Multiple home resorts and different use years

[IlliniMouse]

I have a question(s) about owning at different resorts and having different use years. I'm wondering what the advantages/disadvantages are when it comes to booking.

For example, say you own 200 points at AKV with a use year of April, and you own 200 points at BCV with an August use year. You want to book at BCV for June (which would fall in the 11 month window), but you need more than 200 points. Let's say you need 300, and you have no points you can borrow from your BCV contract, you need more than the 25 (or whatever it is) that you can rent from DV, and you're too sared to rent points from someone. Am I correct in saying that you cannot use your AKV points until the 7 month window? I would have to book what I am able with the BC points and then at the 7 month window hope I can add on to my currect reservation?

I guess when I see people who own at multiple resorts I wonder what the advantages are other than the 11 month booking window if they are smaller contracts. I don't mean this in a snarky manner at all-I am trying to figure out the ins and outs of multiple contracts/use years and be able to maximize my stays at Disney!

So, for those of you with multiple contracts/resorts/use years, do you bank/borrow with one contract to save up for a trip that a certain resort every couple of years, go on multiple trips per year, or other?

We just got back and I am having the "OMG when are we GOING again!?! and can we go for longer and stay in a bigger room?!?" thoughts which is believe has been diagnosed as DVC fever. So, here I am 2 weeks post vacation trying to figure out if I need more points and what would be to my advantage. (I keep looking at resales and am thinking that might be the way to go!)

Thanks! And I'm sorry if I just confused the heck out of anyone!!

 

[wildernessDad]

Between 11 and 7 months one cannot mix points from different home resorts for a stay at a single resort. At the 7 month time, points from different resorts can be mixed.

People own at multiple resorts to get the home resort booking advantage for each resort.

 

[disneynutz]

If you love different resorts and want to guarantee a 11 month booking advantage at each, buy points at those resorts.

Choose 1 UY that is just prior to your 8 month vacation season. This allows you time to bank your points should you need to.

Bill

 

[DenLo]

If your points have different use years, you cannot combine the points even at the 7 month to reserve a single night with out a transfer. Say you have 10 points from one contract and 15 from the other to make the 25 points you need for an additional night. But since you have separate use years you must transfer the points from one contract to the other. And you can only do that transfer once per UY. And that single transfer would count as a transfer for both contracts.

On the other hand, if your contracts had the same UY at the 7 month mark you could just take points from both contracts and reserve the room.

 

[AirGoofy]

We did two contracts with the same use year because honestly, I can't keep up with it all. That way, I know when to book our rooms for our 2 trips and what month to bank any unused points.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Yes, multiple resort owners often use banking and borrowing or some combination for their reservations. Whether you do that for trips every other year or some other combination is simply determined by the number of points you own.

Some own enough to do a trip every year at each of their resorts. For example you might own BWV and VWL and stay at BWV every May (Apr UY) for F&G and VWL every Dec (Dec UY) for Xmas. Or if you own enough points for visits every other year to each resort then use banking/borrowing to alternate stays. For example if you go every Oct then one year stay at BWV for closeness to F&W and the next VWL for closeness to MNSSHP. In this case a single UY works best but they could be different also.

 

[cvjw]

We have 3 contracts with the same use year. I tried to buy another contract with a different use year, but ended up having to cancel the contract. After much thinking about it, I am glad that we only have one use year - 2 different ones would be hard for me to keep up with. All of our contracts are between 170 and 200 points each, so we can bank/borrow to stay at a certain resort for a week in a 2 bedroom.

 

[princessbride6205]

We currently have 1 small contract with a Feb UY. We didn't give much thought to UY when we purchased (in part because we've never cancelled a vacation and because it was a great price resale). We plan to bank and borrow as necessary to use it about every other year for short spring or summer trips.

We are about to do an add on and will purchase more points with an August UY for Food & Wine and January trips.

I think 2 use years is about my limit, but I may end up with more than 2 resorts at some point.

 

[IlliniMouse]

Thanks for everyones input! I appreciate it! Being new to this, it's confusing enough keeping bank/borrow/UY/etc straight without tossing another resort/UY into the mix. I know it's being done, so I am really curious about the pros and cons of it all and which way would work for us.

I can see now why different UY's could get very confusing, and I didn't even think about the tranferring points rule. That's why I all you guys! Someone always knows the answer! Keep the pros and cons coming....gives me more to think about!

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Let's discuss the two separately for a moment, and start with multiple resorts. Owning at multiple resorts will allow you to book at those resorts up to 4 months earlier than anyone else can (11 months out). All resorts open up to all members at 7 months out. That's definitely an advantage if you're trying to go during certain times of year when reservations can be harder to get (e.g., VWL at Christmas). Where I see a downside is if you need to make a reservation that requires a lot of points. For example, let's say you needed a grand villa. Unless you own several large contracts at various resorts, you probably won't have enough for the reservation even if you bank and borrow. What this would force you to do is wait until the 7-month mark when you can pool all of your points together to make the reservation. At that point, it may be difficult to get what you want. If you owned the bulk of your points at one resort (like we do at SSR - 390 points), you can, within reason, make a large point reservation at the 11 month mark.

Now...let's talk multiple UYs. The benefit of multiple UYs has to do with not losing your points if you travel all through the year, and have to cancel your vacation. So let's say you travel in Aug and you have an Aug UY. If you book your vacation in Aug and have to cancel, you can bank those points for quite some time (through March), or reschedule the vacation. So, if you generally travel in Aug and Feb, some people will purchase an Aug and Feb UY, and book the Aug trip with the Aug UY points, and the Feb trip with the Feb UY.

