Booking outside of Disney properties?? Help!

[MadHatterMom2]

We are considering DVC after recently attending an Open House at WDW. We will use some of the points on Disney properties BUT also plan on doing a fair amount of international travel. So here is my question: How valuable/easy is it to "trade" points through RCI? Is DVC a good option if you plan on visiting other Disney parks (Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo) and/or other hotels around the world?

 

[vicki_c]

It's said quite often here that DVC ownership is best (meaning easiest, most economical) for staying at the DVC resorts.

There are lots of other timeshares out there that you can get for much cheaper than DVC for non-Disney locations.

If you were talking about rare instances of trading out, but your statement of "a fair amount of" makes me think that DVC would not be a good choice for you, to accomplish that.

 

[Dean]

We are considering DVC after recently attending an Open House at WDW. We will use some of the points on Disney properties BUT also plan on doing a fair amount of international travel. So here is my question: How valuable/easy is it to "trade" points through RCI? Is DVC a good option if you plan on visiting other Disney parks (Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo) and/or other hotels around the world?

Timeshare exchanges are risky and not guaranteed. The non DVC disney exchanges are very expensive points wise, likely to get worse over time, and there are no guarantees that option will continue. The best option by far is to buy the points you'd use at DVC resorts and look elsewhere for non DVC trips. Buying DVC to trade for either of the options you mention would be a poor choice IMO.

 

[wingkng]

I agree with most people that the best use of DVC points is to use it to stay on property. For me, I had to do a trade because last year I purchased BLT and they gave me equal number of bonus points at SSR to use. I couldn't travel any more last year, and I could not bank those points, so I deposited into RCI in hopes of saving it for future travel. I had to deposit some of my own points additionally to add up to 160 points in order to get a 1 bedroom trade somewhere.

Well, recently, my wife was feeling the urge to go to NYC with the kids next year. So, I thought, why not try an exchange. I was placed on the waiting list, and a month later I got a letter in the mail saying that I had a successful trade into the Manhattan Club for August 2011. We are very excited about that trip. Mind you, I would never have done it had it not been for the bonus points I received.

I would do it again if there was no other way to use the points, for some reason. It's a good alternative for those who have already committed limited resources to DVC. If you want to travel outside of Disney but do not have the money for the hotel stay, this option would come in handy. However, if you have the money to spend to travel outside of Disney, you would get the best deal by renting a timeshare from someone. There are countless TS owners who are renting there units out to pay for their maintenance fee. Just check out Timeshare Users Group, www.tug2.net

 

[kathymcgrath]

We bought DVC over 10 years ago. We understand that using points for non-DVC properties is not the best or most economical way to use points. However, what drew us to DVC was the fact that you could use your points for other vacations at other properties, and if you wanted to, you could rent your points to someone.

We have used most of our points at DVC properties in Orlando, but did take an Alaskan cruise 4 yrs ago on Holland America (no longer available). It was very easy to get these reservations. After some mixup with Holland America moving our room to something we didn't pay for, they upgraded us to a large corner suite. We never would have been able to pay for a trip like that!

We have rented points a few times when we found we couldn't use them- and it was very easy. We also have been able to bank/borrow points and treat other family members last year (24 total) to a family reunion in Disney. What a memory!

We love the flexibility. We also know people that have bought other timeshares and haven't used them or been able to sell them.

 

[rentayenta]

We booked out of DVC into RCI in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and it was awesome! While the majority of trips will be DVC resorts I have no problem trading out and think that option is a nice perk.

 

[Cmbar]

We booked out of DVC into RCI in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and it was awesome! While the majority of trips will be DVC resorts I have no problem trading out and think that option is a nice perk.

PERK being the key word here. No guarantee that Disney will continue this at all. For those of you who havent' been over on the Disney Cruise Line boards, as of last Friday there has been a "'suspension" of being able to use points to book any Cruises prior to Oct 2011. That "perk" is also not guaranteed so DVC and DCL are in full rights to do this although some notice would have been nice. There was plenty of availabilty on Thursday and then bam on Friday anyone calling to book a cruise prior to Oct 11 was denied.

As others have said, DVC is only obligated to give you your home resort for the number of years on the contract. That is it. If you read the fine print you will find that even booking at the other DVC resorts is a "perk" per say. So I wouldn't invest in DVC if you aren't planning on primarily using it to stay at WDW. If you do decide to buy DVC please look into Resale. Much cheaper and gives you exactly the same ownership rights. You just have to wait for a sale to go through as opposed to Disney doing it quickly.

Good luck in your decision.

 

[disneynutz]

We are considering DVC after recently attending an Open House at WDW. We will use some of the points on Disney properties BUT also plan on doing a fair amount of international travel. So here is my question: How valuable/easy is it to "trade" points through RCI? Is DVC a good option if you plan on visiting other Disney parks (Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo) and/or other hotels around the world?

Only buy a DVC membership to stay in a DVC resort.

Bill

 

[AnnaS]

If I had intentions of trading every two years or so, I would not buy DVC or I would buy less points.

I have only traded out once and that was when DVC was still exchanging with II. I wish there was a sticky where we have some feedback from everyone who has traded into RCI. I would not mind and have no problem trading out every few years. I read tripadvisor and belong to TUG. Mmany reviews on TUG are old. I am also guilty of that. I never wrote a review of the Royal Sands (which was excellent). I recently wanted and wrote a whole review for my recent stay at the WLVs and after finishing it, it say it could not be completed at this time or something.

