Explanation of use year please

[ImagiAsh]

What is the big deal about the use year? Maybe this is a naive question, but we really did not have much of a choice or an explanation when we purchased VGF just a few weeks ago. I understand how to use my points and all of that, but why is a particular month (use year) better than another? I feel inclined to ask this question, because I read somewhere that one of the biggest regrets of DVC members is not selecting a better use year.

[VWL Mom]

I think people like certain use years because of their vacationing habits. For example, when we bought in we were mostly traveling in November for Jersey week so we went with a September use year. This way, should we need to cancel, we would have the rest of the year to use those points or bank them. Had we selected the other available choice at the time which was December and needed to cancel we would more than likely lose that years points.

Another time use year comes in to play is when you add on. If you keep the same use year you'll have it under one membership. If you have different use years you will have different memberships making it more difficult to move points around.

[DizneyRox]

Yes, the above is the real important part of use year. Depending on when you normally vacation, different use years may be better IF you cancel a trip. You still want to be able to have time to reschedule or otherwise use those points.

So, if you vacation in July, an October use year (not sure if there are October UY) might be pretty bad. If you cancel last minute, you're beyond the point where you can bank those points, and now you're scrambling to find a use for them during August and September. October 1st, you've lost those points if you haven't used them.

[ImagiAsh]

Thank you both!