Newbie question - why own at multiple DVCs?

[texansue]

I see that many of you have multiple contracts with different DVC resorts. Is there an advantage I don't know about to doing that? I thought that to make a ressie 11 months out you had to have all your points at the home resort - is that wrong? If you own just a few at a resort, can that be considered a home resort as well?

I am looking to make my first DVC purchase and am considering 250 points at AKV. Would it make more sense to do just 200 AKV and 50 elsewhere? I love the VWL but for $ reasons, I am choosing AKV and will stay there mainly instead. If I had 50 VWL points, could I call that a home resort as well?

Thanks!
Sue

 

[DVC Mike]

Typically, the reason is that the owner wants the 11-month booking advantage of the Home Resort Priority Period in order to make it easier to get the resort they want, at the time they want, with the accommodations they want. This reduces any possible frustration at the 7-mo window, or having to “settle” for another reservation while missing out on the one you really had your heart set on.

I believe the 11 month booking window has become very important in making it easier to secure these types of reservations, particularly because of the rapid increase in the size of DVC membership.

I want a better chance of getting VWL at Christmas, and BCV and/or BWV during the F&W festival. Thus, I purchased points at those resorts. This won't guarantee me a reservation, but it does guarantee that when I do try to book at the 11-month window, I am only competing with other owners and not every single DVC member to get a prime reservation.

Of course, people who don’t own at a resort are able to secure these “hard-to-book” reservations from time to time, so there is no requirement to own multiple resorts. In fact, a lot of DVC owners own just one resort and seem to get along just fine, thank you.

Keep in mind that if you have more than one home resort, all vacation points being used to make a reservation during the Home Resort Priority Period must be associated with that home resort. That is, you cannot combine points from multiple resorts to book one resort during the Home Resort Priority Period. You may combine all the points you have at all your home resorts and book any DVC resort only at the 7-month window.

Some folks purchase small add-ons at other resorts and then, by banking and/or borrowing, book a vacation there at the 11-month window every 2 or 3 years.

 

[Cinderella]

Hi Sue - it would be worth it if you wanted to be able to book at the 11 month window for Wilderness Lodge. I have been able to do that and alternate my trips between Saratoga Springs and Wilderness Lodge.

Even if you just got a 50 point add on at Wilderness Lodge, with banking and borrowing, it is still do-able.

The only trouble is it can get confusing managing points at more than one resort, and it's a good idea to try and get a Wilderness Lodge add on with the same use year as your AKL points.

 

[4Pluto]

Here's how it works. Say you wanted to stay 1 year at AKV and 1 year at VWL. Say you bought 125 points of each. In the the first year, you would bank your AKV and then borrow the number of points from next year's VWL that would allow you to make your reservation at VWL 11 months out. Next year, you would bank your VWL points and use this year's AKV and next year's AKV to make reservations at AKV 11 months out.

It can be a little messy since the points needed at each resort vary with the time of year and kind of accommodations, but you get the drift.

Good Luck!

 

[dianeschlicht]

I see that many of you have multiple contracts with different DVC resorts. Is there an advantage I don't know about to doing that? I thought that to make a ressie 11 months out you had to have all your points at the home resort - is that wrong? If you own just a few at a resort, can that be considered a home resort as well?

I am looking to make my first DVC purchase and am considering 250 points at AKV. Would it make more sense to do just 200 AKV and 50 elsewhere? I love the VWL but for $ reasons, I am choosing AKV and will stay there mainly instead. If I had 50 VWL points, could I call that a home resort as well?

Thanks!
Sue

First of all, if you like VWL best, that is where you should have your master contract. On the other hand, if you like VWL and AKV equally, you will get more room variety staying with AKV.

I would suggest buying one master contract at one or the other (AKV will be easier to accomplish than VWL). That means 160 at AKV, and perhaps another 90 at VWL. Now, that is just a suggestion based on your original planned number of points, but you might want to look into more detail about how many points it takes for each of those resorts at the times that you prefer to travel. For example: We have 380 points in two contracts both at OKW, because we wanted home resort advantage for all of our points there. When AKV came along this spring, we knew we also wanted home resort advantage there, but we figured we could do fine with a planned "every third year" trip to AKV. For that reason, we looked at the size accommodations and level we would likely want, and divided that number by 3. That gave us a starting point for how many points to buy at AKV. We already felt our 380 points were about right for us, so we only added on 69 at AKV to fill that every third year scenario.

 

[sjdisneywedding]

I see that many of you have multiple contracts with different DVC resorts. Is there an advantage I don't know about to doing that? I thought that to make a ressie 11 months out you had to have all your points at the home resort - is that wrong? If you own just a few at a resort, can that be considered a home resort as well?

