Use year and cancellations...

[lenshanem]

OK, last question I think before I make the "call".

Still not sure about this use year thing.

December is what is available now.
We plan on a couple nights week of Christmas before Christmas Eve, April spring break and either early March spring training at VB or summer at VB each year.

If December is my use year and we are using the MB option we won't have points to use until December. That is OK cause we're going next month to AKL.
BUT... if our use year is December and we go to WDW every December what happens if we cancel?
Do we lose those points?
How would a cancellation work with a December ressie with a December use year?
What is the policies?

Would the February use year be better for us? And then so we wouldn't be able to use our points for December unless we borrowed and then we would be stuck into borrowing each year.

So confused on this one...

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by lenshanem
OK, last question I think before I make the "call".

Still not sure about this use year thing.

December is what is available now.
We plan on a couple nights week of Christmas before Christmas Eve, April spring break and either early March spring training at VB or summer at VB each year.

If December is my use year and we are using the MB option we won't have points to use until December. That is OK cause we're going next month to AKL.
BUT... if our use year is December and we go to WDW every December what happens if we cancel?
Do we lose those points?
How would a cancellation work with a December ressie with a December use year?
What is the policies?

Actually, based on your reported vacation habits, a December use year would work very well for you. If you elect MB, your first allotment of points will be added to your account on 12/1/2003. Assuming there is availability, you can make the reservation at your home resort for your 2003 Christmas trip right now (since there will be points in your account at the time you plan to stay). If you have to cancel that trip, the points will be returned to your 2003 use year account. (Your 2003 use year runs from 12/1/2003 through 11/30/2004). Of course that assumes you cancel at least 31 days ahead of arrival. If you cancel with less notice than that, the points go into the holding account, but that is best left for another discussion, LOL.

With a December use year, you would have until 11/30/2004 to use the points from the cancelled trip. If you wanted to bank 100% of those points into your 2004 use year, you would have until May 31, 2004 to do that. If you banked them, you would be able to use them for a trip between 12/1/2004 and 11/30/2005.

For a December trip, a December use year is ideal if you have to cancel a December trip, because it gives you the longest time to either reuse or bank the points. Again, you must cancel 31 or more days ahead of arrival to avoid the Holding Account.

A December use year would work well for the spring break trips as well. Again, if you have to cancel and do it more than 31 days ahead of arrival, you have until May 31 to bank all of the points into the next use year if you don't think you will be able to use the points before the end of your use year (11/30).

Would the February use year be better for us? And then so we wouldn't be able to use our points for December unless we borrowed and then we would be stuck into borrowing each year.

So confused on this one...

A February use year would not be good for those who regularly travel in December. If you have to cancel a late December trip, you would most likely lose the points. With a February use year, you cannot bank any points at all during December or January. You can bank up to 50% of your total annual allotment if you do it before the end of October and up to 25 % if you do it before the end of November. Any points that couldn't be banked due to those limitations would have to be used before the following January 31 or they would be lost.

Use year, banking and borrowing are confusing at first - please ask more questions if you want/need more clarification.

 

[lenshanem]

Thanks so much. I was really confused! I was thinking I would get December points on the 1st and then lose them at the end of December if I had to cancel. DUH! I wasn't thinking right! LOL

Soooo, I get points on December 1st. I take a trip in December, April and then in the summer. I have until December 31st of the next year to use all the points. If any of those trips gets cancelled less than 30 days before arrival the points will go into a holding account.

So even if one of our trips was planned in August and I had to cancel last second I would have until December 31st to use those points that would be placed into a holding account?

What is the stats again about using points in a holding account?
Could a December trip that was cancelled be used towards the vacation we would plan say in April?

Or can you rent out points in a holding account since they can't be banked for the next year?

GEEZ...
Sounds like I need to go ahead and get the December use year before February kicks in.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by lenshanem
Thanks so much. I was really confused! I was thinking I would get December points on the 1st and then lose them at the end of December if I had to cancel. DUH! I wasn't thinking right! LOL

Soooo, I get points on December 1st. I take a trip in December, April and then in the summer. I have until December 31st of the next year to use all the points. If any of those trips gets cancelled less than 30 days before arrival the points will go into a holding account.

Actually, you would have until November 30 of the next year to use the points. December use years run from December 1 through November 30 of the following year.

So even if one of our trips was planned in August and I had to cancel last second I would have until December 31st to use those points that would be placed into a holding account?

Again, that would be until November 30.

What is the stats again about using points in a holding account?
Could a December trip that was cancelled be used towards the vacation we would plan say in April?

Or can you rent out points in a holding account since they can't be banked for the next year?

GEEZ...
Sounds like I need to go ahead and get the December use year before February kicks in.

Points in the Holding Account can be used to make a reservation for any DVC resort (assuming availability exists), but you can only make the reservation 60 days or less ahead of arrival. Availability is often very limited at this point, so there is no guarantee that you will be able to use the points before they expire.

Points in the Holding Account expire at the end of the use year. As you stated, Holding Account points cannot be banked (or borrowed).

Holding Account points can also be used for the non-DVC options (Disney Collection, Adventurer Collection, World Passport Collection and the Conceirge Collection) if you are making the reservation 60 days or less before arrival, but more than 60 days before the end of your use year.

You can rent the Holding Account points, but it may be a challenge to actually do it. Again, that is because availability is often limited 60 days or less ahead of arrival. At the 60 day mark, DVC may (and often does) release rooms (from the point inventory) to CRO to rent to the general public for cash.

HTH.

 

[lenshanem]

Thanks. So we could use holding points for say the Poly if the other DVC resorts were full at 60 days?

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Have you considered not doing MB and putting the money you will be spending for AKL toward your DVC purchase? By not using MB, you will get 150 pts as of Dec 2002 and you could (depending on availability-your guide could help you with that) stay at a DVC resort instead of AKL. Might as well start using DVC now instead of waiting for December. Since you'll be returning to WDW often, you can always add on a few days at AKL to any of your future trips. Just a thought.

We did that exact thing when we bought VWL, we cancelled an AKL ressie and stayed at VWL instead.

Good Luck

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by lenshanem
Thanks. So we could use holding points for say the Poly if the other DVC resorts were full at 60 days?

Yes, as long as there was availability and you are making the reservation more than 60 days from the end of your use year.