Is renting DVC points always cheaper?

[poohbear012]

Planning trip #2 for July 05 for 10 days. Trip #1 paid cash for VWL 1BR 8 days. For trip #2 looking at bringing along extended family so will need 2-2BR at BCV. Trip #1 got villa at about 1/3 off. Have been lurking on DVC board doing research on renting points. Question is - is it always cheaper to rent points or could some kind of code or other discount provide a better rate?

Thanks!!

 

[disneyberry]

<font face="times" size="+0">well generally, yes, renting DVC points can save money over booking with cash, <i>when there are no other cash discounts available</i>. but, it becomes less worth it the more weekend (Fri + Sat) nights your trip includes. this is because, when booking with points, weekend nights usually cost A LOT more than weekday nights.

let's take a look at some of the rare times discount rates have been reported for a 2bdrm villa:

• Dec 2001 (Value season) - an example AP rate for DVC 2bdrm was $269 at OKW... this was right after 9-11 and we'll probably never see a cash discount on DVC villas that low again. also, OKW rates are lower than rates at other resorts like BCV or VWL.
• Jan 2003 (Value Season) - some examples of general discount code rate for DVC 2bdrm were $364 at VWL, and $319 at OKW.

in DVC points, VWL's units cost the same # of points as BCV, so we can use that $364 2003 figure as an example. booking via cash, you have to pay the hotel tax of 11.5%, so a 2bdrm would cost $364 + tax = approx $406/night. but booking with cash gives you daily maid service, at no cost. (stays booked with DVC points have only limited maid service)

a BCV 2bdrm villa in July costs 40 points/night Sun - Thu, and on Fri + Sat it costs a whopping 75 points/night.

so if you compare renting points to booking a heavily discounted cash rate, it's not worth it to rent. however, discounts on the larger villa rooms seem to be very rare (not to mention that i have not ever seen a discount for July stays). you might be able to find studios at the discount rate more often... but even then, there is no guarantee. to make matters worse, as we have seen, Disney waits until the very last minute to release discount codes, so you would be waiting around for discount codes that might not even include the DVC villas.

so, if you just assume that there are no discounts, you are left comparing renting vs. the rack rate... in which case it's almost always worth it to rent DVC points. (rack rate is $545 + tax = approx $607/night in Value Season...)

hope this helps.

also, how many people are in your traveling party? perhaps you could try a GV at OKW (sleeps up to 12 adults, 3 bdrms, 3 baths). much cheaper points cost than 2 BCV 2bdrms, and from what i've heard, very beautiful units. the other thing is, since you seem to stay in the villas anyway on your WDW trips, you might want to consider joining DVC instead of renting or booking via cash. check out the DVC discussion boards if you have any other questions.</font>

 

[Deb & Bill]

VWL is the smallest DVC resort. If you want to guarantee getting the villa you want, rent points from a VWL member so you will get the 11 month advantage. If you stay more than the Sun-Thur (5 night stay), average the points out over the total number of days and see what your cost will be instead of just keeping the Fri/Sat night separate.

Disney CRO only has about 5% of the resort to rent out (unless VWL members have used points for other Disney resorts/activities such as the Disney Cruise).

With most codes not coming out until a few months before, the entire resort may be booked and you won't get your two villas that you need.

OKW is much larger and you might be able to get 2 villas with a code.

And you can get non-DVC resorts much cheaper than renting points with a code.

 

[poohbear012]

Thanks Disneyberry and Deb & Bill. Disneyberry is on the mark regarding our first trip. It was in Nov. 01 so I probably should not be using that as any kind of baseline. Looked at OKW. Our party includes seven adults and six kids, it will be the first trip for nine of us so really liked having access to SAB and being w/in walking distance of Epcot and activities of BW. OKW does not seem to have the same atmosphere. However, looks as though we had better give OKW another look.

Thanks again!!

 

[disneyberry]

<font face="times" size="+0">poohbear012, why don't you hop on over to the DVC boards and read about the various resorts. you could also post your situation (i.e. how many families, ages of kids and what theme they might like, etc.) and i'm sure many of the DVC members who have experience planning large group trips can offer more input on what resorts, and what combination of units you might consider. (we personally have not yet attempted a large group trip, so no first hand experience.)
just from your info that you have 7 adults and 6 kids... that's 13 people, so you could swing a GV only if at least one of the kids is 3 years old or younger... but depending on the relationship of the 7 adults, you probably would prefer not to all be squished into a GV. heh.</font>