Use year recommendation

Chol

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Newbie question. If I plan to travel September and December alternating years, which would be the best use year to buy? Thanks!
 
Newbie question. If I plan to travel September and December alternating years, which would be the best use year to buy? Thanks!
Sept if it'll always be Sept, August if it'll usually be the holiday weekend will be the very best but August would work fine even if Sept is truly best.
 


April - if you are going for rooms that are specifically hard to book at your home resort. It allows you to walk your reservation and have a better chance at getting a reservation. Long term certain rooms will only become harder to book and I like the option to be able to walk the reservation for a longer period.

Plus math on banking:
April UY means you need to bank by Nov 30th
December stay means you are cancelling in November to avoid the points going in to holding
This means any trip would be cancelled at the 31st day prior to check-in prior to you your banking date
 
April - if you are going for rooms that are specifically hard to book at your home resort. It allows you to walk your reservation and have a better chance at getting a reservation. Long term certain rooms will only become harder to book and I like the option to be able to walk the reservation for a longer period.

Plus math on banking:
April UY means you need to bank by Nov 30th
December stay means you are cancelling in November to avoid the points going in to holding
This means any trip would be cancelled at the 31st day prior to check-in prior to you your banking date
Unless one is booking time that splits a UY, UY has nothing to do with when you can book.
 


Unless one is booking time that splits a UY, UY has nothing to do with when you can book.

Actually it does because by example if you want a Studio CL at AKV possibly a 2BR Std at BWL you can't guarantee a 11 month booking. The easiest way to about guarantee yourself these is by stalking daily until you get a reservation then walking it.

Today it is not needed for much long term everyone keeps saying how things have tightened up. It's an easy way to insulate yourself.
 
Actually it does because by example if you want a Studio CL at AKV possibly a 2BR Std at BWL you can't guarantee a 11 month booking. The easiest way to about guarantee yourself these is by stalking daily until you get a reservation then walking it.

Today it is not needed for much long term everyone keeps saying how things have tightened up. It's an easy way to insulate yourself.
I don't think I'm following completely but here's the info as I see it. One can book anything that's available that the points will cover but only one thing at a time. One does not have to have the points in hand to book so UY doesn't affect the ability to book except where it crosses over UY and even that is workable. So if one owned at a given resort and wanted something else you'd book home resort at 11 months then at 7 months change over if available, this is independent of UY. Same for home resort if you couldn't get what you wanted, such as your example of AKV concierge. You can do that at any time, the points don't have to be available when you book only that they would be available without banking or borrowing at the time of the reservation or one could bank/borrow prior or at the time if needed to book. It does bring up a side note that having enough points to hold an 11 month reservation and book at least part of a high demand reservation can be very helpful because you can hold one while booking the available days and waitlisting the rest. Of course this could also be discussed in the situation of having more than one home resort.

The advantage of having a UY that's well placed for those that travel specific times of the year is that you have more time to adjust if something happens and you change as well as more time to rent if needed because all of a sudden you can't go. It simply reduces the risk of owning slightly but more for some than others. Conversely, for one who travels throughout the year routinely it may not matter what UY they own but they are taking inherently more risk owning. Even for one who travels different times, the frequently have some trips that are more consistent, larger or more at risk and therefore the UY still may be important.
 
I thought if the UY is September and the trip is also in September, then you can't walk a reservation from August without borrowing which would screw up your points. September is a bad example because booking isn't normally tight except for a couple of categories, but at other times of the year it can be. Do I have that wrong? (I've never needed to walk a ressie.)

I agree though that another consideration is how many contracts at that home resort have that use year. I would change use years to make sure I had a common one that worked well enough for my vacation patterns.
 
If we travel feb- April what is the best UY?
Feb or Dec (there is no January). Both have a lot of points out there for ease of finding a resale add on later. I'd go with Dec.

As for the OP, I'd go with Aug as it has more points out there so if you add on a resale later, it would be easier to find.
 
