Differing DVC Resort and Use Years.........advice/feedback

[DisneyGirl1721]

I recently purchased my first DVC resale and am already itching to add on points.

Ideally it seems that if I purchased more points at my home resort in the same use year, makes it easier on me when I need to book a vacation.

However, I also have seen where a few of you prefer different use years and resorts. Since I think this forum has a lot of good information and advice, I come to you as the experts to see what your thoughts are on this and if you had any experience with this or if I should play it safe and keep the same resort/use year.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ginamarie]

Keeping the same resort and use year does make things easy, and I usually advise people to do it... but I can't even take my own advice! We're in ROFR right now with a different use year because I found a deal I wanted.

 

[LadybugsMum]

I will have 2 different UY once my BVW contract is added to my account. I specifically bought a second UY (Aug) so I can use those points in the fall before my original UY (Dec SSR) points are available. I don't want to risk canceling a trip in Oct/Nov and then not being able to bank or use the points before they expire at the end of Nov. Also, I want to be able to get in at BWV for the fall with the 11 month window.

 

[DisneyGirl1721]

I will have 2 different UY once my BVW contract is added to my account. I specifically bought a second UY (Aug) so I can use those points in the fall before my original UY (Dec SSR) points are available. I don't want to risk canceling a trip in Oct/Nov and then not being able to bank or use the points before they expire at the end of Nov. Also, I want to be able to get in at BWV for the fall with the 11 month window.

So if I understand it correctly, as long as I have the same resort, I can still use the points from both UY at my 11 month mark if I book at my home resort? Plus it gives me a bit of a buffer to bank the points if my trip fell through? (UY today is December and I'm looking at a new UY of August)

 

[skippytx]

The only time I recommend someone entertain the idea of 2 different use years, is if you visit at different times of the year.

It can make sense to have 2 contracts, say a June Beach Club for Food and Wine and staying in the EPCOT area, and say a Feb Bay Lake for Spring Break trips.

Some people have good luck with 2 different UY contracts by alternating an annual trip on each contract. One year bank/borrow from one, the next bank/borrow from the other.

Personally I'm not a fan of multiple UY. I tend to visit only once a year, or every other year.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Same use year is definitely easier. But different use years make it easier to book other times of year - September contract for Thanksgiving or Christmas trips, February or December for March spring break

 

[FSUSammy]

I personally didn't want another June UY. We ended up with an August UY instead for our 2nd contract. I plan on managing them completely separately.

 

[Stargazer65]

I gave this answer on another thread:

I have that situation. My BLT and SSR are June UY, same membership. My BRV is Sep UY, different membership. As JETSDAD said, you can't combine the points in two different memberships unless you do a transfer. A transfer is not always a great thing either, because you can't transfer banked or borrowed points. It's best if you use them independently. This is new to me because BRV is a new contract as of last year. I used both memberships last February for a split stay between HHI and SSR. Right now I have April booked Split stay BRV then BLT. At the 7 month window, I plan to combine my BLT/SSR points into one reservation. But the BRV reservation will remain separate. However, if I decide to lengthen my BLT stay instead, I could book the same class room at BLT using the BRV points. Then I would have to ask MS to flag it as a continuous stay, and ask the front desk not to move us if possible. Chances are I would not have to move, but it will remain a separate reservation even if I don't move, because they can't combine two different membership reservations into one.

If I could have the same UY I would, it's better. But when you're trying to get a great deal on resale, it broadens the opportunity to find a great contract, if you don't mind the drawbacks.

 

[kandlsutton]

So if I understand it correctly, as long as I have the same resort, I can still use the points from both UY at my 11 month mark if I book at my home resort? Plus it gives me a bit of a buffer to bank the points if my trip fell through? (UY today is December and I'm looking at a new UY of August)

Two UYs (or different owners) are two memberships. So you can book using both memberships in the home resort booking window. However, this would require either calling MS to transfer points from one membership into the other or book two reservations.
I also have AUG and DEC UYs for the purpose for travel in different times of the year and still within my banking windows. We will definitely be traveling in the fall (Oct/Nov) through the spring (April/May). My original AUG UY was problematic for travel in Apr/May and and then DEC UY was problematic for travel in the fall (Oct/Nov).
I don’t have a lot of experience since just joined DVC in January, but I intend to use my 3 resale and 1 direct contracts independently when I can.

 

[jbreen2010]

We stayed with the same use year as to not create confusion.

 

[RoseGold]

I have two UYs and it is useful to me. Most of my points are in October UY for winter-ish travel, but with a banking deadline of May that doesn't work for summer travel. I have more contracts in another UY to use for that.

