Different Use Years?

[rstiv]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to get opinions on different use years. I know that it’s not ideal and if possible you should try to stick to one UY, but for us when we travel we typically like to do split stays. So if I own GFV with a June UY and then by a small contract at BWV with a different UY is there any real disadvantage? I know I will have 2 memberships and bank dates etc. but if I plan a 5 night trip for example and book 3 nights at GFV at 11 months and then 2 nights with my other membership at 11 months at BWV I don’t see any real downside and i always have the option to transfer points if i really needed for a 7 month reservation. Thoughts?

 

[cmrdgrs]

From your short post, it sounds like you understand the in's & out's of owning 2 different UYs. I think if you use the two contracts individually and don't need to combine points for any reason, this could work out very well for you.

For me, I actually wish I did own one of my contracts with a different UY. I have an AUG UY and added on at HHI. I use my HHI points exclusively at HHI. I wanted the same UY for seamless of use, which I have, however I usually travel to HHI at the end of June / beginning of July. Owning an AUG UY at HHI doesn't give me any flexibility in the event I need to cancel outside the 31 day window. So, for me, I wish now I had purchased a DEC UY on this contract.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[rstiv]

From your short post, it sounds like you understand the in's & out's of owning 2 different UYs. I think if you use the two contracts individually and don't need to combine points for any reason, this could work out very well for you.

For me, I actually wish I did own one of my contracts with a different UY. I have an AUG UY and added on at HHI. I use my HHI points exclusively at HHI. I wanted the same UY for seamless of use, which I have, however I usually travel to HHI at the end of June / beginning of July. Owning an AUG UY at HHI doesn't give me any flexibility in the event I need to cancel outside the 31 day window. So, for me, I wish now I had purchased a DEC UY on this contract.

Good luck with your decision!

Yes I’ve done a good amount of research just to see if there were any real cons to having different UY.

Makes sense that would of worked out better for you. For me it’s just the fact I am looking for a 50-75 contract which are pretty hard to find so not caring about UY at least gives me more options. Thanks!

 

[cmrdgrs]

The other up side of 2 UYs is the ability to open more wait lists. If you have 2 UYs you can now open 2 wait lists on each UY, so now you can have up to 4 wait lists instead of just 2. That seems to be a potential nice perk too.

 

[drusba]

Having two use years mainly creates more work, different banking dates, different dues bills, and disallows combining points to make a single reservation.

I have two, four months apart, and for me they are actually an advantage: (a) when you go multiple times of year, you can avoid, via choice of use year, the issue of going late in your use year and losing points if you need to cancel because of inability to bank them. You also have double the usual single transfer rights with other members, and can purchase double the maximum one-time-use-points for a trip like the ones you intend to take, which use both use years for successive dates in the same trip.

 

[Sandisw]

Do you plan to split stay at the same time? As long as the UYs you pick have you traveling at the beginning of them..then it’s fine.

What you do not want is to pick one in which the trip falls in the last 4 months so that if something happens, you can still bank points.

 

[rstiv]

Do you plan to split stay at the same time? As long as the UYs you pick have you traveling at the beginning of them..then it’s fine.

What you do not want is to pick one in which the trip falls in the last 4 months so that if something happens, you can still bank points.

Yes For the most part we would be doing split stays on one trip.

Right that makes sense to me pretty much the same rule of thumb for one UY just gets a little tricky with 2 I guess thanks for the tips!

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

From your short post, it sounds like you understand the in's & out's of owning 2 different UYs. I think if you use the two contracts individually and don't need to combine points for any reason, this could work out very well for you.

For me, I actually wish I did own one of my contracts with a different UY. I have an AUG UY and added on at HHI. I use my HHI points exclusively at HHI. I wanted the same UY for seamless of use, which I have, however I usually travel to HHI at the end of June / beginning of July. Owning an AUG UY at HHI doesn't give me any flexibility in the event I need to cancel outside the 31 day window. So, for me, I wish now I had purchased a DEC UY on this contract.

Good luck with your decision!

Your HHI dilemma sounds like mine but I have the June UY and wish I had April. We want to start traveling in the spring. We are seriously considering selling our contact and buying another.

OP-I think if you are going to use them separately, you will be fine. But just make sure that is definitely what you think you will do far into the future. I picked a June UY because we were teachers and thought we would only travel in the summers. Now that we are retired, we enjoy spring and fall trips better. So think far ahead before deciding!

 

[rstiv]

Your HHI dilemma sounds like mine but I have the June UY and wish I had April. We want to start traveling in the spring. We are seriously considering selling our contact and buying another.

Still new to this somewhat but the UY issues people are having is only if you have to last minute cancel a reservation right? If you don’t need to cancel or change dates UY really doesn’t matter short of date you need to decide to bank points and when they become available each year correct?

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Still new to this somewhat but the UY issues people are having is only if you have to last minute cancel a reservation right? If you don’t need to cancel or change dates UY really doesn’t matter short of date you need to decide to bank points and when they become available each year correct?

Correct. Due to medical issues, we have the potential to have to cancel last minute. It’s not happened but we’ve come very close. With our June UY at HHI, if we travel in the spring and had to cancel, we would be past our banking deadline of January 31. We would then have until May 31 to use our points. A cancelled trip the first week of May would be impossible to rebook by the end of the month.

 

[cmrdgrs]

Still new to this somewhat but the UY issues people are having is only if you have to last minute cancel a reservation right? If you don’t need to cancel or change dates UY really doesn’t matter short of date you need to decide to bank points and when they become available each year correct?

