Use Year Question

I've got a completely different thought process. I would go with a February or March use year. With a February use year you need to bank by 9/30 and for March you would have until 10/31. Even though you always go in September, just in case something happens, I would want until 9/30 or 10/31 to bank my points. You never know when somebody may get sick or something else may happen that causes you to push the trip out or cancel it for the year.

It's an enormous risk to travel in Sept on an October use year. I have a June use year and in over twenty years of ownership have only traveled once in May and that was due to weird circumstances. I worried the entire time.
Personal travel patterns change though and we now travel in Feb, which is past our banking window but enough room to book something if we cancel last minute and go into holding.

I would stick with September use year.

Thanks for the responses.

@Sorceror Scott I appreciate this view point gives us flex, but we wouldn’t get 2025 points and the savings in dues is minimal compared to the point value.

@Kkarmah my challenge is if we do September we have to use 500 points in August-September 2027 or go in August again in 2028, which we always try to avoid because of cost, crowds and heat.

Or we could just blitz the 500 points on the 2027 trip, but my worry is if we go to 1BR to do this on our 2 week trip my wife will never want to go back to a studio and it becomes an even more expensive endeavour 😂

The final option is we do a Dec use year and that way it’s only the august month we are at risk of cancelling for future trips.

Argh!

I would follow your guide's advice in this matter. As others have mentioned, having a UY in a month later than your typical travel schedule is stressful and risky. It reads to me that your problem is focused in 2027/28; "fixing" it by choosing an October UY doesn't seem to appropriately consider the remaining decades of planned use for your contract.

You've got 12 months to find a good use for the current-year points. A second trip, a second reservation (invite friends/family to join you all in September), renting points, or a blowout vacation are all reasonable options and you don't have to commit to one today.

Good luck and enjoy your new contract! I'd be interested to hear back on what you decide.