I'm getting great advice as a potential resale contract buyer as a newbie. So thanks all for the great advice so far! I think I have my head wrapped around points and resorts. Now onto the conundrum of Use Year. I have read and heard several times about the timing of your use year versus cancellation times, overlayed on top of normal travel periods, etc.
But is there also a strategy to consider relative to the busy seasons and use year? For example, would you try to get a Use Year that precedes a particular busy time period that you like to travel by a full 11 months if possible? So if for example you want to travel frequently on the Thanksgiving week. If you have a December Use Year, you can make reservations 11 months out and into the Thanksgiving week before most people re-load their points in the subsequent use year months of Feb March and April (compared to having a June use year). If we had June use year, we would only have 6 months before Thanksgiving and it may well be booked up by then from prior use years.
Or am I over thinking this? Every time I try to figure it out I get myself more confuzzled.
Our situation will change over the years with preferred vacation times, and for at least the next handful of years might be a bit touch and go on when we can actually get away. So initially I thought a June use year might make sense since we can pivot to deal with our complicated calendar availability as the year progressed. But then I worried that if we get our use year in June, everyone in the months before us might have already booked over that same Thanksgiving week as the example goes. So being more like 7 months out also includes non-home resort people booking.
I think our preferred window will be either October or late November-ish for say the next 5-10 years and then probably switch more into the summer months when future grandkids with school obligations come onto the scene.
Thoughts and advice appreciated!
But is there also a strategy to consider relative to the busy seasons and use year? For example, would you try to get a Use Year that precedes a particular busy time period that you like to travel by a full 11 months if possible? So if for example you want to travel frequently on the Thanksgiving week. If you have a December Use Year, you can make reservations 11 months out and into the Thanksgiving week before most people re-load their points in the subsequent use year months of Feb March and April (compared to having a June use year). If we had June use year, we would only have 6 months before Thanksgiving and it may well be booked up by then from prior use years.
Or am I over thinking this? Every time I try to figure it out I get myself more confuzzled.
Our situation will change over the years with preferred vacation times, and for at least the next handful of years might be a bit touch and go on when we can actually get away. So initially I thought a June use year might make sense since we can pivot to deal with our complicated calendar availability as the year progressed. But then I worried that if we get our use year in June, everyone in the months before us might have already booked over that same Thanksgiving week as the example goes. So being more like 7 months out also includes non-home resort people booking.
I think our preferred window will be either October or late November-ish for say the next 5-10 years and then probably switch more into the summer months when future grandkids with school obligations come onto the scene.
Thoughts and advice appreciated!
