How much of a pain is it to have different use years?

[uicbear]

When you have contracts with different use years is it really that difficult to manage them? I am thinking more of if I were to add points at a different DVC resort. We would probably do the alternating stays (you know bank one to the next year while using the first, and then use the second with the bank points and bank the first to the next year and so on).

The main thing I am seeing though is that our current contracts have June use years and most of the resales (not all, but most) are not. So, what has been the experience of those of you in this situation?

 

[RobDoc]

We have four different Use Years at two resorts. While it does require some attention to make sure no deadlines are missed, it is very doable.

I have used a simple checkbook program to track the points- I just set up each contract as a separate account and the program easily deducts points when reservations are booked (writing a check) and add points each Use Year (making a deposit). I enter confirmation numbers into the detail for each "check" and always verify my totals with MS on each phone call.

CaskBill is developing a DVC Point Tracker program to go with his DVC Planner and the early tests look great. He hopes to have that available for download soon. Dave Frederickson also has written a program to track points that does a nice job too.

Enjoy!

 

[Disney Doll]

We have 2 contracts with different Use Years. I just keep a running tally of them, sort of like the "checkbook" idea mentioned above. It looks somewhat like this (disclaimer: point values are totally made up):

150 points Sept.1, 2005
-35 OKW studio November 5-15,2005.s/w Mary res#123456789
115
-85 BCV 2BR March 10-17,2006.s/w Joe res#987654321
30 banked into 2006 Use Year on February 3,2006.s/w Pete.bk#543219876

And so on. I keep a different log for each contract, and mark on my kitchen calendar when the 100% banking deadlines are.

It's pretty simple.

 

[JimC]

Not a problem at all. We have two use years. Use Dave Fredrickson's program to manage the contracts.

http://hometown.aol.com/dmfredrick/Download.html

 

[Dancind]

It's not so bad keeping track of them, but it's a little harder to combine them. For instance, planning a long stay. We had nights on one contract number, then nights under the other contract for the same resort, same stay. If I called MS about the stay, they could only see the nights under the contract they were currently looking at. Since I couldn't remember which contract we used for which nights, it caused a little confusion at times. Also, when we added a night in a 2 BR, we didn't have enough points in either contract, but combined we had enough. I think they did a transfer that normally wouldn't have been allowed so that we could use all our current year points for that night. It did get a little complicated, and if we decide to sell some points in a couple of years, that odd 150 points at OKW will be the one!

 

[Cruelladeville]

I also use the checkbook system for our three contracts, and it works fine. My only problem came when I bought another contract a couple of months ago, which had the same use year as a current contract, and DVC just dumped the contract's new points(and new resort) in with the old! That messed me all up, and now it's confusing when I make reservations, both to MS and to me. It's like having two separate contracts with the same numbers, and requires a lot of extra time on the phone, especially with some of the new people at MS.

 

[mb168]

If you buy through Disney you will have the same year I believe. But, I use Dave Fredrick's DVC Manager and I really don't even think twice about it. I have an OKW 70pt resale I bought and I bank it every other year and spend Thanksgiving in Disney every other year, which happens to be THIS YEAR ! Since I only use it for Turkey Day trips, my "normal" contract at BCV is for our "normal" visits that happen every year like Food & Wine NEXT WEEK YAY AGAIN!!! His software really makes it a non issue. I imaging if you got into transferring points to combine them for a trip it could get a little more complicated but it really is no biggie.

I've only used it for this one trip every other year and this is our second trip.