UY question:

[princessaloha]

Aloha , I have a UY question I am unable to find an answer to. It's probably really obvious of an answer and I'll probably look stupid asking it but need to set it straight in my head as we are looking at several contracts at the moment.

I understand the following about Use Year:

1. It is the month that new points are added to your account each year.

2. You then have an 11 month window (starting the following month) to book your reservations at your home resort ex. UY Jan, can start booking Feb 1.

3. You then have a 7 month window (starting the following month) to book your reservations at all other DVC resorts. ex. UY Jan can start booking April 1 (?)

4. Starting at your UY, you then have 8 months to bank any unused points for that year.

5. Common belief here on the DIS is that it's best to get a UY that starts at the beginning of your travel months in case of cancellation so you still have the opportunity to bank in the 8 months window if need be.

Here's my stupid question. If our travel time usually falls (occasionally Aug)Sept/Oct/Jan (poss Feb) common belief would be to have an AUG UY. BUT if we have an AUG UY, our points would be deposit AUG 1 and we could start booking Sept 1. BUT it would be nearly impossible to get reservations for THAT Sept/Oct. We would only really have a chance for the following Sept/Oct? Wouldn't it be better to have a JUNE UY? That way we would have at least three months to book for September and still within the 8 months booking window for Jan?

Hope that made sense. Any corrections in my thinking would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

When you can call to book has nothing to do with your UY. You technically have all your points deposited until the end of your contract the moment you buy. The only thing that matters is that you have points that are valid for use at the time you wish to stay.

So, if you had an August UY and wanted to stay in Sept of 2012 you could book with 2012 UY (current) points, banked 2011 points or borrowed 2013 points. You could have called in October of 2011 to book the Sept 2012 stay and then the only consideration is what points are eligible to use for the stay. With an August UY your 2012 points are eligible for stays from Aug 1, 2012 to July 31, 2013.

This is all the same for any UY for when to call to book. But the difference can be what year of points can be used. If it were an Dec UY that was wanting the Sept 2012 reservation they would have been using either their current 2011 points (Dec 2011 to Nov 30, 2012), banked 2010 points or could have borrowed 2012 points which normally would be valid for stays from Dec 1, 2012 to Nov 30, 2013 and borrowing would move that back to Dec 2011 to Nov 30, 2012). The Dec UY would still have called in Oct 2011 to book the Sept 2012 stay in the 11 month window.

 

[chalee94]

I understand the following about Use Year:

1. It is the month that new points are added to your account each year.

as KAT4DISNEY said, all of your pts through 2040 and beyond are already added to your account when you buy the contract. you can call at 11 months out based on your home resort, not UY.

so you really have a couple of issues limiting you:

1) UY tells you when your pts are valid for stays.

so for a silly example, if your UY month is aug, then your 2020 UY pts are valid for stays from aug 1, 2020 through july 31, 2021.

2) you can only bank ahead one year or borrow from one year ahead. once you bank or borrow pts, they cannot be moved again.

so if you borrow your 2020 pts into 2019, they would be valid for stays beginning on aug 1, 2019. but your 11 month window for aug 1, 2019 doesn't open till sept 1, 2018, so your 2020 UY pts are not available until that point.

use year month is mostly an issue if you need to cancel.

some examples:

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

if you have an aug UY and an aug 2012 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window won't close until mar 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 july 31, 2013.)

if you have an aug UY and a july 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 july 31...which is less than 60 days out.

if you have an aug UY and an aug 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 july 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

 

[princessaloha]

When you can call to book has nothing to do with your UY. You technically have all your points deposited until the end of your contract the moment you buy. The only thing that matters is that you have points that are valid for use at the time you wish to stay.

So, if you had an August UY and wanted to stay in Sept of 2012 you could book with 2012 UY (current) points, banked 2011 points or borrowed 2013 points. You could have called in October of 2011 to book the Sept 2012 stay and then the only consideration is what points are eligible to use for the stay. With an August UY your 2012 points are eligible for stays from Aug 1, 2012 to July 31, 2013.

This is all the same for any UY for when to call to book. But the difference can be what year of points can be used. If it were an Dec UY that was wanting the Sept 2012 reservation they would have been using either their current 2011 points (Dec 2011 to Nov 30, 2012), banked 2010 points or could have borrowed 2012 points which normally would be valid for stays from Dec 1, 2012 to Nov 30, 2013 and borrowing would move that back to Dec 2011 to Nov 30, 2012). The Dec UY would still have called in Oct 2011 to book the Sept 2012 stay in the 11 month window.

Thank you for your response. Just to be sure I understand you correctly. Because I'm easily confused . The 11 month (7 month respectively) booking window is connected to the DATE when you want to book and not to WHEN you receive your annual allotment of points (UY). Therefore if I wanted to book a reservation at Sept 1, 2012 at my home resort I could book it Oct 1, 2011 AND so would everyone else (if it's their home resort) no matter what any of our UY was. Just that we would need to have enough points at some point at the time of our reservation (trip)?

Did I state that back correctly?

