Do point amounts ever go up?

[krazy4crusing]

Do the amount of points you need for a specific unit ever increase? i.e. if a 1 bedroom for a week is 239 points now, will it go up in a few years. I want to make sure we purchase enough points to last us for the life of our contract.

Thanks!

 

[Kidanifan08]

The total amount of points over the year cannot change for a given resort. But, DVC can re-allocate points. So, if they want to add more points to a certain time of the year, they have to take away the same amount of points in another part or parts of the year. This happened to us about 2 years after our first direct purchase. We bought exactly enough for 7 nights in a 1BR during the second most expensive season of the year. With a re-allocation, that same week cost went up by 5 points. No problem . . . we have done 4 add-ons and more than doubled our initial purchase. But, the moral of the story is that it can happen. You may want to build in a 5-10% point cushion when you make your initial purchase.

 

[krazy4crusing]

Thanks, that helps!

 

[disneynutz]

The last reallocation caused us to come up short 30 points per year for our typical stay.

People who bought SSR for the THV really got a bad deal when Disney increased the required points to stay there.

Bill

 

[Breyean]

People who bought SSR for the THV really got a bad deal when Disney increased the required points to stay there.

Bill

Yes, that was a terrible marketing ploy. The guide on a tour we set up for friends a few years ago really stressed what a great deal THV were and buying SSR, which they pushing at the time, was the way to lock them in since they book up so fast.

You have to wonder if the plan all along was to eventually raise the points required for THV and they just never bothered to tell buyers it was a limited time situation.

As I recall, when THV were being finished being renovated, there was a question as to whether they w/b assigned to OKW or SSR, but they went to the latter because it was still in active sales modes and THV would help them sell out, finally.

 

[Dean]

Do the amount of points you need for a specific unit ever increase? i.e. if a 1 bedroom for a week is 239 points now, will it go up in a few years. I want to make sure we purchase enough points to last us for the life of our contract.

Thanks!

As noted, your time can go up. Whether you need more points depends on you and your situation. If you're pretty sure you will not need more than a 1 BR (4 people or less) AND you're looking at a higher cost week (Magic or above), you likely don't need any cushion. After that it depends on how you'll cope if your slated time does go up. There are always options to stretch points but for some they aren't acceptable. If you have 5 or more, or you're looking at Choice or Adventure, I'd consider at least a 10% cushion. For resale, I wouldn't let a great contract go by if it's close either way.

 

[com_op_2000]

Over 20 years of DVC, there have been 3 major points adjustments and yearly adjustments for holidays (IE: Easter/Spring Breaks).
I am one of those who were badly impacted by the point reallocations.
I went from having enough points to stay 27 nights per year to 22 nights per year. I usually stay in studios, on Sun through Thurs nights, at the lowest points cost seasons.

 

[hab321]

So with that, do they go down for other times of the year?

 

[disneynutz]

So with that, do they go down for other times of the year?

Yes, but those other times might not benefit you.

Bill

 

[disneynutz]

Over 20 years of DVC, there have been 3 major points adjustments and yearly adjustments for holidays (IE: Easter/Spring Breaks).
I am one of those who were badly impacted by the point reallocations.
I went from having enough points to stay 27 nights per year to 22 nights per year. I usually stay in studios, on Sun through Thurs nights, at the lowest points cost seasons.

But because of the changes you can now buy one time use points from Disney.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

So with that, do they go down for other times of the year?

right. when pts for the treehouse villas went up, pts for the rest of SSR went down. when pts for the sun-thursday weeknight stays went up, pts for the fri-sat weekends went down.

so if you wanted to stay at SSR (not THV) and you like long weekends, you were happy with the changes. but many people bought in specifically to take advantage of the lower pt costs (like me - i bought in for sun-thursday stays) and were disappointed (or worse) when things changed.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

The point allocation of a few years ago hurt some people, but at the same time depending on your vacation habits, some could stay more nights on their points.
For example, here are point costs for a standard studio at the Boardwalk first half of December:

week night / weekend night / week
2009 9 20 85
2013 10 13 76

Many people stayed Sunday through Friday. You could stay those 5 nights for 45 points. Adding the weekend almost doubled your cost--another 40 points for just 2 nights. As a result, some units were not booked on weekends.
If you go for a week your stay is less points. If you stay Friday of one week to Sunday of the next your stay would have been 125 but is now 102 points.
If you wanted to go 3 times from Sunday to Friday, your stay would have been 135 but is now 150.

Don't let this scare you from buying into DVC.
There will never be an increase in all units at all times. The total points have to stay the same.

 

[LisaS]

So with that, do they go down for other times of the year?

