Extenuating Circumstances ever considered?

[Raven01]

Forgive the title - I couldn't come up with one that expressed the question!

DD3's school schedule changed. She used to have 2 weeks in July off, which made my June UY great. Now, she gets a week off at Memorial Day, which is right at the end of the UY.

Forget COVID - suppose it was a normal year, and something major (death in family, major accident, etc.) happened. Does DVC do any exceptions for that, or are the points just lost? I couldn't put them in holding that close to the end of the UY, and obviously could not bank them. We generally do not cancel vacations, but those dates make me really, really nervous. Next year, we will stay local for the May vacation I think and go to Disney in July, but May takes fewer points so....

Thoughts?

Yes, I've considered a small add on to cover May, but I financed my current DVC with the expectation of paying it off quickly, and I refuse to get anything else until that's done.

 

[WillAustin]

Not sure about DVC, but I've always had great luck with Disney doing more than they had to, going out of their way to accommodate us when we had family issues that changed our circumstances. The current situation might make that harder though,

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I am not sure about the scenarios that you mentioned, but in 2017 we were staying at VGF and decided to leave to go home early since Hurricane Irma was on her way. They returned all our points back for the nights we didn’t stay, no questions asked. They were not put into holding, but into the regular use year and we could bank them for the following year.

I know that’s not a family emergency, but we chose to leave early due to the hurricane coming and we received the points back (without restriction) for the nights we didn’t stay.

 

[Raven01]

The problem in my case is the June UY. Memorial Day week is at the end of my UY, so I could not bank the points or have time in the UY to use them if they went into holding. Really, they would have to make a banking exception based on a family emergency and that feels too extreme. I feel like this would be a scenario where I would be out of luck and I need to plan for that, but wanted to ask.

 

[Sandisw]

No, there is nothing that DVC would do. The best would be to buy the insurance and hope that your reason for canceling is a covered one,

When I started wanting to go in May with my June UY, I decided to add on with a Dec UY for that reason.

 

[CarolMN]

Forgive the title - I couldn't come up with one that expressed the question!

DD3's school schedule changed. She used to have 2 weeks in July off, which made my June UY great. Now, she gets a week off at Memorial Day, which is right at the end of the UY.

Forget COVID - suppose it was a normal year, and something major (death in family, major accident, etc.) happened. Does DVC do any exceptions for that, or are the points just lost? I couldn't put them in holding that close to the end of the UY, and obviously could not bank them. We generally do not cancel vacations, but those dates make me really, really nervous. Next year, we will stay local for the May vacation I think and go to Disney in July, but May takes fewer points so....

Thoughts?

Yes, I've considered a small add on to cover May, but I financed my current DVC with the expectation of paying it off quickly, and I refuse to get anything else until that's done.

If you think you might have to cancel, you'll need to purchase insurance that covers the possible reasons. You won't get your points back, but there will be some financial compensation - the amount depends on the policy.

If you know soon enough, you might be able to rent the reservation or deposit the points into RCI.

 

[Debbie Jean]

DVC has been known to make a one time banking exception... I got one when my mother in law died suddenly. But this isn’t something you can count on.

In your case, I don’t know there is much DVC could or would do. It is not uncommon for people’s circumstances to change so that their “perfect” UY when they bought changes over time. When that happens people generally adjust their holdings... sell, buy new contracts to better meet different anticipated needs.

 

[Raven01]

This helps. I’d rather not risk it. Until I can get a small add on, we will stick with July!

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

No, there is nothing that DVC would do. The best would be to buy the insurance and hope that your reason for canceling is a covered one,

When I started wanting to go in May with my June UY, I decided to add on with a Dec UY for that reason.

We also got a June UY since we were both teachers, and summer was the only time we could go. Now that we are retired, we want to start going to HHI during the spring. We plan on eventually selling our HHI contracts and buying a resale with an April UY. Just too risky to take late April/early May trips with a June UY!

 

[crisi]

We also got a June UY since we were both teachers, and summer was the only time we could go. Now that we are retired, we want to start going to HHI during the spring. We plan on eventually selling our HHI contracts and buying a resale with an April UY. Just too risky to take late April/early May trips with a June UY!

I figure at this point I'm out dues on my contract if I have to cancel a trip - after 20 years of ownership, I've gotten value + out of my BWV points. So we use our April Use year BWV points for HHI in February. If there are a few years I lose my points, it will still have been a value in the overall scheme of things.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

I figure at this point I'm out dues on my contract if I have to cancel a trip - after 20 years of ownership, I've gotten value + out of my BWV points. So we use our April Use year BWV points for HHI in February. If there are a few years I lose my points, it will still have been a value in the overall scheme of things.

I'm sure there is value out of the points even is you lose some now and again, but I would be concerned with losing a trip, not the value. I wouldn't want to have to skip a year going to HHI! I didn't mention that due to health issues, there may be times we have to cancel last minute. That's a main reason switching our UY is important.

 

[cvjw]

At one time or another, most members with only one use year will find themselves in the same situation. We certainly have. We have March use year points that are great for our early May travel, but we don’t always want to travel then. We have taken Christmas and January trips over the years - very risky when your points expire at the end of February.

