Exception to the "Can always make res at home resort 11 mos ahead of check out" rule

[DVC1996]

Originally posted by thepalagis
I think the confusion is thinking of use years as calendar year (starting in january) instead of a 12 month period starting with your use month.......
Somebody correct this if I'm wrong, but with late in the year use months, you almost have to think of the use-year being a year behind all the time.

I think you've hit the nail on the head Reading this thread has been mind boggling and the bottom line for me is that I never want a December use year. Ideally, I think it's best to have a use year early in the calendar year and/or one which is close to the time in which you normally vacation. My Use Year is in March and we normally travel in March, April, or June. I've never been confused about borrowing until I read this thread

 

[DVC1996]

Originally posted by DVC1996


Reading this thread has been mind boggling and the bottom line for me is that I never want a December use year.

O.K. I felt bad about posting this and I take it back I think once you fully understand how your particular use year works then it shouldn't be a problem. I'm thinking that if I had a December Use Year and I wanted to make a reservation in June 2003 ( calendar year) at my home resort then I would make a reservation in July 2002 ( calendar year) using my Dec 2001 Use Year pts ( available Dec 2001-Nov 02) plus borrowed pts from my Dec 2002 Use Year ( available Dec 2002-Nov 2003).
You can always make reservations 11 months in advance at your home resort if you have the pts available to make the reservation.
Someone let me know if I got this right or not. This thread has become a brain teaser, stretcher, whatever

 

[DVC1996]

[
Not necessarily true. We have a tendancy to borrow our points alot. While you don't need to have the points in your account for this year, BUT they must be available to borrow from the next!!!

Example:

Use year April. Total 2002 remaining - 0; total 2003 remaining - 50; total 2004 - 350.

I want to book June 2003 for 150 points. I plan to borrow from 2004 to do it. I should be able to make that home resort ressie in July 2002.... MS wil NOT let me book it until APRIL 2003!!! Only 3 months prior...

WARNING: Please ignore this if you are tired of my consecutive posts! I thought I would go back to the original post to try to figure this out on my own and save my sanity hopefully Anyway......DougMatt would not have had a problem if he had pts left in his April 2002 Use Year. He has 0 pts for 2002. If the 50 pts had been in his 2002 Use Year instead of his 2003 Use Year then he could make the ressie in July 2002 for June 2003. He was trying to borrow two years in advance instead of one year in advance. So...if he wants to vacation in 2002 the only pts he has available for use until April 2003 would be borrowed 2003 pts ( 50pts). Sooo.....there is no way he could make a ressie on July 2002 if he has only 50 pts to play with. He will have to wait till April 2003 to make his July 2003 ressie ( only 3 months prior) because he won't have the pts needed till he is able to borrow from his April 2004 Use Year ( not available till April 2003). WHEW! Gotta get a Coke and a snack. Thanks for reading!

 

[Lesley]

Exactly, DVC 1996. Of course, from what dougmatt has written apparently those aren't the real dates and #'s....and I really don't think we can accurately address the issue without the real dates and #'s. All the examples so far indicate trying to borrow 2 years ahead, which is not possible.

 

[edith76]

We are long time members with 750 points, 8 contracts spread over 4 resorts. We are usually borrowed ahead. Several years ago I did run into a problem trying to borrow points. It was for a Feb reservation with a Feb. use year. The problem was with the way the computer system was set up. In April (10 months out) it wouldn't allow point borrowing before the new use year began - in my case Feb.1. This problem was fixed.

 

[Jimbo]

We are long time members with 750 points, 8 contracts spread over 4 resorts.

8 contracts!!! 4 resorts!!! If there were any problems like this thread is referring to, I'm sure you would have run into it. So I'm officially not worrying about this.

 

[edith76]

I would like it to be 9 contracts and 5 resorts but my husband is not going for the NEED Beach Club argument.

 

[Doctor P]

Here is MS response to my question. I post my email first, followed by the MS response.

We have a June use year and plan to try to take a Disney Cruise Line cruise in
July 2003. Thus, the eleven month window for reservations will be in
August 2002. Given that the cruise will be in July 2003, during our
2003 use year, will I be able to borrow my 2004 (those issued on June 1,
2004) points in August 2002 to pay for that cruise? I am assuming that
the answer is yes because I will be making a reservation for a time
period in which I will have access to those points, but I just want to
make sure. Thank you for your assistance.

MS Response

Thank you for your e-mail.

I would like to assist you in advising that if you will want to make a Disney
Cruise Vacation for July 2003, and you have a June Use Year, you will be taking
points from your 2003 Use Year to confirm this cruise.

For this cruise you will be able to use any points, that were Banked into your
2003 Use Year, your 2003 Use Year Points and you can also borrow points from
your 2004 Use Year.
When booking a Disney cruise the first adult/person in each cabin does have to
be paid on a point basis. After this there are cash rates available others in
the cabin.

If we can assist you any further with planning your vacation for 2002 or 2003
please do not hesitate to contact us.
Have a Disney Day,
Gisela.

 

[mikek]

I just want to say the use year thingie is sooo confusing!

I get they need to break it up somehow, but you really need a paper and pencil to figure things out sometimes. (Or BETTER yet download the dvc point manager !!!)

I thought my family got confused enough with a september use year, but this thread has my mind spinning!

I've made holiday reservation over a year out with banked and borrowed points so it is definatly possible to do sometimes. THe only thing i can guess is going on here is use year confusion or maybe they are holding up borrowing at times due to that little blurb about reserving the right to curtail borrowing at anytime. I guess every now and again they need to make sure the system is close to balanced and possibly they are doing it at the end of the calander year in December?

