Strategy behind picking a UY?

[Minderbinder5]

I am getting ready to buy in at AKV for the first time. Is there a strategy behind selecting a UY? Are there certain benefits to having say a June UY vs a Sept UY?

 

[browniemtb]

For me UY plays no important role. But it can make things harder if you tend to travel after your banking deadline. Example, people correct me if I'm wrong, we have an AUG UY. So we have to make banking decisions in January, but if we enjoy traveling sometime after feb 1 we could have a little issue if we had to cancel a reservation say before the 31 day cut off. Now you may bank points but not 100%. You will get a lot of views on this subject, but with proper planning UY plays no role for us anyways.

Brownie

 

[Mtnman44]

As mentioned, use year's main role is determining banking deadlines. You can bank 100% of your points during the first 6 months of your UY. So, if you are able to determine a time of the year when you will usually be traveling, it is best to have your use year just before that time period. That way, if you ever do need to cancel, the points will return to the use year and then you will have most of the year to use or bank them.

Consider the alternative: You have a Sept Use Year and have booked an August Vacation. On June 30th, you have a change of plans and cancel your August vacation. The points will return to the use year, which only has two months left (July and August). You will not be able to bank the points and must use them or they will expire on Aug 31st.

Now, cancellations are likely rare unless you live locally. Also, it is difficult to know for certain what your main travel times are going to be for the next few decades. So, for most people, the Use Year is of minimal importance. That being said, I have an Oct use year and my main WDW (and DLR) travel will be Oct, Dec, and Jan for the most part (95%). I'm happy with my use year choice.

 

[Dean]

I am getting ready to buy in at AKV for the first time. Is there a strategy behind selecting a UY? Are there certain benefits to having say a June UY vs a Sept UY?

In general you want a UY that occurs as close as possible to your usual trip timing. That way you'll have more time and options if you have to change or cancel. This includes banking any points you might need to before the 6 month window but also simply extra time to rent or use any points that you can't bank such as previously banked, borrowed, holding account and reservation points.

 

[Deb & Bill]

And, you may not get any choice in your use year. We got Sept UY ten years ago and we have never had any problem using our points.

 

[AKV707]

We are new to DVC but we were given a June UY at AKV, which we bought in July. I think that it will work out fine for us.

 

[Dean]

And, you may not get any choice in your use year. We got Sept UY ten years ago and we have never had any problem using our points.

Buying retail DVC will usually be somewhat flexible on UY if you push them. They will almost always give you some choice above what they are actively selling at the time. And they will usually let you bank the points even if you are past the banking windows.