Aulani standard room/view or studio garden view?

[Scootypuffjr]

I'm sure this is a no brainer, but I just wanted to make sure I'm not missing something. We currently have a standard room/view booked through Disney at Aulani this October It would be me DS4 and DH. We booked it for $1552, but I checked into a DVC rental agency (not sure if I'm allowed to name which one) and for the same nights in a studio garden view it would be $1232. What would you do and why? It seems like the rental is obviously the better choice, but I thought I'd check here before I made any changes. TIA!!!

 

[Girimama33]

I always price the trip out by paying cash and renting points to see which one is cheaper. If you rent points, it includes daily parking. That is another cost to consider if you are planning on parking a car during your stay.
The first time I went, it was cheaper to use my SIL's CM discount on our stay (which was for a week, and we needed 2 - 2 Bdr room villas. When we went back with my DD, DH and myself, we only stayed 2 nights after a week in Maui, It was cheaper to rent points for that stay. Renting points was very easy, and I would definitely do it again. I rented through David's.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I'm sure this is a no brainer, but I just wanted to make sure I'm not missing something. We currently have a standard room/view booked through Disney at Aulani this October It would be me DS4 and DH. We booked it for $1552, but I checked into a DVC rental agency (not sure if I'm allowed to name which one) and for the same nights in a studio garden view it would be $1232. What would you do and why? It seems like the rental is obviously the better choice, but I thought I'd check here before I made any changes. TIA!!!

The hotel room you have booked will have 2 beds I believe and the studio will have a queen bed and a double sleeper sofa if that makes a difference. But the studio also has the kitchenette.

 

[DenLo]

Aulani has a queen sleeper in a studio plus queen bed and the hotel room has two queen beds.

The view for standard hotel rooms is often the parking garage. The view for garden/pool view studio is shrubbery or one of the pools. If you ask for The Waikolohe Valley you might get a view of the pool or lazy river.

 

[Girimama33]

We used our points for a standard hotel room (not studio), and we did not have 2 beds. We had a king or queen bed and a sofa sleeper.

 

[POTCfan]

Booking through Disney directly will give you daily housekeeping as well, where as renting points will only get you the DVC cleaning schedule (trash and towel service on the 4th day).

 

[heybets30]

We are booked thru David's for oct 6-10, standard room, standard view. Our price is $600 lower than hotel price - but, disney visa had some offers the last 2-3 months that would've made it closer in price, but we wanted it booked 11 months ago to ensure our dates were secure to match free airfare. We were told by the hotel there are 2 queen rooms, and king with pullout rooms. They put in a request for 2 queens for us, even though we went thru david's to rent points (they did so with an apology that there wasn't better info on the dvc site about dvc hotel rooms and that we definitely had a chance of getting 2 queens). We'll get parking free because of dvc rental, and will pay add'l $15 for housekeeping on day 2 because we want it.

 

[nifferearly]

Not sure if this is a concern to you, but the hotel booking will probably let you cancel, if necessary. With rentals from strangers, you're usually stuck if you have a change in plans. Also, if you're renting, you should be able to rent a standard view for less money than the garden view (assuming it's available to book). When we went, we splurged on oceanview. While we could see the ocean if we craned our necks around the balcony, we really had a view of the parking garage. For our next trip, I'll go standard view to save money and enjoy the ocean from the beach.