DVC for non Disney vactions

[dis2cruise]

Some destination locations and some resorts charge extra fees. Aruba has a tax you pay that is a few $$$ a day and I believe based on room size. Some resorts charge extra for utilities or a fuel surcharge. But in general the points and exchange fee are it.

Cruises usually give you a return between about $4.50 a point and $7 a point. If you miss out on the early booking discounts, the numbers may look more favorable because you've missed the discounts. For higher cabins they tend to discount less so the return may be better in that situation as well. For me to use points for a given option (assuming I'm not losing them anyway) I want a return at least $9 a point. If it's less, I'll look at other options. The problem with using points for DCL is there are some many other risks that even if it were break even compared to renting out points, I'd rent rather than use points to cruise unless I were within about 3 months anyway.

thanks for clearing this up for me Dean now I understand

 

[noname70]

If you can typically rent/transfer points at $10. I can't see a scenario where using points would be a better ($$$) value than paying cash for an exchange hotel, DCL, or Disney resort vacation. I realize that renting or transfering pts has potential headaches attached, but from a pure $$$ perspective-am I missing something?

 

[eliza61]

Hello all, I've checked everywhere but I couldn't find a solid answer so I guess I'll ask if you don't mind.

I've noticed people say that DVC is only good for Disney vacation's (WDW,WDL)? Reason I ask is I'd like to use it for say Hawaii,Mexico,Caribbean and possibly any of the other areas that are open for us to visit. My goal would be to visit WDW every 2 years.

Thanks for any help in this matter.

I'm a little late in this question, so sorry if I'm repeating some thing already said.
We use our points outside of Disney often. My take on it is a little different. My membership paid for itself after my 8th vacation at Disney, so any place I book now IMO is accomodations grabbed at a very, very low price.
We've mainly used it on the Concierge collection & generally I would not have paid the rake rate at those hotels. (DC, London & NYC)
Next year we are using our points for an adventures by disney vacation, so for the price of my dues (~800 bucks/year) one trip will be paid for.

My general philosophy is that I purchased the membership to use the points, if the vacation is great, the value is there.

 

[JudyS]

Bizneo, I agree with the posters here who say that using DVC points for things other than DVC stays is a poor value. It's not that you can't use the points that way, it's just that DVC is so expensive that you'd almost always be better off paying cash for a rental.

DVC is a premium product; you are paying for Disney's great customer service and the many on-site Disney perks. Stay outside of the DVC, and you use those benefits. (Well, you could use your points at a WDW hotel, but the point cost is scary.)

As for the new DVC in California, I don't think any information on pricing or points values has been released, so it's hard to say how good a value it will be. I suspect it will be extremely difficult to book there unless you own there, however, so I wouldn't buy DVC points at any of the current resorts in order to stay at Disneyland.

.....
We use our points outside of Disney often. My take on it is a little different. My membership paid for itself after my 8th vacation at Disney, so any place I book now IMO is accomodations grabbed at a very, very low price.....

Well, people differ on how they feel about this, of course. I view my DVC points as a resource that I want to maximize. As I see it, it makes no difference what I originally paid for the points; what matters to me is getting the most value out of the points now.

 

[JudyS]

......can you recommend some websites where I can do some research on other timeshares - preferably someplace where you can hear some "real world" experiences (not the "everything's perfect" marketing you get from the timeshare websites)?.....
However, we would like an occasional (1X/year) trip to the Caribbean or Hawaii, maybe Mexico (warm, tropical vacations). As you pointed out, DVC isn't exactly the best choice for that.

Which would you recommend for tropical, North American timeshare that is EASY and somewhat flexible (using at different times of year, trading, managing "points", etc)?

I'm not Dean, but I hope I can chime in here!

TUG (www.tug2.net) is a great resource, but it can take a while to find the information that you need. I'm setting up a website with timeshare information, and although only part of it is ready, you are welcome to take a look at it if you like. I'm hoping to get some feedback on it! I'm not sure about the rules for posting URLs here, but if you or anyone else would like to see my website, just email or PM me.

As for the locations you are interested in, I'm not aware of any timeshare system with resorts in all three areas (except maybe Royal Holiday Club, and their customer services is notoriously bad.) However, Mexico is a very easy trade, so the best approach would be to buy something that will get you to the Caribbean and Hawaii, and then trade for Mexico.

With timeshares, as with many other things, there is a trade-off between quality, time, and cost. In other words, if you want to stay at a high-quality timeshare, you either have to put in time to get the best deals, or you have to pay a higher price. So, if you want an easy-to-use system, you will probably need to pay more. A Marriott resale week in Aruba or Hawaii would not be particularly cheap, but it would allow you to get both the Caribbean and Hawaii (you'd own at one, and have trade priority into the other.) Trading into Mexico would be no problem.

Starwood (Sheraton/Westin) has excellent properties in Hawaii and the Caribbean, but their system is somewhat less user-friendly than Marriott's, and the price of their Caribbean properties is higher than the Aruba Marriotts.

Bluegreen would cost considerably less than an "island" Marriott, but would probably not provide as high-end of an experience (unless you lucked out and traded into a top-notch resort.) Bluegreen is a flexible system, but that makes it more complicated to learn than the Marriott system.

Wyndham is such a complicated system that I would not recommend it to anyone who wants a simple-to-use timeshare.

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

As for the new DVC in California, I don't think any information on pricing or points values has been released, so it's hard to say how good a value it will be. I suspect it will be extremely difficult to book there unless you own there, however, so I wouldn't buy DVC points at any of the current resorts in order to stay at Disneyland.

In March I was at the Grand Californian for a week and met with a DVC advisor at the Disneyland Hotel DVC location. At that point we were offered a "Founders Club" membership at the DVC Grand Californian Resort. The price per point was $100 after the discount and the minimum contract was 160 points. We already own 2 contracts and are looking forward to the Hawaiian option so we didn't purchase any.

I believe DVC is allowing west coast DVC members the option to buy in first.

 

[JudyS]

In March I was at the Grand Californian for a week and met with a DVC advisor at the Disneyland Hotel DVC location. At that point we were offered a "Founders Club" membership at the DVC Grand Californian Resort. The price per point was $100 after the discount and the minimum contract was 160 points. We already own 2 contracts and are looking forward to the Hawaiian option so we didn't purchase any.

I believe DVC is allowing west coast DVC members the option to buy in first.

Thanks for the info! Did they say anything about how many points it would take to book a room? (You an PM me, or point me to another thread if there is one on this subject, so as not to get this thread off-track.)