Buy where you want to stay question????

[Malaguti Ball Clan]

Hi,

My wife and I are looking to buy into DVC, I understand the merits of "buy where you want to stay" but have a question to that regard; If we were to buy into a lower priced resort say Vero through resale at say 200 points, and later buy into say AKV at 100 points, would I be able to make a ressie at AKV at the 11 month window using those 100 points AND using some of the vero points? I WANT TO BUY WHERE I WANT TO STAY BUT just looking to "Get into your club" at the most affordable level BTW, you Disboard folks ROCK, I have learned Sooooooooo Much in the month I have been here, My wife says I have lost my mind because I read and read and read post EVERYDAY Thank you ALL for soooo many informative post!!!

 

[LIFERBABE]

Hi,

My wife and I are looking to buy into DVC, I understand the merits of "buy where you want to stay" but have a question to that regard; If we were to buy into a lower priced resort say Vero through resale at say 200 points, and later buy into say AKV at 100 points, would I be able to make a ressie at AKV at the 11 month window using those 100 points AND using some of the vero points? I WANT TO BUY WHERE I WANT TO STAY BUT just looking to "Get into your club" at the most affordable level BTW, you Disboard folks ROCK, I have learned Sooooooooo Much in the month I have been here, My wife says I have lost my mind because I read and read and read post EVERYDAY Thank you ALL for soooo many informative post!!!

No you can only use your home resort points at the 11 month window. You would have to wait until the 7 month window to use VB points.

 

[Malaguti Ball Clan]

No you can only use your home resort points at the 11 month window. You would have to wait until the 7 month window to use VB points.

So even if the ressie cost like 110, I couln't tap the other resort points for the extra 10 to make the ressie? I see, said the blind man...thanks

 

[Malaguti Ball Clan]

Found it on another post, just below the one I posted..... Makes sense, thanks all


Quote:
Originally Posted by Poopachino
If you have multiple home resorts with the same use year, does that give you the advantage of being able to combine points from each?

For example, if you have two 100 point contracts at different home resorts with the same use year, can you schedule a 200 point trip using 100 from each?

Thanks!

If the multiple contracts are a Master - Add on combination, then yes. At 7 months you may freely combine points with no problems or extra steps. You have a Master-Add on combination if all of the contracts have one membership number. The Master contract will have a number like XXXXXX and the add ons will have a number like XXXXXX.001, XXXXXX.002, etc.

If you have more than one membership number for the contracts, then it gets a little more complicated. You have to reserve nights from each contract and have MS link them together. You cannot use points from more than one contract for the same night without doing a transfer. For example, if a single night costs 12 points, you can't use 7 points from one contract and 5 from another to make the reservation. You have to transfer points between contracts so that all 12 points are in a single contract. Since you are only allowed one transfer per use year per contract, that would use up your allotment of transfers for both contracts. If the contracts have different use years, then you can only "combine" the points at the 7 month window.

In no case, can you combine points from contracts with different use years to make a reservation at a DVC resort at the 11 month window.
__________________

 

[Tozzie]

Just realize that the Maintnance fees at Vero Beach are the highest of any DVC resort.

 

[5forDiz]

If you really don't tind that you advance plan your vacations more than 7 months than the booking advantage ( 8 - 11 months for Home Resort ) may not be that important to you.

Also, although MFs at Vero are highest you should crunch your numbers because it may be a worthwhile purchase depending upon what the initial cost per point is - - it could be quite a number of years before the MFs eat up the money you saved on the purchase.

Best wishes

 

[twinklebug]

Echoing what the others have said - MFs at Vero are extreamly high (the cost of upkeep & insurance for being right on the ocean near Hurricane Central) I think the resort looks beautiful and am dying to try it with my family one of these trips, but unless it's the key spot I want to vacation during peak times of year for that resort (summer is very hard to book I've heard), I wouldn't buy there. Someone posted a good equation to use when figuring the least expensive resort to buy in at if it's simply a matter of getting points in your pocket (at the time I looked into it I think the best deal was at OKW w/extension - a beautiful resort too). I searched several methods and can't find it - does anyone have the thread linked under their subscriptions?

... all that said, I suspect there may come a day when I do buy pts at Vero - I grew up vacationing at Myrtle Beach before it became tourist heaven and miss both the tranquility of the ocean & the wildlife.

