Free Dining pin...doing the math...

[nittanyliongirl02]

Here is my dilemma...

A few months back, I got the "Buy 5, Get 2 and a gift card free" pin. We (2 adults) booked Dec. 5-13th (8 nights) at AKL standard view with 6 day PH passes, basic dining (TS,QS,Snack), and trip insurance.

The total price was $2975.40 AND a $200 gift card.

DH received the pin for Free Dining just the other night. When I called to price out our exact vacation with the FD pin, the total was $2881.96.

That's only about a $93 difference, and I would lose the $200 gift card. For some reason, I just thought I would be saving more?! I'm so disappointed in my FD pin!

Anyone with any insights, or who can figure the math out?

TIA!:yay:

[Lintasare]

It is because you can't stack codes. You can either use the 5/2 or the FD but not both. So if you go with the FD you would have to pay for 7 nights instead of 5.

[Rosanne]

Also, free dining is a better relative deal when staying at a value. Free nights are a better deal more often when staying at a deluxe.

[mickeynut1]

As the pp stated.....free nights or 40% codes are usually better deals on the deluxes, while free dining seems to be better for values. It's not a big difference between the 2 deals because the DDP is $40/pp per night so for just 2 of you, free dining saves you $80/night...whereas the 5/2 is saving you $68/night when you average it out (a standard room at AKL is $240/nt + tax in value season)....which is a difference of $12/nt x 8 nts. = $96 difference between the 2 deals.

[marcielm]

From what I've often seen here on the boards, whenever someone does the math, the free dining is best when there is 3+ people on the trip, AND like other people have posted, the resort isn't a deluxe resort. If you were in a mod or value, you'd save more money.

Definitely stay with what you have, and enjoy that $200 for souvies! I wish I'd had one of those on our trip!

[ToyStory]

As the pp stated.....free nights or 40% codes are usually better deals on the deluxes, while free dining seems to be better for values. It's not a big difference between the 2 deals because the DDP is $40/pp per night so for just 2 of you, free dining saves you $80/night...whereas the 5/2 is saving you $68/night when you average it out (a standard room at AKL is $240/nt + tax in value season)....which is a difference of $12/nt x 8 nts. = $96 difference between the 2 deals.

I agree. It really depends on your party and the resort you are staying at. For my family the savings for free dining would be $130.00 per night.

[SnowWhitee]

I've received that same offer and was comparing to 4/3 earlier in the year. Here is what I did...
To me the $200 GC is like cash back. So you could look at it this way:
$2975.40 - $200 = $2775.40 (gift card deal)
vs.
$2881.96 (free dining)
$106.56 Savings in favor of gift card deal

[Minder]

Deleted

Wrong place Sorry.