Which "Use Year" month is best for January travel?

[have2getaway]

We are looking into buying DVC resale, but I still am confused and have questions. How does "Use Year" impact your DVC stays? Is it best to look for a "Use Year" month that is seven months prior or 11 months prior to when your most likely will travel? Or neither?

Also, in many of the sales offers, they show points from the prior year and the next year. Does that mean you would have access to all of those points immediately?

Is home resort THAT important? Won't you still be able to stay at other resorts by booking at the 7 month window?

 

[disneynutz]

Since you can only bank points during the first 8 months of your UY, it's best to pick a UY month just prior to your normal vacation times. January travel should have a December UY.

The resale listings are showing the points that you are buying. Points expire and are forfeited at the end of their UY.

Home resort is important if you want to guarantee your ability to stay there. If it wasn't important, there wouldn't be a home resort 11 month booking. You can try to move at 7 months, sometimes you will be successful, sometimes you might not get what you want.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

A "good" UY will provide a sort of free insurance against last minute cancellations. It has your travel scheduled early in the beginning of the UY so for January travel that would be a December UY. If you never end up cancelling it won't matter but it's good to have the best UY should you have experience a late cancellations. We've had that twice with unexpected deaths in the family but have always been able to use up any holding points because the trips were early in our UY.

And when you can book never depends on your UY - that just affects what points can be used. This thread can help you understand UY better: https://www.disboards.com/threads/understanding-use-year-updated-april-27-2016.1942668/

January can be an easier time to book at locations other than your home resort and if you don't have one in particular that you HAVE to stay at it's better. Marathon weekend is tough though and MLK weekend will book up more in the home resort period. It's good to own at a home resort you're ok staying at but with flexibility in time, traveling during a time that is more open like January and also having flexibility in villa size you would likely be able to move around reservations at 7 months. Studios generally book up first followed by 2BR's then 1BR's. GV's availability varies from resort to resort a bit dependent on the quantity of them and popularity.

The last quarter of the year is very busy for DVC bookings and it's getting to be more and more important to own where you are happy staying.

 

[a742246]

While a December use year may be your most ideal use year for travelling in January. I may pick a Sept or Oct UY just in case you want to travel for the Fall or Winter holidays. I am assuming you will not travel in the Summer? If you do want to travel in the Summer then a Dec UY would be your best bet.

 

[jerseyduke]

UY get's needlessly complicated.

The most important thing to know is that it is in your best interest to travel early in your UY. Do not worry too much about the Why part yet, but it has to do with Banking, a form of "insurance", etc.
This of course is only relevant if you travel at the same time of year, or at least tend to.

If you plan to usually go in December, an October UY would be the best (there is no November). February would be the worst. (There is no January). If you travel in "the fall"...an August UY might be best.
So the answer to your 7 or 11 month question is neither. 1-2 months is best.

I have to disagree with the PP...I do not see December as your best bet for UY if you want to travel in the summer by any means. April or even June would be better.

As far as prior years go, realize, that while the calendar says 2017, unless you have a February UY, almost all DVC Members are in their 2016 UY. People with a March UY will be entering 2017 on March 1st. So, for many (most) contracts, 2016 is the current (use)year. Heck, a December UY is only 2 months into it's 2016 year!


Home resort may or may not be important depending on when you want to go. Also home resort is only important if you take advantage of the booking window. If you always book inside of the 7 month window, all points are equal, home resort means nothing.

However, if you want a studio at Beach Club or Boardwalk during Food and Wine, 11 months is everything! A studio at the Grand Floridian early decemeber??? 11 months out at 8 am on line might not even get you one. Want to go in September? 7 months availability is often wide open. One bedrooms book the slowest.

I personally go with the "Buy where you want to stay" philosophy. I can also accept the "Buy where you would not mind staying" school of thought. But, if you do not care where you stay, willing to take that may be available at 7 months, then you should buy SSR, as it is the best value out there.

 

[MrInfinity]

We are looking into buying DVC resale, but I still am confused and have questions. How does "Use Year" impact your DVC stays? Is it best to look for a "Use Year" month that is seven months prior or 11 months prior to when your most likely will travel? Or neither?

