use yr?

[disneycamelbackids]

Hello. I tried to search for an answer but couldnt find anything. I am seriously close to joining DVC. We will most likely be vacationing late June/early July. What use year-month do I need?

Thanks!!

 

[twinklebug]

Seems rule of thumb is to try and keep your use year 4+ months away from the dates you'll be traveling (post). This gives you the chance to bank your points should anything arise and you need to back out from your plans.

Visually, 12 months, Green indicate potential vacation dates:

Jab-Feb-Mar-Apr-May-Jun-Jul-Aug-Spt-Oct-Nov-Dec

Now, draw a 4 months slider prior to your potential Use Year month in your mind. This is the window in which your points are frozen and can't be banked (use or loose). You want to make sure you're not planning on traveling during those months on a regular basis (not to say you can't ). For you, Avoid the July-Nov use years. Disclaimer: I'm not sure which use years are available some months don't exist.

 

[disneycamelbackids]

Thank you

 

[Tikihula]

Okay, I'm still having trouble visualizing this. Here's our situation: We vacation in Nov-Dec-or Jan (we don't like hot weather). However, since we live in hurricane country (northwest Florida), if we have a reservation for one of those months, and we get a bad hurricane in Aug, Sep or early Oct, then I want to be able to bank our points if we have to change our plans.
So, what would be a good use year for us?

Sorry, I've got one of those brains that freezes at a simple math problem. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[RobDoc]

I would advise a Use Year just prior to your "usual" travel dates - but remember that travel habits may change over time. If you will travel mainly in June/July I'd suggest a June Use Year. This gives you a full 7/8 months after the cancelled reservation to bank or reuse any points returned to your account. If you would travel in May, an April Use Year would be better since , with a June Use Year, a cancelled May reservation would still require that the points be banked or used by May 31 and they would expire on June 1.

If you will travel in Nov/Dec/Jan I'd suggest an October Use Year (there is no January/May/July/November Use Year) so you'd have the same ability to reuse or bank any points from a cancelled reservation.

 

[Tikihula]

I would advise a Use Year just prior to your "usual" travel dates - but remember that travel habits may change over time. If you will travel mainly in June/July I'd suggest a June Use Year. This gives you a full 7/8 months after the cancelled reservation to bank or reuse any points returned to your account. If you would travel in May, an April Use Year would be better since , with a June Use Year, a cancelled May reservation would still require that the points be banked or used by May 31 and they would expire on June 1.

If you will travel in Nov/Dec/Jan I'd suggest an October Use Year (there is no January/May/July/November Use Year) so you'd have the same ability to reuse or bank any points from a cancelled reservation.

Thanks, Doc, for your input, although it seems to conflict with Twinklebug's advice of choosing your use year about 4 months out from your travel dates, since you have to bank your points during the first 8 months of your use year.
I need to hang a big annual calendar in front of my face and start counting on my fingers and see if I can figure this out.

 

[DVC 1998]

Don't over think use year. It's only problematic if you cancel your reservations and plan to repeatadly do so.

 

[Broker]

What happens if you bank your points (say 2008) and then decide that you want to go at the end of 2008? Can those banked points ever be used in the year that you bank them?

 

[chalee94]

What happens if you bank your points (say 2008) and then decide that you want to go at the end of 2008? Can those banked points ever be used in the year that you bank them?

banking and borrowing are irrevocable transactions. if you bank 2008 pts into your 2009 UY, they will expire at the end of your 2009 UY...you cannot put them back into 2008.

it's the same if you borrow 2009 UY pts into 2008...they expire at the end of your 2008 UY.

in the situation you describe, you would have to borrow pts from your 2009 UY if you wanted to book a reservation at the end of 2008.

 

[Mtnman44]

If you cancel a reservation less than 31 days from check in, your points don't go back to your regular UY point bucket. They go in "holding" which basically means, they still will expire at the end of the UY however, Holding Points have the following restrictions:
-Cannot be Banked
-Cannot be Borrowed
-Can not be used for a reservation with a check in more than 60 days into the future.

As such, there isn't really any ability to cancel a reservation due to bad weather and have the points be bankable. (Unless of course you can predict the weather far, far into the future, but I don't think Al Gore is even a DVC member).

Okay, I'm still having trouble visualizing this. Here's our situation: We vacation in Nov-Dec-or Jan (we don't like hot weather). However, since we live in hurricane country (northwest Florida), if we have a reservation for one of those months, and we get a bad hurricane in Aug, Sep or early Oct, then I want to be able to bank our points if we have to change our plans.
So, what would be a good use year for us?

Sorry, I've got one of those brains that freezes at a simple math problem. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[twinklebug]

Thanks, Doc, for your input, although it seems to conflict with Twinklebug's advice of choosing your use year about 4 months out from your travel dates, since you have to bank your points during the first 8 months of your use year.
I need to hang a big annual calendar in front of my face and start counting on my fingers and see if I can figure this out.

Always listen to the Doc (he's a true veteran on all topics DVC ) His advice is the same as mine, only he specifically told you which month might be best for you. I left it at the slider principle as I like visuals when it comes to dates.

 

[Tikihula]

Always listen to the Doc (he's a true veteran on all topics DVC ) His advice is the same as mine, only he specifically told you which month might be best for you. I left it at the slider principle as I like visuals when it comes to dates.

Okay, Twinklebug, I'll take your advice (and Doc's). Yes, visuals are always helpful to us mathematically challenged folks.

Thanks for everyone's help. Luckily we won't need our 2008 points because we're renting from a DVC member for our November trip and everything is already paid for, so when we close on our purchase, I'll immediately bank those points to 2009.