Adding on

[Johndubbya]

One thing DVD never does is add incentives to close a sale that are not available to all.

Incentives get better if you buy more points, but they don’t offer a sweetener for someone on the fence.

Now, they may try to persuade you to go with a UY that they say they are marketing, but in the end, will get you what you want on resorts in active sales like RIV.

Other than that, they don’t negotiate and I don’t see that changing since in the age of the internet, it be out there in a second!! Lol

They immediately said they would give us same use year... This is where the alternating contract idea came from... Honestly the more we talked about it the more we thought getting 150 points especially at Riviera

 

[Sandisw]

They immediately said they would give us same use year... This is where the alternating contract idea came from... Honestly the more we talked about it the more we thought getting 150 points especially at Riviera

Sorry. I was talking new members. Yes, existing members are always given same UY

 

[RoseGold]

1BR RIV is one of the worst values in the whole system. You're a couple points off of a 2BR. Easiest plan is just buy more AKL resale and book a 1BR.

There are other solutions. BLT is a surprising value for 1BR, also, BW because of the legacy charts.

Or, if she is really dead set on WL, how about resale CCV? Resale market is TIGHT right now, and everything seems to be moving but CCV. You might be able to negotiate a deal.

AKL resale points are way overvalued right now, IMO. This might be a good chance to swap them out for a chart and price combo that works better for you.

 

[Ruttangel]

I would forget about RIV the cheapest 1BR is 70pts more a week than at AKV and that climbs to a painful 148pts a week in peak times.
If availability pushes you into a 1BR Preferred you will need to have some oxygen on standby.

CCV at 150pts is $201 at the minute and the dues and point charts are much more favourable than RIV.

Resale CCV is about $145 and AKV $115 at that point range.
In your circumstances I would say don’t get RIV resale

 

[AnnaS]

I would add on at the same resort with the same UY (unless you had a ton of points at one resort) - life is just so much easier.

Nothing stays the same. I have two resorts and same UY but my sons have SSR and one has a different UY. Our vacation routine has changed over the years. Many times it's just DH and I but so many times we travel with family and or friends. Many times we like to stay longer, stay in different size accommodations, etc. etc. It is just so much easier when you don't have to worry about combining contracts, alternating contracts, waiting for the 11 month window, etc.

Good luck.

An after thought - we actually do better when on vacation with our meals - we don't do all the picking/snacking in between meals like we do at home. We substitute side dishes when we can/they allow us to at many restaurants. But cooking what you want, as much as you want with a full kitchen is nice too - Enjoy!

 

[Johndubbya]

I would forget about RIV the cheapest 1BR is 70pts more a week than at AKV and that climbs to a painful 148pts a week in peak times.
If availability pushes you into a 1BR Preferred you will need to have some oxygen on standby.

CCV at 150pts is $201 at the minute and the dues and point charts are much more favourable than RIV.

Resale CCV is about $145 and AKV $115 at that point range.
In your circumstances I would say don’t get RIV resale

We’ve taken like 6-7 trips on our points since we joined in 2018 we typically don’t stay at our home resort... We looked extensively at our points charts and we will plan on using our riv contract in September and our akl contract when we travel around February

 

[Ruttangel]

We’ve taken like 6-7 trips on our points since we joined in 2018 we typically don’t stay at our home resort... We looked extensively at our points charts and we will plan on using our riv contract in September and our akl contract when we travel around February

I’ve just read the whole thread now and see you decided on option 3.

All the best to you.

 

[Sandisw]

I would forget about RIV the cheapest 1BR is 70pts more a week than at AKV and that climbs to a painful 148pts a week in peak times.
If availability pushes you into a 1BR Preferred you will need to have some oxygen on standby.

CCV at 150pts is $201 at the minute and the dues and point charts are much more favourable than RIV.

Resale CCV is about $145 and AKV $115 at that point range.
In your circumstances I would say don’t get RIV resale

I will say though that if someone stays during the week, RIV is not that far off places like CCV.

I am in the process of switching a few nights in October and the 1 bedroom SV at RIV is only 2 points more than CCV. Granted, if forced into PV then it’s more, but as an owner, getting SV 1 bedrooms will be a lot more likely.

Obviously compared to AKV it may be a larger difference, but for me, those are not comparable places.

Which brings up the point that everyone has their likes and dislikes. Since my 2 favorites are VGF and RIV, I may be biased because both have higher point charts but for those that do like and want to stay at RIV, owning there is a good choice to maximize your points since you have the ability to be at the top of the chain for booking SV.

 

[Evita_W]

We have 206 points at Grand Californian and just added 206 points at Riviera, of course they have us the same use year. In your case, I would add on at Riviera as well, as AKL 1 bedrooms are generally available at the 7 month mark in my experience. What I would not do is buy resale, the small price difference isn't worth the restrictions, I know others disagree. Now, if you can only go at the busiest times of the year, you may want to add on at the same home resort, as even AKL can get be fully booked at 7 months then. Additionally, if you are flexible about where you stay, it may not make as much of a difference either.

As for changing situations, we completely understand, we originally bought 206 points at Grand Californian and have now found that we need more because the amount of vacation time DH gets has more than doubled since we bought in and I am a substitute teacher, so I have flexibility, so 206 points was just no longer enough.

Now, you might ask why 206 points and not 200, well, when we originally purchased, we bought 206 points due to a specific trip we were going to take and it turned out those extra 6 points have saved us time and again from needing to buy one time use points, so we repeated the same thing when adding on. So just a slight tip, don't always look for the even numbers, sometimes a few extra may be beneficial.