I have the points right now - I will even bank some points this year into next so I would not mind requesting a 1 BDR or 2 BDR somewhere and I would still have points to vacation at WDW the same year. This scenario might not happen often.

It's nice to have the option of exchanging but I know it could go away at any time. I am also a bit disappointed that we cannot book on the Dream for next summer. I planned on booking one cabin with points, another one a combination of points and cash and one all cash. It's not the end of the world so will re-think our plans.

 

[Sandisw]

I agree with everyone. If your main purpose is to trade and only use your DVC for WDW on occasion, then I would only buy enough DVC points to do the WDW trips and look in to other options for your international travel.

Or, start off with a small contract, and see how easy or hard it is to trade out for something. Since trips to WDw would be secondary, home resort would be less important.

This would give you a start and then you can decide for yourself whether or not DVC works the way you want it to.

And, as others have mentioned, trading out the way it works now can be changed at any time.

 

[tmagg]

You can book any TS and trade into RCI. But as with any TS it makes the most sense to buy the one that you will use the most when you aren't trading.

 

[tubtruck]

I am also having a similar problem. At present we own 375 points at Disney which gets us our 1 trip to the WDW each summer. I want to buy a further timeshare to use for our shorter trips which we tend to take in Europe mainly to Spain and the Canary Islands. We could do with enough points to take one or two 1 week trips per year.
We purchased a sampler program with Diamond resorts last year and this will do us for next year, we have had one trip so far and is good for another two that we have already booked. I dont think I want to purchase with them though as there annual dues seem high and the points dont have any resale value.
My problem is I cannot seem to find any other timeshare company that operates in southern european countries that have any more than one or two resorts available.
Can anyone suggest any help please.

 

[LostNWonderLamb]

I also have been looking into dvc, but as others stated i would like to do international travels, at least every 2 years or so. It would be great to know what other timeshares out there are recommended for Europe. I wanted to choose DVC because I love Disney and thought the cruise line option was great, and I trust that the Disney brand would be trading at some outstanding places.

 

[daddey]

We are considering DVC after recently attending an Open House at WDW. We will use some of the points on Disney properties BUT also plan on doing a fair amount of international travel. So here is my question: How valuable/easy is it to "trade" points through RCI? Is DVC a good option if you plan on visiting other Disney parks (Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo) and/or other hotels around the world?

DVC is a good option if you are paying cash for the purchase. If you are considering financing I wouldn't do it. Your break even point takes a lot longer if you finance.

DVC is a great option for you if you are not paying with a monthly payment

 

[JimMIA]

Timeshare exchanges are risky and not guaranteed.

The non DVC disney exchanges are very expensive points wise, likely to get worse over time,

and there are no guarantees that option will continue.

I just wanted to emphasize Dean's spot-on comments and add a couple of my own thoughts.

1. Not only are RCI exchanges relatively expensive in DVC points, purchasing DVC points itself is an expensive undertaking. DVC is one of the more expensive timeshares you can buy, especially if you buy directly from Disney!
2. RCI currently has 6,573 affiliated resorts worldwide, but DVC points can be used to exchange into only a handful of those. I don't know how many, but I'd bet it's less than 200. So even though using DVC points via RCI may sound like a great option, it's not what you may think.

I know DVC owners do exchange their points for RCI options, but I'd take the broader view of things and not get overly-influenced by a few owners' anecdotal successes. ONE great exhange doesn't make a great program, no matter how satisified that owner is with their one vacation.

I personally think DVC is a great timeshare for stays at DVC resorts, but would never even consider purchasing DVC for anything else.

 

[Dean]

I also have been looking into dvc, but as others stated i would like to do international travels, at least every 2 years or so. It would be great to know what other timeshares out there are recommended for Europe. I wanted to choose DVC because I love Disney and thought the cruise line option was great, and I trust that the Disney brand would be trading at some outstanding places.

In addition to my previous comments related to RCI exchanges that Jim highlighted, I would add the following thoughts. Most everything in Europe is either easily available to most any RCI member or so difficult to get during any high demand time as to make it not worth counting on. Further, EVERYTHING applicable would be easier and cheaper to get using non DVC means compared to using DVC. Buying to use points for DVC trips and looking at non DVC options for non DVC trips is the only reasonable approach for those that are looking to buy. Someone who already owns has a different set of issues to consider that makes the options less than ideal (and less clear) but possibly reasonable depending on specifics.

 

[gabrieltorres]

we have had great experiences thru the years exhanging outside of DVC - we have used RCI, Concierge Collection and other disney hotels. We also evaluated options like just RCI back then but decided to invest in DVC as the primary interest being in travelling to DW and other Disney destinations, but with the flexibility of the exchanges. To us it has been a one-stop shop and it has been valuable

 

[Sammie]

In addition to my previous comments related to RCI exchanges that Jim highlighted, I would add the following thoughts. Most everything in Europe is either easily available to most any RCI member or so difficult to get during any high demand time as to make it not worth counting on. Further, EVERYTHING applicable would be easier and cheaper to get using non DVC means compared to using DVC. Buying to use points for DVC trips and looking at non DVC options for non DVC trips is the only reasonable approach for those that are looking to buy. Someone who already owns has a different set of issues to consider that makes the options less than ideal (and less clear) but possibly reasonable depending on specifics.

Very good advice and something I hope all potential buyers will seriously heed.