Be sure to point out that's it's incorrect to look at percentage increases if comparing dues increases to hotel rooms, for example. Dollar wise they will be quite different.
If you get a Studio for 10 points a night, and dues are $4.00/point the room costs you the equivalent of $40. If next year dues go up 5% to $4.20/point, that same room now costs you $42 for the night.
OTOH, if a WDW resort room costs you $150 today for a night ($167.25 with tax), and it goes up by 5%, then next year the room is $157.50 ($175.61 with tax)
Overall your
DVC room increased by $2.00 and the WDW hotel room increased by $8.36/night.
Do that for 10 years in a row, and using a 5% increase each year, then in 2016 your DVC dues would be $6.51/point, and the 10 point room equates to $61.50/night.
Meanwhile the $150/night room increases to $244/night ($272 with tax).
DVC went up $21.50 per night over the 10 years, and the WDW hotel went up $105 per night (including tax).
Assume you had a 50 point contract and every year did 5-days in a Studio at 10 points/night. With a 5% increase in dues each year, after 10 years you will have spent $2515 in dues for your 50 nights.
Your friends instead got a hotel room for 5 nights each year. Their rate was $150/night and it went up 5% each year, and they paid 11.5% tax on top of that. After 10 years, their 50 nights will have cost them a total of $10,848.
The difference of $8333 more than cover the initial purchase of the points (50 points at $83/point = $4150) and they will continue to save year after year for the duration of the contract.
That's apples to apples.
However, many here prefer to get better accommodations, a 1-B/R or up, or higher seasons. Your individual results will vary depending on what comparisons you make. Compare a Studio to the Grand Floridian and you'll save a bundle. Compare a 2-B/R to the All Stars, and you don't save anything (and in fact will pay more)
But you can choose how to spend your points and that's what sets the 'value' you get.
