Do you ask your guests to pay for any part of their stay?

[luckytso]

Hi,

We are planning on going to HH next summer with my BIL's family. I plan on reserving 2 1-br units there so that we each have our own privacy and freedom. Also, just in case if each family is changing the plan, the other one can still continue.

I know many of you invite families and friends to DVC resorts with you. Do you ask them to pay for their rooms or part of it? I am thinking about either not ask for anything at all or ask them to pay for the maintenance fee on the points that I would need to use to secure their reservation.

They said that they want to pay for their room. How do you usually handle this?

I put up a poll for this and just wondering what most people do. Thanks

p.s. The above poll is for the points you would have incurred IN ADDITIONAL to your own stay. For example, if you will have guest in your 2-br unit which you would have reserved anyway, there is no additional cost to you.

Also, the poll does NOT include guests such as your parents, grandparents or children, grandchildren on either side. I will not even consider charging for these people. The poll is only for others outside of this category. Thanks

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

I think making thon them pay for portion of the mantainance fee for the points you are using to make their stay is fair.

Allison BCV 6/03

 

[ducklite]

No, if I invite them they are my guests. Why on earth would I ask them to pay? To me that's like inviting someone to dinner and then asking them to pay the check.

That said, I would never turn down my guests picking up the dinner tab one night.

We've invited people to be our guests four times now, and three of the four picked up dinner one night. The one that didn't didn't seem to feel the need to pay for anything, which I felt was maybe a little taking advantage.

Generally when I invite someone to be my guest at a DVC resort, the room is one me, the rest they pay for.

Anne

 

[MickeyMagic]

I have a deal worked out with my sister who travels with us often. We stay during the week at DVC and I use points. On the weekend, we either stay near Sea World via priceline or onsite at Universal and my sister picks up the tab for those hotels. Works for us!

I have also used points for a reservation at VB for my parents and have invited other family members to join as at WDW in a DVC resort and have used my points for their accomodations.

That's a big part of why I bought DVC -- fun to have family get togethers at WDW!!!

 

[crisi]

Haven't answered the poll, because it depends on the guest.

My parents or my husband's parents get their room free - if we do the inviting - and probably even if they just hint that they want to come.

If we do the inviting, friends and other family members stay free.

However, we've already discovered (we haven't been members for much more than a year) that there is a class of people who invite themselves. Perfectly nice friends and family that we might not normally spend a vacation with. If they are comfortable to invite themselves, and we wouldn't normally ask them to go except they expressed interest, I'd expect them to pick up the dues on the points for their stay.

Now, if you BIL wants to pay for the room, I'd let him pay for the maintenance fees. He's still getting a good deal and he is offering to pay. Plus, it doesn't put him under obligation as your "guest" or you under obligation as the "host." Some people like to pay their own way and do feel an obligation they rather wouldn't feel if you picked up the tab.

 

[luckytso]

crisi, points well taken, I modified the criteria.

 

[LisaR]

Originally posted by ducklite
No, if I invite them they are my guests. Why on earth would I ask them to pay? To me that's like inviting someone to dinner and then asking them to pay the check.

That said, I would never turn down my guests picking up the dinner tab one night.

We've invited people to be our guests four times now, and three of the four picked up dinner one night. The one that didn't didn't seem to feel the need to pay for anything, which I felt was maybe a little taking advantage.

Generally when I invite someone to be my guest at a DVC resort, the room is one me, the rest they pay for.

Anne

I agree with everything you said. However, the key here is "if you invited them." If I invite someone somewhere (dinner, vacation, a movie, etc), then I pay. If I invite someone and don't plan on paying for everything, then I make that very clear. For instance, I just invited my sister to join us sometime at HH. I said we would love for them to join us and they would have their own room for free. However, they would need to get themselves there and pay their own expensives. For my sister, I wouldn't have even needed to say that but I would rather be safe then sorry. Now, I have had MANY people say they would love to join us. I blow most of them off! lol While they may be friends, I don't want to vacation with them. However, I have told a few that if we ever had any extra points I would give them a good deal. Sorry, but they just aren't people I am willing to "give" a vacation to (and some of those people include family!!)

Lisa

 

[A1A1]

I have taken my father along with me a few times now since my mother died. He has remarried, and I have reserved a seperate room for him and his wife. I have asked him to pay for my dues on the points I used for the reservation for his room. Last year, I got them a room at OKW while dd and I stayed at BWV. I felt a little taken advantage of, so this year I asked him if he wanted to have the new arrangement. He and his wife want to go and didn't mind paying the dues which would be less than what they'd spend on any comparable accommodation. He is in a much better financial situation than I.
I figure that I am helping him out too.

 

[Basser]

I use my points for our stay and ask guests to help out with other expences such as food and transportation to WDW. Most look at the money they save on rooms and gladly chip in.

