Does anyone buy DVC for this reason...?

[kimberlym4]

Just because it's not a bad priced time share in general and you'd like to use the trading power to travel elsewhere?

On our last trip to Florida we stayed free for 3 days at a beautiful 3 bedroom villa about 15 miles from Disney. Of course, we had to do the time share demo. That was fine because we were interested. These places (part of Interval International) cost $25,000 (granted there are 3 bedrooms and the interior was gorgeous). Out of our budget!

We then went to Disney for a few days and did the DVC demo. At about $15,000 for the 160 points we realized you are also part of Interval International and can trade for many place around the world. And if I'm reading right it is only 124 points for most of those weeks. That means theoretically we could trade for the free place we just stayed at if we wanted. And pay $10,000 less for the contract. We've also looked at time shares on the Gulf (also part of Interval Internation) that are between $16-$19,000.

Am I missing something here? Or am I wrong about the number of points needed to trade to elsewhere in the world? Many here talk about looking at the way your family travels and we honestly wouldn't go to Disney more than once every other year or so, therefore, we weren't really considering it. But now I'm thinking it may be the way to go even if we don't use it multiple time per year.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I feel like I'm missing something.
Thanks.


OK - I see a similar thread a few below here - sorry for duplicating!

 

[jessag]

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that anyone who intended to do that is pretty disappointed... only a small subset of the Interval properties are available to trade DVC points for (via official channels, anyway), and anytime we have checked, the places we are interested in even if on the list are not available. Its a great idea in theory, and perhaps there are good websites for people who own real interval timeshares to just trade reservations with people.. but otherwize, its kind of a pain.

Just because it's not a bad priced time share in general and you'd like to use the trading power to travel elsewhere?

 

[mrdiscranky]

The non-DVC timeshare experts on this board will tell you there are much (MUCH) better deals to be had buying a timeshare to trade. At the end of the day, Disney is still pretty expensive, has limited trading options and has good, but not exceptional trading power.

Note that you should assume a trade will cost you 160 points. While there are exception, figure that the time and place you want to go will be during "high" season.

 

[BigEeyore]

We are new to DVC - but my impression is that trading out is a bit of a pain, and requires much advance planning. Also, they charge you $95 to trade out of DVC. Basically - buy DVC if you mostly want to stay at DVC resorts. If that is not the case, go with another company.

 

[Brian Noble]

If all you really want is access to Interval with good trade power, there are better ways of doing so through the timeshare resale market. If you are content to live without either Marriott or Starwood internal preference, it would be possible to buy a week for a few hundred to at most a thousand dollars including closing costs that could get you an exchange to most weeks available.

I know this because I happen to have a couple.

 

[CarolMN]

Don't buy any timeshare until you have done your homework. It might take several months before you know enough to make a good decision for your family. Verify anything a salesman tells you.

A good place to learn about timesharing in general is www.tug2.net

 

[CarolA]

The one area I have been disappointed with my DVC is on trading out. I have found it very difficult and not a good deal.

I am looking at Marriott timeshares to compliment my DVC and use for trading. I would not buy DVC for trading!

 

[Dean]

Just because it's not a bad priced time share in general and you'd like to use the trading power to travel elsewhere?

On our last trip to Florida we stayed free for 3 days at a beautiful 3 bedroom villa about 15 miles from Disney. Of course, we had to do the time share demo. That was fine because we were interested. These places (part of Interval International) cost $25,000 (granted there are 3 bedrooms and the interior was gorgeous). Out of our budget!

We then went to Disney for a few days and did the DVC demo. At about $15,000 for the 160 points we realized you are also part of Interval International and can trade for many place around the world. And if I'm reading right it is only 124 points for most of those weeks. That means theoretically we could trade for the free place we just stayed at if we wanted. And pay $10,000 less for the contract. We've also looked at time shares on the Gulf (also part of Interval Internation) that are between $16-$19,000.

Am I missing something here? Or am I wrong about the number of points needed to trade to elsewhere in the world? Many here talk about looking at the way your family travels and we honestly wouldn't go to Disney more than once every other year or so, therefore, we weren't really considering it. But now I'm thinking it may be the way to go even if we don't use it multiple time per year.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I feel like I'm missing something.
Thanks.


OK - I see a similar thread a few below here - sorry for duplicating!

Sorry you are way off base and at this time, ill informed. You are believing what you were told by the sale people, possibly about 80% half truths and lies depending on the company in question. DVC has mediocre trading power as do all Orlando timeshares in spite of what they say at the presentation. And DVC is one of the most expensive both to buy and in terms of yearly fees. In addition trading DVC is such a disadvantage in that you don't have direct access to II and as such, miss out on a lot of opportunities that II otherwise gives you as well as the cost. Depending on the timeshare in question you might be able to pick it up for 10-20% of the price you were quoted if you go resale, maybe 50% of so for Marriott.

