Help setting a price for a friend at BWV

[AdventureLover67]

We have a large group going to WDW May 12-19, 2012. We used 120 points to reserve a Boardwalk village studio for our friends. Would anyone have a suggestion of what we should accept for it? Thanks for any input!

 

[burberryplaid]

It seems like renting points yields about $10-12 per point. For a friend I guess I'd ask for $7-8 per point

 

[Sandisw]

I think it can be a tricky situation unless you have discussed it first. IMO, I would ask the friends to give you what they think is fair.

 

[TosaTrio]

I have heard others say they charge the cost of MF for the points used. Much less than the rental price but enough to cover the yearly cost of the points.

We just had a large family trip this past summer. My brother insisted on paying me something for his family of 6. We worked out a compromise between nothing (my choice) and what he would have spent if not on points (at a resort not as nice).

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Maintenance fees + $2.00.

 

[NancyK]

Maintenance fees + $2.00.

 

[crisi]

People do this a LOT of different ways.

There are those that adhere to the "if you are going with us, we pay" and in exchange hope for a Thank You and probably dinner.

There are those who think that getting paid a small discount off rack rate still "saves" their friends money and go for that (although they are few).

And pretty much everything in between. From "we'll get rooms, you'll get the dining plan (or rental car, or airfare, or.....), to going rental rate, to what they would have spent offsite or at Pop to.....

I'd go for dues, myself (assuming the 'my treat' isn't in the cards - that is what we've always done - but we've often stayed at other people's vacation homes and the most we've ever had to "pay" is our share of food and a nice thank you gift, so the arrangement is a reciprocal one). Its easy for your friends to understand where the number comes from, you aren't out of pocket anything.

 

[brettcw23]

We are doing something similar. What we did was determine the cheapest package they could get...room, tickets, dining = the total amount they would have spent. For example sake, say it was $4500.

Then we took the price of what they would pay for tickets and dining if they stayed at a vacation resort...for this example, let's say $3000.

We said they could give us the difference of $1500. So in the end, they get to stay at a MUCH nicer resort for what it would have cost them to stay at a Value resort.

 

[shalom]

Interesting thread. I hadn't thought of some of these approaches. We either charge what it costs us, or it's an outright gift, but we always establish that before we even make the reservation. The people we have gifted often offer something in exchange ("Well, if you're going to pay for my room, I'll pay something to upgrade your traveling methods/take you out to dinner/whatever"), but that's their choice, not a price we set.

 

[Disneypubgal]

What we have done with family and good friends, is we spring for the room, they spring for the travel or groceries... no cash exchanged and fortunately we have always had good traveling companions... but when the offer was extended nothing was expected.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

The maintenance fees + $2.00 is a calculation of all the cost. For us, $2 is a good approximation of what we paid for each point up front.

Interestingly, $2 is a pretty good approximation for most owners.

For you, what did you pay per point? How many years do you have left?

For us, we had 36 years left and paid $84 / point. So that was $2.33/pt.

 

[crisi]

The maintenance fees + $2.00 is a calculation of all the cost. For us, $2 is a good approximation of what we paid for each point up front.

Interestingly, $2 is a pretty good approximation for most owners.

For you, what did you pay per point? How many years do you have left?

For us, we had 36 years left and paid $84 / point. So that was $2.33/pt.

Yeah, but for me, I'd never expect friends to cover my cost of capital.

Its a little like loaning your car to someone. I'd expect them to cover gas, but they don't need to help me cover the original purchase price of the car.

 

[paults]

I now charge a one night fee for a 5 nts room in a studio weekday
I charge between 300 /$400 for the 5 nts at BWV

 

[juncker]

I'd charge them $7-$10 per point based upon how close a friend they are.

If it were family, I'd charge them rack rates +$500

 

[SmilingGrump]

I'd charge them $7-$10 per point based upon how close a friend they are.

If it were family, I'd charge them rack rates +$500

 

[lovin'fl]

We rented points to friends who vacationed on their own (not with us). We charged them $8/point and rounded down to the nearest hundredth (104 points X 8=832...charged $800).

We are going at Christmas with DH's entire family. We booked a 2BR for us and MIL and FIL at OKW. We also booked a studio at OKW for SIL(2), BIL and Niece and that took 90 points. We used 70 of our points for the studio and my other SIL(1) (who is also a DVC member) transferred 20 points to my account for the remainder. I told my SIL(2) to consider it a birthday present and so we won't take any $$ for it. I just wanted my MIL and FIL to be happy by having us all there and 10 of the 15 of us will all be at OKW (SIL1 and her fam will be next door at SSR).

 

[hollis]

I am going with a good friend, staying in a 3-bedroom (THV). I take the master bedroom (which has my private bathroom), the friend's family takes the other 2 bedrooms (all of them have to share 1 bathroom). I offered for them to stay free, since I occupy the suite as well. My friend thinks we should calculate the total cost and split even based on number of people (2 of us, 5 of them). We finally settle on split even, I pay half, her family pays half. Actually, I ended up rounding down the per night cost to the nearest hundred for her. Because of the reduced cost, she wants to stay additional nights. The kids were thrilled. So it worked out well overall.

The next question is how do we determine cost. It is easy for me, since I rent points on a regular basis. So we used my per point rental rate multiplied by the number of points needed per night (based on the lower week day point requirement).

We are all looking forward to the upcoming trip!

 

[AdventureLover67]

Thank you everyone for your input!

These are very good friends and are the type that feel they MUST pay for the room. We are the type that feel we just want to be nice and aren't really worried about it. Yes, I know, not the normal circumstance, huh?

Just a fun fact about these friends, we actually met them about 3-4 years ago on a Disney cruise. They were our table mates and we hit it off so well we have since met at WDW once and cruised together again. They also crossed half the country to come visit us last summer!

I think I like the idea of the $6-$8 rate but also loved the other ideas shared. Thanks everyone!