DVC - Choosing year end?

[Princess_Melanie]

Hi people,

Can anyone help? We're (me and DBF) are getting ready to sort out and sign up for the DVC (Yipeeeeee) but are totally confused over the whole use year end part? Does anyone know exactly what this means and any implications it may have?

We'd really really appreciate any comments on this....
Thank you!!

 

[paulh]

think its more use year starts,ours starts April so we can book from April 1st for that year then the Banking and borrowing is a year plus and minus from that date.Plus the deadlines for banking are from that date.
Dosent seem to matter as its the 11/7 month windows for booking that counts.
As long as you dont end up with points you arnt going to use but if your going every yearthis dosent seem to wory us
Paulh

 

[Richard Bruvofetc]

If you normally holiday in September, say, then it is a good idea to have your use year start in August or September. This means that if you have to change your plans for whatever reason, you have more time to adjust your points (bank / re-book etc).

If you had your use year ending in September and you'd booked in September then had to cancel at late notice, you would not be able to re-allocate your points.

 

[Princess_Melanie]

Thanks for the advice - makes it a lot clearer, especially the advice about when you'd generally holiday and choosing sensibly around that!!

 

[crux]

If you normally holiday in September, say, then it is a good idea to have your use year start in August or September. This means that if you have to change your plans for whatever reason, you have more time to adjust your points (bank / re-book etc).

If you had your use year ending in September and you'd booked in September then had to cancel at late notice, you would not be able to re-allocate your points.

This is sensible advice. I don't think that there are twelve 'use years' to choose from though, I can't remember for certain how may there are but for some reason the number 8 sticks in my mind.

From what I remember, if you buy directly from Disney the 'use year' you are automatically allocated is roughly 6 months before you buy. We originally bought in September (this and October is when we normally go) and were allocated an April 'use-year'. I presume you can choose another 'use-year' if the one you're given doesn't suit you, but you will only be able to choose one that hasn't had all its points sold.

Ian

 

[Richard Bruvofetc]

This is sensible advice. I don't think that there are twelve 'use years' to choose from though, I can't remember for certain how may there are but for some reason the number 8 sticks in my mind.

From what I remember, if you buy directly from Disney the 'use year' you are automatically allocated is roughly 6 months before you buy. We originally bought in September (this and October is when we normally go) and were allocated an April 'use-year'. I presume you can choose another 'use-year' if the one you're given doesn't suit you, but you will only be able to choose one that hasn't had all its points sold.

Ian

We recently bought into DVC (Feb). We were offered December Use year but asked for October. Our guide set this up without any issues and gave the impression that we could choose any month for the use year.

 

[Halo]

The significance of Use Years was well illustrated by mikki.young in another recent thread.

Any time you change or cancel a Disney Vacation Club Resort reservation 30 days to one day before your scheduled arrival date, the Vacation Points used for that reservation are put into a Holding Account.

What you need to know about using Holding Account Vacation Points:
You can use these Vacation Points for a new Disney Vacation Club Resort reservation during your current Use Year as long as you book the reservation 60 or less days before the new check-in date.

You can use these Vacation Points for an exchange through The Disney Collection, Concierge Collection, Adventurer Collection, and World Passport Collection if you make the reservation 60 or less days before the new arrival date and more than 60 days before the end of your Use Year. You cannot bank or borrow these Vacation Points.

These Vacation Points will expire at the end of your Use Year if they aren't used.

The significance is that if your Use Year is say May, and you cancel a holiday for July at short notice, you have until May to use the points in your Holding Account; whereas if your Use Year was say September, you would have less time to use the points before they risked being cancelled.

In practice I wouldn't get too hung up about it, as it only becomes an issue if (i) you cancel a break at short notice; and (ii) you are then unable to use the points. If I had to cancel a holiday for July with a Use Year of September as per the above example, in practice I would simply look to make whatever booking I could for the points prior to their expiry and rent that booking out to others. From the income I would receive I could then look to rent points from others later in the year to go when I was able. So in practice there's a bit of inconvenience involved but not necessarilly overly detrimental.