Charging Friends???

[hellerjw]

Wow, what a series of bad experiences you have had with this, simply because you wanted to be generous and share the joy.

We had similar experiences with just standard hotel room/house rental vacations in the past which is why we came up with our "standard rate" system before we ever offered our DVC points to anyone else. Everyone still gets heavily discounted accomodations, but they know up front there will be some cost and its figured the same for everyone depending on the size of the accomodations.

I think your husband is dead on, we want to "share the magic", not give it away.

 

[goofyboyzmom]

I had to use 2 years' worth of points to book it over Christmas, but it was worth it to me. I also included one 4-day hopper per family, and breakfast each morning. I printed up a nice "brochure" detailing the accomodations and ticket, along with the price of 4-day hoppers for the rest of the family, and gave it to my family in Jan., for the following December. By Thanksgiving, one sister started complaining that she could not afford a 4-day hopper for her husband and teenage son, and my other sister was having financial problems, but she did not tell me about them. In the end, it was my brother and his family, and one sister(youngest)and her 2 kidsthat joined me. I found out from my mother youngest Sis' money situation, so I gave her my other sister's 4-day hopper(for a total of 2), so she only bought one child's ticket. I also left gifts in their rooms before they checked in(t-shirts, light spinners, Christmas ornaments, etc.) Upon arrival, we went straight to Winn Dixie and stocked our rooms, so our cost for eating out was minimal(I think it was 2 sit-down meals, and a few counter service). I felt like I did everything I could to keep the cost of the trip as low as I could for my siblings.

I think you are absolutely awesome and I hope that your family really learns to appreciate you.

While I love all of our trips and our first will still always be the best, one of my best trips was when we took my sister, her husband and her 5 year old twins. Seeing Disney through eyes that have never seen it (does that make sense??) was the best and being able to share our good fortune (in owning DVC) with those that we love is what makes it special. Hopefully one day we will be able to copy you and treat everybody as well!

 

[Chellymouse]

I'm taking my BFF in August. She didn't think it was "right" that I was using my points so she offered to pay for my plane ticket. I told her it wasn't necessary, but she did it anyway!

 

[Mic]

ktbugsmom--We started out with 150 BWV points that we financed through Disney, and that little contract was such a luxury for us at the time! Truth be told, it was a big strain on our budget, but it turned out to be the wisest investment I ever made! We own a few more contracts now(I don't even want to THINK about how much I've spent). I obviously had "add-on-itis" a few times!
My oldest daughter's name is Kayli, and we called her "Kaylibug" when she was small, so I really like your name!

hellerjw--You are MUCH smarter than me! I should have figured out a cost to begin with like you...points are a precious commodity.

goofyboyzmom--According to my husband, my ability to keep the cost of the Christmas trip so low is the reason my youngest sister went with us again a year after the Christmas trip! When she called me 2 months after the first trip begging to go again, I booked a New Year's trip at the BWV(using borrowed points) and felt the need to offer her two 4-day hoppers and the room as a Christmas gift! My husband was initially upset with me for booking a trip that required so many points, but we both agreed we LOVED enjoying the parks with my sister's 2 young daughters. My teenage daughter offered to take the girls to Community Hall one evening while my Sis and her husband and my husband and me had dinner at the Rose and Crown. My brother-in-law(soon to be ex-brother-in-law...I am going to miss him)is a fireworks junkie, so you can imagine how nice it was to see Illuminations from the patio at Rose and Crown! I am the oldest sister, and I practically raised my youngest sister, so I feel obligated to do for her!
My husband is now wanting to take his brother's family to WDW(all SEVEN of them!), but we just can't afford to buy their tickets. My husband will be the first to tell you how "cheap" his family is...and no, I do not mean "frugal". They think the world owes them something...and Hubby's brother is even worse than hubby's sister! I have offered them a room several times, and up to 2 park passes, but his second wife says she "wants to wait until their youngest(4) is old enough to remember it". She gives no thought whatsoever to BIL's children from his first marriage(16 & 18) who have never been to WDW, or her older kids(11 & 15). We may have to resort to plan B...just take BIL's older kids with us!
Thank you for the kind words!

