newbie question about point required for a night's stay

[Annabell]

I am new to DVC and am considering joining the program. I can recall that the sales rep told me that one of the advantages of buying is to lock-in the points required for each night's stay. For example, people that bought back 20years ago are using the same amount of points to book their stay today. (as compared to 20 years ago).
So I assumed that the points required won't change and stay fixed forever.
E.g. I need 14 points to book AKV and this will be the same 20 years down the road.
But I think I am wrong on this one....because I am seeing points chart for 2010. So the points DO change every year otherwise why would there be a point chart for 2010 ???? So I now get confused ! Do the points required for each night's stay go up every year ?? If so, I will need to buy more and more points in the future.
Is this correct ??? Thanks in advance for any answers.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

The overall amount of points to stay for a week will not change, however DVC reserves the right to reallocate how they are used...ie: they can make weekend nights more, mid-week stays less, and vice versa.

 

[Annabell]

Ah.... that explains it.... so it is fixed if you always book a whole week !

Thanks !

 

[Disneycouple99]

Ah.... that explains it.... so it is fixed if you always book a whole week !

Thanks !

Not right. The cost of a week stay can and has changed. It is best to buy a 10% buffer if Disney changes the charts again.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Actually, the total number of points for a resort will not change unless they add buildings to the resort. So if there is a total of 1,000,000 points at a resort, the total used to book every single night for one year will total 1,000,000. They could decide to require 100 points per night in a studio for Christmas week, but they would have to reduce the number of points required at another time of the year in any size villa to account for the point increase.

So the points required for a week this year, may be more or less next year because of reallocation of points. But if they go down somewhere for that single resort, they go up somewhere in that same resort.

For example, next year we want to book a GV for a week. If we booked it for the same week in 2010, it would be about 15-20 points more for the stay. But they reallocated the points for a second year in a row so the points for 2011 for that same week are less than 2010.

 

[LisaS]

Ah.... that explains it.... so it is fixed if you always book a whole week !

Thanks !

No, that is not true. Reallocations are done across the entire resort, not week by week. I bought enough points to stay one week in a 1BR at VWL every other year in either May or Dec. After the reallocations, both of those weeks went up such that I no longer have enough points to stay a full week.

Also, at AKV they changed some rooms from Savanna View to Standard View (after members complained about the poor savanna view from those rooms). To compensate, a week in a Savanna View 1BR (and maybe other rooms as well) went up across the board for every week except Premier season.

 

[Annabell]

Does the re-allocation of points for each week happen every year by default? Or only when Disney "desires so" ?

 

[Annabell]

No, that is not true. Reallocations are done across the entire resort, not week by week. I bought enough points to stay one week in VWL every other year in either May or Dec. After the reallocations, both of those weeks went up such that I no longer have enough points to stay a full week.

Hmmm..... this is disappointing..... how on earth can I decide how many points to buy if the point allocation changes all the time????

 

[LisaS]

Hmmm..... this is disappointing..... how on earth can I decide how many points to buy if the point allocation changes all the time????

The good news is, it doesn't change all the time. For the most part, DVC made the changes to even out demand. Weekend nights used to be twice as expensive as weekday nights. That skewed demand with lots of members making 5-night reservations (Sun-Thu). They reallocated the points to make weekend nights less expensive to try to reverse that trend.

When they reallocate, they can't change things more than 15% (?) at a time so this recent reallocation needed to done in stages. We don't know yet if they are done or if there is another step in the process coming next year. Other than a reallocation at OKW very early in the program, this is the only other time they've done this.

 

[RobDoc]

Does the re-allocation of points for each week happen every year by default? Or only when Disney "desires so" ?

DVC has the responsibility to maintain occupancy rates at the DVC resorts. They do this by reallocating the point charts to reflect the actual usage at the resorts. Since 1991, the point charts have been reallocated three times from the original charts - 1996, 2010 and again in 2011. The recent changes (2010/2011) saw weekend points drop dramatically with a corresponding increase for week nights.

Depending on when you travel a future change might not have much effect on your point needs. Those most affected with the 2010 change were accustomed to stays from Sunday thru Friday with no weekend nights. The weeknights were raised in 2010 (and will rise again in 2011) so those members need to re-evaluate how they will use their points. Those members who already stayed on weekends saw little change in the needs for their stays.

Depending on the resort and the time of year, some stays did change dramatically. Many here (myself included) don't think there will be another reallocation for at least a few years.

The important thing is to understand that the point charts can be changed - even though the total points at the resorts cannot be changed.

Stay tuned!