DVC vs. Timeshare

[kiingor]

People always ask me, why not buy regular timeshare? My friend has a timeshare bought few years back for $3000 with no expiration and showed me a book that lets them go anywhere in the world also, for 2 weeks and can bank the 2 weeks for 2 years....
So my question is, why DVC and not timeshare with no expiration and cheaper. I can't quite explain to him the benefits of DVC other than flexibility, but there are Timeshares that offer the same flexibility.
Anyone ???

 

[Chuck S]

Because it makes you happy to stay onsite at WDW, when YOU want to, not have to wait for a week to open up through Interval International. A less expensive time share may be fine for general travel (depending on the II trading power of the resort) But if you enjoy staying onsite and WDW is one of your primary destinations, then DVC is the way to go.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We like to stay on Disney property. It's rather difficult to trade into DVC from another time share, especially at the times I want to go. And we like to go to Disney. If we wanted to go all over the world, we'd buy somewhere where that was the main focus for the timeshare.

 

[dwelty]

I would look deeper at the Timeshare he owns. $3,000.00 sounds suspicisously low for any 2 week a year time share. I don't think he is being completely honest with you. I bet he also has to go the same 2 weeks every year, and does not have the flexibility of choosing the weeks he wants like you have with DVC. Also, DVC has the highest customer satisfaction of any Time share company.

 

[spiceycat]

I like to stay for less than a week - with II (the only company that DVC trades with) you must.

besides staying on site is pretty nice!

what you can do if you want too - go together on a trip - make him get the first week (sun to sun) with his timeshare - then you made the second reservation with DVC.

be sure to do all the DVC things - ride the bus, get the DDE, etc.

then see if you friend understands.

some people never do.

staying onsite is just different.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Anything comparable in quality, service, and atmosphere is going to be comparable in price. We have friends that give us a weekend at their Fairfield timeshare each year for watching their animals while they're on vacation. They occasionally ask us to compare their timeshare to Disney.... we politely avoid hurting their feelings with vague answers. You get what you pay for. And don't forget that the MFs for any TS is going to be by far the greatest cost in the long run. Ask your friend what he pays in fees.

 

[littlestar]

I like the quality of DVC and Marriott really well. And we own with both. Not to say there aren't small independent timeshares that aren't run well. Because there are. But you have to be very careful when picking one.

We bought DVC for staying onsite at certain times of the year. I like being able to pick up the phone and call and get what I want when I want it. You can't beat the flexibility of the points with DVC. Not to say I don't love my Marriott, too.

In my opinion, you have to be really, really careful before buying most week style timeshares. You could end up with special assessments and something that won't work at all for your family. Before we ever bought our Marriott, I probably studied up on it for over six months before we purchased. I didn't want to buy something I could never get rid of and have it end up being a horrible mistake. DVC is one of the few timeshares (so far) that if bought from the developer that you can get your money back out of it after a few years. I don't know for sure what will happen as the RTU (right to use) ending dates approach. I suppose it would eventually have to go down in price as the years remaining shorten.

I consider DVC a niche type vacation club/timeshare. It's really for people that value staying on site at Disney in very nice resorts. I look at it like this, some people are content driving an old Chevy and some want to drive a new Cadillac. Whatever floats your boat.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Littlestar, that was very well put. DVC is very highly regarded in the timeshare industry. We once went to a Bluegreen presentation, and when they heard we owned DVC, they said the DVC model was what their company was striving to be like. We also have friends who own a gold crown RCI resort plus a cheaper Stowe Vermont timeshare that they purchased resale for under 3000. They traded the gold crown for a week at another gold crown in Hawaii, and we traded a week of DVC for the other week in Hawaii. Then we stayed together at both locations. There really was no comparison to the amenities at the two resorts. Our DVC trade was a much nicer unit than their gold crown trade.

We first took the DVC tour shortly after they started selling in the early 90's. We knew NOTHING about timeshares in general at that time, so we didn't buy, but we did spend about 3-4 years researching other timeshares and comparing before we finally purchased DVC. It didn't take very many presentations for us to discover how different DVC was. The flexibility, the quality, and most of all, the fact that it RIGHT IN DISNEY WORLD were the major factors that helped us see that. Now, since staying with us first in Hawaii, and then for a week at OKW, our friends quickly saw the difference as well, and they now own DVC as well as their other two timeshares.

 

[disneydenisel]

So my question is, why DVC and not timeshare with no expiration and cheaper. I can't quite explain to him the benefits of DVC other than flexibility, but there are Timeshares that offer the same flexibility.

We own two other timeshares plus our DVC points. DVC has so many great features, it is hard to list them all. We love:

Staying onsite in deluxe accommodations for any number of days

Banking and borrowing with no fees

Generous cancellation policy

Ease of making reservations

Fantastic waitlist

Friendly CMs

All members are treated the same, regardless of how they purchased

You can buy any number of points to meet your needs

We also love our other timeshares, too . The general rule is to buy where you want to go, unless you are totally flexible and want to play the exchange game. Instead of playing that game at 2 years out, we rent other timeshares if we know we want to go to a certain resort. It's easier and less stressful (for us). Some timeshare owners thrive on the thrill of getting a great exchange for their least expensive "tiger trader." To each his own!

