Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL) Direct Sales Incentive

[Jgc014]

Well, I did the deal yesterday with my guide. 200 direct points at AKL. Too good to pass up.

$165 per point with incentives. I had to choice of getting 2022 points, or waiting for June 1st to get 2023 points.

I chose to wait for 2023 points. Doing this, they pay me $21 per point for the 2022 points. Effectively lowering the cost to $144 per point. Well worth a 5 week wait.

I don't think we'll ever see direct points that cheap again.

Congratulations! Would love to do this, but absolutely don’t need 200 more points.

 

[winnieforme]

So points 151-200 are in effect $87 a point? Bananas. What a weird tiering.

What reseort are you referring to? Thank you!

 

[ocdb8r1]

Well, I did the deal yesterday with my guide. 200 direct points at AKL. Too good to pass up.

$165 per point with incentives. I had to choice of getting 2022 points, or waiting for June 1st to get 2023 points.

I chose to wait for 2023 points. Doing this, they pay me $21 per point for the 2022 points. Effectively lowering the cost to $144 per point. Well worth a 5 week wait.

I don't think we'll ever see direct points that cheap again.

The $21/point credit they give you for 2022 points - that assumes you had to pay maintenance fees for those points, correct (so it's about $13 net/point)?

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

What reseort are you referring to? Thank you!

AKL.

 

[Sandisw]

The $21/point credit they give you for 2022 points - that assumes you had to pay maintenance fees for those points, correct (so it's about $13 net/point)?

When you buy direct, they charge you prorated for current year as MFs are based on calendar year.

Anyone buying today will only pay about 8 months of MFs for 2023. You would owe not 2022 because you didn’t own in 2022, regardless of points you are getting. So the OP didn’t owe anything for 2022.

For example If a Feb UY and a June UY buy today, Feb UY starts with 2023, points and June with 2022 points, but each pays exaclty the same for MFs.

 

[LittleBitGoofy]

Well, I did the deal yesterday with my guide. 200 direct points at AKL. Too good to pass up.

$165 per point with incentives. I had to choice of getting 2022 points, or waiting for June 1st to get 2023 points.

I chose to wait for 2023 points. Doing this, they pay me $21 per point for the 2022 points. Effectively lowering the cost to $144 per point. Well worth a 5 week wait.

I don't think we'll ever see direct points that cheap again.

Anyone know, is that $21/pt buyback being offered at all the resorts, or just AKL right now because of the special incentive sale there? ie, would VGF also be offering $21/pt for its "Magical Beginnings" option right now, or a lower $/pt?

 

[RachStu]

When you buy direct, they charge you prorated for current year as MFs are based on calendar year.

Anyone buying today will only pay about 8 months of MFs for 2023. You would owe not 2022 because you didn’t own in 2022, regardless of points you are getting. So the OP didn’t owe anything for 2022.

For example If a Feb UY and a June UY buy today, Feb UY starts with 2023, points and June with 2022 points, but each pays exaclty the same for MFs.

Sandisw, this is a problem I’ve been trying to get my head around in the context of resales.

If a December contract doesn’t come with the Dec 2022 points, is it fair for the buyer to reimburse the seller for the Jan 2023 dues?

 

[BGdisney18]

Anyone know, is that $21/pt buyback being offered at all the resorts, or just AKL right now because of the special incentive sale there? ie, would VGF also be offering $21/pt for its "Magical Beginnings" option right now, or a lower $/pt?

I can confirm as of early April VGF was offering points buyback (although apparently Canadians don't qualify for this offer for some reason...)

 

[Straulin]

Sandisw, this is a problem I’ve been trying to get my head around in the context of resales.

If a December contract doesn’t come with the Dec 2022 points, is it fair for the buyer to reimburse the seller for the Jan 2023 dues?

Fair in resale is all in what you feel as a buyer.

I suggest looking at it the way I do when trading in a car and buying another. How much I write the check for is what matters. Whatever internal math the dealership does to split between trade-in value and price of the new car are irrelevant to me.

So you are paying X for Y points. With X being the total purchase price plus any MF’s for points you don’t actually get, and Y being the number of points on the contract times the number of years for which you will receive points. Divide X by Y to determine the price per point over the life of the contract (not including future maintenance fees for points you will receive as two otherwise identical contract would have the same price per point of maintenance fees.). That price per point is how I would compare them.

 

[LittleBitGoofy]

I can confirm as of early April VGF was offering points buyback (although apparently Canadians don't qualify for this offer for some reason...)

Great. Thank you. Do you recall if it was the higher $21/pt? I had heard they were sometimes offering much lower $/pt.

 

[winnieforme]

AKL.

Thank you! Have a great day. I guess I was gettig confused by the pricing...it's so low

 

[Sandisw]

Sandisw, this is a problem I’ve been trying to get my head around in the context of resales.

If a December contract doesn’t come with the Dec 2022 points, is it fair for the buyer to reimburse the seller for the Jan 2023 dues?

