Other than DVC Resorts...

[Wags]

Other than the standard DVC Resorts, OKW, VWL, BWV, BCV, VB and HH, have you ever used your points for stays at some of the other available resorts, i.e. Hawaii, Arizona, NY(The Sagamore).

In other words have you stayed at the resorts that are part of the Disney Collection (other than those specifically part of Disney)?

Do you find that it is a viable option and a good value?

I ask because I'm still trying to convince DW that there are other options. BTW, I do have the DVC Guide that they give to you when you do the tour, so I do know what is available. I just need to know how many of you have used points for those options.

Thanks, I need help to convince her. While she likes WDW, I wouldn't say she loves it (or Florida for that matter). If it were up to her we would vacation a different spot every year. She loves cruising, which we have done a number of times, not Disney, and I don't know that she'd want to do a Disney Cruise. I think she sees it geared more towards the young children.

 

[Chadm]

I took my wife to the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans last weekend to celebrate her birthday and our purchase of a new house. We had a full suite. The Windsor Court is one of the Orient-Express hotels and has been voted the best hotel in the world in the past. It was absolutely, positively fantastic.

Of course, some would say that it's not the best use of points and I can't disagree, but we bought enough points to be able to "indulge" ourselves in places that we would not go otherwise every now and then. That's part of the appeal of DVC to us. We will mostly use our points at DVC resorts. However, we like knowing that we can splurge at some of these other world-class hotels if we want to.

 

[TIdoublegaER]

DH and I used our points to stay at the Boston Harbor Hotel in Jan '02 for our 10th wedding anniversary. At checkin, we were upgraded to a junior suite, which was wonderful. While not the best use of points, it allowed us to stay in accomodations we probably would not have otherwise and helped reduce our out of pocket cost of the trip. We had a wonderful time and I'm sure we will use our points for other exchanges in the conceirge collection or II in the future.

As a side note, as long as you plan for winter weather, January was a great time to tour Boston and see all of the historical stuff! Talk about no crowds - we received personal tours almost everywhere we went. I would love to take the kids and go back in warmer weather though, even if it is crowded.

 

[Dean]

Outside of the Interval International options, all the non DVC points options are very expensive both in terms of cost and number of point needed. It's nice to have options but you're better off buying less points and paying cash for those other options if you want to partake. If you can't justify DVC on it's on, you shouldn't buy as all of those options could evaporate soon.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We stayed at the Sagamore last Thanksgiving. If I remember correctly the rooms were 23 points each but the lowest price for that holiday season was $299.00 plus tax per room. That worked out to be a good deal for us using points. In 2003, they have raised the points for a room so it isn't as good a deal this year.

On the other hand we have stayed at the Woodstock Inn and did not use points, but instead paid cash. The point value was not very good there.

HBC

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Happy Birthday Cat
We stayed at the Sagamore last Thanksgiving. If I remember correctly the rooms were 23 points each but the lowest price for that holiday season was $299.00 plus tax per room. That worked out to be a good deal for us using points. In 2003, they have raised the points for a room so it isn't as good a deal this year.

On the other hand we have stayed at the Woodstock Inn and did not use points, but instead paid cash. The point value was not very good there.

HBC

There will always be LIMITED times when there are no discounts that most of the options will have better value compared to cash. With blackouts though, there wont' be many of them. The first question I'd ask myself is what is the $$ per point return. The second thing is "would I pay that much for a room"? Of course if one has points to burn or doesn't really care because it's already paid for, that's one's business. For every example you can give where the real cost (not rack rate) approaches $10 pp or more, I can give a 100 where it's $7.50 pp or less, usually less.

 

[dianeschlicht]

WE did an exchange to the Royal Kona Resort II in Hawaii last year. It was a much better point value than the Concierge options. It only cost us 160 points for a week.

 

[dizneeluvr]

We've stayed at Big Cedar Lodge (concierge collection) with points. It was wonderful!

Maybe it's not the best use of points as others say, but I also know it is doubtful we would stay there any other way. When we have points left over at the end of a year I would rather spend a few nights in a place we wouldn't necessarily stay than get a bigger accomodation at Disney that we don't need!

As the kids get older, we hope to do D.C. (as in Washington folks, not cruise ) and maybe something out in Arizona like the dude ranch and because of DVC we can do it!

Laura

 

[beccasmom]

We have not done this yet, but hope to use points sometime at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

When I was at WDW last week, I went to the members' meeting and they mentioned that Charleston Place was the least requested exchange for points. I've been in the lobby during a visit to Charleston and it certainly looks like a lovely hotel, although that doesn't give the whole picture. Wonder why....anyone been there?

 

[akghutton]

Our first trip using DVC points was to The Jefferson in DC. It was my husband, our then 11-month-old son, and me. We went for the July 4th week. We had a great time and loved the hotel. It was 4 blocks behind the White House, so in perfect walking distance to the museums, memorials, monuments and subway system. That was in 2001, and it cost us 155 points for 5 nights. Probably not the best use of our points, but we had a wonderful trip and the hotel staff was great. It is nice to check out of a concierge level hotel with no bill!
PS Another plus to going on vacation in DC is that all of the museums, monuments, memorials, zoo, etc. are free, so aside from a few gifts and food, it was a cheap road trip for us.

 

[dbond]

We have used our points at Keystone Resort in CO (twice), The Plaza in NYC, Grand Californian/DL, Disney Cruise. The points are there, we use them.