 

[Dean]

Hi,

My wife and I are looking to buy into DVC, I understand the merits of "buy where you want to stay" but have a question to that regard; If we were to buy into a lower priced resort say Vero through resale at say 200 points, and later buy into say AKV at 100 points, would I be able to make a ressie at AKV at the 11 month window using those 100 points AND using some of the vero points? I WANT TO BUY WHERE I WANT TO STAY BUT just looking to "Get into your club" at the most affordable level BTW, you Disboard folks ROCK, I have learned Sooooooooo Much in the month I have been here, My wife says I have lost my mind because I read and read and read post EVERYDAY Thank you ALL for soooo many informative post!!!

I wouldn't recommend VB simply because it's cheaper to buy, the dues are far more. Now if you'll use it part of the time, that's another matter. SSR is likely the best value for this purpose given it has a longer expiration, a lot of resales available and is relatively cheap to buy resale. That way you have the option of an 11 month on property reservation then you can try to get something at a different resort at the 7 month window if you want and can work the wait list more easily and safely.

In your example of adding on at AKV, you could reserve using your AKV points at 11 months out and then get the additional days at SSR. Then at 7 months out you could try to change to AKV for the remaining days and link the two reservations so it'd be in effect, one reservation. Of course you could bank/borrow AKV points to potentially get everything at 11 months out.

 

[Starr W.]

I wouldn't recommend VB simply because it's cheaper to buy, the dues are far more. Now if you'll use it part of the time, that's another matter. SSR is likely the best value for this purpose given it has a longer expiration, a lot of resales available and is relatively cheap to buy resale. That way you have the option of an 11 month on property reservation then you can try to get something at a different resort at the 7 month window if you want and can work the wait list more easily and safely.

In your example of adding on at AKV, you could reserve using your AKV points at 11 months out and then get the additional days at SSR. Then at 7 months out you could try to change to AKV for the remaining days and link the two reservations so it'd be in effect, one reservation. Of course you could bank/borrow AKV points to potentially get everything at 11 months out.

I have VB points because we use them every year for Easter break. If I just wanted to go a few days in the summer, I would have just bought more WDW resort points. Dean is right about the dues. My 250 VB pt MF's are almost pretty close $wise to what I pay for 400 SSR points MF's.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Echoing what the others have said - MFs at Vero are extreamly high (the cost of upkeep & insurance for being right on the ocean near Hurricane Central) I think the resort looks beautiful and am dying to try it with my family one of these trips, but unless it's the key spot I want to vacation during peak times of year for that resort (summer is very hard to book I've heard), I wouldn't buy there. Someone posted a good equation to use when figuring the least expensive resort to buy in at if it's simply a matter of getting points in your pocket (at the time I looked into it I think the best deal was at OKW w/extension - a beautiful resort too). I searched several methods and can't find it - does anyone have the thread linked under their subscriptions?

... all that said, I suspect there may come a day when I do buy pts at Vero - I grew up vacationing at Myrtle Beach before it became tourist heaven and miss both the tranquility of the ocean & the wildlife.

Just a side note about Vero Beach (which I own and vacation there), its seems like it is getting harder to make ressie's at 7 mos. Another poster just tried 4 mos. out for summer, no 1 or 2 bdrms. Summer is not peak time for Fla. residents, but it is for everyone else!

 

[Malaguti Ball Clan]

I have VB points because we use them every year for Easter break. If I just wanted to go a few days in the summer, I would have just bought more WDW resort points. Dean is right about the dues. My 250 VB pt MF's are almost pretty close $wise to what I pay for 400 SSR points MF's.

Thanks, I was actually just using that as an example, but I think the way to go for us is to buy into the resort we want to stay at (undecided) and then add to the account as we can, as a master and add on???? more research needed

 

[disneynutz]

I suggest that you rent points at the resort that you are interested in and try it out first.

Many people don't even know where the DVC villas are in a mixed resort. We spoke to a new owner who bought BCV and they mentioned that they wanted to reserve a room with a lake view. I don't think that they believed me when I explained that BCV's aren't next to the lake.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I suggest that you rent points at the resort that you are interested in and try it out first.

Many people don't even know where the DVC villas are in a mixed resort. We spoke to a new owner who bought BCV and they mentioned that they wanted to reserve a room with a lake view. I don't think that they believed me when I explained that BCV's aren't next to the lake.

Sooooo true! Great suggestion...

