New owners can now buy 50 points from Disney

[bbangel]

Could you please - or anyone - confirm the 4 resorts in current sales, I'm guessing its BLT, AK and SSR but I don't know the 4th?

ALSO - could you please - or anyone please explain the significance of "small buyers ... need of 160 points to make regular trades to RCI, etc.?" What is RCI and what does it mean? Also what other implications might be worth considering, in your opinion?

Much appreciated!

Cheers!
Zebsterama

The fourth resort that is selling is GCV (Grand California Villas).
RCI is a timeshare company that has a trade agreement with DVC. You can trade points for a week at their properties around the world but most weeks will be 160 points or more. Only important if you want to trade out.

 

[kikiq]

Interesting, thanks for sharing! Was your GCV add-on directly from Disney or via resale? If through Disney and fewer than 160 points, did you sense any resistance from your guide on buying a different UY? Thanks!

Our VGC add-on was directly from Disney. We figured out from the "old" point chart we needed 150 points but we wanted 2 75 pt contracts. Wanted the cash incentive and my DH said that if we could get the 2 contracts and the 2009 points, he'd go for it. We didn't get any resistance from our guide about buying a different UY as long as we knew it was going to be a new contract. (And our guide is really good about making sure we understand everything. My DH asked so many questions the first time we met with her) There was a little discussion with someone about new contract, buying less than 160 points and in 2 75 pt contracts. But "they" decided that since we were already members, we weren't really new members. Everything could have been done and signed that one meeting except that we wanted our DDs names on the VGC contracts. We had to wait for one to come home from college.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

To be honest - with the lowered point entry, this has really peaked my interest in potentially buying in.

Cheers,
Zebsterama

Not to get you down b/c resale would be an option for you but there seems to be next to no confirmation about this 50 pt buy in. Guides are telling people it isn't an option and it seems like it was only the independent realtors that signed up to sell DVC that may have been allowed to do this. Just bear that in mind if a guide tells you no.

But, as it always was, resale is a way to become a member without doing the direct purchase DVC minimum.

 

[5forDiz]

Can you - or someone else - please explain the "walk a reservation" concept? Sorry, I don't know / understand what that means.

Also if someone buys a 50 point purchase, what's the minimum add on they can do after that?

To be honest - with the lowered point entry, this has really peaked my interest in potentially buying in.

Cheers,
Zebsterama

Once you are a DVC member if you add-on directly through Disney it is 25 points minimum with cash, 50 points minimum if you want Disney's financing; you can also add-on by purchasing contract(s) via resale market in any amount those resale contracts happen to be.

Here's an example of " walking " reservation :

To book Dec 25 2011 through Dec 31 2011 at your Home Resort the first day of your 11 month window is Jan 25 2011 but instead you call on Jan 19 2011 for maximum 7 night booking which will cover dates Dec 19 2011 - Dec 25 2011 ( Dec 25 2011 being the first ' true ' date of reservation you want )
THEN, next day on Jan 20 2011 you call MS again and drop Dec 19 2011 from your reservation and ADD Dec 26 2011, continuing this calling in to MS each day to drop day and add a day at end of reservation until you have booked all the dates you need ( it gives you a 6 days jump on booking ).

 

[bwvBound]

Our VGC add-on was directly from Disney. We figured out from the "old" point chart we needed 150 points but we wanted 2 75 pt contracts. Wanted the cash incentive and my DH said that if we could get the 2 contracts and the 2009 points, he'd go for it. We didn't get any resistance from our guide about buying a different UY as long as we knew it was going to be a new contract. (And our guide is really good about making sure we understand everything. My DH asked so many questions the first time we met with her) There was a little discussion with someone about new contract, buying less than 160 points and in 2 75 pt contracts. But "they" decided that since we were already members, we weren't really new members. Everything could have been done and signed that one meeting except that we wanted our DDs names on the VGC contracts. We had to wait for one to come home from college.

Very cool! Thanks for the info!

 

[zebsterama]

The fourth resort that is selling is GCV (Grand California Villas).
RCI is a timeshare company that has a trade agreement with DVC. You can trade points for a week at their properties around the world but most weeks will be 160 points or more. Only important if you want to trade out.

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[dcfromva]

I think DVC has a lot of inventory that they need to get rid of.

The financial crisis is finally coming home to roost. DVC is likely having to make payments on all of that unsold real estate.

If that is the case, then why don't they offer better incentives (instead of cranking the price up)? I would add on at BLT if the price was right....

 

[disneynutz]

If that is the case, then why don't they offer better incentives (instead of cranking the price up)? I would add on at BLT if the price was right....

