Why does my use year matter?

[Guzzi]

We purchased last February. They gave us a use year of June. I have to admit that at that time and now, I didnt and dont know why the use year really matters.

Our guide suggested June as we vacation in the summer months. If he explained why I didnt comprehend it then and dont remember it now.

So why does the use year matter? Thanks for all the anticipated help.

 

[CMOORE185]

Someone please correct me if I am wrong but I think it has to do with the time of year you normally travel and banking your points, also if you use your points for none DVC and the rule of four comes into play, your use year might come into play. I am always in the borrow mode, so I never paid much attention to my use year.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

It has something to do with when you can bank your points, and effects when you should travel.

With a June UY, it would be best if you scheduled most of your travel early in your use year. (June, July, August, September)

So let's say you have a trip scheduled for mid-June, and have to cancel last minute. You now have 11 1/2 months to reschedule that trip. That makes things a little more do-able if you have very set schedules, kids in school, etc. Keep in mind that DVC can be harder to schedule during some times and not at others.

Now let's say you have a trip planned for mid-May, and have to cancel last minute. Now you have 2 weeks to plan something else. Well if something came up that you can't travel in mid-May...you probably can't travel in late May either. Plus, your trying to find availability at the very last minute.

Hope this helps!

 

[hakepb]

With planning, you can travel any day of the year regardless of use year and regardless of internal/DCL/RCI.

Use year helps because life happens. You have more options if you cancel/reschedule a vacation within the first 8 months of your UY. (I.e can still bank points and have more time to reschedule before the points expire)

June works very well for trips in June, July, Aug. Cancellations/rescheduling become a problem if you book a March-May spring break type trip. (Depending on technicalities, you can include Feb, too)

 

[chalee94]

it matters if you have to cancel. if you never have to cancel, UY month will never be an issue.

as stated above, if you have to cancel a reservation at the beginning of your UY, you will have plenty of options to rebook and possibly bank pts into the next use year. if you have to cancel a reservation in the last month or 2 of your UY, you risk losing pts.

 

[LisaS]

UY can also come into play if you are waitlisted for a room that costs fewer points than your back up reservation. Example: you booked a 1BR at your home resort but at 7 months out you try to switch to a Value 1BR at AKV and have to go on the waiting list. If your waitlist comes through, the excess points will be returned to your account. If you have no other plans for those points in that UY and want to bank them, staying on the waiting list past the 8th month of your UY could cause you to lose the points you saved by moving to a Value room.

 

[BUDDYBEAR]

We have sept.i would like jan.

 

[Greysword]

Use year is important, because of the Rule of Four <que music: dum dum dum dummmm...>

The rule of four has several effects, most importantly:
1) You may not bank points.
2) You may not use your points to reserve a Non-DVC resort room (the collections).

You can find details about this in the annual member handbook (point charts).

In essence, a June UY means you are limited in the ability to use your points from Feb-May, so be careful if you travel during this time frame, and book your points by Jan 31st...or else!

 

[Sandisw]

When you travel toward the beginning of your UY, it allows for a lot of flexibility, IMO, of what you can do with points if you have to cancel a trip or simply want to change things up.

Because you still have a lot of time left, if you did have to cancel, you would have quite a bit of time to rebook the trip. In addition, if the trip was using borrowed points, there would be time to use those up as well.

Plus, you will still be in the banking window so if you decide to change or adjust to a trip to use less points, at least 31 days in advance, you can still do that.

With a June UY, any trips in March, April and May are more vulnerable if you had to cancel as it would give little time to use up the points. Since the banking deadline is January 31st, and you have to cancel at least 31 days prior to a trip to avoid holding points, even February trips would still be safe.

Of course, no UY works well for all the travel times but if you have an idea of when you want to travel now, and maybe in the future, picking a UY that works well for those times can work to your favor.

 

[joeandmel]

Maybe it's all about paper work. Just so that they have some control over when people can go.

 

[chalee94]

Maybe it's all about paper work. Just so that they have some control over when people can go.

except that you can go any time regardless of when your UY month is.

if you want to book a stay on november 1, 2012, any BLT owner can call on dec 1 to book that stay at BLT...doesn't matter if their UY starts in feb, jun or december.

 

[tjkraz]

I do think picking the "right" Use Year is probably one of the more overblown aspects of a DVC purchase. Unless we're talking about a buyer who has a completely unchanging home/work situation (retired?) AND is certain that he/she will vacation at the same time every single year, chances are things will change over time.

DVC ownership runs for 30-50 years. Over that time people will change jobs, kids will grow up, tastes will change. The "perfect" Use Year chosen in 2011 may end up being a poor match for vacation habits by 2030...or even by 2013.

If buying direct, DVC will typically allow folks to pick from several Use Years. In that situation there's nothing wrong with buyers picking a UY that matches current habits. Might as well base the situation on the known rather than the unknown.

But for a first-time resale purchase, I wouldn't give much consideration to Use Year at all. I don't think it's worth passing on the "perfect" contract--with respect to the number of points and price--just because the Use Year isn't ideal.

 

[hakepb]

Speaking of resale, I have heard some UY's have very few contracts available, so finding additional matching UY contracts may be very difficult. Even direct, you may have a long waitlist to add-on April UY points at BCV.
(I think April is one of the "rare" months, but there are some months that have no points available)

 

[DebbieB]

We have sept.i would like jan.

There are no January use years. February, March, April, June, August, September, October, December.

 

[Guzzi]

thanks everyone. It seems as if I got good advice from our guide as we do travel in July or maybe august and have a June use year.

I dont imagine traveling at any diff time of year for years to come.

thanks to all who responded

 

[Sammie]

The only aspect it truly affects, as TJ mentioned, is if you vacation at the same time each year.

It will affect when you can bank your points and affect cancellations.

 

[Lancer]

Another example: Because of my job I absolutely, positively know that I cant take any vacation from April thru July each year. Even the months on either side are not likely. So, since I HAD to pick a month I decided on August because it was atleast towards the beginning of my vacation window.

 

[franandaj]

This has been an interesting thread, it seems that by dumb luck I got the best possible UY as we bought our first contract via resale, and had no idea what we were choosing other than resort.

We do not visit WDW or DL during June, July and August and would rarely go to WDW much later than early May. If they bring back F&W at CA we will know well in advance if we need to cancel our May reservations. September seems to be a perfect UY since we like to visit in October most.

But we have plenty of other times i nthe winter and spring that we like to go as well.

 

[MkWzwski]

Is a June Use Year ok for travel typically in Oct./Nov.? If not, what would be a better UY?

Still not quite sure how this works.

Thanks.

 

[chalee94]

Is a June Use Year ok for travel typically in Oct./Nov.? If not, what would be a better UY?

if you have to cancel a reservation at the beginning of your UY, you will have plenty of options to rebook and possibly bank pts into the next use year. if you have to cancel a reservation in the last month or 2 of your UY, you risk losing pts.

UY has nothing to do with when you can call to book.

if you always travel in oct/nov, then an oct UY would be ideal. a jun UY will work fine, though.

the thing with a jun UY is that you'd never want to travel in march/april/may. you still CAN travel in may, for example - you can book at 11 months out at your home resort with no problem - but if you have to cancel, you risk losing pts as your june UY banking window closes on january 31. once your banking window closes, your options are more limited and you are more likely to lose those pts.

here is a great thread with more detailed info on UY if you need it:

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