Newbie with questions

[KKMinnie]

I have been lurking on this site for about a year and finally had the nerve to join. I can't believe how many people are like me. It is nice to see. Does that mean we are all normal?

I have some questions I know you will be able to help me with. First of all, I own 175 points at BCV with a March use year. DH and I have been trying to add on for a couple of months now. We are on the list with Disney for either BCV or VWL but heard this could be a long wait. We also tried to by a resale at BCV this past Dec. but were ROFR at 77 a point same use year.

Hear is my dilemina. I have been contemplating a different use year either Feb or Dec but am not sure I could manage it. I am a teacher and locked into specific vacation times. We usually go in April so March was a good use year. But now we may be going in Feb. or Dec. and March is not as good. If I look at different use years it gives me more resale options. Also to add to the mix my DH thinks he might like OKW which is not as expensive. As you can see, I need help deciding what will be best for our family. With my schedule we usually book at the 11 month window.

 

[Doctor P]

Use year only really matters if you cancel a reservation. However, there are some management issues related to points with more than one use year. My personal preference would be to keep my use years at least fairly close together, but there is no necessity in doing so.

 

[Pa@okw95]

I found that use years don't really mean much of anything once you get underway. Use year of course means when you get your points. It has nothing to do as when you use them.

 

[DebbieB]

It can have an effect on borrowing. I have a friend who has an August use year but likes to go to in June and is usually borrowed ahead. She ended up having to go in August because that would open up another year's points for borrowing.

 

[KKMinnie]

Thanks for the responses. DebbieB - I never thought of having to borrow ahead but that could happen. I was worried about what would happen if I had to cancel at the last minute. Would I lose my points? Also how hard is it to manage two use years?

 

[CarolMN]

Thanks for the responses. DebbieB - I never thought of having to borrow ahead but that could happen. I was worried about what would happen if I had to cancel at the last minute. Would I lose my points? Also how hard is it to manage two use years?

Would you lose your points? Maybe.

Let's assume worst case - you schedule a February vacation with a March use year.

If you cancel more than 31 days prior to check in, the points go back into your account. There is no banking at all in January or February with a March use year. So if you cancelled January 1 or later, you would have to use the points before March 1 or they would be lost. You could rent the reservation you couldn't use or if there were availability, rent the points to someone else for a different time. You might also be able to make a late deposit into II and take a trip later to one of the II resorts.

If you happened to cancel before January 1, you could bank up to 25% of your total annual allotment.

If you cancelled 1 - 30 days prior to arrival, your points would go into the holding account. That means the points expire at the end of the use year and cannot be used to make a reservation until 60 days or less prior to arrival. Since you are already less than 60 days from the points expiring, this last really doesn't matter in this case. You have the same options with your points as you did by cancelling more than 31 days ahead.

If this is truly a last minute cancellation - i.e., day of arrival, you just lose the points. This would be true no matter what - doesn't matter at all what your use year is in this case.

Bottom line: Use year only matters if you have to cancel a vacation that is scheduled late in your use year. This isn't a common occurentce for most.

How hard is is to manage two different use years? Well, obviously it's harder than managing just one. You have to keep track of different banking windows and you have to really pay attention to booking windows (if the points are from different resorts) and to the reservation process. You will need to make sure MS uses the points from the "right" contract for each reservation you make to avoid losing points.

Bottom Line: It's not all that hard, but it does take extra time and effort.