February UY

[Saratoga2019]

New to DVC, made our first purchase last week at SSR and I am already looking to add on a resale contract. They assigned us a FEB UY but looking at the various resale sites it seams that FEB has the lowest inventory. Am I off base on this ? I have two days left in review should I request to change UY. We like to travel in FEB & APRIL. Thanks

 

[texanlawyer]

February actually has the second most points for use years at SSR. Only December has more. Here's a link that shows the use year breakdown for each resort: https://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-p...ear-distribution-charts-updated-february-2018

What part of February do you travel in? If it's mid to late February onward, I think that a February use year contract would be fine. If there is any chance that you'd have a February trip that would start in January (like arriving on January 31 and then staying the first week of February), then you may want to consider a December use year.

 

[CarolMN]

Don't change. February is a very good choice for your travel pattern. It happens to have the second largest percentage of points among the 8 use years. The number of contracts for sale at any given time varies and changes frequently.

Check out this link:
Use Year Distribution

 

[Bing Showei]

Gonna buck the trend and suggest you switch to December for two reasons.

One, December is still in its 2018 UY so you would be able to use those points or bank them by July.

Two, with Disney buying back and changing UYs at will, those distribution charts will be less meaningful moving into the future. Right now, there are roughly 25% more Dec contracts than Feb contracts (2.8M vs 2.2M, roughly). As contracts continue to be ROFR’d and resold, the numbers may go down (or up), but at a base starting point, you will have more resale options with a Dec UY than with a Feb UY. If you decide you need more points down the line (say in 10 years), that distribution chart may look very different.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

New to DVC, made our first purchase last week at SSR and I am already looking to add on a resale contract. They assigned us a FEB UY but looking at the various resale sites it seams that FEB has the lowest inventory. Am I off base on this ? I have two days left in review should I request to change UY. We like to travel in FEB & APRIL. Thanks

As mentioned the Feb UY has a high percentage of the contacts. More important is when you travel and Feb will be the best for Feb & April travel in that it would give the remainder of the year to rebook or to bank should you have a late cancellation to a trip.

 

[kdweber]

What part of February do you travel in? If it's mid to late February onward, I think that a February use year contract would be fine. If there is any chance that you'd have a February trip that would start in January (like arriving on January 31 and then staying the first week of February), then you may want to consider a December use year.

A couple of questions -

#1 - Why is the % of people with the same use year important? I can see the resale impact - easier to sell to a person with the same UY, anything besides that?

#2 - Can you explain the part about Feb and arriving Jan 31st and staying through the 1st week of Feb? I realize you get your new points on Feb 1st- but how does that help you with a trip scheduled to start before Feb 1st? All I can think of is you can borrow from the future year?


Thanks !!!!!

 

[kniquy]

For your travel Feb is ideal, don't change. Just get on the listings for all the resale companies so when that ideal Feb SSR contract pops up you can snag it.

 

[texanlawyer]

A couple of questions -

#1 - Why is the % of people with the same use year important? I can see the resale impact - easier to sell to a person with the same UY, anything besides that?

#2 - Can you explain the part about Feb and arriving Jan 31st and staying through the 1st week of Feb? I realize you get your new points on Feb 1st- but how does that help you with a trip scheduled to start before Feb 1st? All I can think of is you can borrow from the future year?


Thanks !!!!!

1) It's important if you want to add on. If you have a a contract from a use year with a small number of points, then it's going to be harder to find a contract through resale that matches that use year. Because there are fewer points in that use year, the odds are that there will be fewer resale contracts available with that use year when you want to add on. For example, I own an October UY contract at BLT, which has the fewest number of points out of all of the use years at that resort. If you check resale listings, you'll see that there are very few October BLT contracts available at any random time, especially small contracts for an add on.

2) It's a little more complicated to book reservations that go over use years. You're right that you can borrow from the next use year in order to pick up the beginning of the trip, but you're then in trouble if you have to cancel the trip since borrowing/banking are permanent transactions that you can't undo. If you need to cancel, you may have points stuck in a use year with no way to use them.

 

[chalee94]

A couple of questions -

#1 - Why is the % of people with the same use year important? I can see the resale impact - easier to sell to a person with the same UY, anything besides that?

#2 - Can you explain the part about Feb and arriving Jan 31st and staying through the 1st week of Feb? I realize you get your new points on Feb 1st- but how does that help you with a trip scheduled to start before Feb 1st? All I can think of is you can borrow from the future year?


