Brian Noble
Gratefully in Recovery
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2004
This is a very interesting question, and I don't think we know the answer. However, I was just reading Wyndham's 2021 Investor presentation---this is the timeshare developer that built and sold Bonnet Creek just between Disney Springs and CBR. Slide 13 shows the mean household income for owners in three different timeshare systems: Marriott ($155K), Hilton ($113K), and Wyndham ($93K).I think most DVC members are solidly middle class, perhaps towards the upper levels, but still not what you consider wealthy.
While reporting mean rather than median likely inflates the numbers a bit, those are still all well above median household income in the US. I would be surprised if DVC's owner portfolio wasn't at least comparable to Hilton's, and it is likely higher. Whether that is "wealthy" or not depends on your perspective, because it seems to me that "wealthy" is usually defined as "Makes at least 150% what I do," no matter what the "I" in this statement reports as income. ;-)
Absolutely---and this is often how I explain the "value" of timeshares. I bought mine on the secondary market for very little money. If I compared what it would have cost to rent our vacation lodging, it definitely would have cost more, and in some cases much more. But, I am quite sure that I have spent more on vacations than I would have if I was not an owner, because I took more vacations.Heck no it doesn't save you money, it encourages you to go more often.
Pre-paying vacation lodging helps make vacations a top priority, something you plan around rather than fit in around more important things. Interestingly, that became true even for non-timeshare vacations in our experience. We bought our first timeshare when the kids were six and eight. They are now 20 and 22. They are starting to get to the point where they aren't going to be able to get away as easily and may not join us for as many vacations as they used to. So I am grateful we made vacations a priority during those years, because I will never get them back.
I think there are a couple of ways to look at this. It's not so much that Disney gets more revenue from DVC vs. the hotels---I suspect they don't. I suspect that if you rented the exact same rooms from Disney that you stay in over the course of your DVC ownership, your total cost in today's dollars would be higher. But, DVC might still be more profitable, because once you are an owner Disney doesn't need to market itself to you in the same way. Marketing is a significant expense for the company, and they get to spread the expense convincing you to by DVC across several years of your visits, rather than having to spend money every year enticing you to return. In other words, DVC makes Disney "sticky."If it saved you money, Disney wouldn't sell it.
In my opinion no, for two reasons. First, Disney is an expensive vacation even if you only had to pay DVC dues for your lodging. My kids might or might not be in a position to take that kind of vacation depending on their specific circumstances. Perhaps more importantly, how do you know your kids will want to vacation with Disney regularly? My 22yo still counts Disney as one of her Happy Places and will probably be a frequent visitor, but my 20yo probably will go many years between trips if he goes back at all.is it wise to buy DVC with the intention to give it as a gift for children?