Using and banking points question..

[babesboo99]

My questions is, if I have a Sept use year and I bank my points for next year can I make my reservations for October of next year? That is when we plan on taking our trip. I know it has to be used by a certain time just not sure how it works. Please clear it up for me..thanks..

 

[dzorn]

When you can bank and when to book are not related at all.

You can book your home resort at 11 months out. Points need to be in the UY you are booking a trip. With a Sept UY you will have 2011 points that need to be used up by the last day in August 2012. You can bank you 2011 point for a October 2012 trip but you will not be able to book that trip till this November at 11 months to the day you want to check in.

Denise in MI

 

[chalee94]

if you have a sept UY and have used up all your 2011 and 2012 pts, you could still call in nov 2011 and book a stay for oct 2012 using borrowed 2013 pts.

remember that when you bank or borrow pts, it is a "final" transaction. your pts move to that new UY and that is where they will expire if not used - they cannot be put back into their original UY or banked into the next UY.

ideally, you never want to travel in the last 3 months or so of your UY (jun-jul-aug for a sept UY) - largely due to traveling after your banking window has closed, which limits your options for any current year pts used to book the stay.

use year month is only an issue if you need to cancel. it has nothing to do with when you can call to book a stay.

might be more info than you want, but here are some examples:

if you have a june UY and a may 2012 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window closed on jan 31, 2012 so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation before they expire on may 31, 2012.

if you have a june UY and a june 2012 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window won't close until jan 31, 2013 so you'd have until then to decide whether to use current year (2012) pts for a reservation in that UY or else bank them to the next year. (you'd still need to use banked and borrowed pts by may 31, 2013.)

if you have a june UY and a may 2012 trip and you need to cancel 5 days out, the pts would turn into "holding" pts so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation subject to a 60-day-out limitation - but that won't matter since they expire on may 31...which is less than 60 days out.

if you have a june UY and a june 2012 trip and you need to cancel 5 days out, the pts would turn into "holding" pts so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation subject to a 60-day-out limitation - but at least you'd have 12 months before they expire on may 31, 2013 to decide what to do with them.

more info about UY is here if you need it:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1942668

 

[discorsner]

if you have a sept UY and have used up all your 2011 and 2012 pts, you could still call in nov 2011 and book a stay for oct 2012 using borrowed 2013 pts.

remember that when you bank or borrow pts, it is a "final" transaction. your pts move to that new UY and that is where they will expire if not used - they cannot be put back into their original UY or banked into the next UY.

ideally, you never want to travel in the last 3 months or so of your UY (jun-jul-aug for a sept UY) - largely due to traveling after your banking window has closed, which limits your options for any current year pts used to book the stay.

use year month is only an issue if you need to cancel. it has nothing to do with when you can call to book a stay.

might be more info than you want, but here are some examples:

if you have a june UY and a may 2012 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window closed on jan 31, 2012 so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation before they expire on may 31, 2012.

if you have a june UY and a june 2012 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window won't close until jan 31, 2013 so you'd have until then to decide whether to use current year (2012) pts for a reservation in that UY or else bank them to the next year. (you'd still need to use banked and borrowed pts by may 31, 2013.)

if you have a june UY and a may 2012 trip and you need to cancel 5 days out, the pts would turn into "holding" pts so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation subject to a 60-day-out limitation - but that won't matter since they expire on may 31...which is less than 60 days out.

if you have a june UY and a june 2012 trip and you need to cancel 5 days out, the pts would turn into "holding" pts so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation subject to a 60-day-out limitation - but at least you'd have 12 months before they expire on may 31, 2013 to decide what to do with them.

more info about UY is here if you need it:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1942668

These are good examples. Thank you. I am another person trying to figure this all out.

I think I have it down why UY is important for canceling and being able to not have to put points in holding.

What I am more confused on is the booking.......

I'm actually so confused at the moment about booking/banking/borrowing that I don't even know what questions to ask!

I get that you can bank, have current points, and borrow to get a maximum of three years worth of points at a time.

What I don't get is, is it based on when you book or when you travel?

I realize I probably sound so stupid to everybody! I usually catch on fast... I don't know what my problem is with this.

Luckily dis people are so patient!

 

[discorsner]

So for an example....

I think what I am understanding from the two responses above is that it goes on travel dates and booking really doesn't have anything to do with it?

So woud this be correct?

Let's say I buy a 200 point contract with a January UY that has no points currently. So the first points come in 1/12.

Let's say I just closed on it and I am in the system right now and can start booking any time.

Let's also say I want to plan a trip that starts June 25th, 2012.

I could call starting tomorrow and book my June 25th trip at the 11 month mark using my points that come 1/12?

If the trip I wanted was over 200 points I could borrow 2013 points to make this trip a reality?

And so therefore it doesnt matter that this is 2011 and that I have no 2011 points because they booking dates don't matter it's the travel dates.

IS this all correct?

 

[discorsner]

And an add on question.... This assumes I was correct on the above scenario though..

If I had the same scenario as above but my UY was August then could I still do it?

Could I call tomorrow and book a trip for June 25th using 2012 and 2013 points even though the trip starts in June and I don't get my 2012 points until after the trip?

Or is it not even a matter of "getting them" and anytime in 2012 is fine to use 2012 points???


Thanks!!!

 

[Dean]

One thing to keep in mind is MS will use the older points in your account at the time you book but if you reserve and later bank, they will not automatically move the older points into an existing reservation as some previous new members have assumed they would.

