Use year question

[snowborder]

I tried researching this but couldn't find a difinitive answer:

We are in the middle of purchasing 200 points with a March Use year. Contract comes with 200 points March 2012, 200 points March 2013. Submitted to ROFR on Feb 27th.

I am running possible scenarios that could happen for points usage with us.

For example: We may be looking to book the last week of February 2013 which would be February 23 to March 2nd.

Question is at which point do they take the points from your account. Is it when you make the reservation, at checkout, checkin or other. Because the week is between two Use Years, just curious as to how that would work.

I know about banking and borrowing rules and times.

 

[Disneypubgal]

Points come out of use year you are staying... February 28 will come out of 2012 use year and March 1 will come out of 2013 use year....

you would need to leave enough in 2012 for all feb nights and bank remaining into 2013 (if any left) to use in March

 

[snowborder]

"Question is at which point do they take the points from your account. Is it when you make the reservation, at nightly, checkout, checkin or other?"

 

[zavandor]

As soon as you close and are registered in the DVC member system, you will be able to log in and see your points. 2012, 2013 and 2014 points will be there in your account.

You can book at your home resort 11 months in advance.
So starting 23 March 2012 you can book your vacation: since being in the system requires usually 60 days, as soon as you close and are registered you'll be able to book it at your home resort.

I don't know your resort. I'll make an example based on SSR, with other resorts your mileage will vary.
From 23 to 28 Feb for SSR in a one bedroom is 170 2012 points.
1 March in one bedroom is worth 38 2013 points.

You should bank 30 2012 points, so when you'll make the reservation you will be able to use the 170 2012 points to book from 23 to 28 Feb and (30 banked 2012 point + 8 2013 points) for the 1 March 2013.

You'll have 192 2013 points left to be used from 1 Mar 2013 to 28 Feb 2014. Or you'll be able to bank those 192 points to use them from 1 Mar 2014 to 28 Feb 2015.

I've read that the online system cannot book 7 days if they cross two UY, so you'll have to make two different reservations and call MS to link them. Or call directly MS to make one reservation from the beginning.

 

[chalee94]

"Question is at which point do they take the points from your account. Is it when you make the reservation, at nightly, checkout, checkin or other?"

when you book, the pts are used for that reservation and are unavailable for booking something else unless you cancel that reservation, which would result in your pts being returned to their respective use year(s) so long as you cancel more than a month in advance. if you cancel within a month of check-in, your pts become "holding pts" with more limitations.

if you are booking feb 2013, those dates are in your 2012 UY (with a march UY). as a result, you can use any combination of banked 2011 pts (you say you'd have zero) + current 2012 pts (traveling late in your UY is risky - if you need to cancel, remember that your banking window closes on oct 31, 2012 - after that, your 2012 pts are locked into 2012 and expire on feb 28, 2013 whether you can use them or not) + borrowed 2013 pts (if needed).

if you are booking march 2013, those dates are in your 2013 UY (with a march UY). as a result, you can use any combination of banked 2012 pts (if you have any left over) + current 2013 pts (current based on the dates of the stay - not when you call - so you can book these dates when you call in march 2012) + borrowed 2014 pts (if needed).

if you bank or borrow pts, that is a "final" transaction. those pts cannot be put back into their original use year and will expire at the end of their new UY.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

"Question is at which point do they take the points from your account. Is it when you make the reservation, at nightly, checkout, checkin or other?"

On the day you make the reservation you will see the points deducted from your available balance. If you cancel you would see the points back in the available balance immediately (following the cancellation policies).

For the UY the points come from that is based on the night. Your nights in Feb 2013 could use banked 2011 point, current 2012 points or borrowed 2013 points. Your nights in March 2013 (which would only be March 1st from what you listed) could use banked 2012 points, current 2013 points or borrowed 2014 points.

All your nights except the March 1st - the night before you check out on March 2nd - would be considered February and part of your 2012 UY.

 

[snowborder]

Thanks your response were VERY helpful!