Addonitis - Considering Riviera Resale

[cruisehopeful]

I'm resurrecting this thread about Riviera resale.

I have always been opposed to Riv resale due of course to restrictions.

Now I'm starting to think it is by far the best way for me to go if I were to be in the market for additional points.

Since I already own quite a few direct Riv points, adding on resale Riv would either allow me to further my Riv stays or free up direct my Riv points to use elsewhere. All at an extremely low buy-in price!

If my thinking is correct, these would be pretty cheap SAP++ points!

ETA: The only downside is that Riv resale contracts seem to be pretty sparse.

It sounds reasonable to me.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I'm resurrecting this thread about Riviera resale.

I have always been opposed to Riv resale due of course to restrictions.

Now I'm starting to think it is by far the best way for me to go if I were to be in the market for additional points.

Since I already own quite a few direct Riv points, adding on resale Riv would either allow me to further my Riv stays or free up direct my Riv points to use elsewhere. All at an extremely low buy-in price!

If my thinking is correct, these would be pretty cheap SAP++ points!

ETA: The only downside is that Riv resale contracts seem to be pretty sparse.

Seems like a decent plan to me. Also you had me thinking whaaaa is op smoking PVB2 has been on sale for awhile then I realized the date. . Hopefully OP will chime in and say how this worked out for them, but Sandi is happy with how it works out for her. I think the biggest choice here for you to make is buy resale before or after the direct sell out? Hard choice. I personally don’t think they will fire sale RIV at the end.

 

[tx911]

Seems like a decent plan to me. Also you had me thinking whaaaa is op smoking PVB2 has been on sale for awhile then I realized the date. . Hopefully OP will chime in and say how this worked out for them, but Sandi is happy with how it works out for her. I think the biggest choice here for you to make is buy resale before or after the direct sell out? Hard choice. I personally don’t think they will fire sale RIV at the end.

It's like a unique perk of owning Riv direct. Since you know you are using at least some of those points at Riv, the direct points can be freed up with resale Riv on the cheap

 

[atthebeachclub]

Honestly if I *really* loved Riviera and wanted to stay there every 3 years, I wouldn't ever buy it direct unless it was a super good deal. I'd just buy it resale. And buy something else direct.

 

[tx911]

Honestly if I *really* loved Riviera and wanted to stay there every 3 years, I wouldn't ever buy it direct unless it was a super good deal. I'd just buy it resale. And buy something else direct.

But if you *really* love Riv, you want to stay there a bunch, and I wouldn't want a whole bunch of resale Riv. I was just thinking it's really nice to be able to free up a bit of my direct Riv points for 7-month booking or be able to take bigger/longer Riv trips for relatively cheap.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I think having options is nice. But some people just want to stay at Riviera all the time. And for them I assume all resale would be fine?

 

[tx911]

I think having options is nice. But some people just want to stay at Riviera all the time. And for them I assume all resale would be fine?

Possibly, I just think that’s risky because you may think you only want to stay at Riviera right now, but that could change five or 10 years from now. In that situation I would rather a small 50 or 100 direct contract to maintain flexibility.

 

[Sandisw]

I think having options is nice. But some people just want to stay at Riviera all the time. And for them I assume all resale would be fine?

I am one that wants to do RiV every trip along with split stays to VGF some of the time.

Having points that can still trade but also work with resale RIV is a nice option.

There is less of a chance that I will have left over RIV points too because I can supplement with the others and then just split stay if need be…or do a different resort if all my RIv points are tied up.

If I want more RIV points, most likely it will be resale but I also have 775 points that trade everywhere.

 

[airjay75]

TBH, I probably should have given more thought to this strategy before buying more direct RIV points. I don't really regret it because, at the end of the day, I do like having a big chunk of direct points I can use anywhere, and I feel good about keeping them for the long run. But, I think it is a sound strategy if you know you'll be staying at RIV on a regular basis. @Brian Noble also posted in another thread recently about having a mix of direct and resale RIV points for his longer term DVC strategy. I think it is really smart.

