Do you track what would have been your 'rack rate' after your book using DVC points?

[WDBRDWLK]

We have a spreadsheet keeping track of maintenance fees, rack rates, available discount rates for where we stay, and moderate hotel prices as well just for a comparison. Had we not bought into DVC we wouldn't be staying for 2 weeks at a time like we do now, but it does give us a ballpark idea of savings we have made.

I totally agree. We have been able to bring family and friends who would not have been able to afford to stay on property, even in the value resorts. And as the saying goes.. I wish I had bought sooner!

 

[Ansky]

I totally agree. We have been able to bring family and friends who would not have been able to afford to stay on property, even in the value resorts. And as the saying goes.. I wish I had bought sooner!

Keeping track off all this on a spreadsheet is more just for fun than anything else. DVC probably really hasn't saved us anything overall. I'm sure we have spent more money because of it. Any savings we have saved is probably blown in longer stays and with longer stays comes more food costs and souvenirs. But like I said before it can give you a little look at what you may be saving on your resort stays.

 

[alldiz]

Keeping track off all this on a spreadsheet is more just for fun than anything else. DVC probably really hasn't saved us anything overall. I'm sure we have spent more money because of it. Any savings we have saved is probably blown in longer stays and with longer stays comes more food costs and souvenirs. But like I said before it can give you a little look at what you may be saving on your resort stays.

Yea and let's not forget all the "extra savings" when we squeeze in an extra trip because of an annual pass;-)
Kerri

 

[BK2014]

For those of you who track rack or discounted rates, where do you find this information? Do you just search through the WDW website for a comparable reservation when you make your DVC reservation?

 

[WDBRDWLK]

For those of you who track rack or discounted rates, where do you find this information? Do you just search through the WDW website for a comparable reservation when you make your DVC reservation?

That is exactly what we do. We use the Disney website to get the price of what the room would cost. We don't spend hours looking up travelocity, AAA or other sites for a cheaper rate. This way works for us.

 

[Ansky]

Thats all we do as well. Just check out the Disney website for promotions/discounts. We don't get too crazy about it. Its just for fun.

 

[Ansky]

Yea and let's not forget all the "extra savings" when we squeeze in an extra trip because of an annual pass;-)
Kerri

We are actually "saving" money next week for that exact reason.

 

[bumbershoot]

I didn't but now I wish I had.

Started to do that & checked rack rate once or twice. But since I never would have paid Disney's cash price for a DVC villa (even with a 40% discount), I soon lost interest,

I wouldn't either, but now I wish I had paid attention just for FUN.

You never get bored with Disney!

Sadly my family has to disagree with that. Grand Floridian Villas sparked something in December, but still, my family hasn't been inside of WDW since January 2015 and son and hubby aren't sad about that. We went to Disneyland over a year ago. Universal pulls us much stronger than Disney...

If one was happy with just a hotel room they probably wouldn't buy into DVC.

We were totally happy with a hotel room, but we could tell how much we were spending in a year and decided that we could spend about the same amount (with a DVC loan) and get much better rooms. We're still happy to go with a hotel room if needed.

those are far from the same experience as staying in a deluxe on property.

IMO being in a villa isn't the same experience as staying in a *deluxe*. Deluxe Villa isn't the same as Deluxe.

Though GFV felt close...

 

[Maistre Gracey]

We are actually "saving" money next week for that exact reason.

I never understood this school of thought.

Families will spend $2k on airfare, *possibly* thousands on accommodations, tons of cash on food... just because they can lower their AP per day cost by $3 ?????

MG

 

[CarolMN]

I never understood this school of thought.

Families will spend $2k on airfare, *possibly* thousands on accommodations, tons of cash on food... just because they can lower their AP per day cost by $3 ?????

MG

Well, it's like saving $100 on that putter (it was on sale) that you didn't need. Does that help?

 

[zavandor]

I started to do the same, but I was too lazy to continue
Truth is that it was pointless for me. I've never stayed Deluxe before DVC, not even moderate. My first trip to WDW was in a Value, followed by an off site stay. I knew I wasn't going to save any money with DVC, exactly the opposite. I just calculated that I could afford it: I had the cash in hand, I can afford the MFs without sweating, I can afford tickets and airfare.
5 years forward and I'm amazed about how much I love my DVC. I'm just back from a 2 weeks trip at SSR, BWV and Poly, which I all loved but I would have never booked cash.
By the way, since I bought I've rented enough points to cover all the MF paid and now my contract is worth more than I paid for, even counting FIRPTA and broker fees I could sell and get more than I paid for. I could say I've vacationed at Disney for free for 5 years! I guess my breakeven point was the day I bought.

 

[hemispheredancer]

We are going down to OKW in May and have a 2 bedroom. I informed my fiancé of the cash price for the stay and he was floored. Another reason to love my DVC!

 

[alisonslp]

I have a spreadsheet that tracks taxes/dues, savings based on if I did a rack price or if I were to rent points - though I don't put in taxes, which now that I think about it, could be hundreds extra per trip. I calculated my initial investment per point across the length of the contract and use that to tell me how much I spend per trip compared to cash or rental point pay. I think I broke even for rack rate around 6.5 years and will break even for rental point rate (I used $10 to start in 2008, $12 now) this year, I believe.

I do it just for fun. I am a numbers person. As for whether it is a true reflection, who knows. we are a family of 5 so we couldn't get into the value/moderate hotel rooms when we first started going. Not sure if they fit 5 now. We would have had to do 1 bdrms anyway, or stay off property. I do know for sure that if we didn't buy into DVC, there is no way we would have gone as much as we do now. Our kids are teens and we likely would have chosen vacations elsewhere each year. Sort of a dumb impulse buy. But having said that, we do enjoy our vacations at Disney. I like being able to have room to spread out, to relax at the resorts. And I really do feel at home at Disney. Rarely do I feel that way at other resorts.