The only real solution is to have multiple use years with your points. We chose not to do that - just seems like a lot of extra work.

 

[crisi]

I'm sure there is value out of the points even is you lose some now and again, but I would be concerned with losing a trip, not the value. I wouldn't want to have to skip a year going to HHI! I didn't mention that due to health issues, there may be times we have to cancel last minute. That's a main reason switching our UY is important.

If I get sick, I likely lose the trip anyway - or I rebook somewhere on cash if it isn't available to me on points (with Hilton head, I'd still have March - but I'm not likely to find something on short notice anyway - since with use year and availability, the chances of finding what I want when I can and want to vacation are less than 100% with a timeshare anyway. Even if I planned a early in the use year May vacation and needed to cancel, the chances those points would go into holding and I wouldn't be able to find something I wanted at a time I could travel aren't really great, so cash is always a possibility.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

If I get sick, I likely lose the trip anyway - or I rebook somewhere on cash if it isn't available to me on points (with Hilton head, I'd still have March - but I'm not likely to find something on short notice anyway - since with use year and availability, the chances of finding what I want when I can and want to vacation are less than 100% with a timeshare anyway. Even if I planned a early in the use year May vacation and needed to cancel, the chances those points would go into holding and I wouldn't be able to find something I wanted at a time I could travel aren't really great, so cash is always a possibility.

True. Our circumstances may be different. If I had an April UY and planned an April/May trip and had to cancel, I would try to rebook sometime in the fall or even winter. We are both retired now, so our schedules are pretty flexible, and HHI usually has quite a bit of availability between November and February. I think we would be able to get something 60 days out. Better than losing all those points. I appreciate helping me see other situations though when it might not work.

 

[kucanhead]

We're in the same boat. We have a June use year and the school district changed from early June start of summer break to just before Memorial Day. We're fairly new to DVC, so we only have 1 vacation under out belt with our second scheduled vacation cancelled due to Covid. Both were scheduled for Memorial Day week.

One thing to remember is that Memorial Day changes every year. Next year it's May 31st, so most of the week falls in June.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Forgive the title - I couldn't come up with one that expressed the question!

DD3's school schedule changed. She used to have 2 weeks in July off, which made my June UY great. Now, she gets a week off at Memorial Day, which is right at the end of the UY.

Forget COVID - suppose it was a normal year, and something major (death in family, major accident, etc.) happened. Does DVC do any exceptions for that, or are the points just lost? I couldn't put them in holding that close to the end of the UY, and obviously could not bank them. We generally do not cancel vacations, but those dates make me really, really nervous. Next year, we will stay local for the May vacation I think and go to Disney in July, but May takes fewer points so....

Thoughts?

Yes, I've considered a small add on to cover May, but I financed my current DVC with the expectation of paying it off quickly, and I refuse to get anything else until that's done.

I've always been an advocate of buying UY's that work best for your time of travel but I wouldn't necessarily advocate making a change once you own based on a "maybe will happen". Have you ever cancelled a trip last minute? Most people don't. I'm one that is more of an exception and have had to twice for deaths in the family and not received any extra consideration from DVC but still, even I would just keep using that contract. There's a cost to making a change in UY's with selling commissions and closing costs on a new contract. If you are planning on adding on then I'd say sure to considering that being a different UY but to change might be spending extra money for "free insurance" that you'll never use. If it's concerning enough for you then purchasing the travel insurance from DVC might be better. You could do that for quite a few years before you'd cover costs to sell and repurchase.

 

[Dean Marino]

Well, here is one for you....

Dear wife & I got wacked with THREE Dam failures in MI . Basement destroyed, and out probably $50K.
So we had to cancel our NOV 2020 WDW trip... both us, and eldest Son & DIL.

But we have 147 2020 Use year points... expiring March 31, 2021. WDW will not let us bank them. They could care less about extenuating circumstances. Suggested we move the robbed points to RCI.

We have a better idea. Joining David's, and renting those points out. I think this is the solution for DVC stonewalling... RENT THOSE POINTS.

Gee, I wonder what a glut of DVC Rental Points will do to regular Hotel prices? .

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well, here is one for you....

Dear wife & I got wacked with THREE Dam failures in MI . Basement destroyed, and out probably $50K.
So we had to cancel our NOV 2020 WDW trip... both us, and eldest Son & DIL.

But we have 147 2020 Use year points... expiring March 31, 2021. WDW will not let us bank them. They could care less about extenuating circumstances. Suggested we move the robbed points to RCI.

We have a better idea. Joining David's, and renting those points out. I think this is the solution for DVC stonewalling... RENT THOSE POINTS.

Gee, I wonder what a glut of DVC Rental Points will do to regular Hotel prices? .

I've continued to be puzzled by the "2020 points that DVC won't bank". You can do it online and there's nothing special about it. All banking rules apply to normal situations as they always have and cancelling a November 2020 trip is normal. March UY - normal. No holding. Same UY. And if 2020 points then they are bankable. If they are banked 2019 points then they are not.

 

[RCharnay]

We arrived in Orlando only to get the message my dad had passed away while we were in flight. I called DVC and they put our points back in our account to use later in the year. They were very nice.