That's correct. It really only becomes an issue in an emergency. If you "traditionally" travel at a particular time of the year (i.e. my annual trip to HHI for 4th of July) that's when having a particular UY can be helpful because once you pass your banking window the points have to be used by the end of your UY. Depending on where you're traveling availability can be spotty or non-existent when you're in the last 4 months of your UY. I have successfully rented my points at a lower price per point (distressed points is what these would be called) when I've had to cancel unexpectedly in the last 4 months of my UY.

For the reasons stated above DVC tells you that UY really doesn't matter -- and in theory they are correct. Because really, you could have an emergency at any time of the year and that could potentially effect any UY you might own and send your plans into a tailspin.

I have successfully used all of my points every year since 2006 all of them are an AUG UY (I own at 4 resorts and have 13 contracts) and I have traveled many many times in the last 4 months of my UY. Thankfully one way or the other I have been able to make it work for me.

 

[rstiv]

That's correct. I really only becomes an issue in an emergency. If you "traditionally" travel at a particular time of the year (i.e. my annual trip to HHI for 4th of July) that's when having a particular UY can be helpful because once you pass your banking window the points have to be used by the end of your UY. Depending on where you're traveling availability can be spotty or non-existent when you're in the last 4 months of your UY. I have successfully rented my points at a lower price per point (distressed points is what these would be called) when I've had to cancel unexpectedly in the last 4 months of my UY.

For the reasons stated above DVC tells you that UY really doesn't matter -- and in theory they are correct. Because really, you could have an emergency at any time of the year and that could potentially effect any UY you might own and send your plans into a tailspin.

I have successfully used all of my points every year since 2006 all of them are an AUG UY (I own at 4 resorts and have 13 contracts) and I have traveled many many times in the last 4 months of my UY. Thankfully one way or the other I have been able to make it work for me.

Makes sense thanks for explaining. Also UY is probably more of a problem now than ever before with COVID

 

[Lorana]

If you don’t need to cancel or change dates UY really doesn’t matter short of date you need to decide to bank points and when they become available each year correct?

UY also factors if a reservation would span across UYs (you can’t do that and would need two reservations) or if you wanted to walk a reservation across UYs. For example, you want the first week of December but you have a Dec UY. You wouldn’t be able to walk a reservation starting in November.

 

[cmrdgrs]

Makes sense thanks for explaining. Also UY is probably more of a problem now than ever before with COVID

Again, hard to call. For me, I ended up in a pretty good position with my points now that my UY is coming to an end.

Since my AUG UY banking window closed March 31, I was able to cancel reservations and reallocate points to put as few points at risk as possible. That worked in my favor.

I successfully traveled to Aulani at the start of the pandemic and used all of my banked 2018 points. HHI opened for my annual trip & I had a HHI rental that went off too, so that used the last of my banked 2018 HHI points and the last of my 2019 points.

That only left me with some Disney Collection points that I was unable to use at the Grand Californian Hotel because they still have not reopened and those points will be extended another year for me.

Since you can't predict the emergencies some people feel like you shouldn't get too hung up on UYs. But, it's never bad advice to minimize travel or not travel in the last 4 months of your UY (if at all possible). If I rent my points I generally try to never do a rental in the last 4 months of my UY so that if for some reason my renter has to cancel I can be more flexible with them.

 

[CastAStone]

Still new to this somewhat but the UY issues people are having is only if you have to last minute cancel a reservation right? If you don’t need to cancel or change dates UY really doesn’t matter short of date you need to decide to bank points and when they become available each year correct?

I had to cancel a (non-Disney) vacation to Florida last year because my kid woke up at 1 AM the morning we were leaving with an 103 degree fever and vomiting. Thankfully it was all on hotel and airline points/miles so we got everything back. Wound up using all the points/miles to book a vacation to Disneyland and on from there to Hawaii...only to have the COVID cancel that for us too. Last year we were sitting on pins and needles as Hurricane Dorian bore down on Florida and our non-refundable $3000+ DVC rental. Thankfully the hurricane hit before we arrived and we were able to go.

Point is, my last 18 months prove that you just never know what could happen.

 

[Sandisw]

Again, hard to call. For me, I ended up in a pretty good position with my points now that my UY is coming to an end.

Since my AUG UY banking window closed March 31, I was able to cancel reservations and reallocate points to put as few points at risk as possible. That worked in my favor.

I successfully traveled to Aulani at the start of the pandemic and used all of my banked 2018 points. HHI opened for my annual trip & I had a HHI rental that went off too, so that used the last of my banked 2018 HHI points and the last of my 2019 points.

That only left me with some Disney Collection points that I was unable to use at the Grand Californian Hotel because they still have not reopened and those points will be extended another year for me.

Since you can't predict the emergencies some people feel like you shouldn't get too hung up on UYs. But, it's never bad advice to minimize travel or not travel in the last 4 months of your UY (if at all possible). If I rent my points I generally try to never do a rental in the last 4 months of my UY so that if for some reason my renter has to cancel I can be more flexible with them.

I think the key is that if you can choose a UY in which your travel will be within the first 8 months it simply gives you more options if something happens and as mentioned, many owners got caught during this situation in that exact problem.

But, no one UY works for all months. If someone has a reason to get two UYs because of different travel, it can be a good thing.

I just went from 3 to 2 UYs and they are such that I’ll be able to ensure I am always traveling during my banking window!

 

[sethschroeder]

I would avoid different UY unless you are using the contracts on completely different stays. Just more work, can never combine points to a single night ect.

Not worth it and we had it to start and disliked it so sold the smaller contracts and will only add on under the same UY moving forward.

Plan on traveling during last 4 months of UY and honestly doesn't matter since I have to cancel 31 days out to avoid holding and will normally know by then what we are doing.

Could something happen like this year again? Doubtful and if it did then I would give the points away or just roll with it.