Hi again -- use year question .... AGAIN

[vellamint]

We bought yesterday.....he wanted to give me the February use year even after I told him that August or September would be better for us.....so he gave me September.

Then I changed my mind because it felt like I was "losing out" on this years points....... Why are they pushing February?

I thought I had a handle UY but can someone tell me.......I really dont know what is best or if it really matters to us at all. Yes we usually travel in August. Yes I HOPE most of trips will be in Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec. I have NEVER cancelled a trip...EVER.

Does it really matter? I dont know if I am second guessing myself because it is such a large purchase or if I really made a bad decision taking the February UY.

I have ten days (well nine now) until this is final so I assume I can call and have him change it before then....

 

[Chuck S]

With a February use year, if you have to cancel a reservation for Sept., Oct., Nov., or Dec., as long as you cancel at least 31 days prior to your check-in date AND cancel by September 30, you will be able to bank your points.

If you cancel at least 31 days out AFTER September 30, you point can not be banked, and would have to be used by January 31.

If you cancel 30 days or less prior to arrival, no matter when your reservvation is, your points go into holding status and can not be banked, and can only be used for reservation with and arrival date 60 days or less in advance.

 

[RobDoc]

We bought yesterday.....he wanted to give me the February use year even after I told him that August or September would be better for us.....so he gave me September.

Then I changed my mind because it felt like I was "losing out" on this years points....... Why are they pushing February?

I thought I had a handle UY but can someone tell me.......I really dont know what is best or if it really matters to us at all. Yes we usually travel in August. Yes I HOPE most of trips will be in Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec. I have NEVER cancelled a trip...EVER.

Does it really matter? I dont know if I am second guessing myself because it is such a large purchase or if I really made a bad decision taking the February UY.

I have ten days (well nine now) until this is final so I assume I can call and have him change it before then....

DVC typically has sold contracts with a Use Year about 6 months ahead/behind of the date of the sale. That way, the buyer gets points from the current Use Year and another allotment in a few months (depending on the situation at the resort being purchased).

Unless you will need to cancel reservations, Use Year is simply the month each year when your points are renewed in your contract. Use Year determines the banking deadlines - which could impact your points in the event of a cancellation - but otherwise has no effect on making a reservation.

If you'd rather have a different Use Year you have 10 days to make the change, otherwise you will have that February Use Year for the duration of your ownership. (Personally, I'd keep and enjoy the February Use Year. I've never lost any DVC points in the past 16+ years of ownership.)

Enjoy!

 

[5forDiz]

A trip would have to be cancelled 31 days or more before your check-in date in order for the CURRENT Use Year points to be banked & ONLY the Current UY points used in the reservation would be bankable ( any banked &/or borrowed points that are also in the reservation would have to be used by END of UY - - more on this to follow ).

In order to bank you would still need to be within your banking window otherwise you are then in a situation where you need to re-use the points by the end of the UY so you don't want to pick a UY where there will be little time left between your latest travel time & end of UY.

Also, as mentioned, any banked &/or borrowed points used in a reservation would have to be used by end of your UY because even if you did cancel 31 days or more prior to check-in because some points used are banked &/or borrowed points those cannot be banked again or 'put back' in the case of the borrowed points. This is why it's wise to leave the most amount of time possible between when your travel typically will be and when your banking window & end of UY falls.


~ with a June UY for example, a trip on August 1 2010 can use

Banked 2009 UY points & CURRENT 2010 UY points & Borrowed 2011 UY points

so if you cancelled trip on July 1 2010 ( at least 31 days before check-in) you may

* Bank by January 31 2011 your CURRENT 2010 UY points used in reservation AND
would have until May 31 2011 to re-use Banked 2009 UY points & Borrowed 2011 UY
points used in this reservation ( because banked pts cant be re-banked & borrowed
pts may not be 'put back' into UY they initially came from )


September is NOT a good Use Year if you will travel regularly in August because your August travel will be at the end of your UY - - if you needed to cancel that August trip you would be beyond banking deadline ( March 31 ) and would be in a tight situation time-wise trying to figure out how to make use of those points before the end of UY which would be on August 31.

February UY doesn't work all that well for November & December travel because of its banking deadline - Sept. 30.....last minute cancellations for Nov & Dec travel will have you beyond banking deadline ( and even an October trip would have to be cancelled no later than Sept 30 in order for the points to be banked ).

Choosing June Use Year would be a good UY for your travel months of August through December : banking deadline is January 31 leaving you plenty of time to do so & end of UY is May 31.

February, March, April, June, August, September, October & December are Use Years; January, May, July & November are not UY.

Best wishes

 

[Tara]

Does it really matter? I dont know if I am second guessing myself because it is such a large purchase or if I really made a bad decision taking the February UY.