 

[JudyS]

....
On our last trip to Florida we stayed free for 3 days at a beautiful 3 bedroom villa about 15 miles from Disney. Of course, we had to do the time share demo. That was fine because we were interested. These places (part of Interval International) cost $25,000 (granted there are 3 bedrooms and the interior was gorgeous). Out of our budget! ...

The thing is, almost all of those "$25,000 timeshares" are available for just a few thousand dollars on the resale market. So, if you paid, say, $15,000 for a DVC contract, you be paying at least $10,000 more than if you bought one of those off-site timeshares resale. Also, DVC has very high annual fees.

DVC can be fabulous if you want to stay in a DVC resort, but it is generally a poor value for trading.

For trading into Orlando, I recommend buying a good-quality, non-name brand timeshare with low fees that is located outside of Florida and that trades in II. (You want to be outside of Florida because fees are high in Florida and Orlando timeshares are generally blocked from trading back into Orlando. You want to trade in II, generally speaking, because it has most of the higher quality Orlando inventory, including most Marriotts and all DVCs. You need good quality because II blocks trades that are too different in quality. Wanting low fees is obvious!) I'm happy to share details with anyone who emails or PMs me.

 

[kimberlym4]

Thanks so much for all the info so far. I guess I don't understand why the trading value is so poor. If you join II (no matter which time share you purchase) don't you have access to all of their inventory? Are you saying that this inventory is limited or that DVC is just a lower quality (compared with other II resorts) so you have trouble trading with all the higher rated places?

 

[Starr W.]

Thanks so much for all the info so far. I guess I don't understand why the trading value is so poor. If you join II (no matter which time share you purchase) don't you have access to all of their inventory? Are you saying that this inventory is limited or that DVC is just a lower quality (compared with other II resorts) so you have trouble trading with all the higher rated places?

DVC has a quality filter for out going trades, they have basically went through the II list and picked the resorts they feel would be acceptable, and that's what you can trade into. I own another TS that trades with II and I have not really gone through to compare the lists. I personally like the ability to look at what is available even if I have an on going search, maybe something better might pop up. You can't log on to II and search inventory with DVC

DVC is a very sought after trade on II. But I can trade into DVC and get a 2br unit with my starwood week(MF's $761) for a lot less than I can own DVC for. But if you want to go at a specific time, trading is a bit of a gamble.

Buy DVC to stay on site, that's what we do. I have my Starwood week and my new purchase in N. Michigan to exchange or stay for our non-Disney vacations.

 

[tjkraz]

Thanks so much for all the info so far. I guess I don't understand why the trading value is so poor. If you join II (no matter which time share you purchase) don't you have access to all of their inventory? Are you saying that this inventory is limited or that DVC is just a lower quality (compared with other II resorts) so you have trouble trading with all the higher rated places?

I've always understood it to be largely a function of supply vs. demand.

Look at a popular vacation destination like Hawaii. In order for one II member to trade INTO Hawaii, another Interval member must DEPOSIT a Hawaii-based week. Simply put, the demand for Hawaii is greater than the number of weeks being deposited.

As such, Interval must filter its requests and only allow owners of resorts with similar trading power to get the available Hawaii weeks. If they allowed the owner of a timeshare in...say...Branson, MO to deposit his week and trade into Hawaii, it wouldn't be an equitable trade. The Branson week has a much higher likelihood of going completely unused due to lack of demand.

As for Orlando, it's just not viewed as an elite timeshare destination. There's also the issue of ample supply given all of the different timeshares in the area. Therefore DVC doesn't have the greatest trading power in terms of the other locations you can obtain.

 

[Brian Noble]

There are two "issues" with DVC.

The resorts themselves are in very high demand, so that helps. But, the resorts are in Orlando, which II has in serious over-abundance. So, that hurts. That's issue one.

What's more, DVC resorts seem to have the highest quality score of any Orlando resorts based on trade tests I've seen. You'd think that's a good thing, and if you own to stay there, it certainly is. But, II has a very severe "downward" quality filter---they will not allow an owner to exchange into a resort that is too much worse than the one they own.

In my experience II is more forgiving for "upward" quality trades than "downward" ones. Paradoxically, someone who owns a slightly less-nice resort has more total options available to them than someone who owns, say, the Four Seasons Aviara.

 

[littlestar]

I've always understood it to be largely a function of supply vs. demand.

Look at a popular vacation destination like Hawaii. In order for one II member to trade INTO Hawaii, another Interval member must DEPOSIT a Hawaii-based week. Simply put, the demand for Hawaii is greater than the number of weeks being deposited.

