Resale use year?

[intamin]

Hi! So I recently purchased a direct Riviera contract with an April use year and in the future in considering getting additional points there via resale just because we love the rooms there. The problem I'm having is when looking on the resale market I feel like I'm seeing 10 December use year contracts for every April contract I see. I guess long story short should I be considering a contract with a different use year for my resale or is it really that much of a hassle that everyone makes it out to be? Can I just transfer the points to my April use year contract and vice versa? Is it better to try and keep their relative points on each contract and then just bank them and then continue to make separate reservations and then just ask member services to merge the reservations? Or should I just be patient/pay a little more for resale in order to match use years. I realize that there probably aren't that many Riviera resort resales in general since it's such a new resort but anyways any advice would be appreciated

Also does anybody have like a good video showing managing multiple contracts and use years and etc? Thanks in advance!

 

[StoweFoSho]

Welcome home! What you’ve discovered is that not all use years are distributed equally in resorts. December is a very common use year for Riviera and many newer resorts like Poly. April can be harder to come by, but is more common in 2042 resorts and SSR.

Yes, Riviera is newer and there are fewer resale contracts out there compared to other resorts. I spot three Riviera April UY contracts for sale- all 150 points or more.

You can have different use years and transfer points, but depending on the time of travel, you may not even need to. Other members use different use year points to book trips for multiple visits in different seasons.

I like having a single use year for both my direct and resale points, so that I have one banking deadline and one calendar in my head of when I can use my points. But DVC can be customized to what you want or works for you.

 

[Stargazer65]

If you plan to go more than once a year routinely then having more than one use year is not bad. If you only want to go once a year, or less, I'd keep one use year for simplicity. I used to have two use years, but switched back to one. Transferring points is easy in theory, but there are hassles, oftentimes you need to call MS to make the reservation because the website will not recognize the transferred points. Also, having more than one use year limits borrowing if you transfer the points. It's better IMO to keep the reservations separate with two use years.

 

[supersnoop]

It's very common to see very few contracts in the use year you want. There are 8 use years available, so seeking a single use year means you're already limited to approximately 12% of contracts. Rest assured, the use year you want will come around at some point; you just have to be patient.

 

[Sandisw]

I would say it depends on contract size and when you want to travel to have two UYs work easier, especially with a transfer,

With a Dec and April UY, transfer would work but you do loose the ability to use transferred points online during the home resort period which means having to call to use them to book.

At 7 months, they usually work, but I have had a few glitches with that as well.

We do have three UYs but we don’t use transfers much…I avoid if possible. I just book different nights using different memberships and have MS link them. So far, never had to change rooms.

Transferred points can not be borrowed either and once transferred, they still keep their own UY and rules. They won’t show up either unless you go to book so it is an extra step to keep track of it all, including the different banking deadlines.

 

[CarolynFH]

It's very common to see very few contracts in the use year you want. There are 8 use years available, so seeking a single use year means you're already limited to approximately 12% of contracts. Rest assured, the use year you want will come around at some point; you just have to be patient.

Yes, there are 8 UYs, but points are not distributed equally across them. For instance, our BWV UY is September, and fewer than 8% of BWV points have that UY. DVC News has an old article analyzing UY distribution for various resorts. The most recent one is from 2018, so it doesn't have all current resorts, but it can give you an idea of the variation: UY Distribution 2018. How DVD decides to distribute UY (my impression is that few new buyers think to ask for a specific one and simply take what's offered) is unknown to me.

@intamin , this chart is too old to include RIV, but as you're seeing, it seems that quite a few more December UY contracts than April UY contracts have been sold at RIV, meaning that matching your April UY will be more challenging.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Reading your question plays mental clips from the DVC Show that “if at all possible try to keep things in the same use year”.

I went with a different UY for VGC than Aulani because I looked at the limited VGC inventory and UY distribution and went with a UY I thought I could add on in the future.

If I were in your shoes then I would try making offers on April UY contracts with the price you are willing to pay until you find a seller willing to accept for a while. If there are limited other buyers, because of UY, then the sellers might not be getting a lot of offers to begin with.

You could also buy direct and have them match your April UY if you want some unrestricted points.

 

[SLThomas318]

Like PP have said, there is more to manage with 2 use years. We had 2 use years and also ended up going back to 1.