If you travel 2x/year, two UYs might make sense for you.

 

[Sandisw]

So if I understand it correctly, as long as I have the same resort, I can still use the points from both UY at my 11 month mark if I book at my home resort? Plus it gives me a bit of a buffer to bank the points if my trip fell through? (UY today is December and I'm looking at a new UY of August)

Yes, but not for the same reservation so you’d have two different windows to book.

Either that, you have to transfer and there are rules around that.

 

[chalee94]

Plus it gives me a bit of a buffer to bank the points if my trip fell through? (UY today is December and I'm looking at a new UY of August)

Depends on when you travel on that one. A June trip is much safer with a Dec UY than with an Aug UY. A Dec UY gives you the most options if you cancel a Dec reservation but Aug UY is still fine. A Nov trip is very risky with a Dec UY but fine with an Aug UY.

I'm with the others who vote for separate UYs when you use the contracts for separate trips at different times of year: Aug UY for Sept/Oct/Nov trips but Dec UY for Dec through May/June trips. But if you are trying to use the contracts together it's much much better to have the same UY and combine the contracts under one membership.

 

[CarolMN]

There are only a few situations when it may be better to have two memberships. However, most of the time, one membership is better.

It's definitely better if you plan to use points from both contracts for the same trip. This is especially important if you are booking something relatively tough to get at 11 months.

It's better if you are new to DVC. There are many booking nuances/tricks/work arounds/websites issues to learn about. Most of them are discovered as you go. FWIW, those with one membership seem to have less trouble with website "glitches" (things that go wrong that shouldn't. They can and do put you at competitive disadvantage for booking). I strongly encourage one membership for those new to DVC. There is plenty to learn without the additional learning necessary to manage two or more memberships.

 

[Nabas]

We have 3 different resorts with 3 different Use Years, all intentionally staggered about 4 months apart.

I strongly dislike booking a room once the Banking Window has passed, meaning I only book rooms for the first 8 months of each contract. Once the Banking Window passes, not only can you NOT bank, but you also only have a few months left to schedule something and not lose the points completely.

But this assumes that you have enough points on each contract to be able to book what you want. For us, it would be a pain to book a Grand Villa for more than a few nights without having to book it as different reservations. (And potentially risk having to change rooms.)

 

[TCRAIG]

We have 4 UYs - use April for our May trip, June for Sept/Oct trips and Oct for Dec trips to WDW- our December UY is at HHI so we use that just for HHI in the late spring.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

Ideally it seems that if I purchased more points at my home resort in the same use year, makes it easier on me when I need to book a vacation.

Absolutely. My recommendation for adding on at the same resort is to always keep the same UY. However, if you’re adding on at a different resort- then I think it depends on the purpose & the person. I personally have 3 UY, and it’s working well for my intentions (though I’m finding that my preference is to have 2 UY).

There is a bit of an extra learning curve for dealing with multiple UY & if your main goal is to combine points … then keeping the same UY would serve you best.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have two UY, Sept and Dec. We have two resorts in our Sept and one in our Dec (which is the same as one of our Sept). I recently had banked points for both of my Sept resorts and also for my Dec resort. We had five reservations that we cancelled just because we are going to save a bit of cash and not go. I didn't want to lose any of the banked points so I wound booking two nights at one resort and two single nights at another resort since I couldn't combine the banked points from two resorts in a single reservation. I sent an email to see if they could link the two single night reservations and they did it. Today decided to check the reservations and found they can canceled the one reservation with banked points and just made another night with the points from the other resort. So I now had orphan points that I wouldn't be using and homey don't play that game. So I cancelled the newly made reservation and made two single night reservations like I had originally. Luckily, the nights were still available. And I sent an email asking "Continuing Reservation" be added to the two one night reservations.

One UY can be easier, but more than one resort in a single UY can still cause problems when you aren't expecting it.

 

[CarolMN]

One UY can be easier, but more than one resort in a single UY can still cause problems when you aren't expecting it.

Couldn't agree more. IMO, multiple use years are not a good choice for newbies or anyone who will need to combine points for the same reservation. You must be willing to spend time and effort managing points to avoid losing them, It's doable, of course, but it can be a very frustrating experience, especially given all the new MS CMs. Newbies often don't know what they don't know! Deb & Bill definitely know - they've been Members a long time, but what if they hadn't decided to check their reservations/account trusting MS did the right thing? It may not have turned out to a correctable error!!

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

Today decided to check the reservations and found they can canceled the one reservation with banked points and just made another night with the points from the other resort.

I canNOT believe they did that without your permission!!! That’s beyond shocking!

I’m glad you were able to rebook, but what in the world?!?!!!!