Inviting family to say on DVC points

[Hillbeans]

I am sure lots of others do this, use points to invite family along on DVC Disney vacations. Do you run into any issues offering to take care of the accommodations for the group or do you work some sort of other payment out (they pay for dinners, etc?)

We enjoy traveling with (certain) family to WDW and I don't mind spending the extra points on accommodations since I think it makes our trip more fun. Just wondering how others handle this and how it works for you.

 

[allshookup]

If we invite any family or friends, it is just that...an invitation & we do not ask for money. However, we've never had anyone not offer to buy us at least a dinner, pay for some groceries, etc. The only issues we have is with my sister who insists on trying to pay for everything & I have keep telling her to stop.

 

[ejsteg]

We will taking family members (parents and sister w/ her family) with us for a 3rd time this December and they all insisted on paying for our food for the week. They will not take no for an answer. On the past trips they have always offered to pay for our Chef Mickeys meal and have bought my kids snacks during the days at the parks. Enjoy your trip with your family - it seems these days that it has become harder and harder for families to be together and the time you do get should be cherished.

 

[Pakey]

We always do it as a gift, never expecting anything in return. Depending on who we take, sometimes a meal will be purchased for us as a thank you, but not always. We usually get a thank you card and/or some small gift after we return home.

 

[toniosmom]

I am taking a bunch of nieces and nephews with me next year. They are all in college, so they will be doing their own thing now and then. I look at the accomodations as my gift to them and the only thing I would hope to get in return is some of their time with my 4-year-old son. They are all good kids, though, so I don't think that will be an issue. They will be paying for their own meals.

Best to go with the idea that you will get nothing in return. Then you will not be disappointed and there will be no damper on your vacation.

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

We only started taking family along. We planned a large reunion this March and only ended up with one other family with us. Up front we said that this one would be our treat. They only had to get down there, get park tickets etc. They don't have a lot of disposable cash these days so we cooked most meals to save money. The next time we may ask some minimal amount for the extra points, but I'm not sure.

Now.....for the other two families, one that cancelled at the last minute, leaving us with much larger accomodations than necessary ?!? I'm not sure we will make the offer again. We'll have to see.

Now, if we were taking individual nieces or nephews....I don't think I would ask for any money.

 

[RumpleMom]

One relative is a two income family- we gave them a price less than a mod to share our two bedroom. We are one income.

Another relative is a single Mom- she doesn't pay for the room.

Our parents don't pay anything for the entire trip. They will buy us a dinner or two.

When the kids bring friends, they don't pay for the room if sharing the same room as DD. If another room is required, then we book a studio on points and charge a very reasonable amount.

It gets kind of complicated, but no way would I expect anyone else to pay for a vacation for us. I adjust the amount according to what someone can pay.

 

[Nanajo1]

We have brought various family units to WDW. We only do this if we have the points. With our siblings if the have children with them we get them their own villa. If it is another couple we share a two bedroom (we get the MBR)!
We don't ask nor expect any room fees but they supply their own transportation and park tix. I tell them about the different sites to monitor for good deals on park tix etc. I also tell them to read as muh as they can about WDW so they can have some ideas of their own.
We share the cost of meals when we dine together. But we have been treated on many occasions. Every family has gifted us with some very speclal WDW mementoes.
When we bring our children and the grandkids we pay for everything but the plane fare. They treat us to dinners, snacks etc.

 

[OKW Lover]

We don't charge people for staying in our home - or our home away from home. Often our guests will pay for a meal as thanks, but there are never any strings attached to our invitations.

 

[MrsNick]

Although we've been members for some time, I just booked our very first trip inviting DMom and DSis+Family. The only thing I made sure to be explicit about was what the DVC cancellation policy is and what it means for ME, lol.

Other than asking my DSis to take the cancellation policy under advisement (meaning, don't pull a last minute cancellation on me), there are no strings attached to the invitation. I did feel bad being so forward about emphasizing the cancellation thing (and really doubt that I even needed to bring it up), but figured it was best to avoid any misuderstandings down the road.

I expect that we will split the cost of meals or any additional mousekeeping we might want (typically, we don't get extra mousekeeping, but my DSis has three little ones, and we will have our baby with us, so we might ask for a full cleaning one day out of our week long stay). However, if DSis or DMom wants to buy us some Mickey bars, I sure won't say no, lol

 

[JasonDVC]

I wouldn't charge family or friends that we invite to come with us. We enjoy having people with us.

If they wanted to go on their own, then yes I would.

 

[pditullio]

My parents have been members since 1992, and for *years* would not let us give them anything toward trips that they booked for us, or trips that we took with them. When I had a child, and began mooching some of their points almost every single year, I insisted that we chip in. It was a hard sell, but what they finally agreed to was that we reimburse them the dues they paid on the number of points we were using for that trip. Still obviously a huge bargain for us, but at least I felt better about it, since it was a break even for them for the year. In other words, they only paid dues on points that they were using themselves.

Nowadays we have our own membership, and when we do trips together, we argue about who "gets" to put more points toward the trip. LOL.

 

[owensamo]

We've done HHI twice and WDW once with a large family group (DH's parents and 2 DBIL's families) and we don't ask for any money for the room. My in-laws, though, usually don't end up letting us buy groceries or most of our meals for the week. The week we were in WDW we shared 2 2-bdrms and my DBIL got the dining plan for our villa - and paid for all 4 adults and 4 kids in the room! It worked out pretty well.

We've got another HHI trip scheduled in a month, and I don't expect any compensation from the family for the room. Nor do I expect them to buy our groceries or meals. However, if they insist it's usually easier to let them pay than to create a scene or drama on our vacation - if it's that important to them, I'll take the free meal over family angst any day!

Amanda

 

[stacy6552]

Well in a few weeks my family of 4 will be staying in a 2 bedroom for 5 meesley nights, because our friends who were comming with us backed out after we bought our plane tickets and before "holding" kicked in.

 

[shortypots]

We got a Grand Villa for my family in April, and I will not charge them for the space, but I do expect a thank you, and for everyone to chip in for groceries. But even that will get hairy because my brother and sis each have kids, and then one doesn't want to pay for the other's grocery usage.

However, we bought the points to share with our family and friends, and love being able to do that, so the only thing we ask is appreciation for sharing.

Although, when we were in Aruba last month (used our Marriott timeshare for an exchange), both my mom and my brother bought us dinner for letting them stay there, which I thought was very generous, but not expected.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well in a few weeks my family of 4 will be staying in a 2 bedroom for 5 meesley nights, because our friends who were comming with us backed out after we bought our plane tickets and before "holding" kicked in.

Stacy, Bill and I would be glad to sleep on the sleeper sofa if you feel the need to fill up the villa a bit.

 

[rentayenta]

We don't charge people for staying in our home - or our home away from home. Often our guests will pay for a meal as thanks, but there are never any strings attached to our invitations.

I love this: your home away from home.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

I just recently bought into DVC, so I haven't taken anyone with us yet, but last year I was invited to WDW w/my sister on her DVC points. I asked her how much money I should give her & she said she didn't want me to pay her. I told her I would feel better if I did, so we agreed on an amount that made us both happy. Our families had a great vacation togther!

 

[zalansky]

I have no wisdom, I just wanted to say hi to my girl Hill!

 

[Cmbar]

Well in a few weeks my family of 4 will be staying in a 2 bedroom for 5 meesley nights, because our friends who were comming with us backed out after we bought our plane tickets and before "holding" kicked in.

Stacy, What is "holding"?? I have been off the DVC boards for a while. Did I miss a new thing??