Now...combining the two:
I didn't understand enough about it at the time and purchased two separate UYs (Aug and Dec). To me, the downsides outweigh the positives. If all 3 of my contracts shared the same UY, at 7 months, I could treat all of those contracts as 1 contract. So, if I need 100 points to book a vacation and only have 92 in my SSR contract, I can use 8 from my OKW to book the reservation without borrowing. Because they are separate UYs, I have to transfer. You're only allowed 1 transfer in/out per UY year. You also have to pay attention to banking/borrowing, as that adds complexity to the whole thing.

Personally, I would never buy two separate UYs again. I never have to cancel my reservations, but almost always run into issues where I want to combine points. I know that there are benefits and people use it to their advantage, but it's been more of a hassle for me than a benefit. Just my two cents!

 

[Mick@Tink]

Personally, I would never buy two separate UYs again. I never have to cancel my reservations, but almost always run into issues where I want to combine points. I know that there are benefits and people use it to their advantage, but it's been more of a hassle for me than a benefit. Just my two cents!

We own at resorts with two different UY's. Annoying, yes. Difficult, no. If we could go back in time and only have one UY we would. Who needs the extra hassels that two UY's bring!

 

[Sandisw]

I have a question(s) about owning at different resorts and having different use years. I'm wondering what the advantages/disadvantages are when it comes to booking.

For example, say you own 200 points at AKV with a use year of April, and you own 200 points at BCV with an August use year. You want to book at BCV for June (which would fall in the 11 month window), but you need more than 200 points. Let's say you need 300, and you have no points you can borrow from your BCV contract, you need more than the 25 (or whatever it is) that you can rent from DV, and you're too sared to rent points from someone. Am I correct in saying that you cannot use your AKV points until the 7 month window? I would have to book what I am able with the BC points and then at the 7 month window hope I can add on to my currect reservation?

I guess when I see people who own at multiple resorts I wonder what the advantages are other than the 11 month booking window if they are smaller contracts. I don't mean this in a snarky manner at all-I am trying to figure out the ins and outs of multiple contracts/use years and be able to maximize my stays at Disney!

So, for those of you with multiple contracts/resorts/use years, do you bank/borrow with one contract to save up for a trip that a certain resort every couple of years, go on multiple trips per year, or other?

We just got back and I am having the "OMG when are we GOING again!?! and can we go for longer and stay in a bigger room?!?" thoughts which is believe has been diagnosed as DVC fever. So, here I am 2 weeks post vacation trying to figure out if I need more points and what would be to my advantage. (I keep looking at resales and am thinking that might be the way to go!)

Thanks! And I'm sorry if I just confused the heck out of anyone!!

I may be reading this wrong, but you do know that the 11 month window has nothing to do with UY and that you don't have to have an Aug UY to book a June vacation. You can call in July to book that trip, regardless of the UY you own.

Matter of fact, Aug UY would be the worst UY for a June vacation since you would be traveling at the end of it, outside the banking window. Getting a UY that starts just before typical travel allows for the most flexibility. With a June trip, you would be better off with a June or April UY.

 

[IlliniMouse]

I may be reading this wrong, but you do know that the 11 month window has nothing to do with UY and that you don't have to have an Aug UY to book a June vacation. You can call in July to book that trip, regardless of the UY you own.

Matter of fact, Aug UY would be the worst UY for a June vacation since you would be traveling at the end of it, outside the banking window. Getting a UY that starts just before typical travel allows for the most flexibility. With a June trip, you would be better off with a June or April UY.

I'm sure you read it correctly. I was just throwing some dates out there. I wanted to put up an example that allowed someone to book at one of their home resorts within the 11 month window, but before the 7 month window for the other resort I listed that wasn't where the reservation was being made.

 

[n2mm]

I have 3 homes and all the same UY. I thought about another home with a different UY, but it takes some planning to work with the 11 month and 7 month windows of multiple homes, so having different UY would not be easy to keep track for me. I like having the same UY because when I make a reservation, the CM can see all of my contracts under one UY. If I had a different UY and a different account number, that one would have to be openned and you could not combine unless your transfer. My UY is April and I vacation in April/May, August-sometimes, Oct/Nov, and late January. So far I've managed to keep things straight and my banking window is the end of November. This has worked for me for the 5 years we have owned. Generally I make my January reservation last, then bank. I know that if I wanted to make a last minute trip, I could always borrow since I've already banked -- which is a nice option, but so far I haven't.

 

[wildernessDad]

The 11 month and 7 month window has nothing to do with Use Year. It ls the amount of time before a particular vacation starts.

Let's say that you wanted to book a vacation with an arrival date of June 15, 2011. Then you can call 11 months ahead of time, July 15, 2010 in this example, to book at your home resort using you home resort points. You'd have to wait until November 15, 2010, 7 months before arrival date, to use points from ANY resort.

 

[Checkers]

If your points have different use years, you cannot combine the points even at the 7 month to reserve a single night with out a transfer. Say you have 10 points from one contract and 15 from the other to make the 25 points you need for an additional night. But since you have separate use years you must transfer the points from one contract to the other. And you can only do that transfer once per UY. And that single transfer would count as a transfer for both contracts.

On the other hand, if your contracts had the same UY at the 7 month mark you could just take points from both contracts and reserve the room.

I may be wrong but I don't think transferring within a single membership number counts as if it were an external transfer from one member to another. I have 3 contracts under one membership and have never had a problem transferring points during my UY from one contract to another more than once in that UY.

We did two contracts with the same use year because honestly, I can't keep up with it all. That way, I know when to book our rooms for our 2 trips and what month to bank any unused points.

This is exactly why we decided to get the same UY. Have enough complicated things in life to deal with!