Does use month really matter when purchasing?

[Sunshine22]

We are considering a DVC purchase but have a few additional questions. Does it really matter which month you purchase? Do you need to wait until you have the points to book your vacation? If I purchase from DVC and plan to travel in March or June in most years, which month would be the best to purchase? Would it be the same if I were to purchase BLT from Disney vs. purchasing BCV through re-sale? I understand that you should purchase where you will vacation most often because you can book a reservation 11 months out vs. waiting until 7 months out. However, I'm unclear on why a specific month would matter.

 

[chalee94]

if you rarely cancel vacations, UY month doesn't matter at all. UY month only tells you when your banking window is. (the only situation where you'd really need to be aware of your UY month is if you make a reservation that crosses that month - i.e. a UY month of october where you book sept 27-oct 3 or something.)

UY has nothing to do with when you can book. zero. if you have pts available or even pts you can borrow that are valid during your planned vacation stay, you can call to book at your home resort 11 months in advance.

please read the "understanding UY" thread to better understand UYs.

If I purchase from DVC and plan to travel in March or June in most years, which month would be the best to purchase?

a february or march UY would be ideal. (but if you plan to travel in december, you will be more limited if you need to cancel with a feb/mar UY.)

 

[Sunshine22]

Thanks for information and directing me to the "understanding UY" thread. This answered many of my questions.
Kim

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

We are considering a DVC purchase but have a few additional questions. Does it really matter which month you purchase? Do you need to wait until you have the points to book your vacation? If I purchase from DVC and plan to travel in March or June in most years, which month would be the best to purchase? Would it be the same if I were to purchase BLT from Disney vs. purchasing BCV through re-sale? I understand that you should purchase where you will vacation most often because you can book a reservation 11 months out vs. waiting until 7 months out. However, I'm unclear on why a specific month would matter.

IMHO UY realy does matter. I would like to vacation in JULY. But we do not plan a July vacation because with our AUGUST UY we are at risk of loosing our points if we have to cancel a trip on short notice. As a rule you should buy a UY that is at least 4 months before the time of year that you like to travel.

 

[DebbieB]

We are considering a DVC purchase but have a few additional questions. Does it really matter which month you purchase? Do you need to wait until you have the points to book your vacation?

This is a point that confuses new members. Points don't "deposit" when your use year starts and you have to wait. Points for all use years are already available. I have an April use year and if I look at my account online, they have points listed up to the April 2011 use year. So any points I would need to make a reservation will be available based on the date of stay. For example, say I would want to make a reservation for October 2009 today for my home resort. Those dates would be in my April 2009 use year. I could use banked 2008, current 2009 or borrow 2010. There's no need to wait for 2009 or 2010 points.

 

[LisaS]

As a rule you should buy a UY that is at least 4 months before the time of year that you like to travel.

Why at least 4 months before your travel dates?

 

[bangzoom6877]

Our schedules are very predictable because DH and I are both teachers. We always take our big vacation in July (now has become our only vacation...one big trip a year). So we bought an April UY. The ONLY other time we MIGHT consider going is during our spring break IF it should fall when it is NOT Easter week. This happened last year because Passover was a few weeks after Easter and in NYC (where we live and teach), Spring break is always the week of Passover no matter when Easter is, and we get off for Good Friday. However, we prefer a longer trip so summer is better for us. Therefore we always vacation in July. We never go away Christmas week (too busy, risk of travelling in snow or having to cancel due to snow) or Feb. break (risk of snow). Therefore April worked well for us as our UY. Also gives us until the end of Nov. each year to bank points, although as I said we are predictable so I will be booking all our trips 11 months in advance, in August.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

IMHO UY realy does matter. I would like to vacation in JULY. But we do not plan a July vacation because with our AUGUST UY we are at risk of loosing our points if we have to cancel a trip on short notice. As a rule you should buy a UY that is at least 4 months before the time of year that you like to travel.

I totally agree that UY matters. I don't get concerned with cancelling vacations, but I do hate that sometimes, my UY dictates when I travel. Let me explain.

Here is some general info that will make my explanation make a little more sense. I have an Aug UY. My points are "deposited" every Aug and expire at the end of July if I don't use them or bank them. So...
* Aug 1, 2007 - points are deposited Aug 1, 2007 and are good for vacations Aug 1, 2007 - July 31, 2008.
* Aug 1, 2008 - points are deposited Aug 1, 2008 and are good for vacations Aug 1, 2008 - July 31, 2009.
* Aug 1, 2009 - points are deposited Aug 1, 2009 and are good for vacations Aug 1, 2009 - July 31, 2010...and so on.

