Use Year regret?

[MyDogTink]

I am a prime example of why UY matters. I have an Apr UY at BWV. We used points from Mar 28-31 and I held my breath that the trip would happen. If it didn’t, I would have been out of luck with those points. That trip worked out.

We were supposed to fly today, staying at BLT. Yesterday morning I decided it was too risky based on the airline mess. All flights from Newark to Orlando were basically canceled yesterday. I modified the trip (not my original choice of hotel) but was able to get something in August. Had this been the April trip it would have been bad.

i recently added on at VGF and the guide made it sound great that she could give me the same UY. Going forward, I want different use years.

 

[PalmettoPath]

We have a Feb UY (VGF and BLT) and book trips annually in March, August and December. We have never had an issue with any of them (joined in 2012).

 

[LisaDKG]

September was a bad choice for us now that my kids are in Uni - we frequently want a trip the last week of August when they've finished with their summer jobs but haven't started classes. Booking for a trip bridging Sept 1 is annoying and stressful.
It's also super hard to find Sept UY resale and I paid more for my VGC points because of it. I'm hoping that it works out the other way should we ever have to sell our contracts but who wants to plan for that??

 

[Coldzero1116]

Heck yeah - October use year sucks when shopping for a resale add on. December use years get much better and cheaper resale opportunities because it is the most common.

I agree. I look at it as a way to limit me buying more points!!

 

[Unclelude]

I hear you... we don't regret Sept. UY - works great for winter travel which is when we like to go...

..however we did just do MM in May, even that being barely past the banking deadline made me think ... If my pattern changed where I was booking lots past banking I'd probably make a UY change. ( who am I kidding.. I'd just add on... hehe)

 

[SoCalDCLfan]

We regret having an August UY. At the time we bought (2008), our guide told us "you're so lucky, I was able to get you August." Maybe because we'd get previous years points? Being newbies and not having researched UYs like we should have, we thought, wow, that's so great...lucky us. Well, not so much. We usually travel in the summer, so we're always in a bad spot for cancellations. Maybe when I retire our travel patterns will shift, but we have lots of teachers in the family so summer will always be an issue. We haven't had any cancellations yet, so we've been ok, but I'd like that peace of mind in case we ever needed to.

 

[sethschroeder]

A Dec UY for a May trip is fine, but for a September trip it's past the banking deadline - so not ideal.

Except points go into holding starting in August if you hadn't cancelled for that Sept trip.

Banking is July 31st so very little difference in the end. Might need to know at 45ish days instead of 30.

 

[StoweFoSho]

I have a Dec Use year and typically have a least one trip planned at thanksgiving at the very end of the use year. It’s never been a problem where I’ve felt any anxiety- and should I need to cancel I figure I can always rent it out. If a fight gets canceled, we’d drive and make it hap’n cap’n. Canceling within 30 days would put those points in holding anyways.

 

[intamin]

We regret having an August UY. At the time we bought (2008), our guide told us "you're so lucky, I was able to get you August." Maybe because we'd get previous years points? Being newbies and not having researched UYs like we should have, we thought, wow, that's so great...lucky us. Well, not so much. We usually travel in the summer, so we're always in a bad spot for cancellations. Maybe when I retire our travel patterns will shift, but we have lots of teachers in the family so summer will always be an issue. We haven't had any cancellations yet, so we've been ok, but I'd like that peace of mind in case we ever needed to.

I hate that guides do that.. like people tell them when they most often travel and then they blow off the information and just give you whatever use year they happen to want to give you. I specifically told my guide I travel in May most frequently and then she tried to stick us with a June UY. If it hadn’t been for disboards I probably wouldn’t have gotten the courage to have them rewrite the contract to an April UY.

 

[Cybertruck]

We really never paid attention to Use Year since our plans are always solid except during the pandemic. Both our contracts have April UY, for ease of use. Curious what people think is the best UY. Looking to add on at the new Polynesian. We are taking more trips then ever.

 

[Sandisw]

We really never paid attention to Use Year since our plans are always solid except during the pandemic. Both our contracts have April UY, for ease of use. Curious what people think is the best UY. Looking to add on at the new Polynesian. We are taking more trips then ever.

Best UY would be the one that allows for the most flexibility if you have to change or cancel a trip and know you have a specific timeframe you travel,

Originally, that was June for us, but the. I decided I wanted to go Memorial Day weekend while I was still working…a teacher…and June was the worst.

So we ended up adding on points with a Dec UY to cover trips during that time frame.

 

[MsChristy12]

We have April UY but have contemplated with Oct as well. Our usual travel time is either May, November or December. In hindsight I think October may work better? We chose April over Oct because we think most of our trips will be in May vs the holidays. We are new members, no experience yet with cancellation outside the banking window or less than 30 days, so I'm hoping this will work out for us.
One down side with either one of those UY, it's so hard to find matching contracts!