Need simple answer - can you buy DVC at one place and use it at other locations?

[Rhonna]

Sorry, couldn't think how to make the heading shorter.

So if you buy into DVC at one location, like Kidani Villas can you use that to stay at Aulani, Disneyland DVC locations, basically ANY DVC location? Is it like a point system based on the amount you purchased? Meaning, if you purchased x amount of time can you use it at any DVC location even though you have one "home" location at your original purchase? If so, what is the point of having a "home" DVC location if you can use the points at any DVC?

Thanks

 

[bookwormde]

Yes you can book other DVC resorts. Your home resort give you 11 month reservations, to all the others you can not book until 7 months before your stay, so you have a lot better chance of getting the reservation you want during busy times at your home resort.

Remember you do not by "time" you buy points which can be converted for different amouts of nights based on the point chart for the different resorts, time of year, day of the week, size of accomidation, view and associated services (club level)

 

[Rhonna]

Thank you. Makes sense now. The "bonus" with your home DVC is earlier booking. I understand the basics of the point system.

 

[disneynutz]

If you read your contract with Disney, booking at your home resort is the only guaranteed resort.

Also booking at 7 months gets more difficult each year and Disney is very effective at turning slow times into busy times and adjusting the point charts to require additional points during the once slow times.

We have been going to WDW in early December for years and this year is much more crowded and the park hours are shorter with private parties and MVMCP every other day.

Bill

 

[dlhvac]

Yes its not a certain you will always be able to book the other resorts
i dont think disney will change it.
you will then see that some of the more popular resorts are oversold.

 

[magicaldisney]

In my experience it has gotten more difficult to get into a resort at 7 months. You really need to be happy with your home resort if that is the only place available for you to stay.

 

[Rhonna]

Well, some friends just bought into DVC but I don't want to ask personal details and they are private about money. All I know is they have Aulani booked for Dec. and Kidani for Feb. and a DL trip sometime next year. So I am not sure if they've bought into both Aulani and Kidani (which wouldn't surprise me) and are using extra points for DL or just paying outright for the DL trip. I guess over time I'll see how often they go to these resorts, lol. Just made me curious how it worked since these are the first people I know that own DVC.

 

[Dean]

Sorry, couldn't think how to make the heading shorter.

So if you buy into DVC at one location, like Kidani Villas can you use that to stay at Aulani, Disneyland DVC locations, basically ANY DVC location? Is it like a point system based on the amount you purchased? Meaning, if you purchased x amount of time can you use it at any DVC location even though you have one "home" location at your original purchase? If so, what is the point of having a "home" DVC location if you can use the points at any DVC?

Thanks

I own 4 timeshare points systems if you count the Marriott destinations points (hybrid of weeks/points). Only DVC has a home resort priority from a points standpoint. To be complete and fair, RCI points gives me a priority for the underlying owned week/resort only and a limited priority for other resorts under common management. Bluegreen gives em a priority for the underlying unit/week/resort only. With Marriott there are limitations and priorities for the owned season used as a more traditional weeks timeshare but not once you convert to points instead. BG and Marriott have priorities based on your VIP status.

I know Club intrawest doesn't have a home resort priority. Maybe Jim or Brian can speak to Wyndham which I believe has very limited priorities for some situations.

 

[luckyman_apd]

If you read your contract with Disney, booking at your home resort is the only guaranteed resort.

Also booking at 7 months gets more difficult each year and Disney is very effective at turning slow times into busy times and adjusting the point charts to require additional points during the once slow times.

We have been going to WDW in early December for years and this year is much more crowded and the park hours are shorter with private parties and MVMCP every other day.

Bill

Wouldn't it make more sense for them to Reduce the points required for slow times to increase the business? and increase them at "busy" times?

 

[n2mm]

Well, some friends just bought into DVC but I don't want to ask personal details and they are private about money. All I know is they have Aulani booked for Dec. and Kidani for Feb. and a DL trip sometime next year. So I am not sure if they've bought into both Aulani and Kidani (which wouldn't surprise me) and are using extra points for DL or just paying outright for the DL trip. I guess over time I'll see how often they go to these resorts, lol. Just made me curious how it worked since these are the first people I know that own DVC.

Yes, it's not unusal for some folks to own at several resorts. While you can only use that resort's point at the 11 month window, you can combine all resort points at the 7 month window. You can see by some of our tags that there are a few "multiple" home owners. I own at BWV just for October/F&W because it's difficult to get in at the 7 month window--so the 11 month window is a must. I own at BLT, because I can only afford the standard rooms there, as the points are much higher than other resorts, and then my biggest contract is SSR and I use that one for everything else. So sometimes it works better to buy multiple homes vs 1 big contract at 1 home. (I wished someone had told me this before my first purchase -- but we live and learn--no regrets, but I would've done things differently instead of putting so many points into SSR for contract #1).

 

[disneynutz]

Wouldn't it make more sense for them to Reduce the points required for slow times to increase the business? and increase them at "busy" times?

That's what I was trying to say in my own strange way.

I took a poll during this trip and the managers at VWL, BWV, and SSR all told me the same thing. DVC has a consistent 95% to 100% occupancy rate. Two years ago they said that it was between 85% and 100%.

Doesn't seem like there are many slow times left.

