So I guess if your first choice would be december.....

[maepartner]

IF your first choice at your home resort would be december, then you should buy pts with a january use yr if possible, to ensure securing your ressie? Thats the drift I get, correct me if Im wrong, please,,,,,thanks Mae

 

[nisiemouse]

I am new so correct me if I am wrong but that would be the worst use year if you always travel in Dec. I also do not think there is a Jan use year. But if there was and you had to cancel your Dec trip you would not have any time to bank or reschedule your trip before your points would expire. You can make a reservation 11 months out at your home resort even if you don't have the points when you make your ressies. You just have to have the points in your account by the time you travel.

 

[Richyams]

If your first choice is December, the absolute worst use month to have would be January.

Use year has absolutely NOTHING to do with when you can book. Booking is done with consideration of the seven-eleven month windows.

Use year only comes into play when canceling. If you canceled your December vacation in Novemeber, you would be outside of your banking window and only have one or two months to use your pounts.

 

[maepartner]

thank you both for clearing that up, glad i asked ) love these boards!

 

[Richyams]

Your best use year is one slightly before your usual vacation.

We got lucky, we bought in '92 with no real clue of use year. We have a September use year and our vacations are either for Holoween time or the first two weeks of December. We have the perfect use year for our vacation habits.

 

[friskylady]

If I usually vacation in spring or early june, then a good use year for me would be when? November? Is that a use year?

Also, if you cancel your vacation, how many months do you have for banking your points?

The more I learn about DVC the more complicated it gets!

 

[DebbieB]

DVC does not sell the following use years: January, May, July, November.

If you like to vacation in the spring, December or February would be your best bet (or March if you go after March 1). Again, it has nothing to do with making reservations, just for flexibility for banking purposes if you need to cancel.

You can bank 100% of your total points in the first 6 months of your use year (I have April, the deadline is Sept 30), 50% in the first 9 months (December 31), 25% in the first 10 months (January 30), none after that (Feb, March). This percentage is off the total points owned, not the remaining points.

 

[PamOKW]

While certain Use Years might be worth having if you vacation regularly at the same time of the year, keep in mind that the "regular" time of the year may change in the future and Use Year will no longer have much effect. The ONLY time it's a factor is when you have to cancel on short notice towards the end of your Use Year. Once you are into the last 60 days of your Use Year, your options for using the points by the end of the Use Year are limited. You can no longer bank and you cannot make reservations for non-DVC options. Use Year really has no other effect on ownership or ability to make reservations.