How hard to use points?

[Park City]

Hi there,

I'm new to this board and we are currently in the process of looking to buy at the Beach Club Villas since that is where we usually stay. We would be going to Disney every other year, but the ability to trade for other locations is very interesting and may help in detemining how may points we buy.

I was sent a packet from Disney and it gives a lot of options for using points at other places outside of Disney. I would be interested in hearing how this has worked for other people trying to do this. I currently own a Marriott time share and I think that trading through II is a real pain.

Can someone tell me if making reservations at one of the places listed in the concierge collection is easier, or do they hit you with a bunch of fees and blackout dates.

Thanks for your help.

 

[disneydenisel]

I know that you might not want to trade through II, but here's a recent thread about that:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1227922

You might search the boards for Concierge Collection.

Also, I haven't used my points for anything other than staying at DVC resorts. The general consensus is that staying at DVC is the best use of your points for the value. I'm sure that others here will have more to add.

 

[CarolMN]

Making Conceirge Collection reservations is relatively easy compared to using II. All you do is call MS - if there is availability at the destination resort and you have enough points, the reservation is yours. There is a non-refundable fee to make those reservations - believe it is currently $95.

That said, most here believe that buying DVC to regularly use it for non-DVC resort stays is a poor economic value. In other words, you'd be better off paying cash for those options and buying only enough points to use at DVC resorts. IMHO, that's especailly true since you already have a Marriot timeshare that you can use for trading - even though it "is a pain" to do so.

Take a look at the point charts for the Conceirge options. You will see that they cost many more points per night than do the DVC resorts. You could make a DVC resort reservation for the same number of points, rent it to someone else and have $$ left over after you pay cash for the non-DVC option.

Here are some threads with links to the non-DVC options -

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1089453

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1089437

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1089462

Best wishes -

 

[Park City]

The links you provided were great and will help in determining how many points to buy. It sounds like the best way to buy points is to buy what you plan on using at Disney, but if something comes up or there are left over points it's good to have other options.

Thanks again,

Brent