Use year/Holding question

[lovethesun12]

I currently have an April use year for two contracts, and am looking at an additional contract at a different resort.

We primarily travel April & July. On the very rare occasion (maybe once or twice every 4-5 years) we might travel in December (Christmas).

I was thinking December might be a better use year for my next two contracts (in case of December trips), but maybe having them all as April would be more convenient. Even though all of our travel dates would be within the first 8 months of a December use year, I'm thinking April pretty much would as well. Since points go into holding if you cancel a trip less than 30 days out, April would allow us to bank if we cancelled a December trip outside of 30 days, and since they would be in holding after that point anyway it wouldn't really matter that we could no longer bank them.

Is that logic correct? What would you do, go for the April or December use year for the next contract, or just go with whatever use year you could find the best price on? Just wondering if I'm missing any other major advantage of one or the other.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sandisw]

I currently have an April use year for two contracts, and am looking at an additional contract at a different resort.

We primarily travel April & July. On the very rare occasion (maybe once or twice every 4-5 years) we might travel in December (Christmas).

I was thinking December might be a better use year for my next two contracts (in case of December trips), but maybe having them all as April would be more convenient. Even though all of our travel dates would be within the first 8 months of a December use year, I'm thinking April pretty much would as well. Since points go into holding if you cancel a trip less than 30 days out, April would allow us to bank if we cancelled a December trip outside of 30 days, and since they would be in holding after that point anyway it wouldn't really matter that we could no longer bank them.

Is that logic correct? What would you do, go for the April or December use year for the next contract, or just go with whatever use year you could find the best price on? Just wondering if I'm missing any other major advantage of one or the other.

Thanks in advance!

You got it! The benefit of Dec UY would only be to allow you to travel on some points January to March,

However, two UYs is two memberships which means those Dec UY can’t be used for a single reservation with your April UY points without a transfer. You can always book some nights on one and some on the other and have it noted so you don’t have to move..which is what I do. But, it means I have sometimes borrowed on one membership whole points were there in the other.

The most recent change to being able to use transferred points online is a big plus though and I could see using it more often than before.

 

[CarolMN]

I'd keep the same use year and only one Membership. First of all, the banking deadline is 11/30, so you can bank points from a canceled December trip. (Cancelling less than 31 days in advance puts your points into holding). Combining points & booking online is easier. Why mess around with transfers just for a few more months to bank some of your points for an infrequent trip?

Secondly (and this is just my experience), having a master and an add on decreases your chances of website and booking "glitches". Except when the entire site is down, I've had zero glitches. Two memberships means extra software interactions. IMO, the more one deviates from the " norm" or expected, the more likely software updates & feature improvements will result in "glitches". Not worth it without a compelling reason, such as a plan to use it separately for a different trip/resort. Doesn't sound like that's your plan.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Honestly, I haven't had a problem with two UY's, though in my mind, OCT is my UY, not June. I too, have booked a reservation with two different contracts/UY's. MS was able to put a note in the reservation and my son and DIL doubled checked at the desk at BWV and didn't not have to move half way through their stay. It ended up being seamless.

Good luck!

 

[sethschroeder]

April UY my primary trips would be Sept to January with some summer trips.

I would keep one UY and avoid headaches.