Use year - need to include the 30 day cancelation window?

[gwendollen]

I thought I had my head around use years but I think I have my windows wrong and could use some help. We have been a Oct & March travel family. So I had thought Oct would be the best use year but there are not that many available that fit our needs so I was trying to figure out how bad a December or February would be - they seem to have the most available).

As I was trying to work it out I realized you can't bank point within 30 days before check-in, right? So if we are traveling Oct 15th then we would have to bank on Sept 15th right? Wouldn't that mean a February use year would be a good fit but not December?

Said another way - if you were to travel regularly in Oct and March which use years would you avoid and which would you be open to if you found a good deal.

 

[bubblefactory]

August would be OK, you would have to cancel any March bookings outside the 30 day window but would then have until 31st March to bank the current years points or all of Apr, May,Jun & Jul to use them if you rescheduled.

 

[CarolMN]

February would work. Banking deadline is September 30. If you don't cancel your October vacations at least 31 days in advance, you can't bank the returned points, anyway.

March, August, September or October would work, too, but I wouldn't pick October (or March) if you think you might ever need to walk your October (or March) reservation.

 

[sethschroeder]

As I was trying to work it out I realized you can't bank point within 30 days before check-in, right? So if we are traveling Oct 15th then we would have to bank on Sept 15th right? Wouldn't that mean a February use year would be a good fit but not December?

That's how we do it and how I prefer it.

April UY primarily use contract Sept to mid January.

By end of November I will know the status of the trip. If I had to cancel last minute the points would be in holding and it means something major came up so I would likely just rent out my reservation anyways instead of going in to holding.

Trying to book within 30 days of a trip during normal times just is unlikely to work unless it's just a couple nights which wouldnt be the case.

 

[gwendollen]

oh, that's a super interesting point on walking CarolMN! Say more - If you plan an Oct trip and want a hard to get unit you may start that reservation in September to grab those days before anyone else and then cancel the beginning part - is that right? How far out do people do that for high demand options?

Thanks everyone else, very helpful and opened my options. When so many Use years fall in Dec and Feb it's hard if you aren't open to those!

 

[CarolMN]

oh, that's a super interesting point on walking CarolMN! Say more - If you plan an Oct trip and want a hard to get unit you may start that reservation in September to grab those days before anyone else and then cancel the beginning part - is that right? How far out do people do that for high demand options?

As an example, suppose you wanted a standard view studio at the BWV for the 50th (10/1/21). Normally, you would go online at 8 am Eastern, on 11/1/20 to book that reservation. But it's so popular and in demand that other BWV owners have been booking week long vacations that start in September or even August, and then every few days, moving their week forward. (They modify their week to drop the first few nights and add nights to the end. Thus, they effectively block anyone else from booking the added nights). If enough people do this, there won't be any rooms left for you to book when you try on 11/1. That night (10/1) will already be booked by people who booked their vacations before you had an opportunity to try.

With an October use year, you can't use the same strategy for an October reservation, because the system won't let you modify across use years. Also, the final nature of banking and borrowing complicates things for anyone without a ton of points.