Aulani sales restarting soon? Dues up 33% - Article from Orlando Sentinel linked

[TagsMissy]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2804784

Jason Garcia of the Orlando Sentinel tweeted that he will be posting a story shortly.... but dues are apparently raised 33%

(EDIT Story is now posted)

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-disney-aulani-maintenance-fee-20110922,0,6790563.story

 

[bobbiwoz]

Wow...thanks for the link!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Wow-that's quite a difference!

 

[lilpooh108]

Holy smokes! $5.73 to start and Aulani stays take more points than other WDW resorts? At that rate, Aulani is never going to sell out!

 

[hakepb]

So by my calculations, due to the "points inflation" an island view studio requires 85% more dues than OKW ... Basically Aluani requires the equivalent of $9.20 dues @ OKW

 

[DebbieB]

Wow, no wonder heads rolled.

 

[Sammie]

Yikes and the mess just continues.

 

[princessfionasmom]

WOW, that is high. Wonder what that will do to sales???

 

[Maleficent's Dad]

$5.73 per point maintenance fees? What are they selling Aulani for? Last I saw, BLT was going to $150 per point. Anyone know the cost in Hawaii?

Wow...

 

[Shelebeen]

$5.73 per point maintenance fees? What are they selling Aulani for? Last I saw, BLT was going to $150 per point. Anyone know the cost in Hawaii?

Wow...

Pretty sure it was $120 when we put our deposit down in August.

 

[hakepb]

I suppose the biggest question is, what would any resort need to have or provide in order to be worth more dues?

Everything costs more in Hawaii, so I would almost expect Aluani dues to be an equivalent to 7.50 vs WDW resorts around 5.

Some people have mentioned they would be willing to pay more for things like better room inspection, better linens ...

Do Aluani features like the pool/lazy river, fish viewing, overall hospitality... merit the difference?

 

[GoofItUp]

Anyone else even more in the "we'll wait until the 7 month mark" camp? I bought both my contracts on the resale market and would be staying at Aulani for a steal at these rates!

I hope the selling goes well as more options are a plus for me...would love to see a ski resort...but it seems like this will be difficult. $150 a point plus some of the highest dues in DVC? Seems outlandish to those of us use to Orlando-based DVC. But, maybe they're counting more on the Asian market and will still do ok.

The thing that you have to keep in mind is that everything in Hawaii is expensive. And this is Disney which adds an expense layer to things. If you wanted to vacation every year in Hawaii and do it Disney-style, $3000+ for a 2 bdrm in peak season is probably not that crazy.

 

[tjkraz]

$150 a point plus some of the highest dues in DVC?

Last known pricing for Aulani was $100 - $114 per point depending upon the size of the purchase. Base price is only $120 and the best discount is $20 off per point for a current member adding-on 270 or more.

I think it's going to be fascinating to watch Aulani sales progress over the years. It's taken over 3 years to sell about 300 villas at Bay Lake Tower so obviously 480+ at Aulani is a very long term project. Disney knew that going in.

Until now they've been selling on the basis of concept artwork and off-site models. Now the resort is open. Every single night of the week there will be hundreds or thousands of non-members staying in hotel rooms or unsold villas. Some will be staying on highly discounted rates (AP, etc.) but that's still far more profitable for Disney than giving away stays as many other timeshare developers are forced to do.

Aulani will play host to conventions and weddings. Disney Cruise Line is visiting the islands. Current DVC owners will be booking at 7 months.

I'm not trying to paint an overly rosy picture but I do think there is plenty of room for optimism. Disney will have a lot of non-owners traffic passing through Aulani and DVC is the perfect medium to demonstrate how those guests can return on a recurring basis at a fraction of the cash cost. Even with the higher dues.

 

[mouseaider]

We bought into DVC because of the announcement to build Aulani.

We were planning on visiting Hawaii for our anniversary in April, 2012 and had a trip planned to WDW for January, 2011. My wife and I decided to put the money we would have spent towards hotels on those two trips and use it to buy into DVC instead so I started looking at resales.

We bought a 100 point BWV contract last August and then we added a 55 point SSR contract after our January trip and it worked. We have an Island View studio booked for seven nights for April, 2012 at the seven month mark.

We also had enough points to book a F&W trip in 12 days and another January trip to AKV.

We would love to buy into Aulani, but we probably won't want to fly from the east coast after this trip.

 

[BriarRosie]

I have a feeling the target audience for DVC purchases at Aulani would be more Japan and Australia and not the mainland US.

