DVC & Rack Rates

[Buckeye Fan]

In case you haven't been doing this, I hope this makes some of you feel better about your DVC purchase!

Since we joined DVC in 2007, I have been keeping track of what our accommodations would have cost us had we paid rack rates. Now granted, I know we wouldn't have done that, but just humor me!

We have stayed in 1 and 2 bedroom units at various DVC resorts. We have taken 8 trips, with a 9th planned this summer. Including our upcoming summer trip, we would have paid $37,760 for those vacations. Add on resort taxes, and it takes the price up to around $42K.

Even if we could have reserved the same rooms at a discount (doubt that would have happened since 3 trips were Easter week), we'll break even (including MFs) in 2 to 3 more trips! I know DVC is not for everyone, but right now, I'm still drinking the kool-aid! If we ever have to sell for nothing, I feel like we've at least recouped our money. For the next 30 years, the gap between our MFs and the cost of the room is just icing on the cake!

 

[rmcildw2m]

I agree , if it was not for DVC ,I could not afford to stay in a deluxe resort at all . I have a small contract compared to most but it works for us and the savings are great ,

 

[castleri]

In case you haven't been doing this, I hope this makes some of you feel better about your DVC purchase!

Since we joined DVC in 2007, I have been keeping track of what our accommodations would have cost us had we paid rack rates. Now granted, I know we wouldn't have done that, but just humor me!

We have stayed in 1 and 2 bedroom units at various DVC resorts. We have taken 8 trips, with a 9th planned this summer. Including our upcoming summer trip, we would have paid $37,760 for those vacations. Add on resort taxes, and it takes the price up to around $42K.

Even if we could have reserved the same rooms at a discount (doubt that would have happened since 3 trips were Easter week), we'll break even (including MFs) in 2 to 3 more trips! I know DVC is not for everyone, but right now, I'm still drinking the kool-aid! If we ever have to sell for nothing, I feel like we've at least recouped our money. For the next 30 years, the gap between our MFs and the cost of the room is just icing on the cake!

I did this the first couple of years we owned - bought in 1997 and paid cash for 220 points at OKW. It took less than 4 trips to break even as we stayed in GV a couple of times - once Christmas week- and generally used 2 BR villas once a year in the spring. We are going this week for 2 nights in a 2 BR which is unusual for us these days since we have a house in Florida now and tend to go during lower point times. We are taking friends and are going to get away from the house while it is being painted. Without DVC we certainly would not have even considered staying in a 2 BR villa. I think it comes out to a little more than if we were staying at a moderate in one room this week with a 35-40% discount if it were available.

 

[com_op_2000]

OP - I did the same thing with our purchase back in '93. We equaled out in less than 3 years, staying in mostly studios. This does not include the park tickets that DVC included with each stay back then. We have been having magical vacations ever since then and if we had to sell, we would come out way ahead.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

...This does not include the park tickets that DVC included with each stay back then...

WOW! I've always said we should have bought sooner, but we REALLY should have bought in sooner!

...We have been having magical vacations ever since then and if we had to sell, we would come out way ahead.

Amen. We could have/would have never stayed at the places we stay, and we've had just amazing vacations. So glad we took the leap!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We did that same thing back in 1997 when we purchased, and we figured we broke even after the 3rd year. That included the add-on we did the second year that nearly doubled our points.

 

[loveswdw]

For fun, I just went to disneyworld.com and punched in our October dates. Keep in mind that currently there are no room discounts available so its true rack rate.

A 1BR at BCV for the 6 nights (10/15-10/21) is $5,112.92!

We bought in 2003 and have already broke even a long time ago. But this one trip would pay over half of our original "investment".

 

[DisneyBill]

Odd this thread should appear today. For just yesterday someone that I'm renting points to is considering purchasing DVC, and asked me if I was satisfied. I mentioned this very issue about rack rate costs and how it helps equate the purchase to some solid measure of value. However as I've tracked our return, when I've rented out points I have used that number as the return value. So actually over the long term, our number is a little lower than had all the transactions been priced at rack rate. Still, yes we're satisfied.

 

[OhioDVC]

In case you haven't been doing this, I hope this makes some of you feel better about your DVC purchase!

Since we joined DVC in 2007, I have been keeping track of what our accommodations would have cost us had we paid rack rates. Now granted, I know we wouldn't have done that, but just humor me!

We have stayed in 1 and 2 bedroom units at various DVC resorts. We have taken 8 trips, with a 9th planned this summer. Including our upcoming summer trip, we would have paid $37,760 for those vacations. Add on resort taxes, and it takes the price up to around $42K.

Even if we could have reserved the same rooms at a discount (doubt that would have happened since 3 trips were Easter week), we'll break even (including MFs) in 2 to 3 more trips! I know DVC is not for everyone, but right now, I'm still drinking the kool-aid! If we ever have to sell for nothing, I feel like we've at least recouped our money. For the next 30 years, the gap between our MFs and the cost of the room is just icing on the cake!

WOW! 42k in 9 trips. We've been members for 19 years and went on about 75+ trips so would that be around $350K. I really love DVC now.

I kept a running total for about 5 years of rack rates compared to DVC cost. When I broke even I stopped counting. I wish I would have kept it up to compare costs

 

[stopher1]

I do this too... and yeah, we wouldn't have been paying those rack rates (especially the VGC rates) or getting those nice big rooms without DVC - but it sure does look great to see how much each of our DVC stays to date would have cost... we've broken even and are so looking forward to many more years of spacious accomodations and wonderful stays.