Fair? If both buyer and seller agree…yes, it’s fair. But, in the scheme of things, I think it should follow the practice of direct…and when I have bought, with all but one…maybe two…i based my reimbursement of MFs on calendar year when buying.

When I bought in July, I only offered 6 months of dues…even if I was getting that years points.

I know resale brokers look at it differently..but everything is negotiable and why that was always part of my offer.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

Thank you! Have a great day. I guess I was gettig confused by the pricing...it's so low

The idea is that if the 150 points are $191x150 = $28650 and 200 points are $165x200 = $33000 then those last 50 points cost you $33000-$28650=$4350, which divided by 50 is $87.

 

[RachStu]

Thanks Sandisw, for what it’s worth the way you dealt with the issue does seem fair to me! Going forward I think I’ll offering to pro rata the dues based on the date my offer is accepted. Either that or I’ll offer to pay the dues but knock it off the amount I offer per point.

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks Sandisw, for what it’s worth the way you dealt with the issue does seem fair to me! Going forward I think I’ll offering to pro rata the dues based on the date my offer is accepted. Either that or I’ll offer to pay the dues but knock it off the amount I offer per point.

That is why I said fair is what both buyer and seller agree is fair. In my cases, the sellers agreed so they felt it was a fair offer!

But, in the end, using the price is another way to achieve the same thing,!

 

[ocdb8r1]

When you buy direct, they charge you prorated for current year as MFs are based on calendar year.

Anyone buying today will only pay about 8 months of MFs for 2023. You would owe not 2022 because you didn’t own in 2022, regardless of points you are getting. So the OP didn’t owe anything for 2022.

For example If a Feb UY and a June UY buy today, Feb UY starts with 2023, points and June with 2022 points, but each pays exaclty the same for MFs.

Well, this makes a direct purchase at AKL very attractive if you buy a use year May or later (so you'd get 2022 points) and use Magical Beginnings for those 2022 points. By my math, I could get points cost down to under $136/point for a 200 point purchase:

$165/point with current incentive
-$21/point with magical beginnings
-$8.66/point via credit card rebate

(I've got a card that will currently give me 5.25% back on travel purchases....and it lists "Timeshare" as qualifying. If this didn't work based on an initial deposit charge, I'd flip the final charges to my Chase Sapphire Reserve which has been confirmed by others to give the 3 points/$ which I'd value at 4.5%)

UGH...decisions, decisions.

 

[winnieforme]

The idea is that if the 150 points are $191x150 = $28650 and 200 points are $165x200 = $33000 then those last 50 points cost you $33000-$28650=$4350, which divided by 50 is $87.

Great, thank you for the explanation!

 

[Sandisw]

Well, this makes a direct purchase at AKL very attractive if you buy a use year May or later (so you'd get 2022 points) and use Magical Beginnings for those 2022 points. By my math, I could get points cost down to under $136/point for a 200 point purchase:

$165/point with current incentive
-$21/point with magical beginnings
-$8.66/point via credit card rebate

(I've got a card that will currently give me 5.25% back on travel purchases....and it lists "Timeshare" as qualifying. If this didn't work based on an initial deposit charge, I'd flip the final charges to my Chase Sapphire Reserve which has been confirmed by others to give the 3 points/$ which I'd value at 4.5%)

UGH...decisions, decisions.

Its always advantageous to buy later in a calendar year but before the start of your new UY….

Once we hit June 1st….the 2022 points go away because we start the 2023 UY for June…come August 1st, same thing…

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Its always advantageous to buy later in a calendar year but before the start of your new UY….

Once we hit June 1st….the 2022 points go away because we start the 2023 UY for June…come August 1st, same thing…

If all goes well, I will have a direct contract with June UY and a resale with Aug UY. Assuming I buy direct (in some future flash sale?) can I choose any UY or does it have to be June/Aug? Seems like you ideally want to buy with a UY far enough down the line you can bank the prior year points…unless by some miracle you can get what you want in the last few months of that use year.

We purchased while on the Wonder in January and they just assigned us an August UY, which would be great for WDW points (for me) but suboptimal for Aulani (the resort they are associated with)—assumed I had no choice.

 

[Sandisw]

If all goes well, I will have a direct contract with June UY and a resale with Aug UY. Assuming I buy direct (in some future flash sale?) can I choose any UY or does it have to be June/Aug? Seems like you ideally want to buy with a UY far enough down the line you can bank the prior year points…unless by some miracle you can get what you want in the last few months of that use year.

We purchased while on the Wonder in January and they just assigned us an August UY, which would be great for WDW points (for me) but suboptimal for Aulani (the resort they are associated with)—assumed I had no choice.

When you are an owner, you have to get the same UY if you want to add on less than the minimum.

If you want a new UY, then you have to buy 100 points or more because that is a new membership. They will always try to get you to get what you have but if you tell them you have a reason to do it.

We do own three, but we did it on purpose as we use our points for different trip.

Be sure you understand how it works to have multiple memberships.