reservations. So if you are booking RCI or world passport you can book during the last 4 months.

 

[lizanne]

Please correct me if I am wrong but the way I understand it is with my Oct UY and the May 31 deadline to bank point you could still add a day to a trip planned for July but you would either use current UY points that you didn't bank for some reason (these points would be lost as of Oct 1st in the use them or bank them or LOSE THEM situation. However if I had banked say my 09 points into 2010 then I would have to borrow some of my 2010 points into my 09 UY as my banked points would only available for use in the 2010 UY. Do I have this right? Am fairly new at this so please correct me if I'm not correct.

TIA

That is right.

Just today I had that situation. My use year is August so my banking deadline is March 31. I banked the points I wasn't using. This year I have ressies for May 2010 (using 8/09 points). I wanted to make a change and it involved using 38 more points for that 5/10 reservation. I could not use the banked 09 points, I had to borrow from my August 2010 points.

I think that is what you're saying. If you want to add on a day to a vacation that falls after your banking date, you cannot use those banked points but must borrow from the next year.

 

[joandegennaro]

That is right.

Just today I had that situation. My use year is August so my banking deadline is March 31. I banked the points I wasn't using. This year I have ressies for May 2010 (using 8/09 points). I wanted to make a change and it involved using 38 more points for that 5/10 reservation. I could not use the banked 09 points, I had to borrow from my August 2010 points.

I think that is what you're saying. If you want to add on a day to a vacation that falls after your banking date, you cannot use those banked points but must borrow from the next year.

That is exactly what I was trying to say....can't use the points you banked into 2010 but have to borrow points from 2010. Therefore points banked MUST be used in the 2010 UY.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

We run into this all the time. Our favorite time to vacation is January, and we have a February UY. Not good.

We've moved some of our trips, and try to be very sure of our travel plans.

However, we had to move a Hilton Head trip from Thanksgiving to MLK Jr. weekend due to my Dad's illness. That was fine except it was 14 degrees in Hilton Head that weekend. It would have been nice to postpone that trip again.

Our next trip was the following January. It went to 28 in Orlando. We didn't figure that out until we got there.

BTW, vacations aren't fun when its VERY cold.

Our next trip will be to Beach Club Villas in JULY!!!

 

[Dean]

This illustrates the importance of UY now even more than in the past.

 

[karebear06]

We travel in the last 4 months of our use year all the time. It is no big deal.

for example, say your use year is April and you have a reservation for the January before. Well, the banking deadline for an April UY is the previous November. If I have 30 points I need to bank, I would bank them at that time. Say I wanted to add 2 more days onto my January vacation and it equaled 30 points. I would then borrow 30 points from the next UY. It is essentially the reallocation of points. Travelling during the last 4 months is not a big if you don't cancel your vacations.