I don't think I'm following completely but here's the info as I see it.

Correct you are not, I am talking about walking and the impact of the UY on it?

So if one owned at a given resort and wanted something else you'd book home resort at 11 months then at 7 months change over if available, this is independent of UY. Same for home resort if you couldn't get what you wanted, such as your example of AKV concierge.

In my situation you would pretty much always get a AKV Club room with your AKV points because you would start trying 16 months out. When you finally get your reservation (might be for April 20th, July 10th, or September 1st) you then start walking (modifying every few days to update with new 11 months + 1-6 Days) so that you for sure have your reservation.

I thought if the UY is September and the trip is also in September, then you can't walk a reservation from August without borrowing which would screw up your points. September is a bad example because booking isn't normally tight except for a couple of categories, but at other times of the year it can be. Do I have that wrong? (I've never needed to walk a ressie.)

I agree though that another consideration is how many contracts at that home resort have that use year. I would change use years to make sure I had a common one that worked well enough for my vacation patterns.

Correct you can not walk at least easily across the UY. Thats why I say getting a time like April for when you would stay between Sept-Dec is a good choice.

The advantage of having a UY that's well placed for those that travel specific times of the year is that you have more time to adjust if something happens and you change as well as more time to rent if needed because all of a sudden you can't go. It simply reduces the risk of owning slightly but more for some than others.

Also this does not matter (unless you have banked points) since you can choose to simply bank. For me if my points went in to holding (cancelling within 30 days) it is likely that no amount of time would have helped because serious issues came up. Its also a trade off for basically having the absolute best odds at getting exactly what you want (if long term it becomes hard to get).
 
I wanted to point out if you cancel your trips very often, have to do things last minute, and what not then what I suggest is likely not for you. I am basing this off people booking at 11 months and rarely if ever doing a last min change to reservation.
 
Walking is possible crossing a UY, you just need the points and to make a couple of phone calls but this is an extremely special situation. I'm not a big fan of walking but I'd rather not get anything than to have to walk for 5 months, life's too short and that comes from someone who plans trips 2-3 years out. Regardless for most people having a UY that is as close to possible gives them the most options if they have to cancel or change later.
 
most options if they have to cancel or change later.

If I cancel my trip I can bank the points for the following year (unless I had let them go in to holding).

Life is short is why I want to give myself over the next 20-50 years the best chance to get what I want instead of worrying about the very unlikely event of cancelling a trip which I have never done within 30 days of leaving. If COVID19 happened again I wouldn't be traveling anyways if points went in to holding and couldn't bank them.

The safety net is pushing back the trip (up to 3 months) or banking. The only situations where this doesn't work is when your points were already banked or they go in to holding. In that case people are always looking to possibly rent points and I can just drop the points to $10/point for booking nights in the next 3-4 months. Fairly certain if right now I posted points for $10/point in November they would be snatched up. Looking through the rental board someone just actually rented out their points for $13/point for a stay by December 1st.
 
Actually it does because by example if you want a Studio CL at AKV possibly a 2BR Std at BWL you can't guarantee a 11 month booking. The easiest way to about guarantee yourself these is by stalking daily until you get a reservation then walking it.

Today it is not needed for much long term everyone keeps saying how things have tightened up. It's an easy way to insulate yourself.
What is walking? Is that booking something, then switching the dates?
 
What is walking? Is that booking something, then switching the dates?
Walking is a way to get a difficult to book reservation. You start reserving it a month or two or even more out from the date you really need it. You keep watching and when you see it open, you make a reservation for 11 months out. Then every few days you modify it to be exactly 11 months out again. Until you get the dates you really want. Value villas and concierge villas at AKV-JH are often walked. GFV studios around the holidays are often walked.
 
Thank you for the response Deb! So for example, if you really wanted December 2020, you might have started booking at the resort around November 2019, for a October 2020 reservation, but then just keep “walking” it until it gets to December 2020? Am I understanding this process correctly?
 

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