DVC Use Year

[snoopywoodstockus]

Help...I don't understand the Use Year and how it is figured at all. I think I understand all of the rest.

DW and I traditionally go Between Mid-October and Mid-December. We are also thinking of trying in January or February.

Based on this when do we need our Use Year/time to be?

 

[chalee94]

if you hate going in the summer, ask for a sept UY month (aug or oct are fine also.)

 

[CarolMN]

The idea is to have a use year that would allow you to bank points from a cancelled trip or the max time to reschedule it. (Points expire at the end of the use year unless they are banked or used for a trip).


You can bank until the end of the 8th month following the beginning of your use year.

For example, given your stated usual travel times, a March use year wouldn't work very well if you had to cancel a December, January or February trip after October 31. (Banking deadline for March use years is October 31). If you couldn't use the points before the end of February, you would lose them.

I agree with chalee94 that an August, September or October use year would work well for you. The banking deadline for October use years is the following May 31. That would give you until the end of May to bank the points (and thus extend their life for one more year) or until the end of September to reschedule the cancelled trip.

Keep in mind that use year matters only if you have to cancel at trip that was scheduled to occur during the latter part of your use year. Also, your travel habits may change over the course of your membership. What starts out perfect, may end up to be not so perfect (and vice versa).

 

[drusba]

Use year has nothing to do with when you can go (any time of year) or when you can call to reserve (11 months out at home resort, 7 at others).

It does set the date by which you must bank your points into the next year if you want to bank. Currently, that date is the end of the eighth month of your use year, e.g., if you have a September use year (runs Sep 1 to August 31), you must bank by April 30 in any given use year. You cannot bank any points during the last four months. The use year thus becomes important only in the situation where you set a vacation and then have to cancel. Assume that Sep use year and you schedule a trip for July during the use year. Now assume you have to cancel come May. Points go back into your account but you cannot bank any of them because you are beyond the last banking date and thus points must be used for a trip that ends by Aug 31 of the use year or they will be lost. Assume that Sep use year and you reserve a trip for Dec. In Oct you have to cancel. Now the points go back into your account and you have plenty of time to use them or bank them.

Thus, if you actually have a usual time of year that you will go, many recommend that you get a use year that will allow you to bank points if you have to cancel. For example, you say you would usually go between October and December but might also want Jan or Feb. Use years to preserve the banking/cancellation hedge for all those months are Oct, Sep, Aug, or June (there is no July use year).

 

[snoopywoodstockus]

Thanks for the information. That helps clear it up.