 

[ktbugsmom]

Mic,
From the day my Katie was born, we have called her KatieBug - so - she is my little Buggy!

I forgot that my 150 points turned into 200 points - I added on just yesterday!!!

I am actually thinking of having my SIL stay with us in January for 3 nights when we stay at AKV (with my 50 point add on!). It is just me, DH and DD7 and it would be my SIL and my nephew who won't be 3 yet - so we are within the room limits. Yes - it would be tight, but we are a close family! After that, we are moving to BWV and I will rent her her own room. Then she will pay for those nights - which she was planning on anyway.

Again - you are a generous soul. Maybe once I bolster the retirement account, fund the college account and have more savings, I can offer more free accomodations. Someday...

 

[Disbuf]

We took friends of ours a few years ago for a week to Vero Beach. We got them their own Inn room. Since we refused to take money for the room, they insisted on buying dinner every night. At first it bothered me but I guess it was probably a fair trade off. Seems like their room was probably in the 60 point neighborhood.

We did let some other friends use points for 3 nights a couple of weeks at SSR in a 1Br. They used 60 points and I did charge them $5 per point to cover the dues on them. Again, I felt a bit guilty but they were thrilled and continue to rave about the experience. They wanted to give us more but I wouldn't let them.

 

[ryley26]

DB and family always stay on points from us. We argued about the price I told him they were free. He refused to not pay so when he uses our points he pays our annual dues for that year. We also always seem to go together and he buys are kids stuff at WDW to ease his conscience.

 

[Quiksilvr]

DB and family always stay on points from us. We argued about the price I told him they were free. He refused to not pay so when he uses our points he pays our annual dues for that year. We also always seem to go together and he buys are kids stuff at WDW to ease his conscience.

This is similar to the approach my wife and I are planning on taking when people insist on paying us for points. I think what we'll do is just have them pay the annual dues on the point difference between what we would have used ourselves and what we will be using with the extra people. If that "isn't enough" for them, then we'll come up with some other arbitrary number.

I find it slightly amusing that these threads always end up with a number of people responding that they don't charge their friends and family for points (for whatever admirable reason they have). That wasn't the question posed...I think the OP has already decided that she's going to do it...it's just a question of how much the final bill will be.

 

[PinkTink63]

My cousin came with us last year and asked the same question. We were only in a studio, so we didn't have to use more points for larger accomodations. She wanted to pay something, so I let her buy us a couple of meals.

 

[jdvm]

We've never charged either but we've learned that if our guests are insistent, it's easier to accept their offer to do something and make a suggestion like dinner.

One time we kept telling a couple that they didn't need to do anything and they wound up buying us a VERY expensive gift that we didn't particularly like and felt like we had to display every time they came over.

A dinner at California Grill would have better all the way around!

John

 

[Wendybird55]

Hi,

I'm coimg from the other side of the coin and hopefully this helps. I am the friend. I am not going with my firend on vacation, but they are letting us use some of their points to go on our own trip. I am very grateful and happy and will not feel right or enjoy myself if I didn't pay them. At first they said OK to the $10 a point we suggested (they had 127 points). Then after they made our reservation they said $900 is fine, my husband said how about $1,000 and that's what we're giving them, plus taking them out to dinner to thank them.

That $1,000 got me a 2-bedroom villa at BWV. If I reserved a 1-bedroom villa at BW through Disney with park admission it would cost over $3,000 for my husband, myself and son (and my son is under 2). A 2-bedroom would be over $4,000! My sister is coming with us so the 2-bedroom is great and the money savings is amazing. We are staying at one of the top resports in Disney in a 2-bedroom villa for 6 days for only a $1,000 for 3 adults and one child - you can't beat that!!! I went online to Disney and for our share of what we're paying for the room plus buying our park hopper ticket the cost is still a few dollars less than if we booked the same dates at POP MUSIC with park admission! So you can see how much money you are saving your friends. I am soooo grateful to my friends and I would have felt awful if I didin't pay anything.