Well, here's how UY is affecting me this year. I have a February UY. I booked a week at BLT in December the day reservations opened. However, a series of events have led to me rescheduling my trip for November to turn it into a birthday celebration for my sister and me (we have the same birthday). This didn't happen until late June, and by that time availability was sparse, so I'm booked at SSR for the first half and BLT for the 2nd half. I'm also wait listed in hopes of moving the SSR nights to BLT (and clearly the BLT nights would require more points). I know that it's possible my waitlist could come through as people cancel prior to reaching the 31 day mark (which would be about Oct 6 for us). BUT, I have to bank points by Sept 30. So yes, I can bank the extra 2009 points and then still borrow from 2010 if I need to for this November, but I'd rather not do that as I know I'll have trouble using all my points in 2010, and effectively "swapping" 2010 points for 2009 points means I won't have as many to bank into 2011. (I hope that makes sense.)

I don't expect this will always be a problem as we will try to stick to our plans. However, I am seeing where wait lists can make a difference WRT UY.

 

[chalee94]

We bought yesterday.....he wanted to give me the February use year even after I told him that August or September would be better for us.....so he gave me September.

Then I changed my mind because it felt like I was "losing out" on this years points....... Why are they pushing February?

I thought I had a handle UY but can someone tell me.......I really dont know what is best or if it really matters to us at all. Yes we usually travel in August.

if you usually travel in august, you want an august UY. feb would at least be a better choice than sept...sept would be the worst for you.

Yes I HOPE most of trips will be in Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec. I have NEVER cancelled a trip...EVER.

Does it really matter? I dont know if I am second guessing myself because it is such a large purchase or if I really made a bad decision taking the February UY.

as long as you never have to cancel a trip, UY month will be a non-issue. the first time you have to watch points go to waste because you had to cancel at the end of your UY, it will be too late to decide that your UY month mattered.

 

[vellamint]

if you usually travel in august, you want an august UY. feb would at least be a better choice than sept...sept would be the worst for you.



as long as you never have to cancel a trip, UY month will be a non-issue. the first time you have to watch points go to waste because you had to cancel at the end of your UY, it will be too late to decide that your UY month mattered.

He definitely jumped over the August UY when I was asking for August/September......there was a reason but I dont remember why.....

I am still confused.

With a February UY:

If I plan a trip for the 3/4th week of August....what it the date that I will "lose" my points by?

If I plan a trip for September...how late can I cancel by to retain the points

If I plan a trip for December....how late can I cancel by to retain the points.

With an August UY:

If I plan a trip for the 3/4th week of August....what it the date that I will "lose" my points by?

If I plan a trip for September...how late can I cancel by to retain the points

If I plan a trip for December....how late can I cancel by to retain the points.


For some reason I still cant wrap my mind around UY and issues involved...probably because I have been reading ALL the dvc boards for the past week constantly and now its like I am hitting a brick wall on UY understanding.....

I did read the thread on UY.....
Thanks.

 

[5forDiz]

He definitely jumped over the August UY when I was asking for August/September......there was a reason but I dont remember why.....

I am still confused.

With a February UY:

If I plan a trip for the 3/4th week of August....what it the date that I will "lose" my points by?

If I plan a trip for September...how late can I cancel by to retain the points

If I plan a trip for December....how late can I cancel by to retain the points.

With an August UY:

If I plan a trip for the 3/4th week of August....what it the date that I will "lose" my points by?

If I plan a trip for September...how late can I cancel by to retain the points

If I plan a trip for December....how late can I cancel by to retain the points.


For some reason I still cant wrap my mind around UY and issues involved...probably because I have been reading ALL the dvc boards for the past week constantly and now its like I am hitting a brick wall on UY understanding.....

I did read the thread on UY.....
Thanks.

The main 'idea' behind choosing a UY is to pick a UY where your travel will happen during FIRST 8 months of that UY so that you may still be within your Banking Window.

But also, it is important to keep in mind that ONLY your Current UY points in the reservation will ever be bankable providing you cancel at least 31 days before your check-in date AND you are still within your Banking Window......with an August UY banking deadline is March 31, with February UY banking deadline is Sept 30.

As my post said above any Banked or Borrowed points used in a reservation cannot not be re-banked or 'put back' into UY they came even if you cancelled 31 days or more before check-in or even if you are still within your banking window because with these Banked or Borrowed points they have to be re-used by the END of your Use Year which is also another important reason why you do not want to pick a Use Year where your travel times come close to the end of your UY because you will be very limited in amount of time remaining to re-use banked & borrowed points in the event of a cancellation.

 

[vellamint]

Can you think of a reason why the guide did not want me to have an August UY? It had something to do with either it being the end of the month right now .....

 

[5forDiz]

Can you think of a reason why the guide did not want me to have an August UY? It had something to do with either it being the end of the month right now .....

jmho, I don't think it was so much that the guide did not want you to have August UY but I think it most likely has to do with what Webmaster Doc stated in his post above.