Out of points, but you still want to go to Disney?

[DVC Mike]

How have you booked a stay at Disney even though you’re out of points?

http://i235.*************************************Misc/OutOfPoints.png

OK, you want to book another trip to Disney. You check DVCMember.com and find you’re tapped out points wise for the current use year. Drats! You don’t even have any in your next Use Year to borrow. What do you do?

http://i235.*************************************Misc/SadMan.png
Out of points? Oh no!!​

There are various options:

• You can purchase “One-Time-Use Vacation Points” from DVC for a fee of $15 plus tax per point. This option is pretty limited, as you are restricted to a maximum of 24 one-time-use vacation points once per use year per membership. One-time-use vacation points expire according to the use year of the reservation booked and are non-refundable, non-transferable and cannot be banked or borrowed. Since these are essentially “developer points”, they can only be used up to 7 months prior to arrival. Maybe you can use this to add-on one night to a trip - maybe more.

• Another option is to “rent points” just like any non-member might do. Since this is really renting a reservation, this approach puts the least amount of control in your hands.

• A better approach might be to do a points transfer from another member. Once the points get transferred, they're yours, so there is more control then renting points.

• Subject to availability, you might be able to book a DVC villa using cash instead of points by calling DVC Member Services, who can sometimes offer a 25% discount on a cash booking.

• If you can take advantage of an Annual Pass or other discount, you could just book a cash stay at any Disney hotel by booking direct with Disney.

• Finally, you can always book a non-Disney hotel or timeshare outside of Disney.

Which approach have you used?

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Purchasing DVC

• What was your purchase philosophy when choosing your home resort(s)?
• Headed up or down with your points?
• How much of the DVC legal documents have you actually read?

DVC Resorts

• Favorite thing you love, and what you most dislike, about your home resort?
• Which DVC resorts have your favorite cocktail lounge/bar?
• How much time do you spend at the resort versus the parks?
• Which DVC Resort is your favorite for watching the MK fireworks?
• Are the Polynesian Villas really that noisy?
• What does the future hold for DVC?

Renting Points

• Do you rent out your points yourself or use a “points broker”?

Using Your DVC Membership

• Do you still call Member Services?
• Out of points, but you still want to go to Disney?
• Which room sizes do you book the most?
• Do you still experience obsessive Disney planning?
• How much of your vacation time do you spend at Disney?
• How has DVC changed your vacation pattern?
• What meals or snacks do you prepare in your room?

Just for Fun

• How did you pick your DISboards User Name?
• Are you a "lurker" on DISboards? If not, what caused you to de-lurk?
• How long have you been a DVC member?
• How old were you when you first became a DVC member?
• What is your family status?
• Do you unpack or live out of your suitcase?

http://i235.************************************************************* DVC Mike - *******.com

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[howardlee2]

cash using a DVC discount (if the numbers work) seems to be the best option for me!

 

[Sleepy425]

My husband and sons have a free dining stay coming up, and then in October I have a couple nights booked with the Expedia UK discounts. Both options were much more affordable than even using our points (we prefer to save them for when we need accommodations to fit all 6 of us). Although much to my husband's chagrin, I did wait list BWV for October...

 

[DebbieB]

I have added nights to a points reservation with the DVC discount. I have also used an AP discount to add nights (better discount). I have also done a discounted cash trip (no points left).

 

[automaticsoap]

I bought some one-time-use points to use along with some extra points I had. Otherwise, I would have paid cash using an AP discount on a moderate.

 

[M4travels]

We rented out our points this year (and 2016) thinking we wouldn't be heading back to the states but then reality struck home. Since we had a decent bundle of RCI points after purchasing a Vegas timeshare this year we used those for a week at SSR in May and we have another week coming up in December, also at SSR in a one-bedroom. With those maintenance fees, exchange fee, and Disney's $95 fee it worked out to just a little over $600 for the seven nights. Works for me!

 

[bwvBound]

Hey, Mike -- what was your intention for the option, "Other (other timeshare, etc)"

Was it intended as,

• Stay off property at another timeshare?
  -- OR --
• Trade in using some other timeshare property?

For about 8 years straight we were alternating our booking style: points on year / RCI inbound exchange the next year {repeat}

 

[DVC Mike]

Hey, Mike -- what was your intention for the option, "Other (other timeshare, etc)"

Was it intended as,

• Stay off property at another timeshare?
  -- OR --
• Trade in using some other timeshare property?

For about 8 years straight we were alternating our booking style: points on year / RCI inbound exchange the next year {repeat}

I had included either option. You have another timeshare which you use to book a stay in Orlando - either an off-property timeshare or an RCI trade-in to DVC.

