what the @#$%^&*()?

[daddiojiggy]

i thought i understood banking/borrowing but evidently i don't.i just read that us eyear is not important to book lodging ie.you can book farther out than 11 mos.what?
is there somewhere to go where i can get full explanations on baking/borrowing/cancellations?

 

[Richyams]

You can't ever book farther than 11 months out.

Use year and when you can book have NOTHING at all to do with eachother. All that matters for booking is the 7-11 month window(and that you will have the points available for the trip)

Borrowing and banking do not change anything at all. These have nothing at all to do with the 7-11 month windows.

I have a Sept use year, its January, I want to mak a Dec reservation, I have zero points today.....it doesn't matter, I will be getting points in Sept, those points will be committed to that reservation. I didn't have to borrow them, they will be used in their current use year.

I have a Sept use year, its january, I have not used last september's points yet. I call to make my december ressie, I bank my current points into next year and they get commotted to that ressie.

I have a sept use year, its january, I not only used all this year's points, I already borrowed and used next year's points. I still want that Dec reservation, I call and make the reservation borrowing the following year's points.

 

[goofy4tink]

If I understand it correctly, your use year matters most if you have to cancel plans and want to still bank your points. My use year starts in June. Most of my trips are taken in the time frame of August to late November/December. I have, I believe, 6 months from June 1 to bank 100% of my points. Then the percentage starts to decrease. So, say I book my trip for November. I get sick and can't go. So I cancel my plans. I can still have those points to bank at 100%. But, if I cancel a trip in April, I can't bank all of those points. It could be as few as 25% of them. I am planning on a trip in Dec. 04. I will book that trip this Jan., even though my use year doesn't actually start until June. I think I have this correct.

 

[Dean]

Use year does have nothing to do with when you book but it does have to do with how many points you may have available for any one trip. Simply book at 11 months out for your home resort. Do keep in mind the banking windows in case you need to bank points to be used.

 

[Caskbill]

Make yourself a chart for your use year. If it were June, then it would look like this:

<b>Use Year.....Vacation Dates</b>
2003.....June 1, 2003 through May 31, 2004
2004.....June 1, 2004 through May 31, 2005
2005.....June 1, 2005 through May 31, 2006
2006.....June 1, 2006 through May 31, 2007
2007.....June 1, 2007 through May 31, 2008
2008.....June 1, 2008 through May 31, 2009


But if your use year were February, your chart would look like this:

2003.....Feb 1, 2003 through Jan 31, 2004
2004.....Feb 1, 2004 through Jan 31, 2005
2005.....Feb 1, 2005 through Jan 31, 2006
2006.....Feb 1, 2006 through Jan 31, 2007
2007.....Feb 1, 2007 through Jan 31, 2008
2008.....Feb 1, 2008 through Jan 31, 2009

Or if it were a December use year it would look like this:

2003.....Dec 1, 2003 through Nov 30, 2004
2004.....Dec 1, 2004 through Nov 30, 2005
2005.....Dec 1, 2005 through Nov 30, 2006
2006.....Dec 1, 2006 through Nov 30, 2007
2007.....Dec 1, 2007 through Nov 30, 2008
2008.....Dec 1, 2008 through Nov 30, 2009


Now, when making reservations everything goes by the vacation dates you want. Suppose you want to take a vacation in April, 2005. If you have a June use year, then that vacation is in your 2004 use year. Likewise, if you have a December use year, it's also in your 2004 use year. However, if you have a February use year then it's in your 2005 use year.

No matter what your use year month is, you still make your reservations at 11-months if home resort, or 7-month if non-home resort. So for an April 2005 Vacation, you could make the reservation in May, 2004 at 11-months, (or Sep 2004 if 7-months).

You can bank points from any one use year into the next. Or borrow points from any year into the prior year. For June or Dec use years, you could bank 2003 points into 2004 for your April 2005 vacation.

However for a February use year, your vacation is in your 2005 use year so banking 2003 points into 2004 does not help. You could not use 2003 points for that vacation. You could however bank your 2004 points into 2005.

Bottom Line: The vacation dates are what determines what use year the points must come from. Your use year month determines what your 12-month vacation timeframe is. It's different for every different use year month. (1) Make a chart for your use year month like the samples above. (2) Determine what use year your vacation dates fall into. (3) Bank or borrow if necessary to put points into that use year. Keep in mind your regular allocation will also appear in that use year so you may not need to bank or borrow at all. (4) Make your reservation at 11/7 months.

