Use year?

[tmclanton]

I am considering buying points for VWL. I am not sure how to ask this question... if the use year is April, does that mean I can start making reservations in April for later in the year or can I make reservations for April? Does that make any sense?
TIA

 

[DebbieB]

Use year has nothing to do with when you can make reservations. It's just when your points renew each year. All points use is based on date of stay and the points are actually in your account 3 years in advance, so you don't have to wait for the use year to start to make a reservation.

For example:
You have an April use year (April 1 to March 31)
You want to make a reservation for September 2009. This would be in your April 2009 use year. You could use banked 2008, current 2009, borrowed 2010 points for this reservation. You can call in October to make this reservation at your home resort (11 months before date of stay). Say you want to stay in June 2009. You could call now for your home resort because it is less than 11 months away. Non-home resorts would be 7 months, you could reserve an arrival up to April 16 today (reserve up to 7 nights).

 

[tmclanton]

Thank you so much for your quick response! That clears it up for me. I was concerned about buying points now and then use year playing into making reservations for next December 11 months out at VWL. I was concerned that if my use year was April that I would not be able to make reservations until then... not good for a reservation for VWL in December! Now I am glad that I don't have to worry about that!

Now, I am curious, why is use year so important than? Does it really matter what you use year is?
Thanks,
Tammy

 

[DebbieB]

The most important role is it controls when your points can be banked and when they expire. With an April use year, you cannot bank past November 30. So if you made a March reservation and cancelled in January, they could not be banked and would expire on March 31.

 

[disneynutz]

Try to buy a UY that is a month before your normal travel period. We like to vacation Nov-April, our UY is October. We have until May 31st to bank any unused points.

 

[CarolMN]

Anyone who needs a little help with use year can find it in this thread:

Understanding Use Year

 

[tmclanton]

Thank you so much for the useful information... that helps a lot!