The few times I have thought about this, I've also thought about how much of a discount I'd have to be getting on the resale points to not be tempted to just go for direct. With all incentives factored in, my last direct purchase of RIV points was just under $180/point. And to get that with the same contract splits (2 100-pointers and 2 50-pointers) would have required a lot of work, more closing costs, etc.. But, if you're just looking to supplement with a 100 or 150 point contract, that should be a lot easier.

 

[tx911]

TBH, I probably should have given more thought to this strategy before buying more direct RIV points. I don't really regret it because, at the end of the day, I do like having a big chunk of direct points I can use anywhere, and I feel good about keeping them for the long run. But, I think it is a sound strategy if you know you'll be staying at RIV on a regular basis. @Brian Noble also posted in another thread recently about having a mix of direct and resale RIV points for his longer term DVC strategy. I think it is really smart.

The few times I have thought about this, I've also thought about how much of a discount I'd have to be getting on the resale points to not be tempted to just go for direct. With all incentives factored in, my last direct purchase of RIV points was just under $180/point. And to get that with the same contract splits (2 100-pointers and 2 50-pointers) would have required a lot of work, more closing costs, etc.. But, if you're just looking to supplement with a 100 or 150 point contract, that should be a lot easier.

Could be a no-brainer if you find yourself wanting another 100 points or so in the future. It’s hard to find the perfect combo of UY and points on the market though.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

So I did this with 320 direct RIV and then added 100 RIV resale for exact reason as original poster back in 2023 (we blow all our points on big family trips then don't have enough left for just DH and I to go). It gets a little bit tricky if you're banking, borrowing, and trying to keep track of the "only RIV points". For example, let's just say you have a reservation you want to book at another resort at 7 mths, you can't pull from those extra RIV and have to make sure all were used up on a RIV only reservation. I wanted a cheap stay at SSR to preserve points, and those resale RIV are not an option. If you know you only want to stay at RIV, then just ignore me.

It's not a huge deal, just something to consider as I am currently experiencing that trying to plan 2026 trips with OTU, my resale, and my direct. I will definitely be adding on another 160 RIV direct when I can because I have decided for me, being restricted sucks and I want the freedom to book wherever (especially with new resorts coming online).

 

[Carouselofplanning]

I love the idea of owning a small resale RIV contract for periodic stays via banking to break up home resort/original 14 stays. At the right price it could be the ideal 2nd contract. And use year doesn’t matter that much because the 2 resale contracts can’t mix anyway. It would really just be a hunt for a good price and enough points for an every 2 year stay (or occasional rent-out if I want more of a break between RIV stays). Love the resort, hate the resale restrictions but this could be a way to make it work in my favor. Not crazy about LL from what we’ve seen so far so I don’t think I’ll be dying of FOMO on that one. After that, I just can’t see them building another mega resort until 2042 so if that and the cabins is all I’m blocked out of for the foreseeable future who cares? To me of all the new stuff, RIV is where you want to be.

 

[airjay75]

And use year doesn’t matter that much because the 2 resale contracts can’t mix anyway.

You weren't suggesting anything to the contrary, but just noting that this is true only if you don't own direct points that you might want to combine with your RIV resale points at RIV. Especially important, I would think, if your direct points are RIV points. If you do, then I think it would be pretty essential to have the same UY (unless you want to deal with transfers). If you're a resale only person, then definitely doesn't matter (at least now - could matter in the future if Disney ever introduces point washing or something like that, but I don't think I'd buy based on the potential for that).

 

[Carouselofplanning]

You weren't suggesting anything to the contrary, but just noting that this is true only if you don't own direct points that you might want to combine with your RIV resale points at RIV. Especially important, I would think, if your direct points are RIV points. If you do, then I think it would be pretty essential to have the same UY (unless you want to deal with transfers). If you're a resale only person, then definitely doesn't matter (at least now - could matter in the future if Disney ever introduces point washing or something like that, but I don't think I'd buy based on the potential for that).