 

[kem330]

I have a Dec use year. Luckily we travel in Dec./Jan! So in Jan/Feb 2002, I made a reservation for Dec 28 - Jan 2, 2003 using my Dec 02 points and borrowing my Dec 03 points. I could not use Dec 04 points as that is borrowing two years ahead. This is where the confusion seems to lie. Specifically with Dec use year my Dec 04 points aren't available to borrow until a stay on or after Dec 1, 2003. With Dec, as stated if you are always borrowing ahead you are going to get caught in it if you don't have any current year points to use, you will only have one year ahead available to you for your next ressie. You can not just look at calendar year- you have to account use month as well. So if I were to stay in June 2003 instead- I would have to use Dec 02 points and could borrow Dec 03 points as well.

 

[DVC1996]

Originally posted by Lesley
All the examples so far indicate trying to borrow 2 years ahead, which is not possible.

Lesley.....thanks so much for affirming what I finally figured out
If I had read carefully your first post in this thread thead then maybe I would have even figured it out sooner Right now I have 0 pts in my March 2002 Use Year. I have 111 pts in my March 2003 Use Year. If ( for example) I had called in March 2002 for a cruise in February 2003 for 150 pts then I would not be able to reserve it even though I called at the 11 month window AND /during my use year month of March. WHY -- I had 0 pts for March Use Year 2002 and only 111 available pts for borrowing in March Use Year 2003. If I call this month ( April 2002 ) to make a March 2003 ressie for 150 pts then I would be able to borrow the necessary 39 pts from my March 2004 Use Year. What a difference a month can make!

 

[Doctor P]

Good point. With a December use year, stays from 1/1/03-11/30/03 can only be done with points from the 2001, 2002, and 2003 use years. Thus, there is only one month in CALENDAR year 2003 that you would have access to USE year 2004 points. Otherwise, you are doing your borrowing during CALENDAR year 2003 by borrowing your USE year 2003 points. I can definitely see why that would be confusing.

 

[dznefan]

To add to the borrowing confusion we have two different use years(March and June). We have always been fortunate in getting our reservations even when borrowing from both use years and linking to one reservation. We do however have an August contract point add-on that goes missing on occasion. Has anyone else had this happen.

 

[dougmatt]

Logging in today I was absolutely afraid of what I would see posted since last night . Seems though that a light has begun to come on! I do want to point out that everyone is saying this is a December use year thing... It is not! Most of you probably haven't experienced it because of your vacation schedules, but it could afflict any of the use years, not just Dec. It's just more confusing with Dec cause of the calendar effect.

To edith76: I would expect you haven't experienced this BECUASE you have so many points. You have have to have used all of your current use year, AND any banked, AND be trying to book a reservation in the next use year before you would have this happen.

Doug

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Originally posted by dougmatt

To edith76: I would expect you haven't experienced this BECUASE you have so many points. You have have to have used all of your current use year, AND any banked, AND be trying to book a reservation in the next use year before you would have this happen.

Doug

Dougmatt,

Actually, edith76 said that it DID happen to her years ago, but that that problem had been fixed.

We are long time members with 750 points, 8 contracts spread over 4 resorts. We are usually borrowed ahead. Several years ago I did run into a problem trying to borrow points. It was for a Feb reservation with a Feb. use year. The problem was with the way the computer system was set up. In April (10 months out) it wouldn't allow point borrowing before the new use year began - in my case Feb.1. This problem was fixed.

 

[Doctor P]

With due respect, dougmatt, I don't think it has anything at all to do with your vacation schedule, really. No matter what your use year is or what time of year you travel, you can bank and borrow to have 3 years' points, and only three years' points, available for points for a reservation in any month. If you have a December use year, you will NEVER be able to make a reservation using the eleven month window that is in the same calendar year as your points. Your eleven month window for use of your 2001 points will always occur in 2002 or 2003. I think that the most confusing thing might be that you can use 2001 use year points in 2004 when you have a December use year, but you can't access your 2004 points for a reservation that occurs prior to December 1, 2003! It seems strange when you look at it, but it is just the outcome of the normal banking and borrowing policies, I think, and not anything more.

 

[edith76]

Doug - How do you think I got so many points? We are always borrowed ahead (plus I should add that we own 3 other timeshares that are also borrowed ahead). Plus a vacation or two I've paid for.

The problem I ran into - (a few years ago, but I will use 97,98,99 to make explaination easier)- was in April '97, I tried to make a reservation for the following Feb 20,1998 I have a Feb use year. I was "1" point short of use year 98 points and needed to borrow "1" point from 99 to complete the reservation. However, even though I should have been able to borrow '99 points for a '98 reservation a glitch in the computer system wouldn't acknowledge the '99 points until Feb 1, 1998. MS worked around it and held the reservation as cash and then converted it at seven months out when I could use a Vero point. This is the only written complaint I have ever made to DVC, and I don't think I was the only one. The computer problem was fixed by the next year.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Wow, edith76!

Wouldn't I love to be in your family! Sounds like you're constantly on vacation - now that's my dream one day!

 

[dougmatt]

Looking to adopt a son?!?!?!?

 

[Dean]

Edith76 brings up a point I'd forgotten. That is that the computer will only show the points for the second use year ahead points in certain situations. I know a couple of year ago I had borrowed points and was trying to get the accounting right. MS had done things differently that I had instructed but it was working out ok (have 2 use years). The only problem was that the computer wasn't showing the remaining points left after we had borrowed MORE THAN A YEAR OUT.

They kept telling me the balance was one thing and I knew it should be another. A supervisor was able to go in and look and said they had to look at a special screen in order to see 2 years out even though we had been able to borrow from that use year. It was exactly as it should have been when they got to the right place in the computer.