Is having 2 use years *that* bad / annoying / difficult?

[takemetomickey]

We have an august use year on our first contract, but have come to find that at the moment we prefer to travel in feb, may, June and august. Looking to add an additional contract and it seems February would be better?

Please share your experience on how hard or annoying it is to have two use years, especially if I want to bundle all points for one big trip per year?

Thank you!

 

[tom1944]

I am looking for a second contract (August) and I am thinking that to increase my options maybe a second use year could work.

I am thinking a second contract with a June use year could work if we basically did split stays. Use the August for one resort and the June for the other. Problem is we will be taking our first split stay this August and who knows if we will like split stays.

My uneducated guess is if you are using the second use year differently than the first it should be no big deal but if you are using them together it could be a headache.

 

[RuntheMouse]

We have 500 points with an August UY because a majority of our travel is September - January. We have a 75 point contract with a February UY for those “sometimes” spring/summer trips. It isn’t hard to manage because they each have a dedicated purpose.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

We had an Aug and Feb UY for a while and I don’t think it was that big of a deal. We were also less DVC savvy when using those points so we’d just transfer them to our other membership to use together. We only sold our Feb UY contract because as we added more points the best deals just happened to be for Aug UY when we were looking and it annoyed me to have a small 50pt contract in a separate UY lol

I wouldn’t mind getting another contract or 2 in a Feb UY in the future, especially as we also like to travel in May (and June occasionally) even if the bulk of our travel tends to be fall and winter so Aug and Feb makes a lot of sense.

I wouldn’t be too worried about it but there is a small amount of juggling. It’s also nice to be able to look at 2 UYs when buying resale as it gives you more options.

 

[CarolMN]

My uneducated guess is if you are using the second use year differently than the first it should be no big deal but if you are using them together it could be a headache.

IMO, this is correct. Other than keeping track of two memberships / banking deadlines, it shouldn't be a problem, especially for an experienced DVC Member.

It's needing to combine the two for the same reservation that will present problems. These can be overcome, but require careful attention and knowing how to work around booking system limitations to get what you want. It can be frustrating at times.

 

[Sandisw]

In order to use them every year for the same trip, you have to transfer between them and once transferred, they will still have all their same rules.

They set up a temporary contract to hold them. You won’t see this except when you go book so you have to keep track on your own what is where

Once transferred, those points can’t be borrowed back for a trip so you will need to be strategic in which points you move.

We have three UYs but that was on purpose because we use them for different trips. If we are going to use them for the same one, we book some on one and some on the other so we don’t need to deal with transfer.

This means we sometimes borrow even when we have other points in a different membership.

Personally, wouldn’t do if the plan is to use together regularly

 

[Red Dog Run]

I have October and March use years. I group them according to season. October points are used for summer vacations and March use years are used for vacations during the holidays. We always split our vacation into 2 resorts: BLT/OKW for summer, and VGF and AKV for Thanksgiving/Christmas. I like 2 use years, and I am always in the borrowing stage.. I never missed a banking yet, that's because I use all of the current years and then tap into banked points. It works for me! I have (after this last purchase) 845 points. Hubby and I always chose a 1 bedroom. He's snoring right now, and I'm ty[ing in the living area. ")


EDIT: I should have typed that March UY is for summer and Oct UY is for late year holidays. Good catch, ya'll. Thank you for the redirect.

 

[GGGT]

We have five resorts with five use years.

Four of our resorts we purchased for specific resorts/dates and the 11-month window. We use the 5th resort as SAP.

I don't think we've ever "crossed pointed" a resort or felt the need to do it, with the exception of perhaps adding a day or two on an existing reservation.

 

[WinterSolider]

IMO, this is correct. Other than keeping track of two memberships / banking deadlines, it shouldn't be a problem, especially for an experienced DVC Member.

It's needing to combine the two for the same reservation that will present problems. These can be overcome, but require careful attention and knowing how to work around booking system limitations to get what you want. It can be frustrating at times.

100% this.

I've had multiple UYs at different times and I personally won't do it again but I REALLY recommend against it unless each contract is big enough to book whole trips independently.

 

[KPeterso]

I have 2 use years. I was nervous when I was purchasing the second one, but honestly, it is no big deal. I just have to remember when each needs to be banked. I typically book different vacations with each UY. But I have transferred to myself to book before and that was no big deal except I had to call to book the transferred points.

 

[MilwaukeeMom]

I’m pretty sure the use year only matters when you’re making a reservation towards the end of your use year. Correct me if I’m wrong. We have two December use year contracts which have worked pretty well except when we were booking a Thanksgiving trip. If we cancelled we would’ve had the points in holding which have a very limited use. Luckily everything worked out and we had a great trip, but I was aware then that a December use year isn’t great at Thanksgiving.

 

[Sandisw]

I’m pretty sure the use year only matters when you’re making a reservation towards the end of your use year. Correct me if I’m wrong. We have two December use year contracts which have worked pretty well except when we were booking a Thanksgiving trip. If we cancelled we would’ve had the points in holding which have a very limited use. Luckily everything worked out and we had a great trip, but I was aware then that a December use year isn’t great at Thanksgiving.

UY is important for booking and the risk of what would happen when you have to cancel if you are traveling at the end of your UY.

But, when you have contracts in two different UY's, its like being two different owners. I have VGF points in a June UY and a December UY. I can not book one reservation with points from each without calling MS and having them transfer the points between those memberships....and once transferred, you have rules to make sure you follow.

In your case, you have two contracts, but because they are in the same UY, they all are under one membership so you can use points from both easily by simply checking both of them at the time of booking. That can't happen when your contracts are in different memberships.

 

[MilwaukeeMom]

In your case, you have two contracts, but because they are in the same UY, they all are under one membership so you can use points from both easily by simply checking both of them at the time of booking. That can't happen when your contracts are in different memberships.

But that only works if you’re booking 7 months out anyway, correct?

 

[Sandisw]

But that only works if you’re booking 7 months out anyway, correct?

If the resorts are the same, you have to do it if you want to combine at 11 months.

Since my VGf points are in two different memberships, I can never book a trip using both set of points for a single reservation without transferring the points.

 

[MilwaukeeMom]

So I’m confused. If I have an August and a December contract I can’t see them together under my membership?

 

[MilwaukeeMom]

I currently own PVB and BCV both December contracts. I just bought a CCV August contract. Will I see them all under my membership account?

 

[RuntheMouse]

I currently own PVB and BCV both December contracts. I just bought a CCV August contract. Will I see them all under my membership account?

You’ll have 2 memberships. Both will be visible under the same login.

 

[intamin]

Deleted. Woops thought I was responding to OP

 

[WinterSolider]

So I’m confused. If I have an August and a December contract I can’t see them together under my membership?

MembershipS, plural, with an S.

You'll still have a single email address to log in to the DVC website, but technically you'll have two memberships, each with a separate membership number.

When you have the same use year, you have multiple contracts within a single membership number.

 

[Sandisw]

I currently own PVB and BCV both December contracts. I just bought a CCV August contract. Will I see them all under my membership account?

Your DVC account is the same and will see everything on your home page just under their own membership number.

When you go to book, though, you will have to choose which membership you want to use. You will either choose to use the contracts in your Dec UY or the new one in your Aug UY.

You will never see all three at the same time for booking a trip, even at 7 months.

To use the new CCV points with your others for a single reservation, you will need to transfer the points and vice versa.

But you have to be careful in that because points stay in their own UY even when transferred to your other one.