?'s on Use Year and new Purchase

[ctc917]

I have 1 Contract with the Use Year of Dec and I was thinking of adding onto what Points I already have by purchasing a Resale Contract sometime soon. So I've been told to stick with the same Use Year as I have, which is Dec, and that sounds like a great idea but I haven't seen too many Resale Contracts with a small amount of points with my Use Year so my question is this: Should I keep looking because having the same Use Year is the best way to go? If I pick another Use Year which ones would work the best? And if you have different Use Years how is it? do you wish you just waited and purchased the same Use Year on all your Contracts?

ctc917

 

[badeacon]

If you are looking to add on at same resort then yes, same use year would be best.
How small a contract you are looking for can also play a role in deciding to buy direct as total price will not be as affected.

 

[Sandisw]

Two UYs are two memberships, It is like being two different owners,

You can not combine points for the same reservation unless you transfer them, If transferred, you can’t book with them online and they folllow their same banking rules, even when transferred.

You can not transfer banked or borrowed points either,

If you are buying a small contract, I’d try to stay with the same one. I have multiple UYs, but I use them on their own,

I book certain trips on each and never combine. That does mean sometimes I am borrowing on one, even when I have eligible points in the other because I don’t want to give up the flexibility to book and change online

 

[ctc917]

So if I buy at a different resort but the same use year then I'm not having to transfer points to book a reservation? or is the only way to get around transferring points to make a reservation is to stay with my original resort and original Use Year because even having the same resort but a different use year will still make me have to transfer points to make a reservation.

 

[cmrdgrs]

If all your contacts are titled the same and you have the same UY for all your contracts they will be under one membership. You will be able to see all your points online with one log-in and you will be able to use them to book in the 11 month window, or combine your points if you need to in the 7 month window.

If you have different UYs and/or your contracts are titled differently, you will have different membership numbers for each situation. They will stand alone under that membership number. If you want to book a reservation and combine points from your two contracts, you would have to transfer your points from one contract to another. Transferring is a final transaction and once you move the points you cannot reverse the transfer. Those transferred points will stay with the other membership until you use them.

The cleanest way IMO to use multiple UYs is to use each contract separately for their separate resorts you bought them for. I've heard from more than one owner that the idea of transferring the points around can be a big headache to track or if you change your mind and want to cancel a reservation that's been made.

Different people have different feelings about having multiple UYs. One up is you get 2 wait lists on each membership -- that could be a plus for sure! For me, I have been pretty happy to have all of my contracts in one UY. I have 13 contracts in total and it makes using them pretty seamless. I do wish sometimes that my HHI contract had a different UY because I travel to HHI exclusively in the summer and that trip falls after my banking window. I wish it wasn't that way, but it is, and overall I have made it work without too many difficulties. Until this year with the pandemic I have never lost a point in 14 years of ownership.

Hope that helps! Good luck with your decision!

 

[Sandisw]

So if I buy at a different resort but the same use year then I'm not having to transfer points to book a reservation? or is the only way to get around transferring points to make a reservation is to stay with my original resort and original Use Year because even having the same resort but a different use year will still make me have to transfer points to make a reservation.

If you choose a different resort but same UY, then you can combine them at 7 months to book reservations at all resorts,

Each would still only be good at their own resort at 11 months. Points never change home resort priority.

So, if own SSR and AKV, for example. SSR is good there and AKV is good there, until 7 months, and then they function together,

No transfer needed when same membership. Same resort and same UY means you can use all points together, even at 11 months.

 

[E2ME2]

ctc917- Assume you know this, but if your points are a mix of Direct & Resale, you can't use Resale points from original DVC14 to book at Riviera (RIV/DRR), nor can you use Resale RIV/DRR points to book at any other resort.
ET

 

[ctc917]

Thanks everyone I now understand fully and I will wait until I find a Resale contract with the same UY I have now to make my life a lot easier.
E2ME2 Thanks for the Riviera Resort Information because until you posted this I actually forgot that DVC was changing the use of Resale Points with the Riviera Resort and I'm sure probably any other new DVC resorts in the future something to think of that's for sure.

 

[CastAStone]

You could sell your contract and use the proceeds plus your additional savings to purchase a larger one in any use year.

The downside is you’d lose any benefits you have from buying direct or being grandfathered in to old resale rules.