It is so nice and wonderful of all of you to share your vacations and points with friends and trust me your friends know this and truly appreciate it. So charging them if they ask isn't a bad thing. They know how much money you are saving them. In fact I think it would make them feel better knowing they're somewhat paying their way. Even if you charge only $5 a point for the points they're using, it will make them feel better. Plus they won't be worrying throughout the vacation on how they can pay you back.

Thanks for all your friends!
Wendy

 

[kindra657]

WOW!!! I didn't realize how many other people share their points!! We are new to DVC & we took our 1st trip home nov '07.
anyways, our friends have traveled around the world & have laid on every exotic beach you could think of but they have NEVER taken a wdw trip before!!! the husband isn't all that thrilled about wdw but we planned to return to the world in sept '08 & we invited them along. we have a dd (6) and they have 2 girls (2 & 6). we decided that a 2 bdrm would be enough space for the 7 of us but then we started thinking about what in the world were we going to do with 3 young girls when we wanted some adult time!! then we decided to have babysitters come along with us! so now i have a 2 bdrm villa reserved for us and a studio reserved for the aunt & uncle (babysitters- who, btw, LOVE disney!). our friends & i are going to share the cost of the sitters' park tickets & ddp. our friends will also pay for their own park tickets & ddp.
to make a long story short; dh and i have a shared passion for disney & we cannot wait to take our closest friends with us & share the magic with them!!! i wouldn't dream of actually charging them to stay with us because we invited them. they really haven't mentioned anything about "paying" us back but knowing what type of ppl they are, they proly have something up their sleeves. even if they don't offer anything to us, i wouldn't mind a bit! i just want all of us to have a wonderful time together & i want the husband to say: "now i see what all the fuss is about! i had a great time in wdw!!!!" ('cause he is kinda "anti-disney" right now)
if one day we decide not to use our pts for our own vacation & friends want to rent them from us & take their own vacation, that would be a different story. i would proly let them go for $8 a pt to my friends but i wouldn't dream of charging them when i invited them along!

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I find it slightly amusing that these threads always end up with a number of people responding that they don't charge their friends and family for points (for whatever admirable reason they have). That wasn't the question posed...I think the OP has already decided that she's going to do it...it's just a question of how much the final bill will be.

I agree, it's admirable, but I am curious to know what those that have charged did work out.

We have a Grand Villa booked for our marathon trip in 2009. We borrowed a lot of points from our next Use Year to book this ressie as everyone wanted to stay in one room. We are glad to do it and look forward to having all of us together, but also know those points would have gotten us 1 or 2 more trips. So, I, too, am interested in how others resolved this.

 

[christianweecare]

We just returned from a long weekend trip to the World with my sister's family. We supplied the 2 bedroom unit at OKW. My sister paid for our dining plan. We paid the tips. Everybody was happy and a great time was had by all.
It worked for us. Others may have other solutions.

 

[aclov]

I don't charge friends or family. I even did a exchange to Hawaii and another couple came with us, they didn't give us a penny. I think they didn't even pay for a dinner. It's nice when they do something for you like my best friend will buy me a souvenir or pay for dinner. I personally would pay for something if I was being treated to free accomodations.

 

[jennilynn510]

we ususally ask our friends & family to pay for our tickets to the park & we tk care of the rooms. has always worked out good especially after they see the DVC rooms !!!!

 

[cncDisney4]

We joined DVC in 2005 and have taken several trips with friends and family. We haven't charged them anything and just enjoy spending time at WDW sharing our love of the mouse. We've even converted some friends to our way of thinking.

This year alone I'm taking friends next month and in August. It's a great feeling to be able to do this. To date we have been paid back by paying for some of our meals and we appreciate it, but don't expect it.

Cheryl