 

[Malaguti Ball Clan]

Thanks, we are actually renting in june at OKW, and plan to do a bunch of exploring, but we think we want to buy at AKV at this point. Thanks again. Alex

I suggest that you rent points at the resort that you are interested in and try it out first.

Many people don't even know where the DVC villas are in a mixed resort. We spoke to a new owner who bought BCV and they mentioned that they wanted to reserve a room with a lake view. I don't think that they believed me when I explained that BCV's aren't next to the lake.

 

[disneynutz]

Alex - OKW and AKV are about as opposite as you can get when it comes to resorts. AKV rooms will be smaller, rooms much darker in color, hotel style instead of condo style and much more crowded and busier than OKW. Can you switch your reservation to the AKV?

 

[Malaguti Ball Clan]

Alex - OKW and AKV are about as opposite as you can get when it comes to resorts. AKV rooms will be smaller, rooms much darker in color, hotel style instead of condo style and much more crowded and busier than OKW. Can you switch your reservation to the AKV?

AKV was what we were trying for first, but could not get a 2bdrm SV for our time period...as we were less than six months out, the nice lady we rented the points from has us waitlisted so we will see. I like the style of AKV, but love the size of OKW. I took OKW because it was open, not scared, we lived in the real KW for four years AND LOVED IT..... so we are excited, but I have spent 25 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, most of it in Florida, that said I usually DO NOT vacation near the beach....or the water in general, I did it all backwards, worked most of my life in florida and am retiring in virginia....I never was too bright

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Just as an FYI, I wouldn't gauge DVC on OKW. OKW rooms are much larger, and the balconies are huge compared to the other DVCs. If you want to see what the room is like, rent anywhere other than OKW. The room layouts are almost identical, although the decor will be different (e.g., SSR has medium oak tones, BWV is light and bright, VWL has a more rustic feel, etc.).

As for the resorts themselves, OKW and SSR are more condo style (separate buildings with outdoor hallways). AKV, VWL, BCV, BWV, BLT, and AKV are more hotel style (rooms off a main lobby with carpeted, enclosed hallways). While there, you can defintely tour the other DVCs, and if you're lucky, you may be able to see one if you ask the front desk. I wanted to see a 2-BR one time because we had never stayed in one, and walked by one while Mousekeeping was cleaining. I asked if I could take a quick peak, and she invited me inside.

Best of luck with your decision. Just recapping what others have mentioned, I think the 8 - 11 month planning is key. If you plan to resort hop, or can't plan 8 - 11 months in advance, a home resort offers you no benefit. Buy the best deal you can get (but watch expiration date of the resort, and maintenance fees...the MFs will catch up with you!). If you want a home resort advantage and can plan, definitely buy where you want to stay.

 

[5forDiz]

So even if the ressie cost like 110, I couln't tap the other resort points for the extra 10 to make the ressie? I see, said the blind man...thanks

In addition to what Dean posted
Dean's reply said bank previous UY's or borrow from upcoming UY's points to have for example " the extra 10 " you'd need to make ressie at 11 month window.

I'd agree this easiest / best way to remedy being short, just keep in mind that if you're reserving AKV during priority booking window the banked &/or borrowed points would need to be from your AKV contract.

Some other alternatives when short points :
~ book a night or more on cash through MS; often 25% member discount may be available OR

~ arrange for a points transfer from another DVC member who has AKV as their Home Resort to bring you up to the number of points you'd need to make reservation. A member is allowed 1 transfer of points either into or out of their account per Use Year so you'd need to be sure you get enough points transferred in to cover and the transferred points need to be valid for use for the dates of trip ( ie your trip is during Dec 2009 so you'd need to transfer from an AKV member with 2009 UY month of Dec or earlier OR get transfer of an AKV members 2008 UY points that you'd then bank to use during 2009 UY ).

~ or rent a reservation made by another member for the additional night or nights.

It's alot of info to digest, but hopefully helpful for you to know options

Best wishes

 

[CarolAnnC]

I am also of the mindset that says buy where you want to stay.

Now as far as staying at the resort before buying? Well, I have not followed that for the most part at all. I purchased OKW in 1997 without having stayed there, although I did the tour several times prior.

I did stay at BWV before purchasing there only because we wanted to try something different. BCV was brand new, and I did not stay there before purchasing. And also did not stay at Vero Beach before purchasing that contract.

No regrets at all, and everything at all the resorts even exceeded my expectations once I stayed at each of them.

 

[Malaguti Ball Clan]

Thanks Carol