Direct vs. Resale for Riviera

[Adg0428]

I currently own 150 Poly points that I bought resale. I’m wanting to add on 50 points at riviera. Would you recommend direct or resale again?

 

[CarolMN]

Depends on how you plan to use the 50 points.

Do you anticipate using the Riviera points anywhere other than the Riviera? If yes, your only option would be direct.

FWIW, 50 points doesn't get you many nights at Riviera. Are you OK with split stays? Or banking & borrowing to stay at Riviera every other year? I don't recommend every third year because of the very real likelihood of " stranded" points.

 

[RoseGold]

I wouldn't buy a 50 point contract at all, because the closing costs are so expensive per point. 50 points at Riviera won't get you much. I'd just rent 50 points.

 

[pianomanzano]

We added on 150 points direct at Riviera (own SSR resale as well), partially for blue card but also b/c of RIV's point chart and the double points since we added on last Nov for our Dec UY. We treat those RIV direct points as strictly RIV points, which makes me wonder sometimes if we should've just bought resale instead. Perhaps we'll get more non-RIV usage out of those points if additional resorts come online that will be restricted. We also added on VGF resale so we have more SAP points to keep our RIV direct points as RIV-only. Not sure if this helps at all, but wanted to provide my perspective on going direct and essentially treating them as RIV resale points.

 

[Adg0428]

Depends on how you plan to use the 50 points.

Do you anticipate using the Riviera points anywhere other than the Riviera? If yes, your only option would be direct.

FWIW, 50 points doesn't get you many nights at Riviera. Are you OK with split stays? Or banking & borrowing to stay at Riviera every other year? I don't recommend every third year because of the very real likelihood of " stranded" points.

Yes, only at riviera. We’re local so we do 2-3 night stays. Was just hoping for either 2 or 3 nights at riviera.

 

[Sandisw]

For a 50 point contract, I’d just go direct as you never know how long it will take to show up resale.

We did opt for resale last summer for our 125 because we knew it would be used at RIV…favorite resort…and the contract marched what we wanted so it saved us $6k over direct…

But, for 50 points, the savings for the wait might not be worth it…and with CC, you get rewards, If it’s a Disney Visa, you get 6 months to pay without interest.

 

[kboo]

We added on 150 points direct at Riviera (own SSR resale as well), partially for blue card but also b/c of RIV's point chart and the double points since we added on last Nov for our Dec UY. We treat those RIV direct points as strictly RIV points, which makes me wonder sometimes if we should've just bought resale instead. Perhaps we'll get more non-RIV usage out of those points if additional resorts come online that will be restricted. We also added on VGF resale so we have more SAP points to keep our RIV direct points as RIV-only. Not sure if this helps at all, but wanted to provide my perspective on going direct and essentially treating them as RIV resale points.

We bought RIV direct before covid (and before opening) because I didn't want to wait for resale and go through the ROFR process, and at the time, it would have only been about a $5000 savings to buy BLT resale and go through ROFR (we needed more points in 2019). Our first couple stay was at Riviera and we quickly realized these would be the last points we would use as SAP. Well, then C hit and we had to reschedule many trips ... and were grateful we had the flexibility to book other resorts with those points, because RIV availability was surprisingly hard to get during that time - we were often booking and modifying well under 7 mos. We still mainly use our BLT points when sleeping around, but we were lucky not to lose any RIV points during the last two years.