Understanding Use Year - Updated 5/31/2012

[Litigbearohmy]

Sorry to ask for my particular scenario -- thought I understood UY but now confused. (We could buy DVC next couple of weeks so should know this!)

Looking to travel first or second week of December and April school vacation (twenty-something day of April).

What use year and if we buy BLT would we get 2 years of points to use??

Thanks for answer and any insight you can give!

[CarolMN]

Originally Posted by Litigbearohmy

Sorry to ask for my particular scenario -- thought I understood UY but now confused. (We could buy DVC next couple of weeks so should know this!)

Looking to travel first or second week of December and April school vacation (twenty-something day of April).

What use year and if we buy BLT would we get 2 years of points to use??

Thanks for answer and any insight you can give!

For December and April vacations, any use year except February, March or June will work just fine.

There are no use years for January, May, July or November.

Don't know the answer to your BLT points question, but I think it depends on which use year you purchase. You'll get more and better opinions on that if you post that question separately.

[Sandisw]

For BLT, the first set of points are coming in 2009. Depending on which UY you buy, you may or may not have two years of points to use for your next vacation.

For Dec and April vacations, April UY as well as Aug, Sept, Oct, or Dec UY, will work for you as any cancellations you make at least 31 days out for your Dec or April trips would still fall within your 8 month banking window.

If you buy BLT with an Aug UY, your first set of points will come August 1st, 2009. Since BLT is opening in August, you will pay a prorated 5 months worth of MF's for 2009.

If you choose one of the later UY's, then you won't get your points until then. The MF's will be prorated as well so Sept UY will only pay 4 months, Oct UY will only pay 3 months, and Dec will only pay 1 month of MF's for 2009.

So, if your first DVC trip will be April 2010, you would only have your current UY set of points if you choose a June, Aug, Sept, Oct or Dec UY.

If you choose Feb, Mar or April UY, you would have two years worth of points for that trip.

HTH!!

[pumpkinfish]

DH and I would typically like to travel in October and May. What UY should we ask for?

[ACDSNY]

Originally Posted by rmonty02

I'm going to be getting information in the mail about DVC(VGC-Villas Grand California-not sure the abrreviation-very new) at GCH. When speaking with the "guide" (I think that's what they're called-again, very new) he mentioned I would have a June UY. Now, does that fall under receiving 08 and 09 points? or would I receive only 09 points in June?

You can request a different UY if the one being offered doesn't meet your needs. As an example, we initial started with a Feb UY, but we typically travel in the Fall which is after our banking deadline so if I had to cancel a trip the points would have to be used before Jan 31 or I'd loose them. We've since started a couple of new contracts (AKV & VGC) with an Aug UY which works much better for us.

[CarolMN]

Originally Posted by pumpkinfish

DH and I would typically like to travel in October and May. What UY should we ask for?

Choose a use year that will allow you to bank points if you have to cancel a trip. The banking deadline is the end of the 8th month following the beginning of your use year.

So if you plan to travel mainly in October and May, the following use years would work for you:

February (banking deadline is September 30),
March (banking deadline is October 31),
April (banking deadline is November 30),
October (banking deadline is May 31) &
December (banking deadline is July 31)

Note: February works for October vacations because if you don't cancel a vacation at least 31 days in advance, the points that are returned to your account go into "holding". Holding points cannot be banked. They expire at the end of the use year.

[jimmaher69]

Thinking of buying. Our last two trips were in April. My wife is a teacher so we cannot travel when she is in school.

That being said I would like to travel atleast once for Christmas, but most trips would be april or summer.

Is April UY my best bet.

Thanks

Jim

[pumpkinfish]

Originally Posted by CarolMN

Choose a use year that will allow you to bank points if you have to cancel a trip. The banking deadline is the end of the 8th month following the beginning of your use year.

So if you plan to travel mainly in October and May, the following use years would work for you:

February (banking deadline is September 30),
March (banking deadline is October 31),
April (banking deadline is November 30),
October (banking deadline is May 31) &
December (banking deadline is July 31)

Note: February works for October vacations because if you don't cancel a vacation at least 31 days in advance, the points that are returned to your account go into "holding". Holding points cannot be banked. They expire at the end of the use year.

Ok, I agree I think Feb would work out better. let me see if I have this:
Say we have a vacation planned starting Oct 10. I have until Sept 9 to cancel. If I cancel Sept 12, we have to use those pts by the following Feb.
Am I correct?

[CarolMN]

Originally Posted by jimmaher69

Thinking of buying. Our last two trips were in April. My wife is a teacher so we cannot travel when she is in school.

That being said I would like to travel atleast once for Christmas, but most trips would be april or summer.

Is April UY my best bet.

Thanks

Jim

Yes. An April use year would cover April, May, the summer months, and fall through the end of December.

[Sandisw]

Originally Posted by pumpkinfish

Ok, I agree I think Feb would work out better. let me see if I have this:
Say we have a vacation planned starting Oct 10. I have until Sept 9 to cancel. If I cancel Sept 12, we have to use those pts by the following Feb.
Am I correct?

