DVC KoOlina vs. Starwood Kaanapali or Princeville

[shellbelle1971]

Okay, all you veteran DVCers who may also own elsewhere, help me think this through, please!

DH and I know we want to go to Hawaii every other year or every third year. We want to take our kids with us, which means 8 people in a 2 bedroom. We like Kaanapali, KoOlina, and Kauai (although I'm not crazy about Princeville b/c it's so rainy.) Marriott's TS in Hawaii seemed less nice to us than the Starwood resorts, and most others will only sleep 6 in a 2 bedroom unit. We're not sure we want to be tied into weeklong stays--if we're all going to have jet lag, the idea of spending like 10-12 nights, and possibly island hopping is appealing to us. We have good friends on Oahu, and would usually want some time there (but NOT at Waikiki--ugh) but would also like to spend time on either Maui or Kauai (love the hiking!) We've never been to the Big Island.

Sooooo...given all that, what, if anything would you think about buying?

 

[dianeschlicht]

I'd buy the new Disney Ko'Olina property because then you can determin the exact number of points you will need for that every 3rd year trip and not be tied to a specific week. Of course, that doesn't open until 2010-2011, but I think it is worth the wait!

I agree that Princeville is wet, but we really do love that area.

 

[kend58]

I own in the Starwood system and we can also convert to hotel points when we don't want to make a 1 week reservation (annual decison Oct of 07 to Mar 08 is the window for converting to StarPoints for 2008 weeks)

For your 10 to 12 day trip a week at one of the SVN resorts (consuming 1 years ownership) combined with 3 to 5 days at any of the Starwood Hotels or resorts using a banked in years conversion StarPoints should work out nicely.

Also SVN owners get some pretty good cash (this year $1,150 for 6 nights) cash offers from time to time as well.

FYI I am still evaluating where DVC fits in my retirment vacation ownership plans and adding CA and HI certainly has increaed the appeal for us. We bought SVN on resale pretty cheap and then combined that ownership with a new purchase from SVN to get the hotel conversion option (resale does not get that feature on transfer regardless of what resellers sometimes promise).

 

[littlestar]

I would also check out Bluegreen and Fairfield/Wyndham to see how that might work. There's good information on Bluegreen over at timeshareforums - look for posts by Boca Bum. He's an expert on Bluegreen.

Also, check out the Wyndham Fairfield posts on tugbbs.com

There's also a lot of information about Starwood at both sites.

Good luck.

 

[CarolA]

I would want to see a LOT more info on the DVC offering.

IMHO Disney doesn't always measure up when they leave the "protection" of the parks. Thier hotels for example are not up to industry standards when compared to their pricing. I think they get away with less because it's "Disney" However, if you don't attach a park... is it still Disney? Can you still "underprovide" and charge a premium?