If you "bank" points, they are moved into the next UY, and they expire at the end of that UY. For us, we always end up banking some points, as reservations never come exactly even. If I bank, I MUST use my banked points by the end of July, or they expire. I hate that, as it's forced us to travel at the end of July when we would have prefered to travel in August. If we had a December UY, for example, it wouldn't be an issue. Instead of points expiring at the end of July, they would expire at the end of November.

Just something to consider as you move forward in your process. If you travel often, it really shouldn't be an issue. It's just been an issue for us, so I thought I'd give you a different point of view.

 

[Mickeyfan931]

OK... lets see if I get this right. If I will travel mainly in early summer (may or june) or fall break which is October, I would want a UA of April??? Then any points that were not used that year could be banked in November. Do I have that right and I would receive my points in April every year?

 

[Buckeye Fan]

OK... lets see if I get this right. If I will travel mainly in early summer (may or june) or fall break which is October, I would want a UA of April??? Then any points that were not used that year could be banked in November. Do I have that right and I would receive my points in April every year?

The advantage of April is that any vacations you schedule June - October can be cancelled, and your points can still be banked through December. This is ideal if you think you would ever have to cancel and you take more than 1 trip per year.

If you do only travel once per year, the downside is with banked points. Let's pretend it's April and you have 200 banked points. You schedule a vacation in October for 150 points. You have to use the remaining 50 points between October and March 31, or you lose them.

Again, if you're traveling multiple times a year, it won't matter. Otherwise, you may run into this problem. I never worry about cancelling, but I have bumped into this issue more than once. Even if I use up all of my points and don't bank any, it rarely can stay that nice and neat, unless you are staying at the same resort, in the same size room, over the same dates over and over again. For most, though, UY is just not a consideration, or they've lucked into one that works for them.

 

[thesupersmartguy]

Ours is a Sept use year. In short, it does not matter.

 

[Coach81]

Better to have your month as near as possible to when you plan on visiting.

 

[5forDiz]

Better to have your month as near as possible to when you plan on visiting.

Agree with Coach on this because that will give you the longest stretch of time until your banking window & end of your Use Year in the event you need to cancel your trip.

You mention travel in March or June; I'd pick March Use Year, it works well for travel in both March & June

Using 2009 Use Year allotment of points for example purpose :

- if you cancelled March 2009 trip 31 days or more before check-in date you'd have until October 31 2009 to bank those points into your 2010 Use Year or until Feb 28 2010 to use the points before losing them.

- if you cancelled June 2009 trip 31 days or more before check-in date, again, you'd have until October 31 2009 to bank points into 2010 Use Year or until Feb 28 2010 to use.

If you travel after October in your Use Year ( during Nov-Feb the last 4 months of your Use Year ) then you are beyond the banking deadline so if your trip needed to be cancelled you'd only have until end of February to make use of the points.

Keep in mind that a reservation that is cancelled 30 days or less to check-in results in those points going into Holding Status which means you'd need to utilize those points by the end of that current Use Year. And reservations using Holding Status points can be only be made 60 days or less to check-in date you'd want.

That is the idea behind picking a Use Year month that leaves you the most time to utilize your points in the event you have to cancel a reservation ( & particularly 30 days or under).

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

Why at least 4 months before your travel dates?

Lets say you vacation every year in July and you have an October 1st UY. Due to an unforseen circumstance you have to cancel your July vacation in the begining on July. You are now outside the 9 month window to bank these points for next year. You are on the spot to have to use these points or lose these points. Now if your UY was November 1st, which is 4 months away, you are still in the window to bank your points for the cancelled July trip. Am I right on this??????

 

[LisaS]

Lets say you vacation every year in July and you have an October 1st UY. Due to an unforseen circumstance you have to cancel your July vacation in the begining on July. You are now outside the 9 month window to bank these points for next year. You are on the spot to have to use these points or lose these points. Now if your UY was November 1st, which is 4 months away, you are still in the window to bank your points for the cancelled July trip. Am I right on this??????

OK, I think in your prior post you meant to say the UY should begin at least four months AFTER your travel dates, not four months before your travel dates. Or said another way, you want a UY where your primary travel dates fall within the first 8 months of your UY.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

OK, I think in your prior post you meant to say the UY should begin at least four months AFTER your travel dates, not four months before your travel dates. Or said another way, you want a UY where your primary travel dates fall within the first 8 months of your UY.

Thanks for the help, thats where I was going with this.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

OK, I think in your prior post you meant to say the UY should begin at least four months AFTER your travel dates, not four months before your travel dates. Or said another way, you want a UY where your primary travel dates fall within the first 8 months of your UY.

Thanks for the help, thats where I was going with this.