I am looking to make my first DVC purchase and am considering 250 points at AKV. Would it make more sense to do just 200 AKV and 50 elsewhere? I love the VWL but for $ reasons, I am choosing AKV and will stay there mainly instead. If I had 50 VWL points, could I call that a home resort as well?

Thanks!
Sue

first off, you mention $ reasons. have you looked into resale? VWL are actually cheaper than AKV probably by as much as 10-15 dollars per point.
of course there are other issues/costs with resale, but dont just exclude VWL due to $'s

second any number of points at a resort makes it a home resort with home resort priviledges for that resort

with banking and borrowing even a 25 point contract can have the ability to get you a good 5 nights vacation at certain times of the year depending on room size, so it can be very beneficial no matter how few points you have if you really know you would at leat like to have a stay at that resort every once in awhile

 

[wildernessDad]

Buy where you want to stay and if you want to stay at multiple resorts and can swing it, then buy at those places. We own at VWL and AKV, obviously, and have just made a ressie at BWV at the 7-month period. It will be fun staying a the other DVC resorts if availability permits. I think that OKW and SSR are going to be fun, for example, due to OKW's roomy villas and their access to DTD. This may become harder to do in the future because of increased membership. We'll see.

 

[kimberh]

I own at 4 DVC resorts to have the 11 month Home Resort booking window. Some are just impossible to get into at 7 months at certain times of the year. Ex: VWL Oct and Dec, BCV's Oct and Easter or just about all times at 7 months.

 

[bgsnmky]

I have a question on if this is a possible scenario on banking etc.

225 points at SSR
25 points at OKW

can I bank / or borrower the 225 points at SSR and use them at OKW for the 11 month window, if they are the same use year.

Or is it that if you bank / or borrower the points they still have to be used at that home resort for the 11 month booking.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I have a question on if this is a possible scenario on banking etc.

225 points at SSR
25 points at OKW

can I bank / or borrower the 225 points at SSR and use them at OKW for the 11 month window, if they are the same use year.

Or is it that if you bank / or borrower the points they still have to be used at that home resort for the 11 month booking.

The 11 month booking advantage is only at the home resort the points originate from.

 

[bgsnmky]

The 11 month booking advantage is only at the home resort the points originate from.

So the example above about borrower from ADV or WL is borrowing from the same resort.

Example for me would be - if I want to stay at OKW I would have to borrower and bank from OKW to get the number of points in a year to book 11 months out. Right?

 

[senecabeach]

I'm in the minority here. I don't believe in spliting homes at multi-resorts.

I have ALL my eggs in 1 basket.

ALL my pts. are available to me when I make ressies, either the 11th or 7th month....and I have "never" had a problem @ the 7th month calling for ressies...anywhere, anytime!!

The contract is easily managed, Im not waiting till the 7th mo. to add nights to an existing ressie, tracking pts. I haven't used, banking, borrowing from where?
The worst scenerio would probably be.."forcing" me to stay at my home resort...GOSH !!

 

[chalee94]

Example for me would be - if I want to stay at OKW I would have to borrower and bank from OKW to get the number of points in a year to book 11 months out. Right?

if you buy 25 pts at OKW, you can bank and borrow in order to have up to 75 pts every three years to use at OKW at the 11 month window. i believe if the pts are all on the same master contract, you can combine them at the 7 month window but not until then.

but it would be unfair to allow to allow people to buy cheaper OKW pts with cheaper dues and be able to book with those pts at BCV at the 11 month window because they bought a small add-on at BCV.

 

[bgsnmky]

if you buy 25 pts at OKW, you can bank and borrow in order to have up to 75 pts every three years to use at OKW at the 11 month window. i believe if the pts are all on the same master contract, you can combine them at the 7 month window but not until then.

but it would be unfair to allow to allow people to buy cheaper OKW pts with cheaper dues and be able to book with those pts at BCV at the 11 month window because they bought a small add-on at BCV.

Makes sense..thanks.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I'm in the minority here. I don't believe in spliting homes at multi-resorts.

I have ALL my eggs in 1 basket.

ALL my pts. are available to me when I make ressies, either the 11th or 7th month....and I have "never" had a problem @ the 7th month calling for ressies...anywhere, anytime!!

The contract is easily managed, Im not waiting till the 7th mo. to add nights to an existing ressie, tracking pts. I haven't used, banking, borrowing from where?
The worst scenerio would probably be.."forcing" me to stay at my home resort...GOSH !!

I bought a small contract "to get my feet wet". I have decided I want to add on and I'm leaning to your way of thinking...with one exception. If CRV does come into play, I do want a contrat there also. I have grandchildren and I love the monorail resorts for small children. Also for sentimental reasons...my husband's family stayed at CR when he was a little boy and has always liked it for that reason.