How do you exchange a DVC unit?

[JandD Mom]

Hi all,

DH and I may be interested in buying DVC. However, I am curious about how exactly it would work if I wanted to do a resort exchange through interval international, or one of the other exchanges available to DVC members.

Assume for the sake of argument I own 200 points at BWV. How would I go about trading to get a unit in say Cancun, Aruba or Hawaii through II? I am familiar with the supply and demand system of II. However, I am curious about fees etc DVC owners must pay.

I believe I read somewhere at one time that you are really wasting money to trade outside of DVC. However, I am trying to understand the process and why it might or might not be worth it. I doubt I would ever use my points to stay at another disney resort (unless we went to Disneyland) or to go on the Cruise line.

Thanks!

 

[Dean]

See the info I just posted on the DVC vs Marriott thread as it applies here as well. Since you're familiar with II in a regular sense, I won't dwell on that. Here's what you get and don't get when trading DVC and assuming you weren't an II member independently.

First the positives.

• No yearly membrship fee.
• The ability to do search first for up to 2 years out, something that only happens in II for Marriott internal trading as far as I know. Even MVCI members can't do search first for weeks after their week for non Marriott exchanges.
• $75 fee for domestics and Intl.
• Moderately high trading power.
• You can say yes or no once they offer an exchange, something you can only do otherwise when calling about availability and can't do once you have an ongoing search.

Now the negatives

• No wish book.
• No bonus weeks.
• No getaway purchases.
• No chance to trade up in unit size. Sometimes you may be offered a larger unit on an ongoing search but you can't set it up that way like you can for all other II exchange options that I'm aware of.
• II limits the resorts you can trade into to around 350.

You should remember that most people don't trade the top resorts during peak times through II (or RCI). They use, rent on their own or do direct exchanges.

The process is you decide what you want to try for and you call DVC and put in a request. Preferably at least 12 months out and up to 24 months prior to travel requested. Once they find a match, you get the chance to say yes or no then if you accept it, you are committed and they take the points. The only way DVC is worthwhile trading (under the new system) is for top resorts during peak times.

 

[JandD Mom]

Dean,

THanks, I believe I have seen your posts many times on TUG on the Marriott Board. Are you the same Dean?

I do not own Marriott but am considering it, probably more strongly than DVC. There are some things I like about DVC, most notably the fact that we will probably actually go to Disney at least every other year, which is more than I can say for just about any other destination. I also like the fact that I can go away a few days at a time, as opposed to going away for a week at a time.

To pick up on what you said, I thought with Marriott, most people book the higher demand weeks for trading purposes to try to get stronger trading power? If that is the case, wouldn't you have quite a pick of Marriotts, for example, at peak weeks?

Second, I am not sure I follow what you said about just calling DVC first to put in a request (in other words, you don't have the "deposit first" option for II?). Do I have to book my week on points first before I put in the request? Or do I get my week, and then the exchange tells me how many points to cough up>?

 

[Dean]

Dean,

THanks, I believe I have seen your posts many times on TUG on the Marriott Board. Are you the same Dean?

I do not own Marriott but am considering it, probably more strongly than DVC. There are some things I like about DVC, most notably the fact that we will probably actually go to Disney at least every other year, which is more than I can say for just about any other destination. I also like the fact that I can go away a few days at a time, as opposed to going away for a week at a time.

To pick up on what you said, I thought with Marriott, most people book the higher demand weeks for trading purposes to try to get stronger trading power? If that is the case, wouldn't you have quite a pick of Marriotts, for example, at peak weeks?

Second, I am not sure I follow what you said about just calling DVC first to put in a request (in other words, you don't have the "deposit first" option for II?). Do I have to book my week on points first before I put in the request? Or do I get my week, and then the exchange tells me how many points to cough up>?

One and the same, as irreverent as ever. To try to answer your questions, If you give $20,000 for say a Platinum Grande Ocean ocean side unit and book 4th of July, why would you trade it for Panama City, Manor Club or even Ocean Pointe. Why not buy say a slightly lower season at a nice resort or a good week at a lessor resort, say Harbour pointe. In that scenario you could pay maybe $7K, have fees $200 a year less and trade for most anything you wanted over time. True you'd have to be a little more flexible and maybe go to Aruba this year and HI next but if you plan and are flexible, you will come out far ahead. In most cases you could rent out the GO week for more than you could rent what you wanted on the other side. And remember that exchangers, even other Marriott owners, are at a lower priority when exchanging, even if you gave up ocean front at GO.

Why not just buy a few DVC points resale and then buy something Marriott that works for you. Or possibly another system like Bluegreen, Worldmark, RCI points or the like.

As for request first, you can do either deposit or request first. For most situations request first is by far the best since if you don't get what you want you've lost NOTHING. Of course you can deposit first but one should only do so when they're are going to lose the points otherwise. Request first is by far the better choice, esp for DVC members.

 

[RobDoc]

...
Second, I am not sure I follow what you said about just calling DVC first to put in a request (in other words, you don't have the "deposit first" option for II?). Do I have to book my week on points first before I put in the request? Or do I get my week, and then the exchange tells me how many points to cough up>?

To add to Dean's comments, with DVC you will not actually make a reservation and deposit that time. DVC has a set point value based on "season" and accommodation type.

For "Low" season exchanges a 1BR will be 124 points and a 2BR will be 207.

"Mid" season is 144/252 and "High" season is 160/270.

If you deposit your time (points) you will have up to 2 years to accept the exchange or you can do a search before using any points. The value of the seasons (Low, Mid and High) are based on the season of the exchange dates at the resort - not the value of your DVC resort when you want to exchange.

The non-DVC options are a nice variance from DVC resorts for those who may tire of going to WDW and can be a good value - depending on how you choose to value your points (I generally place a value on them equal to my maintenance fee, others use what they feel they can get for them from a rental of the points as the value), the exchange can still be a great value. In general, I'd agree that the best use of DVC points is at DVC resorts. Purchase another timeshare if you plan to exchange on a regular basis.

Enjoy!