Use Year Question?

[MomDad&2boys]

I don't understand the use year. I think we are most likely to take trips in January, April, August, September, December (we are pretty much guaranteed to take a Dec/Jan trip each year). If that is the case, which use year would be a good choice or does it even matter???

Also if anyone can point me to some good info, I could read up for myself. Unfortunately the search feature doesn't work for me.

 

[Caskbill]

First, use year means basically nothing except in the case where you cancel a reservation and points are returned to your account. Here use year applies because if you cancel late in your use year, the returned points cannot be banked because you would be past your banking deadline.

For this reason having a use year that is right before your normal travel dates is desired.

In your case there are no use years which would cover all your potential trips in case of a cancellation. So I would think an August Use Year would be best. It has a banking window through March. A June UY would also be OK as it has a banking window through the end of January.

April would not work as it's banking window ends Nov 30th so would not cover a late January cancellation.

There are no May or July use years.

Remember, Use Year matters ONLY if you ever have to cancel a reservation. If you never cancel, then any use year is OK

 

[MomDad&2boys]

Thank you so much.

So am I right when I say that your yearly pts are in your acct at the beginning of each of year? I was thinking (& it is probably the biggest misconception) that your pts arrived in your acct in whatever your UY month was.

 

[Grandbuddy]

Thank you so much.

So am I right when I say that your yearly pts are in your acct at the beginning of each of year? I was thinking (& it is probably the biggest misconception) that your pts arrived in your acct in whatever your UY month was.

It's my understanding that your points are credited annually, on the first day of the month representing your use year - not on January 1 of each year. Is this incorrect?

 

[ZekeKelso]

For most folks, use year isn't that big a deal. But there are at least a few instances where it can matter.

1) If you have to cancel a reservation that is in the last months of your use year, it can be more difficult to use those points than if your reservation were in the beginning of your use year. The worse case scenario would be a reservation in the last month of your use year that has to be cancelled more than one month out, but less than four months out. While such situations are rare, the do happen and are annoying to the few affected. So if you know you always vacation in August, all other things being equal, you would choose an April use year over September use year. But don't obsess over it.

2) There is also an issue at purchase. It can be better to buy before your use year. If you buy an April use year contract in August 2008, you might just get 2008 points. But if you buy a September contract, you could get September 2007 points and then another set of points in September 2008. It won't necessarily work that way - you have to look at the specifics of your deal - but it's something to pay attention to.

Note that while points show up in your account on the first day of your use year, you can make a reservation that uses those points before they show up. Only the 7/11 month windows apply.

 

[Caskbill]

Thank you so much.

So am I right when I say that your yearly pts are in your acct at the beginning of each of year? I was thinking (& it is probably the biggest misconception) that your pts arrived in your acct in whatever your UY month was.

Actually, points are NOT deposited at all. They are already there, for every use year of the contract. For example your 2020 use year points are already in your account, you just can't use them yet.

Because all points for all years already exist, there is no waiting period for using them relative to their USE YEAR.

Suppose you have a December Use Year month. Then you are currently in your 2007 UY. You want to make a reservation today for Dec 2008. That date is in your 2008 use year. You can call right now and make the reservation using 2008 points because they are already in your account. In fact you can even borrow 2009 points to make your Dec 2008 reservation because your 2009 UY points are already in your account.

Use year applies only to the timeframe the specific points are valid for. They are not 'deposited' on a specific date. If that were the case you'd have to wait until after they were 'deposited' before you could use them.

For some reason people think points are deposited at a specific time. This is not correct. It probably comes from statements that you receive an annual allocation of points. This is true, but the allocation is already done for every year. A more proper phrase would be that every year you have points applicable (allocated) to that use year. It does not mean the points are 'deposited' into your account on their anniversary date. It means that you can use those particular points during the 12-month period that begins on that date.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[Grandbuddy]

Yes it does make sense.