DVC Points and booking 11mo out

[marshac]

We're planning a family get-together and had a use-year question at a home resort. We stopped by the DVC office, but unfortunately they couldn't really answer the question - here it is -

When scheduling 11mo out at a home resort, you'll end up crossing a use-year. Since you're scheduling for a the trip after that occurs, at the time of booking, do you have access to your then-future year points?

So for example - we have 200 pts annually with an Aug use year. We want to travel in Nov. We currently have 400 points available, but by the time of the trip we'll have 600 - which amount is available for booking the trip?

Like I said - we had a nice time at the DVC office and unfortunately got introduced to Disney pins, but unfortunately weren't able to get a good answer to the question.

 

[kes601]

If your contract has 200 points and you currently have 400 pts to use (as stated in your post) then 200 of those were banked from 2021 and will expire on August 1, 2023 and would not be good for any travel falling after July 31, 2023.

Assuming you want to travel November 2023 and want to use 600 points.......bank 200 pts from your Aug 2022 UY into 2023. That gives you 400. When booking you can borrow the other 200 from the 2024 UY. That gives you 600.

 

[CarolynFH]

When scheduling 11mo out at a home resort, you'll end up crossing a use-year. Since you're scheduling for a the trip after that occurs, at the time of booking, do you have access to your then-future year points?

When you book has no influence on which points you can use. The dates of the trip, which determines which UY the trip falls into, are the only dates that matter.

As above, you can use points that were banked from the previous UY, points that are current to the UY of the trip, and points borrowed from the following UY.

As @kes601 says, if you have an August UY, a November 2023 trip falls into your 2023 UY. So you can use points banked from your 2022 UY (you need to bank them in advance, before your banking deadline of March 31, 2023), points from your 2023 UY, and points borrowed from your 2024 UY (when you make the reservation, the system will ask whether you want to borrow points, and you'll do it as part of booking).

Spend some time reviewing the Understanding Use Year thread. DVC UY can be very confusing! And unfortunately, the folks at the DVC office are sales people. Some of them are owners, but not all, and they don't always understand how to use DVC points, only how to sell them.

 

[Sandisw]

Easiest for me was to just start with the UY of the trip.

Once that is known, you know you can book at 11 months out, no matter when that is with banked points from the UY prior to the trip, points from the UY of the trip and then borrow from the UY after the trip to finish the reservation.

Since a November 2023 trip is in your Aug 2023 UY, it can be booked with banked 2022, 2023, and borrowed 2024.

When you go to book in December, you need to make sure the 2022 points have been banked or the system won’t see them as an option.