Advice please: What to "charge" my friends for their part of the room

[DbleTheFun]

Indeed - there is definitely no right answer. I will not be bringing it up - if they do bring it up, I just want to have some idea as to what the value would be. DH may just nix the whole thing and say not to ask for anything but I feel like they will insist. So a question about tickets - if they buy their own MYW tickets online, can I link it to my MDE plans for this trip? I need to do FP+ reservations soon, right? I'm worried that all of the FPs for the headliner rides will all be gone before we even get to FL!!

Yes- you can either have them provide you with the numbers and add them yourself to your "family" or better yet, they can create their own MDE and then link their family and cards to yours. (You both can go in and share your families plans) That way, they have some control over what they do I've their holiday too. (They may decide to take off for an afternoon and not do the same FP+ choices or whatever.

 

[DbleTheFun]

I'm in the minority here, but we don't host anyone with our points, not even immediate family. If family has joined us (one time) they paid $11 per point. Once my SIL rented from us, also at $11 per point. I had a friend rent from us recently at twelve a point. I've liked the rentals in a past as a means to offset mf. I find we use all our points and can't "afford " to give them away. You are very generous. I would have made the dollar per point value clear immediately with final, non refundable payment due at thirty one days. I also won't book travel for others if a cancellation will preclude me from banking. I'm very protective of our points. Anyone else like that?

If I'm clearly renting to friends/family then I agree (giving them their own unit, own space...) but if I invite someone along to share a 2 bedroom unit, then those rules don't apply and it's like inviting friends to the cabin for the weekend with our family as the host.

 

[curan69]

A couple of years ago we borrowed some points to get a Treehouse Villa for us (family of 4) and my Wife's brother and Family (Family of 5) Knowing that we had to borrow points they insisted on paying us something. We charged them the maint fee for half of the points we used. Everyone was Happy.

 

[bwvBound]

I'm in the minority here, but we don't host anyone with our points, not even immediate family. ... I'm very protective of our points. Anyone else like that?

Nope, not us. We love hosting family and friends with our DVC points and other timeshare. Inviting everyone to join us at a timeshare sure beats the stress of cleaning house to host them at home! (It also allows us to 'host' family living midwest by asking them to meet us in Branson or similar.)

We tend to plan at least two trips each year with family and maybe another three with friends. (Most of these are 2-4 night, weekend getaways, at drive-to destinations.)

 

[DisneyHeather]

I'm using my points for a 2 bedroom at SSR in December and invited my immediate family. I didn't ask for anything as payment because they own DVC too and I'm sure the favor will be returned, but since if they weren't going I'd have only needed a 1 bedroom they've offered to pay for my food the whole trip which I thought was nice.

 

[jpeka65844]

We've done a variety of things:

1. Taken family and charged nothing. They usually fork over a little something anyway and we just take it and smile.

2. "Charged" friends what they would've paid at their original accommodations. We have friends who ALWAYS stay at Values and when we travel together we let them have DVC rooms for what they'd pay over there.

3. We've comped friends rooms and expected nothing but dinner and drinks from them. A $600 tab at Carthy Circle and $500 tab at Artist Point were our payments on two of our trips.

Sharing it with friends and family is the whole reason we bought into DVC and anything we get for payment back is frosting on the cake.

 

[Dean]

We don't charge our guests. IMO you run the risk of causing a problem even if you're "fair" It seems most people view a timeshare as free once you own it and even charging them a pittance might seem like you were trying to make money on them to their way of looking at it. I would agree it should have been discussed up front. That said, for 5 or you and 3 of them and assuming you will not give up the master, I'd say at max 1/3 of what you see is the value of the 2 BR villa would be the upper end. Anywhere from maint fees to $10 a point on 1/3 the points would be a fair cash value depending on how close you are and other variables we are not going to know for either your or their situation. Since they brought it up and based on your families view and decisions on this subject, just tell them your costs for this trip for the villa are XXXX. Again somewhere between maint fee and $10 a point as your comfortable. You could then say you were thinking that 1/3 (or 1/4) of the cost would be fair if you decide to go down this road at all. Realize that's going to put it up in the $1K range and I'd guess that most people in this situation wouldn't understand even if they were the one asking.

 

[Sandisw]

We also don't charge. I just tell my guests it's fine. In all cases, they have picked up a meal, bought me a gift--my Dooney & Burke purse!!--or done something else. Since I don't expect or want anything, whatever they offer feels fair to me and since it came from them, I believe they feel it is a fair way to say thank you.