Because they are smart. Last year when sales started to slow, they took BLT off of the table and Guides were instructed to push VGC and AKV only. Hundreds of BLT rooms are booked daily through CRO so Disney is still making money.

If you study Disney's pricing strategy, they will raise prices, then offer "temporary" incentives and price reductions to generate a feeling of "must but now". They will rotate the incentives to close the deal with everyone sitting on the fence, then start the process all over again.

Bill

 

[dcfromva]

If you study Disney's pricing strategy, they will raise prices, then offer "temporary" incentives and price reductions to generate a feeling of "must but now". They will rotate the incentives to close the deal with everyone sitting on the fence, then start the process all over again.

Bill [/COLOR]

Perhaps, but if they were really distressed I would think they would offer better incentives before reducing the initial buy-in because there has to be more overhead with the smaller contracts. I haven't seen any good incentive since they increased the price in OCT (not that they were all that good prior to OCT ).

 

[zebsterama]

Earlier somone mentioned that they bought two 75 point contracts vs. one 150 point contract. Just wondering, what's the advantage, other than I'm guessing it's easier to later sell a smaller contract?

Cheers,
Zebsterama

 

[disneynutz]

Perhaps, but if they were really distressed I would think they would offer better incentives before reducing the initial buy-in because there has to be more overhead with the smaller contracts. I haven't seen any good incentive since they increased the price in OCT (not that they were all that good prior to OCT ).

I wouldn't say that they are distressed. They have probably already paid the projects off and any unsold rooms are added to the CRO inventory.

The only pressure that they have to sell is internal due to not meeting forecasts. Disney books the DVC with Parks and Resorts and there have been reports that Parks and Resorts is struggling because their profits are down, even though they posted a profit of $150 million last quarter. I wish that I could have their problems.

Bill

 

[disneynutz]

Earlier somone mentioned that they bought two 75 point contracts vs. one 150 point contract. Just wondering, what's the advantage, other than I'm guessing it's easier to later sell a smaller contract?

Cheers,
Zebsterama

That's the reason. Smaller contracts sell faster and usually at a better price. That's why Disney is looking into offering 50 point contracts.

Bill

 

[zebsterama]

That's the reason. Smaller contracts sell faster and usually at a better price. That's why Disney is looking into offering 50 point contracts.

Bill

Thanks for the info!

 

[majortom1981]

I dont see why small contracts are bad. They will have to go only every 2 years to get a studio and every four to get a one bedroom .So how is this bad for big point members?

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

I dont see why small contracts are bad. They will have to go only every 2 years to get a studio and every four to get a one bedroom .So how is this bad for big point members?

Not necessarily. We frequently go for quick weekends... perhaps three nights. With Disney now offering to sell up to 24 points per year to finish off a reservation, owners of 50 points can go for one quick (high demand) weekend a year with an 11-month booking window.

 

[chalee94]

With Disney now offering to sell up to 24 points per year to finish off a reservation...

FYI: these pts are only available at the 7 month window.

but yes, small contract owners (like myself) could book a couple of nights each year...not much but squarely in the middle of a planned 7-10 night stay by larger owners...maybe taking up the last studio of a 2BR lockoff the larger owners might have occupied...

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

FYI: these pts are only available at the 7 month window.

Well, now that is very valuable information! I didn't realize that these points had that limitation. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[CWO4DVC]

Back from OKW last week. We own SS and HH but love OKW. Decided to add on 35 OKW points with June UY. 90/point with 09 points. Since we travel to Orlando about 4 times a year, points are points to us. We Have never booked more than 5 months in advance and prefer to make vacation plans about 30-4 days prior to travel so booking window does not matter much. Our family prefers to travel while kids are in school. DS/12 home schooled so it works out great.

 

[Dean]

I dont see why small contracts are bad. They will have to go only every 2 years to get a studio and every four to get a one bedroom .So how is this bad for big point members?

They are bad for the system because they encourage stays of less than a week and more weekdays. They also tend to migrate more to smaller units and lower cost units in a given resort. They also create a higher per member management cost in part because they must conserve points so much that they often take up more MS time overall than many larger points owners. I'm not complaining, just stating, though I believe that from a membership standpoint they do weaken the system and raise costs to a degree.

 

[bwvBound]

They are bad for the system because they encourage stays of less than a week and more weekdays. <snip> I believe that from a membership standpoint they do weaken the system and raise costs to a degree.

Agreeing with your entire post and adding ...

Shorter stays (more frequent turnover) leads to more frequent housekeeping. We are fortunate that we are not generally charged housekeeping on a "per stay" basis ... but other clubs have added it to address the burden of increased turnover.