It's not that big of a factor. Say you get 100 points per year. Well, when exactly do you get them? Do you get them in Feb? Or June? That is the UY. It tells you when your next 100 points become available. They have to pick a specific time each year. UY is that simple. So, if you would tend to travel in the summer, it would make sense to pick a June UY. That way your points become available in June and you can spend them in June-July-Aug. Or-- much later, it's just convenient to get them shortly before you want to use them. If you travel in summer, it wouldn't make sense to get your points in Oct, since they'd just have to sit there from Oct till the next summer. At that point, you're 8 months into your year, and toward the end of your UY you lose some flexibility. Any UY can be used to travel any time tho, since they're good for the whole year.

Also, in many of the sales offers, they show points from the prior year and the next year. Does that mean you would have access to all of those points immediately?

Yeah, sure. If it's a June contract and it comes with 100/2016 and 100/2017, that means that it has 100 points that are able to spend on trips from Jun-1-2016 till the end of May 2017, and then 100 more that can be spent after Jun-1-2017. You'd have to be wary of those 2016 points because if you can't use them by May 31, they'd expire and we're past the banking deadline. So Jun-2016 points wouldn't have much value right now. If it's an Oct or Dec 2016 points, that's more useful if you can buy them in time to bank. I wouldn't focus too much on finding 2016 points, I'd be looking for contracts with 2017 points.

Is home resort THAT important? Won't you still be able to stay at other resorts by booking at the 7 month window?

Yes of course. It's a property. If you don't care where you stay, I guess not, but I can't see buying a vacation property and not caring which one you get. It'd be like buying a new car and not caring which one, as long as it drives?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I have to disagree with the PP...I do not see December as your best bet for UY if you want to travel in the summer by any means. April or even June would be better.
.

OP stated they travel in January and were wondering about the best UY for that.

When laying out various other times a UY could cover besides January then if summer was an option a December UY could work as the banking deadline is July 31st. Any last minute cancellation for August would have the points in holding anyway and unbankable so it's not bad. To cover both summer and their normal January travel June would also be fine but April would be poor.

 

[tjkraz]

UY get's needlessly complicated.

Agree with this. DVC is a very long-term purchase for most people. Are you still going to be making frequent January trips in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?

We bought nearly 15 years ago and our Use Year probably wasn't ideal given our travel habits at the time. But since then our travel patterns have changed multiple times as jobs changed, interests changed, kids got older, etc.

The process of buying resale is complicated by the fact that you cannot dictate the EXACT resort, number of points and Use Year. Every contract is offered as-is. When evaluating available contracts, personally I'd place the least amount of weight in the Use Year.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

It's not that big of a factor. Say you get 100 points per year. Well, when exactly do you get them? Do you get them in Feb? Or June? That is the UY. It tells you when your next 100 points become available. They have to pick a specific time each year. UY is that simple. So, if you would tend to travel in the summer, it would make sense to pick a June UY. That way your points become available in June and you can spend them in June-July-Aug. Or-- much later, it's just convenient to get them shortly before you want to use them. If you travel in summer, it wouldn't make sense to get your points in Oct, since they'd just have to sit there from Oct till the next summer. At that point, you're 8 months into your year, and toward the end of your UY you lose some flexibility. Any UY can be used to travel any time tho, since they're good for the whole year.

This isn't exactly a clear reflection of why UY can be important. When you buy a contract you get all your points - there's no waiting to receive. There's also no lack of flexibility in using points at the end of the UY for DVC resorts - the only issue comes up if you have a late last minute cancellation. One can easily have a June UY and travel in May with no issues of waiting for points to become available etc. If they cancelled just before that trip the concern would be using them before they expired at the end of May.

For those that say UY is the least important I'd guess they never had a last minute cancellation. At the time of purchase it's easy to make that part of the consideration. That "free" insurance could easily save you a few hundred or even thousand dollars somewhere down the road as well as some piece of mind. If you never have a late cancellation it won't be used but no harm in picking something that can give you that. Would I buy a stripped vs loaded for the proper UY? No, I'd just wait until something came on the market and contracts get listed every day. Buying the DVC insurance on trips is an option but that comes at a $$$ cost and only reimburses dues.

 

[jerseyduke]

OP stated they travel in January and were wondering about the best UY for that.

When laying out various other times a UY could cover besides January then if summer was an option a December UY could work as the banking deadline is July 31st. Any last minute cancellation for August would have the points in holding anyway and unbankable so it's not bad. To cover both summer and their normal January travel June would also be fine but April would be poor.