In some cases yes, in others, no. It depends on what caused the changes. For example, a couple of years ago they re-categorized some AKV rooms from Savanna View to Standard View. To compensate for the drop in points for those rooms they raised the cost to book a Savanna View 1BR in most (maybe all?) seasons. So if you normally book Standard View you won't save any points due to the change but you stand a chance of getting a partial view of a savanna. If you normally book a Savanna View room, you have to pay more for the same room no matter the time of year.

 

[Sandisw]

I do think if you look at Magic season, whether you travel then or not, it will give a good idea of what a high point time will/could be.

As already mentioned, think about including trips with 2 weekend days--those are higher--and it will help as well.

Once you've done that, then you can try to buy in around those numbers. If you happen to travel in less busy times or avoid the weekends on occasion, you should have the cushion needed to weather any future adjustments.

We were benefited by the past reallocations since it allowed us to fly in on whatever day seemed to give us a better rate without trying to avoid weekends since they were so high in 2009 when we bought...now, I don't worry about it as their is little difference for the 2 bedrooms we get in the summer...

Of course, we have since gone from the original 180 to now having 430 points so that helps a GREAT deal!!!!

 

[Dean]

Over 20 years of DVC, there have been 3 major points adjustments and yearly adjustments for holidays (IE: Easter/Spring Breaks).
I am one of those who were badly impacted by the point reallocations.
I went from having enough points to stay 27 nights per year to 22 nights per year. I usually stay in studios, on Sun through Thurs nights, at the lowest points cost seasons.

IMO it depends on how you look at it. In addition to the 4 formal reallocations (OKW mid 90's, 2 yrs of across the board reallocation a few yrs ago and the THV), there have been other items you might look at as such. Just the points changes from OKW to BWV and beyond were effectively a reallocation and increase, AKV and BLT? both had view rearrangements. I believe the S-F stay was a predictable casualty though I do believe that without some type of minimum stay requirement, they went overboard with benefits to those that stay weekends.

So with that, do they go down for other times of the year?

As noted, they do but the decreases have never been as large or obvious as the increases. And while there are limits on how much things can change in a year, those protections do not appear to extend to the lockoff costs and as DVC has proven, all you have to do is make changes over 2 years anyway.

Actually DVC has an obligation to change the points costs if the demand gets too far out of balance.

 

[disneynutz]

IMO it depends on how you look at it. In addition to the 4 formal reallocations (OKW mid 90's, 2 yrs of across the board reallocation a few yrs ago and the THV), there have been other items you might look at as such. Just the points changes from OKW to BWV and beyond were effectively a reallocation and increase, AKV and BLT? both had view rearrangements. I believe the S-F stay was a predictable casualty though I do believe that without some type of minimum stay requirement, they went overboard with benefits to those that stay weekends.

As noted, they do but the decreases have never been as large or obvious as the increases. And while there are limits on how much things can change in a year, those protections do not appear to extend to the lockoff costs and as DVC has proven, all you have to do is make changes over 2 years anyway.

Actually DVC has an obligation to change the points costs if the demand gets too far out of balance.

Per the rules and regulations, DVC can also require minimum stay requirement of up to 5 days.

Bill

 

[Dean]

Per the rules and regulations, DVC can also require minimum stay requirement of up to 5 days.

Bill

Correct and there are ways they could even favor a stay of even 7 days if they so chose but they couldn't require it for more than 5 days. However they could set which days such as grouping the weekends and weekdays as a requirement within the rules. To a degree, the current reservations options actually do that by allowing 7 days at a pop at the 7 and 11 month window. Personally I don't think they will ever make such a change though I don't think most people realize the degree of extra costs they pay for such flexibility.

 

[rwcmath]

Would a 5 night minimum preclude 2-3 night split stays? I was thinking of 50 VGF for 2 nights every year.

 

[disneynutz]

Would a 5 night minimum preclude 2-3 night split stays? I was thinking of 50 VGF for 2 nights every year.

The minimum is available for Disney to require should they wish to do so. IMO it won't happen but the restriction would be per reservation.

I would buy more points than needed due to the possibility of Disney re-allocating points or you vacationing at a different time of year or staying at a different resort or staying an extra day. You can never have too many points!

Bill

 

[Dean]

Would a 5 night minimum preclude 2-3 night split stays? I was thinking of 50 VGF for 2 nights every year.

I agree with Bill that it is unlikely to happen. However, implemented in it's extreme form it could preclude shorter stays and no, the previous sales and promises wouldn't prevent such a restriction nor would threats of legal action. IF they were to institute any type of minimum stay it'd likely be a 3 day minimum with no other restrictions OR they would group the weekend and weekdays into their own grouping. Even if they did something along these lines they'd likely remove the restriction once you got to a shorter notice, say 2, 4 or 7 months out.