Based on various discounts I've seen lately, 25% may be higher than what you would typically expect, especially from the high end resorts. The other key component is what the true cost of the points are. We've always figured it to be about $6 / point, with $3 being for maintenance and $3 being for the initial purchase. I know the financial wizards will argue about the cost of funds, but these days with interest rates being so low and the shakey stock market for a while, assumming a 10% return is not to practical. So, we figured had we not bought the points, we would have spend the money elsewhere. Bottom line, it makes a big difference whether you go with the $6 or $10 figure.
We went on the 7 day cruise this past summer. Since we did not have enough points, we ended up paying for the cruise. We made our reservations a year in advance, so we got the early booking discount. Had we booked through points for all of us, it would have taken 774 points (2 cabins - 4 people each). The actual price we paid was about $9,000. So, if you take it at $10/pt, we would have saved over $1,200 by using points, but at $6, the savings would have been over $4,000.
Either way, it's a big savings and we wish we had more points...
