Aulani Points Rental Transfer (ownership questions)

[jdunn1]

Hello everyone. Former DVC owner thinking about buying back in via resale. If I own Aulani points, how easy/hard is it to rent those points and what is the going rate for a rental/transfer?


If I buy the contract(s) I am thinking of purchasing they will come with banked 2016 points that I would be willing to rent/transfer in 2017.


Would I be better served to book a reservation for a hard to get week like Christmas or New Years and try renting out that reservation?


As far as owning at Aulani, are there certain times when owning is absolutely necessary to get a reservation? Personally, I could see myself traveling in June or maybe 4th of July week more times than not but Easter would be another possibility.


I’ve heard that New Year’s week (and maybe Christmas) is almost impossible to book if you are not an owner, or maybe this is only true for standard view hotel and studios? I have no idea, honestly.


As far as current resale prices, do you see Aulani prices staying the same for a while or falling or even going higher in a few years?


Thank you for your help. Trying to do some research before I make such an expensive but fun purchase.

-Jim

 

[drusba]

Cannot really say how easy or hard renting Aulani points can be. There are rental brokers now, such as David's, dvcrequest.com, a sponsor of this site, that make doing so easier for owners than if they try it on their own, but, of course, there is a fee. Also, do not know if booking a week such as Christmas and then trying to rent it is really easier than just trying to rent generally (this site's rental section does not allow posting rental's for already reserved times until you get very close to the arrival date). As to high demand times, Christmas week is definitely one where Aulani can disappear before 7 months out (all room categories) but that is also true for other holidays such as Thanksgiving, and for most of June. Standard view and the hotel rooms usually book before 7 months out much of the year. One factor affecting Aulani is that a principal part of your market for rentals (and resales) is Asian countries and thus you need to consider how you reach those areas.

The resale market can be unpredictable. Hit a recession like 2008-09 and resale prices can take a huge dive. Normal times, prices you see now may be around for a while. You should not purchase based on any assumption that you can get good resale value for your points as point prices can easily decrease, with a high likelihood of doing so if Disney ever stops building DVC's and thus stops supporting favorable (to the seller) resale prices of existing resorts by selling new resorts at higher and higher prices.

 

[jdunn1]

Cannot really say how easy or hard renting Aulani points can be. There are rental brokers now, such as David's, dvcrequest.com, a sponsor of this site, that make doing so easier for owners than if they try it on their own, but, of course, there is a fee. Also, do not know if booking a week such as Christmas and then trying to rent it is really easier than just trying to rent generally (this site's rental section does not allow posting rental's for already reserved times until you get very close to the arrival date). As to high demand times, Christmas week is definitely one where Aulani can disappear before 7 months out (all room categories) but that is also true for other holidays such as Thanksgiving, and for most of June. Standard view and the hotel rooms usually book before 7 months out much of the year. One factor affecting Aulani is that a principal part of your market for rentals (and resales) is Asian countries and thus you need to consider how you reach those areas.

The resale market can be unpredictable. Hit a recession like 2008-09 and resale prices can take a huge dive. Normal times, prices you see now may be around for a while. You should not purchase based on any assumption that you can get good resale value for your points as point prices can easily decrease, with a high likelihood of doing so if Disney ever stops building DVC's and thus stops supporting favorable (to the seller) resale prices of existing resorts by selling new resorts at higher and higher prices.

Thank you for this information. I know not to expect prices to go up, though I also know DVC has trended up.

One of my guiding principles when buying a timeshare is to make sure you buy something you can easily sell if/when the time comes you do not want it any longer. Going back more than a few years when I sold my HH DVC points, I really had no problems selliing them, though I did probably loose $5 a point from what I bought them for. I was just releived to have been able to sell them and get some money back.


So Aulani standard view anything is generally gone before the 7 month window. That is good to know. I knew certain times like Christmas and New Years were hard to book at the 7 month window but I was under the impression just about everything else was pretty easy to get.


Ideally, I would like to rent out some points early next year if I do go ahead with this purchase but I would like to hear what other’s experience renting Alunai points has been like in terms of ease of doing so and price.


Thanks.

 

[maburke]

I would never make a reservation first & then try to rent it, because it's much harder to find a perfect match.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

Aulani is getting tighter and tighter. I was unable to rent points 7 months out last year (before we bought) 2 bedroom OV are pretty available other times. The hotel rooms and studios Standard View are gone at 11 mos period. But others stay open much longer. Rentals are $16 per point at most for within 11 mo window and is as much as I would pay- though its gone up from 14.50, 15. That's through an agency like our sponsors where you have some recourse. I wouldn't pay that to a private party personally. I don't think. The agencies pay out from 11-13 as far as I've seen. One agency lists Aulani as a 2nd tier property which I think could change with avail lessening.

Ko'Olina is a good investment to my mind as 3 new resorts are coming in. Its the new darling of Hawaii. Atlantis, Shangri La and Four Seasons just opening. I've seen an uptick on FB of my friends checking in in Ko'Olina vs the old standard, Maui. We adore Aulani and are glad we bought there!

You cannot get NYE unless you book it 11 mos less 6 days even. I really hope that its not owners booking it to rent it. If you must, February Break and October Break are the next hardest but please don't clog the holidays further, I beg you. (and I fully understand capitalism, of course). NYE is my daughter's actual bday and I was unable to get just that day at 11 mos. So we're going before xmas. I just canceled 2 Feb Break res in tight categories as I changed plans and was glad to think that someone's waitlist came through and made their family's day.

 

[jdunn1]

Thanks for all this information. I am hoping to buy in soon. I would not be a very active renter if I do buy into Aulani, but if I have banked points I am not going to use I would like to buy into a resort where I know I could rent them fairly easy. I would like to go to Aulani once every 2-3 years and be able to bank on getting the standard view to save points. To accomplish this, sounds like you pretty much have to own there. I would travel either over Easter break or summer break, not Christmas or New Years.

I know some people try to rent specific reservations for Aulani on redweek but they are asking for so much I doubt they ever rent.