Aulani Owners Thread - ALOHA!

[Steelers0854]

Maybe to use the beach? I have no idea isnt that beach private for Aulani?

Fun fact, by law no beach in Hawaii can be private, every beach must be open to the public.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Fun fact, by law no beach in Hawaii can be private, every beach must be open to the public.

As it should be.

 

[peder]

As it should be.

Would be nice if more states had greater public access to beaches. Washington state has similar rules, though they're more tied to the water line rather than the beach line, I think? Still, they can't block public access. And anywhere a street comes to an end at the beach, those areas always are open to the public completely.

This should be more of the standard nationwide.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Would be nice if more states had greater public access to beaches. Washington state has similar rules, though they're more tied to the water line rather than the beach line, I think? Still, they can't block public access. And anywhere a street comes to an end at the beach, those areas always are open to the public completely.

This should be more of the standard nationwide.

Same with Oregon.

 

[CarolynFH]

Seems close. Do they normally give a heads up prior to sell out?

They have for resorts that have sold out before now, with sort of “it’s your last chance!” type of announcements. Given that Aulani is taking such a long time to sell out, they ought to have a major party when it gets that close!

 

[aammtt20]

While this thread on this subject - I've heard some speculate that Aulani will never sell out because of the rate at which direct sales for it have slowed over the years. As time goes on, it will just keep becoming less desirable to buy Aulani direct as it gets closer to expiration (unless they come out with some awesome deals), especially with all the good resale contracts that exist for this resort on the market. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but Aulani has already been on sale for 30% of its timeshare lifespan and still has some ways to go before selling out.

 

[AstroBlasters]

While this thread on this subject - I've heard some speculate that Aulani will never sell out because of the rate at which direct sales for it have slowed over the years. As time goes on, it will just keep becoming less desirable to buy Aulani direct as it gets closer to expiration (unless they come out with some awesome deals), especially with all the good resale contracts that exist for this resort on the market. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but Aulani has already been on sale for 30% of its timeshare lifespan and still has some ways to go before selling out.

Disney could easily sell it out…. but they make too much money selling the points they still own at cash prices.

The other thing that hurts direct sales is people having access to smart phones while on vacation and looking at the resale pricing that can be up to half off direct pricing….. especially with the flood of resale contracts that were put on by a commercial renter earlier this year.

 

[Amyunder]

We recently decided to split 3 nights at Hilton Hawaiian Village and 6 nights at Aulani in a 2BD Villa in August. Hilton will allow you to book rooms that are guaranteed to be adjoining. We tend to go for the Ocean Front Corner Room and a connecting Partial Ocean View 2 Queen Bed in the Ali’i tower. FANTASTIC views of Waikiki and Diamond Head.

As disrupting as split stays are… it’s nice to get a bit of city life, some real waves, and have a short driving distance to everything on that side of the Island BEFORE going to Aulani.

We always do 3-4 nights at surf Jack before our week at aulani to acclimate from east coast time and do some excursions and such in Waikiki like surf lessons. We always do a resort pass for Hilton Hawaiian village for the first day cause their pool is amazing.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Disney could easily sell it out…. but they make too much money selling the points they still own at cash prices.

The other thing that hurts direct sales is people having access to smart phones while on vacation and looking at the resale pricing that can be up to half off direct pricing….. especially with the flood of resale contracts that were put on by a commercial renter earlier this year.

Agree. Disney isnt dumb they know how to sell it out if they wanted to. Im not as smart as them but I really think starting to ROFR Aulani to set a floor on resale would help. But again they are the ones who know what they are doing not me.

 

[peder]

Agree. Disney isnt dumb they know how to sell it out if they wanted to. Im not as smart as them but I really think starting to ROFR Aulani to set a floor on resale would help. But again they are the ones who know what they are doing not me.

I also think their margin expectations are too high for direct point sales at Aulani. Maybe if they had higher knock-on spending from direct purchases they wouldn't worry so much, but I suspect there's not a ton of incremental revenue or profitability for each buyer of direct points at Aulani, especially compared to their WDW direct points, which typically would coincide with the purchase of park tickets and more.

I personally want more DVC locations outside of WDW, so when I see that they still haven't sold out Aulani for whatever reason, it tells me that it's extremely unlikely that DVC will expand again outside of DL/WDW. Even though a DVC resort at Disneyland Paris would likely be quite popular with existing DVC owners, and even if there are buyers like me who bought into DVC specifically for the broader ecosystem of resorts. It really hurts my value/purchase price for DVC if they move away from these non-WDW resorts.