Thanks !!!!!

2 - to book late January with Feb UY pts means that you might have to borrow. So while the Feb dates in 2020 can be booked with current 2020 UY pts, any January nights would have to be booked with current 2019 UY pts or borrowed 2020 UY pts.

This mostly becomes an issue if you need to cancel. Stays that late in your UY are more risky and you are more likely to lose points if you have to cancel. (Mostly in that you are likely to be past your banking window for the points used for the January nights and would have little time or opportunity to rebook.)

 

[kdweber]

1) It's important if you want to add on. If you have a a contract from a use year with a small number of points, then it's going to be harder to find a contract through resale that matches that use year. Because there are fewer points in that use year, the odds are that there will be fewer resale contracts available with that use year when you want to add on. For example, I own an October UY contract at BLT, which has the fewest number of points out of all of the use years at that resort. If you check resale listings, you'll see that there are very few October BLT contracts available at any random time, especially small contracts for an add on.

2) It's a little more complicated to book reservations that go over use years. You're right that you can borrow from the next use year in order to pick up the beginning of the trip, but you're then in trouble if you have to cancel the trip since borrowing/banking are permanent transactions that you can't undo. If you need to cancel, you may have points stuck in a use year with no way to use them.

I have only been a member 2 years - so have not had to face a lot of the issues yet,

On #1 - I agree - You are right, I used sell example, but the opposite is the same as well in terms of adding on to existing points - Thanks for making that clear.

On #2 - Would that also be the case when you are using current year points with a reservation that is scheduled post the banking window, but before your UY ends? If yes, then the month does not really matter - unless of course a person has more flexibility (ie: Teacher - who has summer off, might prefer a Sept/Oct UY, so they could move a scheduled trip a week or two in the case of the need to cancel).

 

[chalee94]

On #2 - Would that also be the case when you are using current year points with a reservation that is scheduled post the banking window, but before your UY ends? If yes, then the month does not really matter - unless of course a person has more flexibility (ie: Teacher - who has summer off, might prefer a Sept/Oct UY, so they could move a scheduled trip a week or two in the case of the need to cancel).

A teacher who traveled primarily during summer vacations would find a September /October UY to be a terrible fit. You really do not want to travel during the last few months of your UY.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

On #2 - Would that also be the case when you are using current year points with a reservation that is scheduled post the banking window, but before your UY ends? If yes, then the month does not really matter - unless of course a person has more flexibility (ie: Teacher - who has summer off, might prefer a Sept/Oct UY, so they could move a scheduled trip a week or two in the case of the need to cancel).

Crossing UY's you can use current points or borrowed or even banked. That's not the issue. The only issue is if you have a late cancellation that occurs after your banking deadline and is then so close to the end of the UY. It leaves you little time and flexibility to rebook and use those points.

 

[texanlawyer]

On #2 - Would that also be the case when you are using current year points with a reservation that is scheduled post the banking window, but before your UY ends? If yes, then the month does not really matter - unless of course a person has more flexibility (ie: Teacher - who has summer off, might prefer a Sept/Oct UY, so they could move a scheduled trip a week or two in the case of the need to cancel).

September and October are the worst use years for summer travel. Ideally, most of your travel will be during the period from the start of your use year until the banking deadline (April 30 for a September use year and May 31 for an October use year). That way, if you cancel a trip, you have a better chance of being able to book the points into the next use year. If you're a teacher who needs plans to travel in June or July, you'll be better off with a June use year contract (or even a March/April contract). If you have a September use year contract and you need to cancel a trip planned for July, you'll want to cancel before April 30 so that you can bank the points into the next year and not lose them.

 

[chicagoshannon]

We have a Feb use year on our BWV contract. While it might have the most points assigned to it it seems to come up infrequently in resale. Maybe all the Feb owners just love their DVC too much to sell. I see a TON of December all the time. We ended up going with a June use year for our recent contract (awaiting ROFR) because there were so few Feb. contracts available.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We have a Feb use year on our BWV contract. While it might have the most points assigned to it it seems to come up infrequently in resale. Maybe all the Feb owners just love their DVC too much to sell. I see a TON of December all the time. We ended up going with a June use year for our recent contract (awaiting ROFR) because there were so few Feb. contracts available.

Murphy’s law. As soon as you buy something else there will be a ton of what you want showing up.