Help me pick a use year, please

[DJmommy]

Hello all,

Finally talked DH into buying a small resale contract as that is all we can afford at the present time. We plan on vacationing about every 18 - 20 months alternating between Easter break and November. We have school age children and have time off every Nov for teacher's convention so it is a pretty predictable schedule. What would be a good use year, I am assuming that we will bank points every other year and may need to borrow for the Easter vacation as it costa more points then?

Also what is the deal with mixing a point and cash reservation? I have heard people mention this and we might be interested so that we don't have to borrow the next year's points to do this? When can this cash part be booked, and is there a discount? I was actually thinking about staying at a moderate for the weekend, then moving to the DVC for the Sun-Thurs. But it would be nice not to have to move. If anyone does this, please tell me how it all works.

TIA

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Use year makes no difference except if you have to cancel a reservation. If you cancel at the beginning of your use year you would still be able to bank all of your current year points and/or have a full year to use the points. Use year makes no difference when you can make a reservation. With a small contract you would be borrowing for almost every trip so the reasoning for a use year just before you normally travel may be moot.

But if use year is important to you and since your trip times are the opposite of each other on the calendar, it would probably make the most sense to get an October use year. That way, even if Easter fell in April and you had to cancel in March, you could still bank the points from that year into the next. You would have six months to use the borrowed points.

But you can always book 11 months in advance no matter what your use year is so I really wouldn't worry about it.

HBC

 

[kimberh]

I have one with Apr and 2 with Oct. I really like the Oct a whole lot better than the Apr. I would get one in Oct or later in the year. Just seems to have more flixibility with points, if needed.

 

[DJmommy]

Thanks to you both. The more I think about it since it is a long term contract and since at some point my DH and I will be vacationing without kids, we will most likely go in the off season - Oct Nov or early Dec, so I am leaning towards an Aug or Sept year. I would probably feel more comfortable making use of my points earlier in the year and if we don't we bank.

Thanks again.