 

[sandieb]

Hi. we have some friends who are going to WDW with us. and we have booked a 2 BR at the BCV. We have not asked them to help pay for lodging...they are our guests. They have offered to rent a luxery car or minivan for the week, and I said "sure". I gave them the info on tickets which they will purchase themselves. We are staying a night at the Swan before BVC and 2 nights at Vero Beach after. They are paying for their own rooms at both.

Like other folks - I get to do the inviting!
If I can't afford the points, then it would be foolish for me to invite them. If they want to come, then they need to book a stay somewhere.
Sandie

 

[ClarabelleCow]

It depends, Usually we don't invite as in "hey, we have DVC, or another timeshare, come stay with us, all expenses paid!" Since I'm the one in the family with the timeshares, I'm usually always planned out when it comes to vacations. It usually works out as "hey, aren't you guys going to WDW, or St. Maarten, can we join you!" With that being said, if I have room in my room, then no charge, if I have to book more rooms, or more points, then they pay the maintenance on those rooms or points. Perfect example is this coming November, we weren't going, Mom and Dad said, hey lets go to VWL, so I booked a 2 bedroom for the 6 of us, and they were going to pick up the bike and boat plan and a fireworks cruise. Well Sis decided 2 months after I made the reservation to join us! Scrap that whole plan, couldn't get a studio, so switched over to OKW, for the 9 of us, 2 bedroom and studio, everyone wants to pitch in and pay the maintenance, why, because they know we plunked down a lot of money for the timeshare and because we have 39 more years of it, they will want to join us again and again and don't want to take advantage. Would I charge them to make money, no, but they don't want to feel like they are imposing. But I have a sneaking feeling that once mom and dad stay there, I see a purchase coming on!!

 

[CarolA]

I have given stays to my brother, my best friend and her family and another friend. I expect nothing. However, my brother and my best friend payed for all my meals during the time I was there with them and I received a small check from the friend since she had planned on buying my ticket (I have an AP). The other friend gave me a very generous gift card to Home Depot this XMAS when I was moving into a new house.

However, I would have been fine if they had not done anything. I am currently working on a reservation for another friend and if we can clear the waitlist then she will be home free.

The maintenace cost is just a fixed fee in my life now!

 

[gonzalj1]

I have, so far, taken DSIL, DBIL and their 3 kids to BCV last August and am planning on taking my sister and her husband and daughter in a couple of years.

I haven't asked for anything and most likely will not. Just the pleasure of having the kids along was payment enough.

 

[jodifla]

We've taken several sets of friends as our guests. We never charge them. Maybe we just have great friends, but all of them have pitched in more than adequately (taken us to dinner, bought groceries, made dinner, watched our son so we could go out, etc!)

 

[Pa@okw95]

I don't charge my guests anything. I buy them park passes also but if they want ot go to water parks or Pleasure Island, they pay. They also pay for most of their meals.

 

[Eeyore2U]

Charge people I ask to go? No way. The deal is that they need to pay for their food and drink and passes and airfare. We cover the room. When we take a friend od DS we pay the tab except spending money.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We don't charge our guests. I think it is rude to invite someone and expect them to pay. If they ask, I usually say, "just take us out to dinner one night". Last year, our guests treated us to Cirque Du Soliel, but it is their choice. We have invited some folks that couldn't afford to do anything more than buy their own admission tickets. For those, we have also done a fair amount of cooking in the villa too. Once we took extended family in a GV and had each family group be responsible for the main meal one day. That way we had the main meal taken care of for 4 days, and it worked out well for those who couldn't afford the WDW prices.

 

[colleen costello]

We just took friends for 3 nights at HH. As I invited them, I never expected any payment. They moved to South Carolina and we don't get to see them much; it was a treat for me to see them and for the kids to be together.

That said, I think my friend's hubby is a cheapskate. I myself would have certainly picked up dinner and this would have been easy as with the kids along, we ate cheap -- Cracker Barrel and Fuddrucker's. He manages the money and they are not broke, but I knew he would never pay for a dinner... just not his "thing." It was worth it to see my friend and her kids but this was a "one time thing" -- we just don't have enough points for the giant room!

 

[kathleena]

When I invite my DSD and her kids to stay with me on my DVC timeshare, she knows that the accomodations are free, plus I usually pay for a character breakfast. I love taking the kids anyway, and if they had to pay for the room too, it would make it harder for them to go.

And since my DH can't go very often, so I alternate going with him and going with family.

I have also given some nights in a BWV studio away to family for Christmas presents.

But, if I go with a friend outside of the family, then I ask them to help cover the maintenance fees. Not the whole thing, probably only about 1/2. This is not an invitation from me to them, like I would invite family, this is just a joint decision to go on vacation together.

 

[WDWLVR]

We've given points to my in-laws for Vero Beach and we've also had them stay with us in a 2 Bedroom (if we had been alone we'd be in a 1 Bedroom). We've never asked for payment - just expect them to buy their own tickets. They have taken us out to dinner on the trips we've been with them and also treated us to a day at Universal.