Gotcha, did not factor that into the equation, so yes, january AND summer, Dec would be the best UY. I read it as Summer only, go with December (and that is what i was disagreeing with)

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

To make it really simple for OP - January travel? I'd get a December UY. I'd skip Feb, March and April but consider any others to be on the table but a preference towards December or October.

 

[viper17d]

I'll second what most everyone is saying here - based on what you've said (January travel), December UY is best for you. I have December and typically travel in May, but I also get the benefit of booking December/January trips without the cancellation risk.

The only reason you shouldn't prefer a December UY is if you think you'll travel over Thanksgiving or late in the Fall very often. If that seems like something you might start doing, give yourself a few extra months and go with October.

 

[MrInfinity]

This isn't exactly a clear reflection of why UY can be important. When you buy a contract you get all your points - there's no waiting to receive.

I said... It tells you when your next 100 points become available. The way you say it is confusing. "you get all your points"? I know what you mean but-- that's a confusing way to look at it. I don't get all my points. I own, now, the right to spend them in the future, and I can see when each block will become available in my DVC login. But I don't "get all my points now".

There's also no lack of flexibility in using points at the end of the UY for DVC resorts - [...] If they cancelled just before that trip the concern would be using them before they expired at the end of May.

That is... lack of flexibility. :-/

One can easily have a June UY and travel in May with no issues of waiting for points to become available etc.

I said... Any UY can be used to travel any time tho, since they're good for the whole year.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I said... It tells you when your next 100 points become available. The way you say it is confusing. "you get all your points"? I know what you mean but-- that's a confusing way to look at it. I don't get all my points. I own, now, the right to spend them in the future, and I can see when each block will become available in my DVC login. But I don't "get all my points now".

That is... lack of flexibility. :-/

I said... Any UY can be used to travel any time tho, since they're good for the whole year.

The "tell you when you gets your next points" IMO sounds like you can't book a trip until some special time. With borrowing and even banking there really isn't such a time per se. And yes, you have all your points once you buy. Because you can only access up to 3 years of points you can't use them all at once but they are there.

 

[sharkyandbones]

My $.02...UY isn't typically that important. The resort and even purchase price seem far more important to me than UY. We have a June and August UY and we have traveled in Jan, May, Sept and Dec with no real concerns. The only time it would really become a concern I think is if you always travel in the same month each year and feel there is a risk of making late cancellations. Then it might make sense to focus on a UY just prior to your typical month of travel.

 

[MrInfinity]

The "tell you when you gets your next points" IMO sounds like you can't book a trip until some special time. With borrowing and even banking there really isn't such a time per se. And yes, you have all your points once you buy. Because you can only access up to 3 years of points you can't use them all at once but they are there.

I would not tell prospective buyers you "have all your points" for the full time as soon as you purchase. That suggests you can spend them. I know you realize you can't, but I don't like suggesting one gets them all now. What you have, is actually a right to spend, bank, or borrow points in the future, based on your UY. It's different.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I would not go telling prospective buyers you "have all your points" for the full time as soon as you purchase. That suggests you can spend them. I know you realize you can't, but I don't like suggesting one gets them all now. What you have, is actually a right to spend, bank, or borrow points in the future, based on your UY. It's different.

I believe I referenced about accessing the points with banking and borrowing.

The having all the points can be an important nuance. It's not uncommon to run across owners who thought they had to wait until a UY started to be able to book because that's when they "received their points". When it comes to transfers your not restricted just to current but can transfer current and next years points (without borrowing the next year as that would make them unavailable for transfer). So that concept can be important and bypass some when they think about using their points.

It's all turned slightly OT for OP's initial question about January travel.

 

[have2getaway]

Thank you to all who responded. I'm still a little confused about the banking, which actually does matter for us. We wanted to start out with a small contract, enough for just a studio, as most of the time, our travel party will be 5. I have an older son who is 15 and share time with his Dad. This past trip he actually went with Dad to Disney and, while we had some time with him when we were there, he stayed in a resort with his Dad. So, some trips we would be a party of six and some a party of five. The banking comes into play because for the trips when my older son will be with us, we would need at least a two bedroom. We might have to skip a year and bank the points for the next year. I'm not really sure exactly how much we would need to buy and where--I'd have to figure out how many points we'd need to make it work. It appears at least 100?? Anyway, this is why I'm curious about UY. I Suppose I'll also need to factor in how much in annual fees we would pay for 2 years and whether it makes any sense at all for us to buy??

