Option/weekend High Point/rent Cheaper Room?

[LeahA]

For our trip in March 2009, we have 2 Friday nights and 1 Saturday night, is it worth it to book a cheaper room for one night, or blow all those extra points? Can we pay cash for our room that were in?

 

[Chuck S]

You can usually get the room for cash through Member Services. Some people move to a less expensive cash resort for the weekends. We simply bought enough points to cover weekends.

Whatever works for you.

 

[dlz]

I would move rooms if I was staying that long or if you have enough points then use them. I have found that we can usually stay up to two days during the week vs one weekend night. Pay cash like the last poster suggested, unless it is too expensive, then switch and switch back. They will move your stuff, it's not that big of a deal to save some money or points. I should say it's not a big deal "to me", my husband hates when I switch resort!

 

[Cruelladeville]

If you have an annual passport, you might be able to get your room at 1/2 price thru CRO. It's worth checking, unless you are going during the holidays. We also use the weekends to stay at our favorite resorts that we normally don't get a chance to stay at anymore, like Poly or Grand Floridian.

 

[spruce]

I never looked at weekends as blowing points. I have them, I spend them. DVC is a prepaid vacation. I've put out thousands to buy in and I've often wondered why spend hundreds to cover weekends when the thousands were spent to have higher grade accomodations regardless of the day of the week.
I also then wonder, if I were to save some weekend points, what would I do with them? Bank them, plan another trip, then how much does another trip cost for travel or.....what happens when another trip hits a weekend?
I have come to the conclusion that 5 nights, 6 days isn't a full vacation. When I invite guests, they only get 5 nights if we have a GV or multiple rooms because of weekend points but we stay longer without them using our points on weekends in a smaller unit, extending our vacation beyond 5 nights.
I understand point conservation but to me the point is having a long enough break from my work life regardless of how many points it costs, and I know, rack rate is a whole lot more and I saved a bundle by buying DVC.

 

[TisBit]

I never looked at weekends as blowing points. I have them, I spend them. DVC is a prepaid vacation. I've put out thousands to buy in and I've often wondered why spend hundreds to cover weekends when the thousands were spent to have higher grade accomodations regardless of the day of the week.
I also then wonder, if I were to save some weekend points, what would I do with them? Bank them, plan another trip, then how much does another trip cost for travel or.....what happens when another trip hits a weekend?
I have come to the conclusion that 5 nights, 6 days isn't a full vacation. When I invite guests, they only get 5 nights if we have a GV or multiple rooms because of weekend points but we stay longer without them using our points on weekends in a smaller unit, extending our vacation beyond 5 nights.
I understand point conservation but to me the point is having a long enough break from my work life regardless of how many points it costs, and I know, rack rate is a whole lot more and I saved a bundle by buying DVC.

I agree about it not blowing points. To me it is like moving to a cheaper hotel on weekends just to save some money. I too can understand, especially if you are short on points or something for a future trip, but just out of routine, it defeats the purpose of DVC for me, IMO.

 

[mgilmer]

We always do a Sun thru Thurs stay at the BCV and then move over to the Swan for a couple of days. My wife is a nurse and we get a rate of $129 to $149 at the Swan. That is far cheaper than using a lot of points for a Fri and Sat in a 1 Br at the BCV.

 

[DisFlan]

It depends on how we're using our points during a year - how many trips and what size villas we get. We've used our Starwood points for a weekend room at the Swan. This last trip, we spent our Saturday arrival night at Shades of Green and used points for the next Friday night after moving to BWV. (My DH won't move more than once.)

DisFlan

 

[Amy&Dan]

If I have the points, either leftover from the last trip or not using up points I'll need for the next one, I book the whole thing. However, sometimes (okay, all the time) I am low on points or just plain don't have enough. In that case, I generally book a value or mod for a couple of weekend days. I like to do that on the first part of the trip. It sounds like you are arriving on a Friday. Maybe do Friday and Saturday at a moderate then move to your DVC for the rest of your trip. Its pretty. Doing that in October leaves me enough points in June to do 15 nights at OKW. Well worth the move for some delayed gratification! But that's just my strategy.

We almost always come in on a Friday, then go home Sunday a week later. Doing that value or mod for the first two nights is how we manage to get 2-3 trips a year with our points.