DVC Incentives and Initial Points

[CaliforniaDreamn]

Hi Everyone!

As I noted in another post, we just joined DVC while visiting DW.

However, I have a couple questions in regards top when the points are actually given to you and what the "real" incentives are.

When you join, do you normally receive your points right a way (once you are in the system) OR do you have to wait until the next year (2012) to receive them?

Also, is the cash discount ($18 for over 300 point) the only incentive now OR does it depend on who your sales rep is?

A friend of mine just joined (1 day before me over the phone for the same home base) and got a $20 cash discount off the point price and their points will come every March. My points will come every March also, and I just joined yesterday (6/23/11). I'm not sure why that is either.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance!

 

[htmlkid]

What was your home resort and what was the initial price??? Also how many points did you purchase???

 

[CaliforniaDreamn]

What was your home resort and what was the initial price??? Also how many points did you purchase???

Hi,

The home resort is Hawaii and I purchased 410 points.

 

[Breyean]

I think the incentive for using a reference from a current member is $2/point. Maybe that's the difference between what you and your friend got?

 

[CaliforniaDreamn]

I think the incentive for using a reference from a current member is $2/point. Maybe that's the difference between what you and your friend got?

No, neither of us had a referral. At the time we did not know about each other joining and did not know any other members. She joined on the phone and we joined while we were there.

I am truly green when it timeshares and vacation clubs.

 

[dizfan]

Disney doesn't negotiate on incentives. Sales reps do not have the ability to negotiate. Disney sets the requirements for incentives.

Based on the $2/pt price difference between you and your friends, it may have been a result of the recent referral program. Disney was offering an additional $2/pt incentive if you had a referral from an existing member.

If you ask your friends if they had a referral, that may explain the price difference.

As far as when points are received, Disney changed policies in the last couple months. I could be mistaken on the following because of this new policy shift.

My understanding is that you should receive 2011 points for your March UY. The one exception would be if you bought at a resort that is not already open. (For example, Aulani. Since it was not open in March 2011, there would be no 2011 March UY points).

Home!

 

[disneynutz]

I have to ask a question, do you intend to vacation in Hawaii every year or every other year? How often do you want to vacation at WDW or DL? I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that you bought what was being sold to you and not what you need.

Bill

 

[CaliforniaDreamn]

I have to ask a question, do you intend to vacation in Hawaii every year or every other year? How often do you want to vacation at WDW or DL? I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that you bought what was being sold to you and not what you need.

Bill

Good and fair question.

We (my husband and I OR one of our 3 adult children and their families) do go to Hawaii at least once a year. Sometimes twice. We also have 2 younger children still at home that love WDW, so we get there about every two years or so.

One of our main reasons for making Hawaii our home base was that the adult children will get a lot of use out of it even if we are not there.

My husband and younger children love WDW and would love to spend 2 or 3 weeks there instead of 1, but after a week there (especially in the heat of the summer) I need a good long spa week to follow it.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Have you closed yet? It may not be too late to get the referral discount on there. As you're both buying at the same time, I don't know if you can refer each other. It's worth asking, though. If that doesn't work, you know lots of friends who could refer you... right here on DisBoards. The member who refers you gets a very nice reward, so I'm sure you wouldn't have a shortage of volunteers.

I'm not sure, but there may be DisBoards rules regarding soliciting or offering referrals on the boards. I'll ask a moderator to step in with some guidance.

 

[disneynutz]

Good and fair question.

We (my husband and I OR one of our 3 adult children and their families) do go to Hawaii at least once a year. Sometimes twice. We also have 2 younger children still at home that love WDW, so we get there about every two years or so.

One of our main reasons for making Hawaii our home base was that the adult children will get a lot of use out of it even if we are not there.

My husband and younger children love WDW and would love to spend 2 or 3 weeks there instead of 1, but after a week there (especially in the heat of the summer) I need a good long spa week to follow it.

You had me worried for a minute.

We are at WDW now and have talked to a couple of new owners who didn't know that they could buy other home resorts. We sent both back to their Guides because they don't really want to vacation in Hawaii every year. One couple wanted VWL but they were told that it is sold out and not available. Never heard of resales and thought that you could only buy from Disney.

Bill

 

[CaliforniaDreamn]

You had me worried for a minute.

We are at WDW now and have talked to a couple of new owners who didn't know that they could buy other home resorts. We sent both back to their Guides because they don't really want to vacation in Hawaii every year. One couple wanted VWL but they were told that it is sold out and not available. Never heard of resales and thought that you could only buy from Disney.

Bill

LOL!! We jumped on the internet that same night of our sales presentation. Once we read about resales, we thought about it but once we read that Disney was putting restrictions on the points in regards to how they could be used, we decided to pass on the resale idea for now.

Also, she kept trying to sell us on the idea of splitting our points between two base resorts. Hawaii and BLT. I did not understand enough about the concept so we passed on that. I'm not sure if passing was a mistake yet or not. She said having two home resorts allows you to book either resort you want at the 11 month mark but I thought if we only had 205 points at two resorts we would always be borrowing from the next year just to hopefully have enough for a one bedroom.

Thanks again for the input.

 

[papamouse1]

LOL!! ...Also, she kept trying to sell us on the idea of splitting our points between two base resorts. Hawaii and BLT. I did not understand enough about the concept so we passed on that. I'm not sure if passing was a mistake yet or not. She said having two home resorts allows you to book either resort you want at the 11 month mark but I thought if we only had 205 points at two resorts we would always be borrowing from the next year just to hopefully have enough for a one bedroom.