You are right it would be a resale all the way scenario. I personally think, aside from the most expensive resorts (GF, GC), the direct pricing is not competitive. They can only attempt to justify the premium by restricting resale points. The blue card benefits are nice but don’t justify the delta. I go back and forth on the 2nd contract being Aulani or Riviera.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Honestly if I *really* loved Riviera and wanted to stay there every 3 years, I wouldn't ever buy it direct unless it was a super good deal. I'd just buy it resale. And buy something else direct.

I’m almost the exact opposite…. when I look at the total cost of ownership difference between the two over time I’d buy direct while they still have incentives…. Especially with 2042 changing the CL resorts, a probable new DVC resort by Magic Kingdom, and a 3rd Disneyland tower at some point during the next decade…..

 

[Carouselofplanning]

I’m almost the exact opposite…. when I look at the total cost of ownership difference between the two over time I’d buy direct while they still have incentives…. Especially with 2042 changing the CL resorts, a probable new DVC resort by Magic Kingdom, and a 3rd Disneyland tower at some point during the next decade…..

Everyone forgets there’s a permit already filed to build a resort next to future world in Epcot that has just been sitting there for 4 years. I think that’s the next Disney World hotel, eventually.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I’m almost the exact opposite…. when I look at the total cost of ownership difference between the two over time I’d buy direct while they still have incentives…. Especially with 2042 changing the CL resorts, a probable new DVC resort by Magic Kingdom, and a 3rd Disneyland tower at some point during the next decade…..

Am I following would buy Riviera direct over Polynesian? Or did I misunderstand?

If I (personally) wanted a direct contract at WDW my choice would be Polynesian. Or whatever replaces Beach Club down the line. But if I was in love with Riviera I'd just buy a cheap resale contract there.

Also: you think there might be another addition to VDH down the line? That would be pretty awesome potentially!

 

[AstroBlasters]

Everyone forgets there’s a permit already filed to build a resort next to future world in Epcot that has just been sitting there for 4 years. I think that’s the next Disney World hotel, eventually.

Ah, another great example!

I just don’t think the discount is big enough for resale to only have one resort vs direct where you get all of the resorts when the long term cost difference isn’t that big if you can get incentives.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Am I following would buy Riviera direct over Polynesian? Or did I misunderstand?

If I (personally) wanted a direct contract at WDW my choice would be Polynesian. Or whatever replaces Beach Club down the line. But if I was in love with Riviera I'd just buy a cheap resale contract there.

IF I want RIV to be my home resort then I would go direct over resale…

IF I want Poly as a home resort…. it would depend on the price of resale….. the incentives aren’t nearly as good and the MK resorts have a lot longer resale booking life to them than CL….

Although I still want to see what happens when BC, BW, and maybe OKW (?) come offline….

 

[Brian Noble]

having a mix of direct and resale RIV points for his longer term DVC strategy

I am not in possession of the resale RIV points just yet. But, once that is complete my portfolio will be about 50/50 direct/resale, all at RIV. The total will be enough to cover my annual 1BR trip, alternating between RIV and "somewhere else."

One of the reasons this works well at RIV is that its point chart is on the high side. So, my RIV stays average a little more than my non-RIV ones, give or take, so if anything I will tend to pull from direct to cover my "typical" RIV stay, which will also consume all of my restricted points for that two-year cycle. The other thing that I think helps make this work is that I started out points-rich, so I tend to bank rather than borrow. I think that will make things a little easier to manage, because banked points get used first and I don't have to play games to "hide" a direct contract in UY X to instead borrow from the resale contract in UY X+1.

The other potential interesting wrinkle is that I am eligible for MMB, so buying "inexpensive" OTU points allows me to stretch the direct points a smidge farther.

And, if worst comes to worst, I can re-home the resale contarct and buy more direct points. That will cost a little bit, but I got a more-than-fair price on the buy side, so maybe not that much. I am also comfortable selling on my own via e.g. TUG or Redweek if it comes to that, saving the commission and allowing me to give a potential buyer a slightly better deal. I think that's quite unlikely though.