Confused on paying cash for weekends as a DVC member

[wisbucky]

Since we have just become DVC members and have not yet received our booklets we are a little confused on the cash payment for weekends. I notice a lot of discussion on paying cash for DVC resorts. Could someone explain how a person goes about paying for a weekend day at OKW after booking a week with points and approx what the cost is for a DVC member? I would just like an idea of how much a two bedroom at OKW would cost in March of 2005 for a weekend day?

 

[dianeschlicht]

Do you mean that you have reserved a week, but you want more days, so it would include additional weekend days? If you plan your vacation so that you get 10-11 days with only one weekend, you can get those longer stays on fewer points. As to cost of weekend days for cash. I have no idea, since we purchased DVC so we would have a prepaid vacation. Therefore, we don't usually pay for additional nights, since that seems like we are paying double for our prepaid vacations. For that reason, we usually plan to arrive on a Wednesday and stay for a week plus two additional nights. That means 10 nights with only 2 of them being weekend nights, and essentially 11 days.

 

[wisbucky]

I have been told that you can pay cash for on weekends and it would cost less than having rented out the points for those days. Just trying to save our points.........

 

[BWVDee]

I have paid cash for weekend nights before, it is very simple. You can either reserve the room through MS and get a 25% discount off of rack rates (if available) or you can have a separate cash reservation through CRO for the weekend nights. I have always found I can get much, much better room discounts through CRO using AP etc discounts than what MS gives.
One difference is if your reservation is made totally through MS it will be linked (or considered one continous reservation) vs not being linked if the cash part is made through CRO. Therefore there is a possiblity that you could have to move since you have 2 reservations. I have never had this happen and I have had non linked pt and cash reservations many times over the years.

 

[DebbieB]

DVC sometimes has rooms available for members at a 25% discount. It is usually cheaper than renting points for weekends because weekend points are so high. For example, I had a reservation for OKW 1 bedroom last May for Sunday to Friday. To add the Friday & Saturday night before, it would have been 48 points per night. I was able to get a member discount of about $322 per night incl tax ($385 x .75 = $289 x 1.115 tax = $322). Renting points at $10 per point would have been $480 per night (doesn't make sense even at regular rate).

To find out the regular rate, check this site:

http://dvc.disney.go.com/disneyvacationclub/resorts/resortshomeindex

You can sometimes get a AP or Code rate from CRO that is less than the member rate but DVC will not guarantee you will keep the same room (member rate they will). Member rate is considered a points stay for housekeeping. When combining with a points stay, they make it one reservation.

 

[Michelemouse]

To rent a DVC unit for cash you simply pay the rack rate. There are times when a 25% discount is available but this discount is not a guarantee. In my experience the discount is difficult to get at any of the sold-out DVC resorts (although not impossible).

You can call Member Services to see if the discount is available for your stay. Good luck and Welcome Home!

 

[BWVDee]

In my experience the discount is difficult to get at any of the sold-out DVC resorts (although not impossible).

Now I have had just the opposite happen. I have never had a problem getting AP rates for Fri & Sat nights. I certainly do not do this every trip but I have done this at least 6 times over the years.