 

[Wags]

So if you are comparing the "cost" of using your points vs. cash for those stays, what dollar value do you put on each point?

If we use the cost calculation (one that I have seen here) at $84/39 or $2.15 per point + the maintenance fee, approximately $4.00, we come up with $6.15.

So if you are staying at a resort that would have used 175 points, do you then take that 175 X $6.15 = $1076.25. Now let's assume you stay for 5 nights. Cost per night using the points is $215.25. Do you then compare that to the "going" rate for that resort to determine if it is a good use of points?

So further, let's say the resort is charging more than $215.25 per night, do you conclude "good" deal? If you can get the room for less than $215.25, is the conclusion "bad" deal to use points?

Also,

"Outside of the Interval International options, all the non DVC points options are very expensive both in terms of cost and number of point needed"

what other options are available? How does the Interval Intn'l option work. Are the other resorts, i.e. Sagamore part of Interv. Int'l? I'm getting confused on some of the other options available.

Thanks for your help.

 

[dizneeluvr]

Wags,

The Concierge Collection is where you will find many of the resorts mentioned in this post. Each hotel has a listing of the points needed to stay at their hotel. You pay a flat fee of $100 and then the points needed to stay there.


I've never done the interval international before so can't help you there.

I'm sure there is no doubt that using points for non-DVC resorts is not "cost effective"...but we've prepaid our vacations for the next 35 + years, this allows us to stay in places we wouldn't if paying cash, and it hurts a lot less coming out of "points" than your wallet IMO. It works for us. Our points are for Disney use, but we always have enough left over to do a few nights in a Concierge Collection Hotel in the summer months.

Laura

 

[travelbug]

The only other option I've tried so far is the Mauna Lani in Hawaii. It was a spectacular resort, and we spent 8 heavenly days there. It was a splurge with points, but it was to honor a special family occasion so it was well worth it!

I did try to trade out through Interval once, for somewhere in the Caribbean. But I was very limited for when I could travel. When nothing came through after some months, I changed my travel plans for somewhere else and didn't use my points for that trip.

I will probably use my points most often at DVC resorts, but it's so nice to have the option to try another vacation spot using my points if I want to.

 

[mrsdon]

I traded out for Gatlinburg TN
I called and asked for any week during the summer ans any property. We ended up with Gatlinburg Town Square.Its not quite as nice as DVC, but we loved the location. I actually liked the set-up of the kithcen, LR, DR.

 

[Wags]

When you trade out to International, is it an even 1 for 1 trade? How does trading out to International work?

Travelbug, how many points did you use for Hawaii, if I can ask?

 

[Dizzie]

We have used points to stay at Keystone and DL Hotel. I agree that the "cost" of the points is generally not a fair trade value. But I like to look at it this way for our family. We have prepaid our vacation and the "value" of a wonderful family vacation at other resorts by far outweighs any thoughts that we didn't get a fair trade. To our family, the value is the vacation itself and not based on the monetary value comparing the hotel to a DVC resort. We like traveling and not having to pay for a hotel. We will try to use our points for a trip to HI next year.

But don't buy DVC if you want to trade more than stay at Disney. While trading into other resorts by concierge, II or however is a nice option to visit great places and stay in terrific hotels and has been good for many members, it is not guaranteed.

Good Luck!

 

[Disney Doll]

For my 35th birthday, DH and I used points tostay at The Park Plaza Hotel in NYC. We also saw Beauty and the Beast on that trip(not using points) and had a great time!!

While it is true that it is not the best use of points, it is nice to do something a little different once in a while.

 

[tvwalsh]

We stayed at the Royal Garden Hotel in London. All exchange rates and taxes included, we got slightly over $10 worth of lodging for each point. Not bad!

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Wags
So if you are comparing the "cost" of using your points vs. cash for those stays, what dollar value do you put on each point?

If we use the cost calculation (one that I have seen here) at $84/39 or $2.15 per point + the maintenance fee, approximately $4.00, we come up with $6.15.

So if you are staying at a resort that would have used 175 points, do you then take that 175 X $6.15 = $1076.25. Now let's assume you stay for 5 nights. Cost per night using the points is $215.25. Do you then compare that to the "going" rate for that resort to determine if it is a good use of points?

So further, let's say the resort is charging more than $215.25 per night, do you conclude "good" deal? If you can get the room for less than $215.25, is the conclusion "bad" deal to use points?

Also,

"Outside of the Interval International options, all the non DVC points options are very expensive both in terms of cost and number of point needed"

what other options are available? How does the Interval Intn'l option work. Are the other resorts, i.e. Sagamore part of Interv. Int'l? I'm getting confused on some of the other options available.

Thanks for your help.

I use the number of $8 pp as my cutoff. If the return compared to cash is lower than that I either use cash or look elsewhere. If I were buying today at a resort with higher fees than OKW, I'd use $10 pp. This is a personal decision but since I took the money out of savings and would have saved the extra anyway, I include the lost earnings. I also would include the interest paid had I financed though I dont think you should do both. From another perspective, it really doesn't matter what I paid for my points. I can rent them for $10 pp and at a certain point it makes sense to rent the points and pay cash and the $8 pp works for me from that direction as well.

I think a lot of people use the rack rate when figuring the value. Unless you would pay rack rate AND there are no discounts available, this is an inappropriate way to look at it. The Plaza mentioned is a good example. A room that costs 44-60 or so points can easily be had for $309 or less depending on when. DVC is consistently about $6-7 pp compared to early booking discounts.