 

[chalee94]

Let's say I buy a 200 point contract with a January UY that has no points currently. So the first points come in 1/12.

there's not actually a jan UY, but we'll pretend for now...

Let's also say I want to plan a trip that starts June 25th, 2012.

I could call starting tomorrow and book my June 25th trip at the 11 month mark using my points that come 1/12?

yes.

If the trip I wanted was over 200 points I could borrow 2013 points to make this trip a reality?

yes.

And so therefore it doesnt matter that this is 2011 and that I have no 2011 points because they booking dates don't matter it's the travel dates.

IS this all correct?

i think you've got it.

1) start with the travel dates and look at what UY they fall in. you can then use any banked pts from the UY prior + any current UY pts (doesn't matter if you are not in that UY yet when you call to book) + any borrowed pts from the next UY if needed.

(note that if you have an aug UY and you plan a stay from july 28 to aug 3, that will cross into a new UY and allow you to use 4 years worth of pts - but the days in july would have little protection if you needed to cancel.)

2) understand that you can call to book the reservation at 11 months at your home resort or 7 months at other DVC resorts. UY month is not an issue.

 

[Deb & Bill]

And an add on question.... This assumes I was correct on the above scenario though..

If I had the same scenario as above but my UY was August then could I still do it?

Could I call tomorrow and book a trip for June 25th using 2012 and 2013 points even though the trip starts in June and I don't get my 2012 points until after the trip?

Or is it not even a matter of "getting them" and anytime in 2012 is fine to use 2012 points???


Thanks!!!

If you had no Aug 2011 points coming, but did have Aug 2012 points coming, you could borrow those Aug 2012 points for a trip in June 2012. But you couldn't borrow Aug 2013 points for a trip in June 2012. Because your June 2012 trip would fall in your Aug 2011 UY (Aug 1, 2011 to July 31, 2012).

 

[Dean]

Could I call tomorrow and book a trip for June 25th using 2012 and 2013 points even though the trip starts in June and I don't get my 2012 points until after the trip?

Not as you asked because that contract is currently in the 2010 UY and that reservation would be in the 2011 UY. You could borrow 2012 points but not access 2013 points for any reservation before 1 August 2012.

 

[chalee94]

If I had the same scenario as above but my UY was August then could I still do it?

your aug 2011 UY would run from aug 1, 2011 to july 31, 2012 - so a june 2012 trip would fall in your aug 2011 UY.

if you had no aug 2011 pts (or 2010 pts), you could book using borrowed 2012 pts. if those were not enough, you could buy 24 pts from MS at 7 months out or book cash villas for the extra nights.

Could I call tomorrow and book a trip for June 25th using 2012 and 2013 points even though the trip starts in June and I don't get my 2012 points until after the trip?

if you had an aug UY, your 2013 pts would be valid for stays from aug 1, 2013 to july 31, 2014. if you borrowed them, they would be valid for stays from aug 1, 2012 to july 31, 2013...so you would not be able to use 2013 pts to book a stay in your 2011 UY (such as june 2012).

 

[discorsner]

there's not actually a jan UY, but we'll pretend for now...



yes.



yes.



i think you've got it.

1) start with the travel dates and look at what UY they fall in. you can then use any banked pts from the UY prior + any current UY pts (doesn't matter if you are not in that UY yet when you call to book) + any borrowed pts from the next UY if needed.

(note that if you have an aug UY and you plan a stay from july 28 to aug 3, that will cross into a new UY and allow you to use 4 years worth of pts - but the days in july would have little protection if you needed to cancel.)

2) understand that you can call to book the reservation at 11 months at your home resort or 7 months at other DVC resorts. UY month is not an issue.

Oops on the no January UY. Good to know!

I thought I really had it until I read your last part.

So the UY actually matters more than I orignally gave it credit for.

So if I just bought a September UY contract that doesn't have any points until 9/12 then I could call and book at the 11 month mark but I would have to take a trip that was after September if I wanted to use 2012 and 2013 points right?

 

[discorsner]

your aug 2011 UY would run from aug 1, 2011 to july 31, 2012 - so a june 2012 trip would fall in your aug 2011 UY.

if you had no aug 2011 pts (or 2010 pts), you could book using borrowed 2012 pts. if those were not enough, you could buy 24 pts from MS at 7 months out or book cash villas for the extra nights.



if you had an aug UY, your 2013 pts would be valid for stays from aug 1, 2013 to july 31, 2014. if you borrowed them, they would be valid for stays from aug 1, 2012 to july 31, 2013...so you would not be able to use 2013 pts to book a stay in your 2011 UY (such as june 2012).

OK! I totally get it now!!! Thanks so much. You have no idea how dumb I was feeling!!!!

 

[discorsner]

What i have learned is that when I buy I should buy a UY that is close to the beginning or end of the actual calendar year because I think my brain can understand it better!

 

[Deb & Bill]

What i have learned is that when I buy I should buy a UY that is close to the beginning or end of the actual calendar year because I think my brain can understand it better!

You just create a new calendar. Like the school calendar runs from Aug or Sept to May or June. Your travel calendar runs from Oct to Oct or April to April.

 

[discorsner]

One thing to keep in mind is MS will use the older points in your account at the time you book but if you reserve and later bank, they will not automatically move the older points into an existing reservation as some previous new members have assumed they would.

Thanks also!!!! I really appreciate all the dis help on this!

 

[babesboo99]

This is all new to me and thank you for explaining it to me. I think I have some of it now it might take a little bit to get it all but thanks to this board friends who have DVc I know I will be fine. Thank you again all your answer helped immensly..