DVC vs "offsite" timeshare

[Dean]

I'll concentrate on the off site since the DVC has been explained so well. You can buy a South Africa timeshare for fare less than $1000 and yearly fees less than $200 a year and trade to great off site resorts in Orlando and many other places every year. This is doeable and cheap. Still, many times you get what you pay for. Staying on property is a great experience but is not for everyone. Go visit and see what you like best.

 

[mom2alix]

1. I love that we're not committed to a whole week at a time. Sometimes we just want a short trip for a quick getaway (i.e. Disney fix for the sorely addicted

2. The concierge collection. Similar to reason above, I like being able to use points for other resorts and not having to commit for a whole week. I.e. We're going to Utah next year for DNi's graduation and tying in a short vacation at the Stein Erikson.

3. I really like that we can vary the time of year so easily, right now DD is young so we go when the school-aged kids can't. Once she's in school, we can easily work around the schedule.

4. Being onsite is worth it for us. I've done offsite and onsite and...(best Scarlett O'Hara imitation).. As God is my witness, I will nevah stay offsite again.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Mom2alix.....
I agree with 90% of what you said in defense of DVC, but, there are several off-site timeshares that are pretty flexible also. Even with my Vistana week I'm not committed to using a full week. I can split my 7 nights that I own there into 2 or 3 trips as long as I do an internal trade. True, should I trade out through II or RCI I'd have to use my whole week, but I can split my Orlando or FL coastal beach resort into several different trips is I want. Just wanted to clarify that point for some who might not be aware of this.

 

[Lisa P.]

DH and I are seriously considering DVC because we've just returned from out 2nd family WDW trip and I'm already planning our next one!

Anyone who expects to return to WDW at least every other year and pay to stay in a Disney deluxe hotel room onsite is wise to consider DVC. There are exceptions but most people like this would enjoy a DVC membership and find value in it.

However, my dear father who owns three different timeshares (none are DVC), can’t believe we’d consider spending so much money on points at DVC. According to him, he bought “smart” by purchasing inexpensive timeshares here in NH (approx. $3,000 each....all through RCI), then trades them all the time for more expensive resorts all over the country (and in the WDW area too).

That's us too. We enjoyed the DVC resorts. We also found OKW and the better offsite resorts to be substantially similar. The differences are definitely not significant enough to us to warrant paying a DVC premium for the purchase and maint fees.

If the Disney touch matters enough to you, then you would not regret paying that premium. For folks like us, who want "decompression" from the Disney machine, while still enjoying beautiful resort condo vacations, the higher cost is not justified. We like the larger selection of resorts for internal reservations with our (Fairfield) timeshare points and we find trading up easier through RCI than DVC can offer.

Some people look for the best of both by purchasing only enough DVC points for their DVC resort vacations. Another less expensive timeshare may provide a better value for non-DVC vacations.

...flexibility of being able to spend DVC points any time of the year (not being locked into a certain week per year)...

Any points program will offer some flexibility in varying season, unit size and resort location. Most have a few more restrictions or fees than DVC.

...why they decided on DVC over any of the timeshare resorts that may even be right outside the WDW gate?

I'm not sure I'd recommend a non-DVC, Orlando area home resort purchase. The area seems to have relatively high maint fees and it's such an easy trade with a cheaper week that I wouldn't choose to own there. Of course, buying where you want to stay the most is usually good advice. Learn more on TUG before you do, in Orlando offsite.

Convince me that DVC is the way to go...

I can't. We sold ours. It was too costly to own, for our family of 5. We get a LOT more mileage out of our other timeshares and we have a great time on vacations!

The onsite benefits are certainly more desirable to some families than they were to us. So YMMV! :

 

[Sammy]

Lisa P: Great reply...thanks so much! Just a question for you: I'm curious where you and your family have gone on vacations by trading your timeshare.....I'm still on the fence on whether or not we want to vacation at Disney as often as DVC would warrant.

If you want to PM me instead, I'll be on the lookout....

Thanks!
Sammy

 

[Dean]

I can't speak for Lisa but I can tell you some of the places we've stayed and how we got them.