Bill

 

[Brian Noble]

Maybe Jim or Brian can speak to Wyndham which I believe has very limited priorities for some situations.

Wyndham has a couple of different products, depending on where (and in some cases when) you purchase. Some have a specific underlying fixed week, and you have advanced rights only to that specific week. More recently are "undivided interest" (UDI) deeds. Those deeds have advanced rights to the home resort, at any week. Finally, the newest product is "club Wyndham access" (CWA). This is a trust that blends inventory from all owners together, and owners have advanced rights to any of that inventory, without a notion of "home resort".

In Wyndham's system, advanced rights are not particularly important with a very few exceptions: lower-point-value resorts in Myrtle Beach and Destin in summer, event weeks in New Orleans, Cherry Blossom festival and July 4th in DC, etc. That's partly because the system is just so much larger, and it's also partly because Wyndham's system has longer booking windows: 13 months for "advanced" and 10 months for "regular" bookings.

DVC has a consistent 95% to 100% occupancy rate. Two years ago they said that it was between 85% and 100%.

A timeshare system is designed for full occupancy, year round. For every night's worth of points it takes to book something, someone owns those points. There are only two ways for occupancy to be anything less than "full" on any given night. One: some Member allows their points to expire unused. Two: some Member has performed an internal exchange to DCL, the Disney Collection, or ABD, and CRO was unable to rent the room backed by the relinquished points. Two years ago we were in the midst of the recession---significantly worse than we are now. It would not surprise me to hear that Members were allowing points to expire more frequently in 2009 than 2011, because after all the room is only one part of the vacation costs. Likewise, it's not surprising that CRO found it more difficult to rent rooms in 2009 than in 2011.

It is true that point reallocations are intended to smooth out mis-matches between demand and supply, but if Members are using their points, the rooms should always be full no matter what.

 

[Dean]

That's what I was trying to say in my own strange way.

I took a poll during this trip and the managers at VWL, BWV, and SSR all told me the same thing. DVC has a consistent 95% to 100% occupancy rate. Two years ago they said that it was between 85% and 100%.

Doesn't seem like there are many slow times left.

Bill

Bill, just to use your post to make a point. There is a difference between occupancy and demand. No matter what the demand, you can't have more than X reservations for a given day. If the more in demand times are full, many will fall back to plan B & C, etc. That should fill up the resort to around 100% year round of the rooms they plan to fill. They'll leave open a few for back up, maint issues, etc. The goal of the points system is to actually have the demand equal, not just make sure all the points are used. Obviously it'll never be exact and it will be a moving target to a degree. Also they'll look at the big picture rather than a given day or weekend and thus macro manage the demand.

 

[taaren]

Two years ago we were in the midst of the recession---significantly worse than we are now. It would not surprise me to hear that Members were allowing points to expire more frequently in 2009 than 2011, because after all the room is only one part of the vacation costs. Likewise, it's not surprising that CRO found it more difficult to rent rooms in 2009 than in 2011. It is true that point reallocations are intended to smooth out mis-matches between demand and supply, but if Members are using their points, the rooms should always be full no matter what.

This reminds me of a conversation I had while chatting with a member I transferred some points in from for an extra night when I first joined (both DVC & DIS) back in 2009. He had some other points that were going to expire and I couldn't use 'em due to the timing. He said he'd set a minimum price to rent them for because he would rather drive to the resort, sit in his room and eat peanut butter than rent them out for less than his price (buy in + MFs) or let them expire. I love the mental image of him sitting in his room eating peanut butter on vacation just to use the points. Wonder how many members actually did that to fill the rooms during those years?

Btw, thanks for the info on Wyndham. Need to spend some more time on TUG but down the road I'd like to look at Worldmark resale for a property near where I currently live to use to come home and visit once we move. Every bit of info helps.

 

[crisi]

Two: some Member has performed an internal exchange to DCL, the Disney Collection, or ABD, and CRO was unable to rent the room backed by the relinquished points.

The other thing that its important to understand and that new members have a very hard time with is that these rooms are unavailable to DVC members. Once DVC "sells" the room to CRO to pay for the exchange, DVC doesn't own the room. So its possible for a room to be available on cash at BLT, but not be available on points - even if it is going to sit empty tomorrow.

Which means you can be 100% full with DVC rooms, but still have unoccupied CRO rooms at the resort. And this is not uncommon.

 

[abrych]

I have been a DVC member since 1994...........Use points all over. Am going to Hawaii in Jan. I have never really had a problem booking a reservation (unless an extremely busy season, easter/christmas). I booked Hawaii 90 days prior to use. I usually book within 60 days of trip. At times I don't get my first choice of resort, but I almost always can get the dates I need. There have been times when I have booked within a week of travel.

 

[Dean]

I have been a DVC member since 1994...........Use points all over. Am going to Hawaii in Jan. I have never really had a problem booking a reservation (unless an extremely busy season, easter/christmas). I booked Hawaii 90 days prior to use. I usually book within 60 days of trip. At times I don't get my first choice of resort, but I almost always can get the dates I need. There have been times when I have booked within a week of travel.

That is an extremely unusual experience IMO when looking at exchanges in general (RCI or II) and doubly so using DVC. However, just to look at your posted history, a much cheaper timeshare could have gotten you to those type of exchanges more easily and cheaply than would DVC.