 

[com_op_2000]

I have:
Purchased OTUP
Been transferred points (no charge)
Booked or gotten free stays at other hotels
Stayed at other condos in the area

 

[apple9117]

This actually just happened to us this year...and we purchased OTUP

 

[bethy]

Other: Book a Disney hotel where I don't believe there is a DVC discount (is there???)

Can't think of a scenario where I would rent/transfer points - in or out. Just couldn't deal with that all in this season of my life.

 

[JWG]

Rent or transfer in points. Have done both. Have a reservation on transferred points in January.

 

[gdrj]

With our trips we have done the following:
1- Stayed at DTD hotels to begin or end our trips to extend our stay.
2- Began trip at offsite Timeshare at a reduced price/incentives in return for 2.5 hours of sales talk. This turned our trip into 11 days instead of 7!
3- Stayed at Disney Hotels to begin or end trip.
4- Stayed at B Resort at DTD earlier this year for Easter break. Our AP's had expired so we just went to pool, DTD, Disney Resort lounges, restaurants, and had a great time!

 

[DougEMG]

We booked a free dining package once and then rented out our points.

 

[bumbershoot]

• If you can take advantage of an Annual Pass or other discount, you could just book a cash stay at any Disney hotel by booking direct with Disney.

• Finally, you can always book a non-Disney hotel or timeshare outside of Disney.

You could also just book another resort, regardless of discounts. We've used free days through hotels.com to get Value resorts, just booked directly for mod, etc.

And then there's Universal, of course.

 

[davecon3]

We had a 2 night stay at SSR and decided to add a night a week before. We were out of points and nothing to borrow so we booked one night through xyz rental store at $8 pp! We were able to link our reservations upon check-in so we didn't have to change rooms. Everything went smooth. $8 pp is very close to my cost per point anyway so it was a great deal.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

I'd choose option #8 (not listed) - "Don't go and wait until I have the points, notwithstanding how sad that makes me".

 

[points envy]

How have you booked a stay at Disney even though you’re out of points?

http://i235.*************************************Misc/OutOfPoints.png

OK, you want to book another trip to Disney. You check DVCMember.com and find you’re tapped out points wise for the current use year. Drats! You don’t even have any in your next Use Year to borrow. What do you do?

http://i235.*************************************Misc/SadMan.png
Out of points? Oh no!!​

There are various options:

• You can purchase “One-Time-Use Vacation Points” from DVC for a fee of $15 plus tax per point. This option is pretty limited, as you are restricted to a maximum of 24 one-time-use vacation points once per use year per membership. One-time-use vacation points expire according to the use year of the reservation booked and are non-refundable, non-transferable and cannot be banked or borrowed. Since these are essentially “developer points”, they can only be used up to 7 months prior to arrival. Maybe you can use this to add-on one night to a trip - maybe more.

• Another option is to “rent points” just like any non-member might do. Since this is really renting a reservation, this approach puts the least amount of control in your hands.

• A better approach might be to do a points transfer from another member. Once the points get transferred, they're yours, so there is more control then renting points.

• Subject to availability, you might be able to book a DVC villa using cash instead of points by calling DVC Member Services, who can sometimes offer a 25% discount on a cash booking.

• If you can take advantage of an Annual Pass or other discount, you could just book a cash stay at any Disney hotel by booking direct with Disney.

• Finally, you can always book a non-Disney hotel or timeshare outside of Disney.

Which approach have you used?

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New to DVC?

• A Comprehensive Introduction to DVC

Purchasing DVC

• Buy direct from DVC or buy Resale?
• Choosing Your Home Resort - What to Consider?
• How familiar were you with your home resort when you first joined DVC?
• Why buy DVC if I can just keep renting points?
• What were your concerns about becoming a DVC member?

DVC Resorts

• DVC Resort Information

Renting Points

• An Explanation of "Renting Points"
• Do you rent out your points yourself or use a “points broker”?

Using Your DVC Membership

• How have you booked a stay at Disney even though you’re out of points?

Just for Fun

• Hey DVC Members! How did you pick your DISboards User Name?

We once used our annual pass discount to add on a couple days (front end) at Coronado Springs when doing a late August BWV trip to exhaust our points for the year. Needless to say, we were super happy to arrive at board walk. We appreciate our DVC membership (so much more) after that experience. I hate to sound like a snob. However, anything outside of dvc feels like slumming. Our first trip as a family was at the contemporary. After that, there was no other option than DVC.

 

[Popouri DVC]

For now we look for cash reservations: it's what we're doing next weekend: a quick stay at The Grand Floridian. Sadly it's not the villas, but still my favorite place to stay & we got a pretty good late summer pass holder discount on the room!!

 

[mrsmith9]

We just completed a stay at Hilton Bonnett Creek. Not because we were out of points but based on the value of my points (annual dues + % of purchase $) I felt it was cheaper @ $125 a night to stay at Hilton then in a DVC Studio. I'll save my points to use when I feel they will value me more.