1. HI - We got two 1 BR units at the Embassy on Maui through an Independent exchange company, San Francisco Exchange. We then got a direct exchange for the Embassy on Kauai (2 BR) using DVC points for 168 points but it was then offered for rent instead at $900 so I took that.
2. HH - summer week at Marriott's Harbour Pointe using an off season week at the Same resort.
3. HH - Marriott's Monarch (two 2 BR units) the week after 4th of July using 2 years worth of the same HP deposit.
4. West Palm - Marriott's Ocean Point summer (twice) using HP also.
5. Cancun - Summer at Vacation Club International using a smmer (off season) Aruba 1 BR.
6. HH - Marriott's Grande Ocean for summer, ocean front. Most because we own there but also one exchange week to get a third unit to match when we were there this year, 5-12 July.
7. Puerta Vallarta - 3 BR oceanfront penthouse with a jacuzzi on the balcony for 9 nights, we own there.
8. Orlando - Marriott's Grande Vista using the Aruba weeks for Spring break.
9. DVC - several weeks using various lower rated weeks and bonus weeks. All were 1 or 2 BR at OKW or BWV.
10. HI - Marriott Kauai but ended up not being able to use it so cancelled it.
11. Gatlinburg - Fall Colors and spring, 3 times at top resorts using Aruba weeks and bonus weeks.
12. We're rented a number of weeks that we weren't going to use. I routinely rented the La Cabana when we didn't use it for exchange. I usually rent out my Grande Ocean weeks for summer when we don't use them, usually about every other year.
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[Lisa P.]

I'm opting to post this rather than PM because there are often lurkers on these forums with essentially the same kinds of questions.

...curious where you and your family have gone on vacations by trading your timeshare...

Dean's been to more exotic locations. We generally drive to most of our vacations from the southeast U.S., mixing educational and urban locations with beach, theme park and mountain/nature getaways. Many of our exchanges were for primetime.

The II exchanges used a Marriott week that we owned at the time. The RCI exchanges mostly used our Fairfield (FF) points/week to trade. If it says "(FF)", then we reserved our stay internally with points for a nightly stay (less than a week).

Arizona (September)
Flagstaff & Sedona - FF Flagstaff (FF wk - 2004), FF Sedona (FF pts - 2004)

California (Sept)
Anaheim - FF Dolphin's Cove (RCI, for friends)

Florida (Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, May, June, Sept)
Marco Island - Charter Club of Marco Beach (RCI)
Orlando/Kiss/LBV - DVC (DVC pts), Vistana Resort (RCI), HGVC (RCI), Westgate VV (RCI), Marriott Grande Vista (II), Silver Lake (RCI), others for friends (RCI)

Georgia (Oct)
Cleveland - Country Hideaway at Mtn Lakes (RCI)

Hawaii (July)
Kauai - Marriott Kauai Beach Club (II, for friends), Pahio at Bali Hai (RCI, cancelled)

Nevada (Sept)
Las Vegas - FF Grand Desert (FF pts - 2004)

New York (March)
New York City - The Manhattan Club (RCI)

North Carolina (July)
Lake Lure - FF Mountains (RCI)

Pennsylvania (Jan - family funeral)
Poconos, PA - Shawnee ??? (RCI)

South Carolina (all summer, but 1 spring break)
Hilton Head Island - DVC (DVC pts & II), Marriott Monarch (II)
Myrtle Beach - FF Westwinds (RCI)

Tennessee (every season)
Nashville - FF Nashville (RCI - 2004)
Sevierville - FF Smoky Mountains (FF pts [x2], RCI [2004])

Vermont (June)
Smugglers Notch - Smugglers Notch (RCI, for friends)

Virginia (every season)
Washington DC - FF Alexandria (FF pts)
Williamsburg, VA - FF Kingsgate (FF pts)
Williamsburg, VA - FF Patriots Place (RCI)

...I'm still on the fence on whether or not we want to vacation at Disney as often as DVC would warrant.

If you would vacation at DVC resorts (WDW, HHI, Vero) at least every other year, you could buy fewer points per year, then bank & borrow to provide for those DVC trips. That's a nice way to get the most out of DVC points. HTH!