UY questions

[Dznypal]

I’ve been reading about how people pick the UY. We are already members for just a few years when we bought it was just said you have an aug UY. No one said anything if this would work for you we just figured that’s what came with it. We plan on going end of Jan. I know it’s rather late to be bringing up what works UY just more curious now. This is working for us but just wondering thanks

 

[Chuck S]

August use year should be fine for January stays. the main thing is ou want a use year more than 4 months after your normal travel times in case you need to cancel the reservation, so you can bank those points if needed, or have time to book another trip, if you have borrowed/banked points to use up before the end of the use year. I have a June use year, and most of my trips are in June and Nov/Dec/Jan timeframe. I even rarely book stays that will start in May and end in June, knowing that if I need to cancel, I will likely not be able to use the points for the night that are in May,but sometime a Maty travel date is necessary. I have not lost any points because of my use year in the 28 years I've been a DVC Member.

Like you, June was simply the use year they were selling at the time we purchased,

 

[drusba]

Choice of use year is really a cancellation issue. I.e., what happens if you have to cancel a reservation. It is irrelevant to when you can go (any time of year) or when you can go online to make a reservation (always up to 11 months out for home resort and 7 at others). If you have a usual time of year to go, then many consider the better use year start date is one that is shortly before the time of year you usually go, and here is the main reason why:

1. Assume a June use year and you usually go to WDW in July. You make a reservation for your home resort 11 months out in Aug 2020 for your July trip in 2021, and to do so use the points that come with the June 2021 use year, the "current" use year points for that trip. Then, in May 2021, you learn that you must cancel the reservation and do so. As long as you cancel 31 days or more from arrival date, the points for a cancelled reservation go back into your account in the same state they were in when they entered the reservation. Thus, when you cancel in May 2021, those points in the July 2021 reservation go back into your June 2021 use year and you have an entire year to use them, or, by the eighth month of your use year, you can instead bank them into your June 2022 use year and use them for a trip in that use year.

2. Now assume a June use year and you want to take a May 2021 trip. In June 2020, you make the reservation for that May 2021 trip using June 2020 points, the "current" use year points for that May 2021 trip. Then, in March 2021, you learn you need to cancel the reservation. Those points in the May 2021 reservation go back into the June 2020 use year. But March 2021 is only 3 months from the end of your use year. Thus, you will have only three months to use those points for another trip. Moreover, you cannot bank because when you canceled you were already beyond the eighth month of your use year.

The way to avoid that cancellation issue is to have a use year that starts fairtly shortly before your usual annual trip time to assure a cancellation, if it happens, will still leave you with a lot of time to use the points, including being able to bank them. Having an Aug use year for a regular annual trip in Jan is not perfect but it is OK because you will still have ample time to use the points or bank them if you need to cancel.

And, of course, there are also the owners for whom use year choice becomes irrelevant because they go multiple times of year, including one early in the use year and one late, and thus will usually have that cancellation issue out there for one of the trips.