As such, Interval must filter its requests and only allow owners of resorts with similar trading power to get the available Hawaii weeks. If they allowed the owner of a timeshare in...say...Branson, MO to deposit his week and trade into Hawaii, it wouldn't be an equitable trade. The Branson week has a much higher likelihood of going completely unused due to lack of demand.

As for Orlando, it's just not viewed as an elite timeshare destination. There's also the issue of ample supply given all of the different timeshares in the area. Therefore DVC doesn't have the greatest trading power in terms of the other locations you can obtain.

Actually, summer Branson trades pretty good. I own a gold week (I book May) and II gives me a bonus week for depositing. We have friends that own platinum and they get bonus weeks for depositing with II. I'm actually glad that we own timeshares that are drive-to destinations.

From what I'm seeing on II, there is more Hawaii available this year because people seem to be going to drive-to vacations more and skipping high-priced airfare vacations. Some people are actually talking about Williamsburg, Branson, Gatlinburg, becoming even more popular because they are drive-to vacations for a lot of people. Trading changes, nothing is set in stone. It's pretty interesting.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thanks so much for all the info so far. I guess I don't understand why the trading value is so poor. If you join II (no matter which time share you purchase) don't you have access to all of their inventory? Are you saying that this inventory is limited or that DVC is just a lower quality (compared with other II resorts) so you have trouble trading with all the higher rated places?

You don't "join" II. DVC holds the membership in II and allows members access to limited bookings. You can't view the online availability and must call Member Service to see what is available.

 

[Rence]

We have bought three timeshares on the resale market - we did our research and made sure that they trade well etc. We purchased units close to home so that if times are tough, we can use them ourselves easily rather than trading. Between the three units, we get six weeks per year - our total cost to purchase was under $2000.

Right now we belong to II, but all of our units also trade with RCI. We plan on also joining RCI to increase the number of trading options.

 

[Dean]

We have bought three timeshares on the resale market - we did our research and made sure that they trade well etc. We purchased units close to home so that if times are tough, we can use them ourselves easily rather than trading. Between the three units, we get six weeks per year - our total cost to purchase was under $2000.

Right now we belong to II, but all of our units also trade with RCI. We plan on also joining RCI to increase the number of trading options.

I wouldn't in your situation. You can always trade through the independents for things you can't get through II. You'd have a yearly membership fee for RCI, higher trade costs and give up the bonus week for any week you deposit with RCI.

 

[Dean]

Thanks so much for all the info so far. I guess I don't understand why the trading value is so poor. If you join II (no matter which time share you purchase) don't you have access to all of their inventory? Are you saying that this inventory is limited or that DVC is just a lower quality (compared with other II resorts) so you have trouble trading with all the higher rated places?

I don't see any of the above info that's technically wrong but I do have a little to add. In trading out using DVC the quality filter doesn't really come into play other than they've preselected the resorts you can trade to. The reasons DVC doesn't trade all that well are several. As mentioned, it's Orlando and being DVC doesn't totally overcome that. Also, II gives any DVC deposit a generic trade power rather than rating each resort and week separately. So it's an average of HH off seasons and Orlando during higher demand times and everything in between. And likely the most important issue to DVC members is that both Marriott and Starwood have internal trading preferences with II and thus everyone, including DVC members, are standing in line behind those members. That's likely why Littlestar's unit trades so well.

 

[Starr W.]

I don't see any of the above info that's technically wrong but I do have a little to add. In trading out using DVC the quality filter doesn't really come into play other than they've preselected the resorts you can trade to. The reasons DVC doesn't trade all that well are several. As mentioned, it's Orlando and being DVC doesn't totally overcome that. Also, II gives any DVC deposit a generic trade power rather than rating each resort and week separately. So it's an average of HH off seasons and Orlando during higher demand times and everything in between. And likely the most important issue to DVC members is that both Marriott and Starwood have internal trading preferences with II and thus everyone, including DVC members, are standing in line behind those members. That's likely why Littlestar's unit trades so well.

Got to voice in on the Starwood preference period, yes it's shorter but you do see some good stuff. Easter at the new Westin in Cancun, prime ski weeks in Vail/Beaver Creek(don't know if it's the same time every year but this one was made in mid-late May for 2009).

It does pay to have those requests in early, especially to catch Starwood deposits, since they usually do a big bank of one resort or area at a time.

 

[littlestar]

And likely the most important issue to DVC members is that both Marriott and Starwood have internal trading preferences with II and thus everyone, including DVC members, are standing in line behind those members. That's likely why Littlestar's unit trades so well.

I think that's a big part of it. Our Branson week is a Marriott.