We live in upstate New York and so will never want to go there in summer. The boys were complaining of the heat on one of our days in January! We did get some strange looks. I can see wanting to go in another month in the fall or winter sometime.

We have a few nights reserved Marathon weekend for the early part of January in a 2 BR at BLT, and I'm trying to rent for the rest of the week. directly with an owner, who has been very helpful. I'm discovering that we're going to be spending $4,500 or so just for the hotel. My husband wasn't thrilled with what we spent on our first trip to the Poly (7-8k total) but went along as this was going to be our "Once in a Lifetime Trip". He had never been to Disney and didn't expect he and the boys to love Disney as much as they did. (They ask just about every week when they can go back). Of course, my older son, not so much. He likes it and had a good time but really is happy with any amusement park with fast roller coasters.

But...it's hard to know how soon they will decide they are sick of Disney?? They are 8 now. We would only consider resale and only a small purchase for that reason. My older son also went to Hollywood studios and really enjoyed that so now we are torn between buying DVC and trying Universal and having our kids like the other park just as much, once we take them there. I hate to think we could be paying annual fees for something we won't get enough use out of. But...$4,500 just for the hotel foe one trip when we just spent $7K.

 

[jerseyduke]

The biggest confusion seems to come with "When can i borrow points?"..."I need to borrow points from my 2018 year, when do I "get them"?

They are already there. Your 2038 points are already in your account, you just can not use them yet.

The important aspect is WHEN IS THE RESERVATION?

If the reservation is in your 2018 UY, you can borrow points from 2019 ANY TIME you can actually make the reservation.

Example:

I want to make a reservation for October 1st, 2018. I have an April UY.
At my home resort, I can make that reservation on November 1st, 2017, as that is when the 11 month booking window starts. I can borrow 2019 points on that day.

The most confusion seems to set in when people need to borrow points to make the above reservation. Particularly, "Do I have to wait until April of 2018 to get to my 2019 points?" The answer is NO.


In the above example, if you try to book on November 1st, 2017, since your vacation is in your 2018 UY, you can borrow 2019 points on November 1st, 2017.

So...you "GET" your points 1 year and 11 months prior to the start of that UY.

April UY....Book April 1, 2018??? May 1, 2017 is the first day you can book, and you can use 2019 points.

If you are able to make the reservation, you can borrow points from the following year. You do not have to wait.

 

[have2getaway]

I'll second what most everyone is saying here - based on what you've said (January travel), December UY is best for you. I have December and typically travel in May, but I also get the benefit of booking December/January trips without the cancellation risk.

The only reason you shouldn't prefer a December UY is if you think you'll travel over Thanksgiving or late in the Fall very often. If that seems like something you might start doing, give yourself a few extra months and go with October.

The biggest confusion seems to come with "When can i borrow points?"..."I heed to borrow points from my 2018 year, when do I "get them"?

They are already there. Your 2038 points are already in your account, you just can not use them yet.

The important aspect is WHEN IS THE RESERVATION?

If the reservation is in your 2018 UY, you can borrow points from 2019 ANY TIME you can actually make the reservation.

Example:

I want to make a reservation for October 1st, 2018. I have an April UY.
At my home resort, I can make that reservation on November 1st, 2017, as that is when the 11 month booking window starts. I can borrow 2019 points on that day.

The most confusion seems to set in when people need to borrow points to make the above reservation. Particularly, "Do I have to wait until April of 2018 to get to my 2019 points?" The answer is NO.


In the above example, if you try to book on November 1st, 2017, since your vacation is in your 2018 UY, you can borrow 2019 points on November 1st, 2017.

So...you "GET" your points 1 year and 11 months prior to the start of that UY.

April UY....Book April 1, 2018??? May 1, 2017 is the first day you can book, and you can use 2019 points.

If you are able to make the reservation, you can borrow points from the following year. You do not have to wait.

This is very helpful. Thank you! Yes, I would have thought you would have to wait until April. I suppose though, at that point, you would only have 2018 & 2019 points available for that trip, right? Just want to make sure I am finally getting this.