Thanks again for the input.

You have a valid point. The only way to make splitting your points work would be to alternate your trips. You go to Aulani for 2012, borrow your 2013 Aulani points and now you have enough to go that one year. Then next year in 2013 you go to WDW, borrow your WDW 2014 points and voilla! But if you ever had to borrow the other resorts points to go, then you lose the 11-month window advantage.

Based on your description, you really sound like you thought this through. Great job!

There are many of us out here like disneynutz said, that went in blind to our options, and now live with our choice. You sound like you did a super job thinking it through.

 

[marynvince]

you might want to split the total points into multiple contracts. Easier to split or sell down the road. Usually a hot topic around here.

 

[CaliforniaDreamn]

You have a valid point. The only way to make splitting your points work would be to alternate your trips. You go to Aulani for 2012, borrow your 2013 Aulani points and now you have enough to go that one year. Then next year in 2013 you go to WDW, borrow your WDW 2014 points and voilla! But if you ever had to borrow the other resorts points to go, then you lose the 11-month window advantage.

Based on your description, you really sound like you thought this through. Great job!

There are many of us out here like disneynutz said, that went in blind to our options, and now live with our choice. You sound like you did a super job thinking it through.

Thank you Papamouse1!!

I did not have a clue what I was doing. I just jumped on the internet, got so lucky and found this group and read as much as possible. There is so much for me to still learn. But for now, I'm going to just have as much fun as I can with it.

 

[papamouse1]

I love your attitude!

Let me just say, and this is just my opinion, not flaming anyone, but I think your approach is excellent. When we bought DVC, yes we knew we would be trying to save $$, but main reason for purchase was to enjoy all tings Disney, and to do it in a way that enhanced our experiences. So we stay at 2 resorts almost every trip to try new places, we book Disney cruises if we want to, we use our points to make our trips more fun for US! Just have fun with it! Don't spend hours calculating if your choices make the BEST $$ sense every time (like booking DCL cruise with points), just do what you want to do with it, use DVC to make your Disny planning and experiences easier and better...
because at the end of the day, it really is about making life more magical isn't it?

 

[Sandisw]

In terms of your question about when you get points. It sounds like you (and your friend) were given March UY's. That means that your points become "current" every March 1st, and are valid for stays from March 1st until February 28/29 every year.

When you buy direct, you get current UY points. Since we are in the March 2011 UY, that should be the first set of points you receive. Now, since Aulani is not open yet, you can't actually use those points for reservations prior to the opening date of Aulani, but typically, the would be available to you to book stays immediately.

Your UY has nothing to do with when you can book a trip--you can always do that 11 months prior to check in date for stays at your home resort, and 7 months from check n date at all others.

Any trip can be paid for using points from the UY of travel, banked points from the previous UY, and borrowed points from the following UY.

So, say you want to travel to Aulani in May 2012. That trip takes place in your March 2012 UY which means you can use banked 2011 points, 2012 points, and borrow any 2013 points you would need.

Congratulations!

 

[CaliforniaDreamn]

In terms of your question about when you get points. It sounds like you (and your friend) were given March UY's. That means that your points become "current" every March 1st, and are valid for stays from March 1st until February 28/29 every year.

When you buy direct, you get current UY points. Since we are in the March 2011 UY, that should be the first set of points you receive. Now, since Aulani is not open yet, you can't actually use those points for reservations prior to the opening date of Aulani, but typically, the would be available to you to book stays immediately.

Your UY has nothing to do with when you can book a trip--you can always do that 11 months prior to check in date for stays at your home resort, and 7 months from check n date at all others.

Any trip can be paid for using points from the UY of travel, banked points from the previous UY, and borrowed points from the following UY.

So, say you want to travel to Aulani in May 2012. That trip takes place in your March 2012 UY which means you can use banked 2011 points, 2012 points, and borrow any 2013 points you would need.

Congratulations!

Thanks Sandisw!!

We have not even received our final paperwork to sign yet but we can't hardly wait to be able to book our Hawaii Disney vacation.

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks Sandisw!!

We have not even received our final paperwork to sign yet but we can't hardly wait to be able to book our Hawaii Disney vacation.

It is an exciting time. We are in the process of adding on more points at BWV and I can hardly stand it!

Have a great time!!!

 

[CPTJAK]

Thanks Sandisw!!

We have not even received our final paperwork to sign yet but we can't hardly wait to be able to book our Hawaii Disney vacation.

The only suggestions I would have is that if you like Maui, Kaui and/or honolulu

You may want to consider buying DVC for DW and another one like Marriott or Westin or Hilton (resale of course).

You can pick up a Marriott or Westin for around $12,000 and that is a 2 bedroom oceanview every year, which can be split and used for 2 weeks every year.

Many folks read Timeshare Users group (TUG) that have non DVC resorts.

I would purchase enough points for DW right now and start investigating alternate timeshares for Hawaii.

I own WEstin on Maui and a Marriott every other year in Orlando along with my DVC at Beach Club. It works well for me and the Westins and Marriott's in some cases are higher quality than DVC

Marriott has 30+ destinations that you can trade into as well.

 

[AnnaS]

Congrats! My suggestion is to split your points -easier to sell in the future.