Yes, a cancellation on the 12th of September would cause those points to go into "holding". They would have to be used by January 31st. In addition, points in "holding" can only be used for vacations booked 60 days or less in advance of your stay.

[5forDiz]

Originally Posted by pumpkinfish

Ok, I agree I think Feb would work out better. let me see if I have this:
Say we have a vacation planned starting Oct 10. I have until Sept 9 to cancel. If I cancel Sept 12, we have to use those pts by the following Feb.
Am I correct?

Yes but ONLY the CURRENT Use Year's points used in the reservation will be bankable if you cancel at least 31 days before the check-in date ( I just wanted to be sure this point is clear in case you didn't pick it up in earlier posts )

So if your trip has Oct 10 2009 check-in using points from your CURRENT UY
of February 2009 & you cancel Sept 9 2009 (31 days before) you can bank the points from February 2009 UY allotment by Sept 30 2009 into
2010 Use Year.

But if this reservation also used Banked Points (from February 2008 UY allotment)
and / or Borrowed Points (from February 2010 UY allotment) you would need to use these Banked and / or Borrowed points by January 31 2010 - they would not be bankable even though you are cancelling the ressie 31 days or more before check-in & even though your banking deadline is
Sept 30 2009 because points that have been banked can't be banked again & borrowed points cannot be put back into the UY they were originally from so any banked or borrowed points would need to be used for another reservation that occurs by Jan 31 2010 ( latest check-out date
could be is Feb 1 2010 )

[pumpkinfish]

Originally Posted by Sandisw

Yes, a cancellation on the 12th of September would cause those points to go into "holding". They would have to be used by January 31st. In addition, points in "holding" can only be used for vacations booked 60 days or less in advance of your stay.

Originally Posted by 5forDiz

Yes but ONLY the CURRENT Use Year's points used in the reservation will be bankable if you cancel at least 31 days before the check-in date ( I just wanted to be sure this point is clear in case you didn't pick it up in earlier posts )

So if your trip has Oct 10 2009 check-in using points from your CURRENT UY
of February 2009 & you cancel Sept 9 2009 (31 days before) you can bank the points from February 2009 UY allotment by Sept 30 2009 into
2010 Use Year.

But if this reservation also used Banked Points (from February 2008 UY allotment)
and / or Borrowed Points (from February 2010 UY allotment) you would need to use these Banked and / or Borrowed points by January 31 2010 - they would not be bankable even though you are cancelling the ressie 31 days or more before check-in & even though your banking deadline is
Sept 30 2009 because points that have been banked can't be banked again & borrowed points cannot be put back into the UY they were originally from so any banked or borrowed points would need to be used for another reservation that occurs by Jan 31 2010 ( latest check-out date
could be is Feb 1 2010 )

Thank you both! I absolutely have this now (can't believe it!). My ppw is on its way via fedex as I type this...so excited!

[Sandisw]

Originally Posted by pumpkinfish

Thank you both! I absolutely have this now (can't believe it!). My ppw is on its way via fedex as I type this...so excited!

Your welcome and congratulations!!!

[lark]

Can I ask one more example to see if I'm understanding this?

1) Today I buy 160 BLT points with a June 1 use year. No developer points.

2) I call tomorrow and make a reservation for June 31 of this year, which costs 50 points.

3) In August of this year, I decide I want to visit my home resort in July 2010, for a stay that would cost 400 points. So, at my 11 month window, I call up and bank my 110 remaining 2009 points. I have 160 points coming on June 1, 2010, so that makes a total of 270. Can I now also borrow 130 of my points that are coming on June 1, 2011 to complete this reservation at my 11 month window?

4) As I understand it, this will leave me with 30 points for my 2011 use year.

[5forDiz]

Originally Posted by lark

Can I ask one more example to see if I'm understanding this?

1) Today I buy 160 BLT points with a June 1 use year. No developer points.

2) I call tomorrow and make a reservation for June 31 of this year, which costs 50 points.

3) In August of this year, I decide I want to visit my home resort in July 2010, for a stay that would cost 400 points. So, at my 11 month window, I call up and bank my 110 remaining 2009 points. I have 160 points coming on June 1, 2010, so that makes a total of 270. Can I now also borrow 130 of my points that are coming on June 1, 2011 to complete this reservation at my 11 month window?

4) As I understand it, this will leave me with 30 points for my 2011 use year.

BLT points may not be used for any reservations that are BEFORE the official opening of BLT Resort ( iirc BLT will open beginning of August 2009 ). So therefore you could not book a stay for June 2009. Same goes for any points from a DVC resort that has not yet opened.

But to answer your question - let's say the points were from SSR then yes you could do what you are stating above and yes MS would borrow from 2011 Use Year 130 points that would be required to cover reservation for July 2010 ( because 2011 Use Year allotment of pts may be borrowed into 2010 UY to be utilized for stays between 6/1/2010 - 5/31/2011 ) and yes MS will borrow from 2011 Use Year points when you call to make July 2010 at 11 month window.

Best wishes