Good luck!

 

[brertoad]

If it were me, I would only charge the rental cost for the portion of the 2BR they are using.

In the past we have "gifted" accommodations, keep in mind that that is obviously costing us at the very minimum the dues for those points. Our friends did not reciprocate with paying for anything. So, just a word of caution, if you are expecting at least a nice dinner, etc. sometimes friends don't get it. As a PP mentioned they might think it's "FREE" to us and therefore don't feel inclined to gift back anything.

 

[DougEMG]

My friends know that I rent out points and if they are looking for points to rent, I'll give them a 20% discount on the normal rental and they think that is great.

Now if we've got a room rented for ourselves and it has extra space so that I can bring along a friend, I'll invite them for free. I've got a friend who I been trying to drag down in the spring/summer (for free) but he doesn't want to come because of the heat.

 

[undchefreak]

I finished up a stay at GCV last week, which was fantastic, and stayed with a college friend. We travel together regularly, and stayed at 4 different hotels during this road trip. I arranged all of the hotels, and she paid me back half of the cost. For GCV, I figured out where we would have stayed if it weren't there, and split that cost. I lost out on the deal a bit, but she didn't care about the villa when we were booking (however she LOVVVEEEDDD it after getting there).

It worked out for us.

 

[Pirate Granny]

Ummmmmm. If the other family is not getting their own bedroom, then it's hard to charge them anything. You really can't charge someone for sleeping on a pull out couch, regardless where that couch is located....Disney or other resorts. We've only taken family so far, but if I initiate the invite, I'm not charging. A dinner or two is fine...splitting groceries, oh yeah...but asking for cash, nope. Hope to be able to ask friends in the coming years. First set of points we purchased at OKW is for every third year HH for our adult children and their families..so, we got BCV and VWL add ons for us and hopefully friends.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

For me, it all depends on your relationship and how the invitation was put forward.

My only experience with this was when we had friends join us for 5 days at VGC last year (they were going to be travelling to DL at the same time anyway, and I suggested to them that if they wanted to stay on-site for much less than it would cost them to stay in one of the DL hotels, we could make a reservation for a 2 bedroom, but would need to charge them $10 a point for the difference between the 1 and 2 bedroom unit.

I would have loved to be in a position to have not charged them anything, but booking a 2 bedroom meant that my family had to spend the first part of our vacation staying somewhere else.

This was not a problem for us, as we were happy to spend the first 4 days of our trip down in San Diego (what an awesome city, by the way), and given that we only stay in Homewood Suites (or the equivalent), what they paid us for the point differential, pretty much covered our hotel bill.

It worked out well for everyone, as we were not out of pocket, and they got to stay for 5 nights at the VGC with a kitchen and laundry for around what it would have cost them to stay for 2 nights at rack. We all thought that this was a win/win for both sides - they came out way ahead financially, and we didn't come out behind.

 

[rowlands57]

I treat the DVC as a vacation home and don't charge friends or family. They all figure out a way to make it up on the trip with food and beverages so it works out well for me.

 

[brertoad]

Ummmmmm. If the other family is not getting their own bedroom, then it's hard to charge them anything. You really can't charge someone for sleeping on a pull out couch, regardless where that couch is located....Disney or other resorts.

I agree, if they are not getting any bedrooms, it would be hard to justify charging them for sleeping on the sofa couches.

 

[wdwfan1]

We have never charged anyone to stay with us.

 

[castleri]

Being this close to the trip I would find it odd that there have been no conversations about payment for the room or about the tickets. I would let them purchase their own tickets when they get there or at least bring it up and ask how they want to handle it. We have taken family and friends a number of times and sometimes it has been at no charge to them and others it has been enough to cover the maintenance fees for whatever part of the unit they used or for half the number of points for the whole unit. I know that if someone had "invited" me to join them I would ask what my share would be. Have your friends even made any comments that suggest they expect to pay anything? Hope it all works out and that you have a great trip.

 

[OneMoreTry]

Love the ability to invite friends and family. Thats what grand villas are for. would never charge and dont expect anything in return although it would be nice of they treated to a meal but our repayment is having someone to share with. maybe your friend will pay for the room next trip, but I wouldnt expect it.

 

[dansamy]

We have never charged anyone to stay with us.

Neither have we.

 

[wildernessDad]

Charge nothing.