 

[DisneyKidds]

I doubt that the OP and the friends question contain an apples to apples comparison. With DVC you have a flexible timeshare that can get you up to two weeks a year in Deluxe WDW accomodations with the flexibility to go any time of year for as short or as long a stay as you want, along with the ability to trade out to II top resorts with a great deal of trading power. The $3,000 (if that is what it really is) is probably two weeks that can't be split during an off peak time at a lower to mid level resort, along with little trading power that could make desired II trades pretty difficult. That could be a great timeshare if it is where the friend wants to be during the time he wants to be there....but otherwise it might not be worth all that much.

As others have pointed out, cost wise DVC is probably on par with better Marriott Vacation Club properties and Hilton Grand Vacation Club. You get what you pay for.

That said, the single biggest reason to buy DVC over another timeshare is the fact that it gives the most economical way to stay in deluxe Disney accomodations. Yes, you pay a premium when buying DVC over other timeshares, but the savings over regular Disney deluxe accomodations is the key. Realistically, DVC should only be purchased by people who are going to stay on Disney property. You can't do that with other timeshares. The point of DVC isn't to have the cheapest or most economical timeshare, it's to have the cheapest and most economical on site Disney accomodations.

Sure, there are a number of much cheaper timeshares that can be purchased to get you good trading power (although I'm not sure a $3,000 jobbie is one of them). Many people buy certain timeshares and never stay there, simply using the timeshare as a trading vehicle. That is great if you always want to stay someplace different. However, that is not the purpose for which DVC was designed.

 

[FayeW]

For us, one of the biggest considerations in our decision NOT to purchase DVC is because unless we stay at OKW, somebody in our family of 4 is sleeping on the couch!

We have a son (10) and a daughter (12). They don't mind sharing a room, but I am not paying all of that money to have someone sleeping on a pull out bed.

When we go, we stay offsite in a 2 bdrm condo. I rent through skyauction and it is dirt cheap. Even if/when the skyauction availability dries up I can rent from the owner (vrbo or redweek) for slightly more than the cost of the yearly maintenance fees. I refuse to stay in less than 2 bdrm accomodations, and to get that with DVC I would have to pay $22K for the points I need to stay during premier season. All that and have somebody on the couch? NO WAY!

 

[dianeschlicht]

For us, one of the biggest considerations in our decision NOT to purchase DVC is because unless we stay at OKW, somebody in our family of 4 is sleeping on the couch!

We have a son (10) and a daughter (12). They don't mind sharing a room, but I am not paying all of that money to have someone sleeping on a pull out bed.

When we go, we stay offsite in a 2 bdrm condo. I rent through skyauction and it is dirt cheap. Even if/when the skyauction availability dries up I can rent from the owner (vrbo or redweek) for slightly more than the cost of the yearly maintenance fees. I refuse to stay in less than 2 bdrm accomodations, and to get that with DVC I would have to pay $22K for the points I need to stay during premier season. All that and have somebody on the couch? NO WAY!

So why NOT buy and stay at OKW? We love it there, and don't like the others that much for the very reasons you mentioned.

 

[chainkid]

As with anything you buy what you can afford that satisfies your family. We could afford to buy enough points so that no one in my immediate family has to sleep on sofa bed. The funny thing is , someone always does because we always seem to find people begging to go with us. I eventually added points so I could bring my entire extended family once every three years for family get togethers. You can't believe how close my family has become by spending vacation together. When I retire I have a wonderful place to get away from New England winters for a couple months. DVC was a win-win for me. I haven't even considered another timeshare. I don't trade out because
I earn tons of Marriot reward points thru my business travel and can use them
just about anywhere in the world. DVC is expensive, much more so than staying in luxurious accomodations offsite BUT the keyword is OFFSITE. When
we take our large family 22+ people, we don't need a car for everyone to get around. Disney provides transport for golfing as well. I've stayed offsite and in very nice accomodations but it wasn't the same vacation for me. I guess you either get it or you don't. That said if your family is happy then you
are blessed.

 

[FayeW]

So why NOT buy and stay at OKW? We love it there, and don't like the others that much for the very reasons you mentioned.

We just came back from our last trip on Dec 9th. Since we had considered DVC fairly seriously, we took the time to visit OKW and BWV. I wasn't crazy about OKW. I am not interested in spending much time utilizing WDW busses, so with the option of walking to 2 of the 4 parks, and the lovely ambiance, BWV would be our resort of choice. I do intend to rent points and stay a few nights in a studio there, but it would only be for 3 or 4 days. We can handle that type of accomodation for a short stay but anything longer than that we would definately be looking for a 2 bdrm.