 

[staceymay00]

Last year we paid $10,500 plus closing costs for our resale OKW contract. Our first stay was in a 2BR the week leading up to Christmas. Rack rate plus tax was over $7000 IIRC, and the rate with a 45% discount still would have been almost $4000. We would never have paid even the discounted rate for the week, to be honest, but it is still fun to run the numbers to find out what it would cost someone paying OOP for the room. Buying DVC is allowing us to stay in accommodations on site that we otherwise would never stay in due to the cost.

 

[nunzia]

I do this also. This type of thread always bring in people who say things like "no one ever pays rack rates' "that's a pie in the sky way to figure it"..etc. But really, to me that's the only way to compare apples to apples....in a couple more trips we'll "break even"..then it's just MF from there on out.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Yes, I agree. I would have NEVER paid rack rates. But even assuming we could have stayed in the same room at 50% off (which would have never happened), we're about 2 trips away from it paying for itself! I agree with staceymay00, as silly as this sounds (because we did join DVC and paid out much more), I would have never shelled out $4K - $7K for a week's vacation at Disney for the room only. We just wouldn't have.

And like the Visa or MC commercial...the value of planning all of those trips? PRICELESS!

 

[browniemtb]

I'm in...I did this as well the first few times. More recently we have a big family gathering with multiple room. Rack rate for everyone would have been over $22,000. On top of this we are a family of 6 now and with strict occupancy limits I am glad we purchased when we did.

 

[dapod423]

OK, I can't resist participating. I bought just last May. For my investment of just about $20K, including the trips I have already taken and have planned through 1/12, I would have paid $13085. This includes a 3 night DCL that we used our extra points from purchase for and points borrowed from our 2012 UY. But still!!! I will make back my money in about 3 UYs!!!

I LOVE DVC!!!!

 

[MrsG]

We do this too. It is incredible how much the rack rate is.

 

[deerislemaine]

These are very helpful posts. We too are satisfied, and we're saving money if we had stayed in moderate or higher rooms. However, the key for us is that we decided that we'd take multiple trips to WDW for at least 5-6 years. This year we did annual passes for our family of 5, so we're using up a loaded contract (250 points) and borrowing from our 2012 use year. We'll probably take 18-24 months off, and then do the same thing again. We figured that we'd save money by the end of the second annual pass expiration. Yet, the decision to go to Disney that much was where we spent the money.

We're still spending 2x to 3x the money on vacations than we were a couple years ago, but we're pleased with our decision because our kids are growing up so fast. We decided that it was worth spending this money on time together now. For us the difference is switching from camping to WDW. We'll still do camping on our off years from Disney to make things equal out.

 

[Dean]

In case you haven't been doing this, I hope this makes some of you feel better about your DVC purchase!

Since we joined DVC in 2007, I have been keeping track of what our accommodations would have cost us had we paid rack rates. Now granted, I know we wouldn't have done that, but just humor me!

We have stayed in 1 and 2 bedroom units at various DVC resorts. We have taken 8 trips, with a 9th planned this summer. Including our upcoming summer trip, we would have paid $37,760 for those vacations. Add on resort taxes, and it takes the price up to around $42K.

Even if we could have reserved the same rooms at a discount (doubt that would have happened since 3 trips were Easter week), we'll break even (including MFs) in 2 to 3 more trips! I know DVC is not for everyone, but right now, I'm still drinking the kool-aid! If we ever have to sell for nothing, I feel like we've at least recouped our money. For the next 30 years, the gap between our MFs and the cost of the room is just icing on the cake!

I've made the case many times that the rack rate (even discounted) has no meaning as to dollars saved, but it does have some applicability to the value received. And yes, it is an interesting exercise to see what a given option would have cost. I did that for our last Sept trip with 9 units at BWV and BCV (1 & 2 BR) all received through RCI and compared to what my costs were (both direct and indirect) and the difference was substantial, about 10-12¢ on the dollar. OTOH, it's a little like when the wife goes shopping and "saves" me money for things on sale, these savings are driving me toward the poor house.

 

[theww228]

A little off topic....
Why is it that the rack rate for a 1 BR is not twice that of a studio? The pts are usually about double between the two, why isn't the rack rate close to double?
For our trip in Nov. the rack rate is $365/nt ($4,106 total) for a studio and $500/nt ($5,625 total) for a 1BR.
However it is 152 pts for a studio and 308 for a 1BR, slightly more than twice the pts. So the rack rate for a 1BR should be $8,212 instead of $5,625.
Just wondering.

 

[GoofItUp]

I swore when I bought that I was going to do something similar. But, I wanted to keep up with what I would have paid to stay in those rooms with discounts applied. I realized that I didn't want to have to keep up with tracking discounts....that's one of the reasons I chose DVC! I ended up not checking. You inspired me to do so for our upcoming vacation, though.

We have 4 rooms booked at AKV.

If I had booked these at AKL with the 30% discount they're currently offering (hotel rooms, which is what I would have done had I not had DVC):

2 regular hotel rooms at AKL (stnd view): 1873 x 2 = $3746
2 regular hotel rooms at AKL (svnh view): 2552 x 2 = $5104
TOTAL: $8850


If I had booked these at AKV with same discount:
2 studio rooms (stnd view): 2000 x 2 = $4000 (this is not available, so I'm estimating)
2 studio rooms (svnh view): 2646 x 2 = $5292
TOTAL: $9292

I've also used 2 PV studios at BWV last summer the first week of June, 1 studio room at VGC for 4 nights and 1 studio room at VGC for 3 nights this past Jan. I've spent just over $20k on my points (resale contracts prior to 3/20). While I don't have rates for those other 2 trips, I think I'm coming out ok!