UY question

[MikeChan408]

We have been considering DVC for several years and are now ready to take the plunge. If we plan on taking vacations in February and or October, would that mean a february UY would be the best? If not what would be? What are the considerations when choosing a UY?

Thanks,
mike

 

[salmoneous]

To me the biggest issue is when you get points the first year you own.

If you were looking at two contract today, both with 150 points, but one with a September use year and one with a December use year, the December use year contract is a lot more valuable.

 

[4Pluto]

One of the considerations in choosing a Use Year is cancellations. If you never cancel a vacation, this won't matter. But if you cancel a vacation (early enought that the points don't go into holding), it would be nice to have the option to bank points.

If you have a February Use Year, you may bank points up to September 30. If you scheduled a February vacation and then had to cancel (more than 30 days in advance), then you have most of the rest of the year to reschedule and up to 10/1 to bank. If you scheduled an October vacation and then had to cancel (more than 30 days in advance), you would have only Nov-Jan to reschedule and only until 10/1 to bank, which would be kind of skinny.

If you had an October Use Year, you may bank points up to May 31. If you scheduled an October vacation and then had to cancel (more than 30 days in advance) you would have all year to reschedule and 8 months (May 31) to bank. If you scheduled a February vacation and then had to cancel (more than 30 days in advance) you would have February through September 31 to reschedule or up to May 31 to bank.

If you travel in October and February, an October Use Year would give you more leeway to reschedule and bank.

Bear in mind, that 5 years from now, you may be traveling in May and December and all this thinking would go right out the window.

 

[lisareniff]

If you think that would be your continuted pattern of vacation times then a October UY would be best. With an Oct. UY you would be traveling in the 1st and 5th month of your UY well before the banking deadline of the 8th month.

We have an Oct. UY and think it was a great choice for us. We usually travel in Feb. but could see traveling in Nov, Dec. and Apr. once in a while. More importantly I believe we would never travel in the summer (Jun-Aug). Since we would never have vacations in the summer to change or cancel, an early fall UY makes a lot of sense for us.

I feel that a UY chosen with most of your vacations in the first 8 months will allow you more flexibility in adjusting your reservations, not just save you from losing your points from a cancelation. While you still have the option to bank your points and not loose them you can cancel a day, waitlist for a lower point resort or room type, waitlist some days without cancel your backup room, etc.

I also think the change to the banking window from 6 months to 8 has lessened the concern with UY.