 

[Chuck S]

We just came back from our last trip on Dec 9th. Since we had considered DVC fairly seriously, we took the time to visit OKW and BWV. I wasn't crazy about OKW. I am not interested in spending much time utilizing WDW busses, so with the option of walking to 2 of the 4 parks, and the lovely ambiance, BWV would be our resort of choice. I do intend to rent points and stay a few nights in a studio there, but it would only be for 3 or 4 days. We can handle that type of accomodation for a short stay but anything longer than that we would definately be looking for a 2 bdrm.

I think Diane was addressing the point about someone having to be on the sleeper sofa. All studios (and thus all 2 bedroom units, dedicated and lock-off) have 2 real queen beds in the 2nd Bedroom/Studio portion.

 

[lisaviolet]

I think it's in the little things. We took 13 people down in May. Two are timeshare owners. I know there are flexible timeshares out there. But both commented on the ability to take our points and have everyone in different size suites (studios to 2 bedrooms) for different lengths of time (most just three/four nights....not a week) arriving/leaving at different times. Even I said, "Wow" when it all was booked and went so smoothly.

But the biggest thing to me was a tiny difference. We were organizing doing everyone's SW boarding passes. I mentioned going to the lobby/guest relations. Both timeshare owners seemed very surprised. They both laughed that their timeshares would certainly have a service charge for such a thing.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

OP I think you've asked the wrong question. Asking a bunch of people who've purchased DVC why purchasing DVC is better wont help your situation. Just as the $3,000 timeshare guy isnt informative either (to give him the benefit of the doubt he probably got a good deal on a resale time share). Both have already purchased and they aren't YOU or your husband.

The questions you should be asking are:

1. Where do I like to vacation the most?
2. Is a week long or half week long requirement too restrictive for me.
3. Do I want to go to WDW regularly and if I do is staying on site a must for me or would offsite be fine because you enjoy Universal just as much as WDW.
4. Can I afford the more expensive DVC or is a resale timeshare more in my budget.
5. What is my vacation schedule like.

Also dont forget some of the other timeshares have floating week plans or split week plans so you aren't necessarily stuck going to your resort for a specific week every year.

Visit www.tug2.net for more feedback on timesharing in general.

------------------------------------

My take on DVC. Staying on site is fun and enjoyable but I could probably get sufficient enjoyment via going less frequently, staying offsite and on site as my finances allow rather than receiving my annual allotment for DVC. If you haven't been a must-stay-onsite-in-a-mod-or-deluxe person in the past you probably should proceed with caution when it comes to DVC. A different timeshare in another city might do you just as well.

 

[bwvBound]

People always ask me, why not buy regular timeshare? My friend has a timeshare bought few years back for $3000 with no expiration and showed me a book that lets them go anywhere in the world also, for 2 weeks and can bank the 2 weeks for 2 years....

Congrats on your recent DVC purchase (link, link)! There have been many discussions regarding DVC Owners feeling the need to defend their decision to those who "don't get it." Don't let your friend's questions (or interrogations?) get you down. If you feel their queries are sincere -- then continue with your own story of why you chose DVC.

So my question is, why DVC and not timeshare with no expiration and cheaper. I can't quite explain to him the benefits of DVC other than flexibility, but there are Timeshares that offer the same flexibility.
Anyone ???

The best answer you can give it to simply tell why DVC was attractive to you. You don't need to provide a full, blow-by-blow, comparison against other timeshare products.

Other Related Thoughts:

• The question isn't really "DVC vs. Timeshare" -- as DVC is one flavor of timeshare.
• There is NO single "perfect" timeshare. Those trying hardest to find one often end up with a portfolio of vacation products. (Spend a year reading the Timeshare User's Group (link) for much discussion on this topic.)
• Accept that many timeshare products have attractive features/benefits. (Don't assume all non-DVC timeshares are ugly, inflexible, or undesirable.)
• Don't judge other's timeshare based strictly on purchase price or dues.
• Enjoy your DVC and the many wonderful vacations to come!

 

[kiingor]

Thank you all for your input. We just came back from our 12/9 disney trip... stayed at All Star movies... the DVC guys at the DTD took my family and friends to check out SSR and loved. We can't wait to try out the SSR next xmas and my friend after seeing the resort... he just signed the papers today. It was his sister that got the $3000 timeshare and questioned our DVC decision. But we both are glad that we bought it.
Thanks again to all the responses.

 

[RobDoc]

We have been DVC members since 1993 and have added on a number of times - purchasing both thru DVC and also thru resale. We have had the ability to use our points each year (mostly personally, but also providing accommodations for famuily and friends) and look forward to the time when we can spend longer periods of time at WDW and HH.

We also own 9 weeks at other timeshares - all purchased for $500 - $2500 per week. We use many of those only as exchanges and find that to be a great value. In order to exchange we do need to be a little flexible either with the weeks we choose (all are week-long exchanges) or with our choice of resorts. With DVC the flexibility is only with our choice of when to go or our villa type since we otherwise have no limitations at 11 months. With our exchanges, we are limited to 2BRs (or smaller) - with DVC we have the flexibility to choose any type of accommodation we want - when we want it.

Several of our non-DVC weeks are also available thru DVC/II exchanges but given the choice I'd choose DVC any time over those locations.