 

[sndral]

When I bought my first contract (resale) I knew I’d likely add on in the future so I actually studied DVC use years specifically looking at my target future add on resorts & opted for a reasonably popular use year figuring I’d find more inventory for sale in my use year when the time came to buy that second contract.
If you’re buying resale first & direct second it doesn’t matter because DVC will match your existing use year, but if your plan is direct first & resale second it’s something to keep in mind.

 

[RoseGold]

I was going to make the pitch for two UYs, which I have and love, but not with RIV direct and resale as a combo. You really need those points to be in the same UY, because the resale is so locked down.

Take your time. RIV resale is not exactly the hottest thing in town, and there should be more and more as time goes on.

 

[macman123]

I have 35+ contracts. All the same UY. Just makes life easy.

Mix of resale and direct.

 

[intamin]

After thinking about it more, I think if I do add on more Riv it’ll be all April UY. I did however add on a subsidized Aulani for a different UY for SAP/also using at Aulani every 2-3 years although there’s a lot of overlap between them. Planning to treat the contracts separately. Anyways thanks guys for the advice!

 

[AstroBlasters]

After thinking about it more, I think if I do add on more Riv it’ll be all April UY. I did however add on a subsidized Aulani for a different UY for SAP/also using at Aulani every 2-3 years although there’s a lot of overlap between them. Planning to treat the contracts separately. Anyways thanks guys for the advice!

Aloha! How much per point for the subsidized contract?

 

[intamin]

Aloha! How much per point for the subsidized contract?

125 :X hopefully I didn’t overpay too badly. Probably could’ve tried to go for a little less but I know how rare these are and it was the point amount we wanted and was okay with it going a couple over.

 

[AstroBlasters]

125 :X hopefully I didn’t overpay too badly. Probably could’ve tried to go for a little less but I know how rare these are and it was the point amount we wanted and was okay with it going a couple over.

Congratulations! It will be a great contract to hold over the long run.

 

[intamin]

Congratulations! It will be a great contract to hold over the long run.

Thanks! We’re pretty excited, likely going to end up using the points when my partner and I get married to have the ceremony there and etc. and just use up 3 years worth of points in one go. But we actually also like SSR and etc so didn’t mind using these to sleep around with at WDW here and there.

 

[Craho]

I would say it depends on contract size and when you want to travel to have two UYs work easier, especially with a transfer,

With a Dec and April UY, transfer would work but you do loose the ability to use transferred points online during the home resort period which means having to call to use them to book.

At 7 months, they usually work, but I have had a few glitches with that as well.

We do have three UYs but we don’t use transfers much…I avoid if possible. I just book different nights using different memberships and have MS link them. So far, never had to change rooms.

Transferred points can not be borrowed either and once transferred, they still keep their own UY and rules. They won’t show up either unless you go to book so it is an extra step to keep track of it all, including the different banking deadlines.

Ok help me understand. I have an August UY and am thinking about buying sane resort September UY. If I want to book a trip for say, next Feb 2024, I would have all of my points but can I make the entire reservation at once? Do I have to call and have a CM transfer points from once auto the other?

 

[SLThomas318]

Ok help me understand. I have an August UY and am thinking about buying sane resort September UY. If I want to book a trip for say, next Feb 2024, I would have all of my points but can I make the entire reservation at once? Do I have to call and have a CM transfer points from once auto the other?

You have to transfer or just make 2 sep reservations. Diff use years are different accounts and can only combine via transfer. You have to select which membership you are using when booking and can’t use both at once. I personally wouldn’t own the same resort with different use years… it would be a lot of hassle. I guess if it was an amazing deal then maybe…

 

[Craho]

You have to transfer or just make 2 sep reservations. Diff use years are different accounts and can only combine via transfer. You have to select which membership you are using when booking and can’t use both at once. I personally wouldn’t own the same resort with different use years… it would be a lot of hassle. I guess if it was an amazing deal then maybe…

Can I call MS and have them transfer the points and then make the reservation? What is the downfall of this. The resort is BWV which I know books up quick. Would I lose time by having to go through MS?

 

[SLThomas318]

Can I call MS and have them transfer the points and then make the reservation? What is the downfall of this. The resort is BWV which I know books up quick. Would I lose time by having to go through MS?

You would have to call them for the transfer so depending when/what you are booking then yes you could lose time. I would think you could call in ahead of time and have the points transferred, but someone else will have to chime in as I’ve never done that. I also believe there is a limit on number of transfers, but I’ve seen reports where that doesn’t seem to apply when it’s between your own memberships.

ETA: you can’t transfer banked or borrowed points as well