Question about use year, cancelling, and banking points

[KayKayJS]

Hi there!! We're looking at contracts to buy currently. We would typically travel in the October/Nov time frame, maybe Dec/Jan, so we were originally looking for a September use year in case we had to cancel a trip (we will be buying Aulani and live in Orlando so this makes sense for us)

We saw a contract we liked with an April use year... So the way I understand it, for an April use year:

Points available for use - 4/1-3/31
Deadline to bank: 11/30
Banked points go back in on 4/1 of the next year

My question is, if we book a trip for October of that use year, and cancel it, can we still bank those points as of 11/30? So in theory April use year would work ok for us and give us flexibility when kids are older and we might want to travel in the summer?

Thank you!

 

[erionm]

As long as you cancel 31 days or more before the check-in date and prior to the banking deadline, you can bank any points that are bankable.

 

[Rush]

If cancelling outside of 30 days prior to your reservation the points return to your bank unrestricted and can be banked, as long as your banking date has not passed. If cancelling within 30 days of the reservation and the points go into holding. Holding points can not be banked, must be used that UY, and can only be used to book reservations less than 60 days in advance.

Ideally you want a UY that is close to your normal vacation schedule, leaving you more time and flexibility when a change occurs requiring a cancellation.

 

[KayKayJS]

Thank you!! I may try and hold out for September but I am glad to understand the 31+ day rule!

 

[Rush]

Keep in mind when considering buying into DVC, the months you mentioned are the busiest months for DVC bookings. Not impossible, just that you might need to make sure you can normally book further out using your home resort 11 month booking, and thus the likelihood of having to stay at your home resort is higher in those months. Just something to consider.

 

[ElizabethG]

I don’t think that April would be bad.

We bought our contracts direct. With the first one (2009), we were given March and I didn’t really now much about that. We stayed in mid-October for several years. I never did have to cancel a trip, but if I did, I would have been able to bank the points.

Then, when the kids got a bit older, we went in August (with school starting in September). This year, my son will be starting in August, so we are going in June. We have had a couple of outlier trips. We have never been in Feb-May.

We go once per year and something really bad would have to happen for us to cancel. So, that risk is negligible. Still, 95% of the time, we wouldn’t have lost points.

 

[KayKayJS]

Keep in mind when considering buying into DVC, the months you mentioned are the busiest months for DVC bookings. Not impossible, just that you might need to make sure you can normally book further out using your home resort 11 month booking, and thus the likelihood of having to stay at your home resort is higher in those months. Just something to consider.

Good point. The Oct-Jan time we were talking would be for Aulani - since we live in Orlando, we don't need to stay at WDW any specific time so we are wide open flexible at 7 months for those. This contract is more for us at Aulani and Vero Beach But if I had planned on going to WDW parks in that time frame I agree I'd 100% buy a contract that is at WDW.