Again, thank you for any and all clarification.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thank you for your response. Just to be sure I understand you correctly. Because I'm easily confused . The 11 month (7 month respectively) booking window is connected to the DATE when you want to book and not to WHEN you receive your annual allotment of points (UY). Therefore if I wanted to book a reservation at Sept 1, 2012 at my home resort I could book it Oct 1, 2011 AND so would everyone else (if it's their home resort) no matter what any of our UY was. Just that we would need to have enough points at some point at the time of our reservation?

Did I state that back correctly?

Again, thank you for any and all clarification.

Yes, that is correct. At 11 months and at 7 months you will be competing with every other DVC owner that wants to stay that same day, no matter what their UY is (within the home resort priority at 11 months of course).

 

[princessaloha]

as KAT4DISNEY said, all of your pts through 2040 and beyond are already added to your account when you buy the contract. you can call at 11 months out based on your home resort, not UY.

so you really have a couple of issues limiting you:

1) UY tells you when your pts are valid for stays.

so for a silly example, if your UY month is aug, then your 2020 UY pts are valid for stays from aug 1, 2020 through july 31, 2021.

2) you can only bank ahead one year or borrow from one year ahead. once you bank or borrow pts, they cannot be moved again.

so if you borrow your 2020 pts into 2019, they would be valid for stays beginning on aug 1, 2019. but your 11 month window for aug 1, 2019 doesn't open till sept 1, 2018, so your 2020 UY pts are not available until that point.

use year month is mostly an issue if you need to cancel.

some examples:

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

if you have an aug UY and an aug 2012 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window won't close until mar 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 july 31, 2013.)

if you have an aug UY and a july 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 july 31...which is less than 60 days out.

if you have an aug UY and an aug 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 july 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

Thank you Chalee94 for that link. I appreciate it and will continue to review all this information. I believe I already understand what you have written. My "misunderstanding" is what the 11th month (7month respectively) booking window is tied to. I thought it started AFTER you get your allotment of points for the year. But, if I'm reading the information correctly, as long as you have valid points coming then the booking windows are in conjunction with the DATE of when you want to book. Therefore, for instance, the first day for 11th month window for booking Sept 1, 2011 is Oct 1, 2011 for EVERYONE( with the 11th month window) irregardless of UY as long as there will be enough points in your account at the time of travel/trip. ???

 

[princessaloha]

Yes, that is correct. At 11 months and at 7 months you will be competing with every other DVC owner that wants to stay that same day, no matter what their UY is (within the home resort priority at 11 months of course).

AWESOME Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) for helping me understand. I was so confused.

 

[disneynutz]

Pick a UY that allows you to bank your points should you need to cancel your vacations. We have taken advantage of picking the correct UY 4 times over the years due to job changes, death in the family, illness and an airlines strike.

Buy where you love to stay because as time goes on your home resort will become more important.

Bill

 

[mjc2003]

2. You then have an 11 month window (starting the following month) to book your reservations at your home resort ex. UY Jan, can start booking Feb 1.

3. You then have a 7 month window (starting the following month) to book your reservations at all other DVC resorts. ex. UY Jan can start booking April 1 (?)

Don't want to confuse anything here, I may be reading this wrong. Your 11 month window starts on the first day of your UY, not the following month. So if you have a Jan UY, you can book 11 months out from Jan 1 (Nov 1). Same for the 7 month window, you can book 7 months out from the 1st date of the UY month. I think that is what you are saying, but I think you might have worded it backwards (or I'm reading it wrong)?

 

[disneynutz]

Don't want to confuse anything here, I may be reading this wrong. Your 11 month window starts on the first day of your UY, not the following month. So if you have a Jan UY, you can book 11 months out from Jan 1 (Nov 1). Same for the 7 month window, you can book 7 months out from the 1st date of the UY month. I think that is what you are saying, but I think you might have worded it backwards (or I'm reading it wrong)?

UY has nothing to do with the 11 and 7 month booking windows.

It's 11 and 7 months from check in, not from when your UY starts.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

again, UY month has nothing to do with when you can call to book. nothing at all.

at your home resort, you can call to book a 7 night stay starting on sept 1, 2013 on oct 1, 2012 (11 months out) whether you have a feb UY, an oct UY or a dec UY. 11 months is 11 months.

now if you have a feb UY and call to book sept 1, 2013, that would be in your 2013 UY (runs from feb 1, 2013 to jan 31, 2014). you have the option of using banked 2012 pts + current 2013 pts (based on the date of the stay - doesn't matter if you are calling prior to your 2013 UY) + borrowed 2014 pts (if needed).

OTOH, if you have an oct UY and call to book sept 1, 2013, that would be in your 2012 UY (runs from oct 1, 2012 to sept 30, 2013). you have the option of using banked 2011 pts + current 2012 pts + borrowed 2013 pts (if needed). as noted earlier, travelling late in your UY like this puts you in a bad spot if you need to cancel.

but you can call on oct 1, 2012 in either case. you just might be working with different allotments of pts.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Don't want to confuse anything here, I may be reading this wrong. Your 11 month window starts on the first day of your UY, not the following month. So if you have a Jan UY, you can book 11 months out from Jan 1 (Nov 1). Same for the 7 month window, you can book 7 months out from the 1st date of the UY month. I think that is what you are saying, but I think you might have worded it backwards (or I'm reading it wrong)?

Sorry - going to chime in as the 3rd one that this is incorrect information. Hate for the OP to get all confused again when I think she had gotten it figured out.