concierge collection: Does it seem like the points are too high?

[tvwalsh]

I have stayed at the Grand Hotel in Michigan, The American Club in Wisconsin, the Plaza in New York, the Whitehall in Chicago, and the Royal Garden in London. They are all very nice properties but each one seemed to be rather expensive pointwise using the $10.00 per point standard. Do any of you have the same feeling? In each case I could have used cash and rented out my points for more money than I saved.

 

[erikthewise]

Yes, I think they are high, if you value your points at $10. Not everyone does.

You should not expect DVC to compete with discounted rates -- the best you can hope for is that it will be comparable to rack rate. The Concierge Collection is not the worst value in DVC. My impression is that DCL on points is even worse (though I haven't put a spreadsheet to it). And weekends at WDW resorts are absurd.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by tvwalsh
I have stayed at the Grand Hotel in Michigan, The American Club in Wisconsin, the Plaza in New York, the Whitehall in Chicago, and the Royal Garden in London. They are all very nice properties but each one seemed to be rather expensive pointwise using the $10.00 per point standard. Do any of you have the same feeling? In each case I could have used cash and rented out my points for more money than I saved.

You will find that to be true for every non-DVC resort option. The best economic use of DVC points is for the DVC resorts. That is why many advise people who want to use the non-DVC options on a regular basis to carefully explore other timeshares before purchasing DVC. Another choice might be to buy less DVC points and use cash for non-DVC resort vacations.

The "price" of the non-DVC features are subject to change - based on the prices DVC negotiates for them and the demand for DVC resort rooms (from cash paying visitors). DVC rents out DVC rooms to pay for the non- DVC options. If the DVC rooms must be heavily discounted to attract sufficient demand, it will take more points/rooms to "pay" for the non-DVC choices.

Again, IMHO, it is not a good idea (financially) to buy into DVC if you are planning to regularly use your membership for the non- DVC options. FWIW, none of those options are guaranteed to be available in the future. They could be discontinued at any time.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Last Thanksgiving I stayed at the Sagamore Resort using points. I did this after checking the hotel rate and then determining that I was getting a deal by using points.

Since then they have raised the number of points needed for the Sagamore to be in the area that it would be better to rent the points and pay cash for a room.

HBC

 

[Doctor P]

If you value the points, as DVC clearly seems to, at about $6-$7 per point, you get pretty much what you pay for at many of the CC properties. At the time we went to the American Club, we got our room and two breakfasts (including room attendant and wait staff gratuities) for our 26 points. The best available room rate was about $168 plus tax, plus the $12.95 or so for the breakfast buffet per person. We figured that we got approximately $200 in value at the resort for our 26 points. That works out at $7-8 per point. The best room rates they ever have are $119 plus tax. Add the tax and the value of the breakfast and you are at about $160 or more, or about $6 per point.

 

[tvwalsh]

Thanks! The analysis you did is the type I enjoy! The approximate figures for Disney's evaluation of the point value fall in line with their Magical Beginnings programs which at different times were five or ten dollars. (except at Vero Beach which, for Disney, was an expensive but wonderful mistake!) I have gone to Vero many times in my ten years of membership and think it is a great asset to the DVC. Thanks again for your reply.

 

[erikthewise]

Originally posted by Doctor P
If you value the points, as DVC clearly seems to, at about $6-$7 per point, you get pretty much what you pay for at many of the CC properties. At the time we went to the American Club, we got our room and two breakfasts (including room attendant and wait staff gratuities) for our 26 points. The best available room rate was about $168 plus tax, plus the $12.95 or so for the breakfast buffet per person. We figured that we got approximately $200 in value at the resort for our 26 points. That works out at $7-8 per point. The best room rates they ever have are $119 plus tax. Add the tax and the value of the breakfast and you are at about $160 or more, or about $6 per point.

It's not so clear to me. If you compare weekday points for (non-DVC) deluxe WDW resorts to rack rates plus tax, the correspondence with $10 points is reasonably good across different resorts and seasons. I think it's too good to be coincidence.

In general there is a problem of whether DVC points are to be compared against rack rates or "street" rates. The comparisons result in different point valuations.

 

[Doctor P]

Actually, I think that all the exchanges are being done at some semblance of street rates. If you use the $6-$7 rate, the numbers come out for cruises and for the non-DVC hotels (perhaps before this past year), using the discount rates. For example, at the time we booked our cruise, our cash price would have been almost exactly $7 a point ($6 if we had secured the best early booking discounts).

 

[erikthewise]

LOL! Agreed! Points are worth $7 if you compare to discount rates, or $10 if you compare to rack rates. Only the dark and devious minds at DVC know for sure!

I checked out a cruise scenario I was interested in today, and it was almost exactly $7 per point. Since I'm paying $7.15 per point annually when I add annual dues to interest on my home equity loan, maybe I'll look for a better value for my points.