 

[AstroBlasters]

We always do 3-4 nights at surf Jack before our week at aulani to acclimate from east coast time and do some excursions and such in Waikiki like surf lessons. We always do a resort pass for Hilton Hawaiian village for the first day cause their pool is amazing.

I don’t think I’ve ever gone in the pool there…. as I love the Ocean in Waikiki….

 

[AstroBlasters]

I also think their margin expectations are too high for direct point sales at Aulani. Maybe if they had higher knock-on spending from direct purchases they wouldn't worry so much, but I suspect there's not a ton of incremental revenue or profitability for each buyer of direct points at Aulani, especially compared to their WDW direct points, which typically would coincide with the purchase of park tickets and more.

I personally want more DVC locations outside of WDW, so when I see that they still haven't sold out Aulani for whatever reason, it tells me that it's extremely unlikely that DVC will expand again outside of DL/WDW. Even though a DVC resort at Disneyland Paris would likely be quite popular with existing DVC owners, and even if there are buyers like me who bought into DVC specifically for the broader ecosystem of resorts. It really hurts my value/purchase price for DVC if they move away from these non-WDW resorts.

I think they view Vero and Hilton Head as a failed experiment as well. The ROI is higher to build properties next to one of their many theme parks than off site.

 

[peder]

I think they view Vero and Hilton Head as a failed experiment as well. The ROI is higher to build properties next to one of their many theme parks than off site.

Right, but it's weird for Disney to treat all properties the same from an investment perspective. The general rule of thumb with project finance, is that if the ROI for a project is higher than your needed risk-adjusted rate of return, you execute on it. But DVC effectively has a singular price for all its resorts (yes, they do vary slightly, but not significantly), and they know that a 2nd Hilton Head or Vero right now would never sell out at the prices they sell at WDW.

I personally think this limits the overall growth of the DVC system and boxes it into WDW, which in the long term I believe will hurt their brand, but obviously Disney does not share my concerns as they cater increasingly just to the global rich. We'll probably see DVC Abu Dhabi before we see another Aulani/Hilton Head/Vero type of resort.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Right, but it's weird for Disney to treat all properties the same from an investment perspective. The general rule of thumb with project finance, is that if the ROI for a project is higher than your needed risk-adjusted rate of return, you execute on it. But DVC effectively has a singular price for all its resorts (yes, they do vary slightly, but not significantly), and they know that a 2nd Hilton Head or Vero right now would never sell out at the prices they sell at WDW.

I personally think this limits the overall growth of the DVC system and boxes it into WDW, which in the long term I believe will hurt their brand, but obviously Disney does not share my concerns as they cater increasingly just to the global rich. We'll probably see DVC Abu Dhabi before we see another Aulani/Hilton Head/Vero type of resort.

From a capital allocation perspective,
why would a management team build a new off theme park resort with a lower ROI then you could build a higher ROI theme park resort?

 

[peder]

From a capital allocation perspective,
why would a management team build a new off theme park resort with a lower ROI then you could build a higher ROI theme park resort?

The answer is to build both, if they both offer a superior rate of return. My argument is that Disney has set their margin targets too high, to the point that projects like Vero look unprofitable. But Marriott with Disney's customer base would build a new Vero every day of the week and twice on Sunday because their margin target is much lower than Disney's.

I'm just venting because these types of management decisions reinforce that they're moving away from targeting the middle class and more toward rare global opportunities with very high net worth / income families.

 

[AstroBlasters]

The answer is to build both, if they both offer a superior rate of return. My argument is that Disney has set their margin targets too high, to the point that projects like Vero look unprofitable. But Marriott with Disney's customer base would build a new Vero every day of the week and twice on Sunday because their margin target is much lower than Disney's.

I'm just venting because these types of management decisions reinforce that they're moving away from targeting the middle class and more toward rare global opportunities with very high net worth / income families.

I think the answer is that you (and many other members) want to use DVC points at additional destinations, but the bottom line for a management team is that they should only fund their highest ROI projects.

Given that 20% of the population in the US has something like 80% of the discretionary income, companies are making strategic decision to go after those customers.

Looking at today’s numbers, Disney is having to squeeze more out of the parks & experiences division to make up for a lackluster entertainment business (from a profitability perspective).

Also, the parks are still crowded…. which means they have a supply issue and not a demand issue. Thus the choice to continue to raise prices & allocate capital towards theme park expansion at DLand and WDW.

I personally don’t like it as I feel like my take home pay hasn’t changed at all since 2020 (probably because of rising insurance costs), but my costs have increased CONSIDERABLY…. but from a pure “why is management making the decisions they are” perspective I get it. It’s all about growing profits so they can keep their job and get their bonuses.