Example: You own 150 points with a June use year. You want to take a 250-point vacation in April 2005. That's in your 2004 use year. You'll only receive 150 points on June 1, 2004 for use during the next 12-months. You bank all 150 of your 2003 points into 2004. This gives you 300 points now in year 2004 that can be used for an april 2005 vacation. You make a reservation which uses 250 points (all the banked points and 100 of the new allocated points). You have 50 points remaining in 2004. You can use them for another 2004 vacation, or bank them into 2005 which would give you 200 points available in 2005 (50 banked + 150 new regular 2005 allocation).

When you cancel a reservation, points are returned to the use year they came from. For example if you banked 2003 points into 2004, make a reservation using those points, then cancel the reservation, those points are returned into 2004, NOT 2003. They must be used prior to the end of that specific use year. In the example above you bank your 2003 points into 2004 and make that April 2005 reservation. In January 2005 you cancel the reservation. Those banked points still must be used by the end of their use year which is May 1, 2005. Part of your regular 2004 allocation of points could be banked into 2005 but not all since it's past the 6-month 100% banking window. You would essentially wind up with all the 2003 banked points and some of the regular 2004 points which would have to be used by May 31, 2005 or lose them. (For a June use year, 100% window is Nov 30 and the 50% window is Feb 28th (or 29th). If you cancelled in January you could only bank 50% of your regular 2004 points, or 75 points. You would therefore end up with 225 points (150 banked 2003 points and 75 2004 points that couldn't be banked) that would have to be used by the end of the 2004 use year which is May 31, 2005.

Remember, the above example is for a JUNE use year. The 100%, 50%, 25% banking windows are different depending on what your use year month is.

Finally keep in mind that if you cancel a reservation less than 31 days out, special rules apply. The points go into a holding account which means they can only be used to make a reservation 60-days out or less. They cannot be banked or borrowed. They CAN be used for exchange in the various Collections. They will expire at the end of the use year they're in if not used. Basically you want to avoid ever cancelling a reservation at less than 31 days out.


Hope this helps.

 

[JimC]

Caskbill's response should be put into the FAQs area. Great summation.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

I will give you an example of use year, we haved used up all our 2003 points, we have a March use year, I have booked a trip for Presidents week 2004, I had to borrow 2004 points because February is before I get my points. Now if I cancel that trip, I only have less than 30 days to use those points, even though the trip is in 2004, I had to borrow them and have them added to my 2003 points.

 

[Cora]

Richyams,
Just to throw a wrinkle into this, I thought you could book World Passport up to 2 years out?
Cora

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Some thread title. Sure provides a reasonable indication of what the thread is about, huh?

Great summation Caskbill, excellent information.

 

[CRobin]

Originally posted by Cora
Richyams,
Just to throw a wrinkle into this, I thought you could book World Passport up to 2 years out?
Cora

Rich was quoting the 11 month dates relative to booking DVC. There are other lead times when booking outside of DVC.

 

[Di$neyDad]

There's also a restriction on booking non-DVC locations at the end of your use year (can't remember if it's 30 or 60 days). This is only an issue if you want to make a last-minute reservation at the end of your use year. But I thought I'd mention it too make sure the use year explanations don't get too simple

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Cora
Richyams,
Just to throw a wrinkle into this, I thought you could book World Passport up to 2 years out?
Cora

While you can put in a request up to 2 years out, few resorts in II deposit that far ahead. II allows resorts to chose from one of three deposit windows, 12, 18 or 24. Most by far are 12 months out. Marriott's that have fixed weeks are mostly 18 months and Kona Coast in HI is 24 months. Once the window opens and an owner at a certain resort can deposit, that doesn't mean they will. Many resorts require owners to pay the maint fees before depositing so many of them wait until the fees are due, Caribbean owners are notorious for this. II has moved toward rewarding those that deposit early with increased trading power but the word hasn't gotten around that well yet and will likely take 5-6 years or more for the general II membership to figure this out.

II assigns your place in line by trade power more than by when you requested so the order of the line is always getting shuffled. Still, it helps to be sitting there waiting in case a unit is deposited as it gives you a chance at more units over time.