 

[bethy]

We are going to Aulani this December and then to the Big Island for 2+ weeks in 2013. I have a few nights I need to fill in to round out our stay between timeshares. I have been looking into a hotel room at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. That resort also has a waterpark wonderland type of pool. And tons of other activities, snorkeling lagoons, etc. So it's at least a little comparable to Aulani (except there is no real-ish sand beach like at Aulani.)

Well a little hotel room there is like $400+ before taxes per night in the summer. So to me, $3400 for a week in a two bedroom with an ocean view at Aulani seems very, very reasonable for Hawaii. We stayed at the Hyatt in Maui too and paid $400+ for a hotel room there 10 years ago. Heck, have you all seen the rack rates on the Aulani rooms? They are also in that high range. I think for a full service resort with built in activities, etc that's just what you have to pay.

Of course there is the upfront buy in - so that has to be calculated in too. But I guess I'm just no surprised when I compare it to the other nice timeshares in Hawaii. In contrast, real estate in Florida is generally cheap in comparison.

 

[tjkraz]

I have a feeling the target audience for DVC purchases at Aulani would be more Japan and Australia and not the mainland US.

Japan is an important market but don't discount US buyers.

In 2010 there were 6.98 million visitors who arrived by air. Of those 1.24 million came from Japan. About 17%.

By comparison, 2.96 million were from the western US and 1.63 million from the eastern US.

Hawaii is a very popular vacation destination for those on the west coast. And the west coast is also a big growth market for DVC. As of 2009 they claimed that 85% of all DVC members lived in the eastern US. So DVC can appeal to a lot of non-members living out west by stressing Aulani, Disneyland resorts (including use of points at DLH and PP) and the occasional trip to Walt Disney World.

With regard to Japan and other countries, the exchange rate is very favorable right now so that helps with the initial buy-in. (Could also be a reason there's been talk of DVC offering some means of pre-paying dues several years in advance.)

I'm not surprised at the 33% variance. If it was going to be a low number, Disney could have corrected the situation over a couple of years with relatively modest increases.

As for the annual costs, dues alone it would run $2400 for BLT MK View Two Bedroom during Premier season. $2600 for the same room at Grand Californian. Really it should come as no surprise that Hawaii is more expensive...particularly with the more elaborate amenities.

 

[bwvBound]

I have been looking into a hotel room at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. That resort also has a waterpark wonderland type of pool. And tons of other activities, snorkeling lagoons, etc. So it's at least a little comparable to Aulani (except there is no real-ish sand beach like at Aulani.)

The Hilton Waikoloa is very lovely. It does have a beach: Anaeho’omalu Bay or "A-bay."

Link: http://www.waikoloavacationrentals....loabeachresort/abay-at-waikoloa-beach-resort/

 

[Shelebeen]

We live in Western Canada, in the past 11 years, we have visited Maui 5 times with a 6th trip this Christmas.

We have visited WDW in contrast only 2 times. We do go to DL once per year.

We are totally stoked to have bought into Aulani, for so many reasons, just wish we could add on some points at the Grand Cali....

I guess it is a different mind set of a vacation. We love Hawaii to hang out, do tons of snorkeling, play on the beach daily, etc... When we go to the Disney parks, we aren't stay until you drop folks, we are pretty balanced in park time and pool/resort, etc time... so this was the perfect option for us. We see ourselves visiting WDW possibly a few more times in the next five years, but visiting Hawaii for the rest of our lives...

Can't wait to sign the final papers and book our trip.. hopefully next summer

 

[lilpooh108]

We are going to Aulani this December and then to the Big Island for 2+ weeks in 2013. I have a few nights I need to fill in to round out our stay between timeshares. I have been looking into a hotel room at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. That resort also has a waterpark wonderland type of pool. And tons of other activities, snorkeling lagoons, etc. So it's at least a little comparable to Aulani (except there is no real-ish sand beach like at Aulani.)

Bethy, you are correct. If I remember correctly, there is no direct beach access to ABay from the Hilton Waikoloa. So although the resort is "ocean front" it is not technically beach front. I believe you have to go off property to access the beach. ABay isn't very nice, but there are nicer beaches further north (like Hapuna).

See this review here and Control F (find) the words "direct beach access": http://www.tripadvisor.in/ShowUserR...Village-Waikoloa_Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html

I believe the Marriott Waikoloa has direct beach access to ABay and its pool facilities are quite nice, but they charge a mandatory resort fee.

Alot of the Big Island hotels are oceanfront, but not necessarily beachfront. (We got married on the Big Island and I ended up having to do a list of hotels with beach access for my friends). Good luck!