OKW Dues Increase in past 3 years?

[treloarf]

Sorry, this may have been discussed but have not read the boards for a while. I bought into DVC almost 4 years ago & after researching the dues, I saw that it did not go up for 4 years. Then I buy into it & it goes up every year since. I'm not a real big Disney fan But we do like the villas at OKW. I think the dues at DVC is pretty high compared to other timeshares. Just curious as to why they keep raising it so much?

 

[Granny]

Actually, OKW continues to have the lowest dues of any DVC property. Yes, it has gone up the past few years, as have all the DVC resorts' dues. My understanding is that the insurance rates have skyrocketed the past two years, and that is a big factor in the increases.

I'm not a real big Disney fan But we do like the villas at OKW.

I think that most here would agree that buying DVC without the intent to use it primarily for trips to WDW is not a good economic decision. There are other, less expensive timeshares that trade better to other locations. You will pay a premium to stay on-site at WDW whether you are in a resort or a DVC accomodation.

You've got my curiosity up...why would you buy into DVC if you're "not a real big Disney fan"?

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by treloarf
Just curious as to why they keep raising it so much?

Granny is right about the insurance rates following 9/11/01. If memory serves, the dues also took a hit due to a reduction in interest income over the past year. The low interest rates did hurt our DVC investment in that regard.

Annual dues are tied directly to the operational costs of the resort. DVC cannot arbitrarily raise the dues to whatever level they choose. While you could question the manner in which the dollars are spent to run the resort, at least understand that there is a reason for the increase.

Here's a link to a post that has the historical data you are looking for:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=469480

 

[DebbieB]

The official answer given by DVC at the annual meetings was that dues are increasing because of a couple things:

1. Increased cost of employee benefits. Health care costs are up plus they are having to put more into the pension funds due to low investment returns.

2. Low investment returns on the capital reserve funds, therefore the members must put more dues in. They emphasized that they only put the members dues into safe investments so that there is little risk on the principle. That also means low returns.

So the increased dues are more a reflection of the overall economy not for reasons specific to DVC's operation.

 

[treloarf]

Thanks everyone for the info! I guess if you want to stay on Disney property this is the timeshare for you. We don't want to go to Disney every year, but it is nice to stay onsite when we go. I had hoped to trade out to other locations - but I can see that having a different timeshare company may be my better choice. Especially since I really wanted to go to Aruba & could not trade using my Disney investment unless I booked a year or so in advance & non prime time season!!!!

Therefore, I probably will be selling my investment. I thought about maybe renting my points when I don't go to Disney, but that seems to be a hastle. Maybe some of you who do sell your points can tell me otherwise. Do you just post on the board that you want to sell & do you really have takers?