Owning at 2 resorts / adding on

[eporter66]

Just some general questions to the DVC veterans. I was wondering why some people own at two resorts and why people decide to add on points.

I assume owning at 2 resorts gives you 2 different 11 month reservations privilidges?

So - if you decide you need more points, it would make sense to buy them at a different resort, correct?

Also - families grow, needs change etc...... so many may go from 1 to 2 bedroom needs requiring more pts.

What other reasons are there for adding on? Just curious thats all.

We used up our 150 at SSR for 2004 already. Seems like we got a lot of vacation time for those 150. But I can see where adding on would be mighty tempting.

 

[Granny]

I'll take a stab at some of these, as we own points at two different resorts.

Just some general questions to the DVC veterans. I was wondering why some people own at two resorts and why people decide to add on points.

I assume owning at 2 resorts gives you 2 different 11 month reservations privilidges?

Yes, that is one advantage. You get two shots at the 11 month mark. However, we don't use ours that way. We alternate using each contract, borrowing for the one we're going to use and banking the one we're not going to use. That way, we can make the entire reservation at the 11 month point at one location.

So - if you decide you need more points, it would make sense to buy them at a different resort, correct?

Not necessarily. The absolute easiest thing to do is to buy more points at the same place as your original purchase, with the same use year. Then your reservations are very straightforward as are your banking and borrowing requirements.

Also - families grow, needs change etc...... so many may go from 1 to 2 bedroom needs requiring more pts.

What other reasons are there for adding on? Just curious thats all.

We bought more points at a second resort for three reasons:

1. We wanted to stay in a 2BR to make our vacations as luxurious as possible.

2. We wanted to stay longer than the original one week per year that we had planned.

3. We originally bought at VWL and it's still our first love. But we stayed at BWV and knew that we would want to stay there too from time to time. Owning there is the best way to get a good shot at standard view rooms (less points per night). Also, BWV can be a tough reservation at certain times of the year.

We used up our 150 at SSR for 2004 already. Seems like we got a lot of vacation time for those 150. But I can see where adding on would be mighty tempting.

Yes, adding on is very tempting. Count us in the group that stayed in a 1BR (four of us) and vowed not to stay in a studio. Then the four of us stayed in a 2BR, and voila....we bought more points!


Hope this helps a bit. I wouldn't buy at a second resort just to have the two 11 month windows. I would buy at a second resort if you think you will be staying there a lot and the 11 month window will be important there.

 

[eporter66]

So - lets say for instance I own 150 at SSR and decide to add on 50 at the BCV.

I actually could book a vacation for 200 pts, correct? I can combine those total points into one booking at any resort?

Also - with the use year, if SSR is March and BCV was say September - then I would just need to figure out when they were both available.

Am I on the right track? Not that the wife would allow an add-on at this point, or that we even need it - I was just interested in the reasons behind it. Thanks in advance for the answers

 

[pirateparrot]

You would only get your 11 month advantage on the points for that resort though.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by eporter66
So - lets say for instance I own 150 at SSR and decide to add on 50 at the BCV.

I actually could book a vacation for 200 pts, correct? I can combine those total points into one booking at any resort?

Also - with the use year, if SSR is March and BCV was say September - then I would just need to figure out when they were both available.

Am I on the right track? Not that the wife would allow an add-on at this point, or that we even need it - I was just interested in the reasons behind it. Thanks in advance for the answers

You can't combine the points for the 11 month window. For one to have two different use years in the amounts you describe, the 50 pt contract could only be bought resale. I personally would discourage having two different use years with one being that small but it can be done. You are right in that if you have two different use years and want to use points for a single trip from both contracts, there is some addtional thinking to decide what points are available and to use. That's generally not a big deal though. You can also bank and borrow to get extra points for a single trip.

 

[Tinkerbelloncapecod]

Hello,

You will definitely have advantage to two 11 month windows but it becomes problematic when you want to make a reservation at one resort but need to use your 50 points from resort #2 like during the holiday season. You would have to wait until the 7th month to book your last night(s) using your 50 points instead of at the 11th month.

 

[spiceycat]

I like to stay in different places in early Dec - Early Dec is very hard to get - so I own at OKW (my home resort) and have enough points for a studio for 5 nights at VWL and BWV -

studios are enough for me - and I just love WDW in December - I didn't go this year - but believe me next year I will be there!!!

one day - when I can bear to leave my cats for that long - I will go to BWV for the weekdays, OKW weekend, then VWL for the next week - ONE DAY!!!

 

[Luvdisney]

We have points at 3 resorts. Our #1 favorite is VWL with 150 pts. When we bought this contract we also bought 50 pts at HH. We figured we would go to HH every other year or so. So the 50 points was enough since we get a studio and during the summer months we figured we needed the 11 month window. We just added on at SSR with 125 pts. We almost added HH points but with the discount and addtional years with SSR we figured it was the better deal. With the point tracker program you can get from these boards keeping track of your points is pretty simple. You just need to look at how you will be using your points and were you think you want to stay and if it's during times that the 11 month window is a must. If you think you will be going to Disney or HH in off seasons then ownng points at these resorts won't be that much of a big deal. Example last year I wanted to surprise my DW with a 40th Bday trip. Tried to get a ressie at my home resort VWL no luck, but had no problem getting a ressie at BCV. Had a great studio for the trip.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We got 175 points at VWL, then I stayed solo at BCV and added 100 points there. DH doesn't want to stay at BCV, but those are for my solo trips. 100 points is plenty for a studio for 5 nights there during Christmas season.
BTW, spiceycat, like me, if you hate the thought of leaving your cats, do what I'm doing-have DH stay home with them! And he'd rather do that than see the CP, can you imagine?

 

[eporter66]

So if I had 100 pts at BCV and my 150 at SSR, I could only book up the 100 pts at the 11 mth window at BCV? I could however use my additional 150 from SSR at the 7month window at BCV.

 

[JimC]

We own at two resorts because we wanted the 11 month booking advantage at BCV. We added on when we decided we wanted the advantage during Choice season as well as Adventure season (ability to book a one bedroom for a week October to mid December).

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by eporter66
So if I had 100 pts at BCV and my 150 at SSR, I could only book up the 100 pts at the 11 mth window at BCV? I could however use my additional 150 from SSR at the 7month window at BCV.

That is correct.

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by eporter66
So if I had 100 pts at BCV and my 150 at SSR, I could only book up the 100 pts at the 11 mth window at BCV? I could however use my additional 150 from SSR at the 7month window at BCV.

That is correct.

To complicate things a bit though, if you had a reservation at SSR that required 250 points, you could book the whole thing at the 11 month window by using your 150 SSR points, and borrowing 100 more SSR points from the following year.

Then you could bank your 100 BCV points giving you 200 of them to use the following year. If you took a vacation that year that only required 200 points, you could book at BCV for the entire vacation at the 11 month window again.

 

[Caskbill]

Originally posted by eporter66
Also - with the use year, if SSR is March and BCV was say September - then I would just need to figure out when they were both available.

If your points are two different use years, they <u>cannot</u> be combined at all, in any way. Assume you have 100 March SSR points and 50 September BCV points. At 7-months you want to make a 5-day ressie at SSR. At 7-months all points can be used at SSR.

Assume you want a 1-B/R unit in Magic Season at 27 points/night for a total of 135 points. You have 150 points total (100 March SSR and 50 September BCV) so you think you're OK, but you're not.

Since the 100 point and 50 point contracts are different use years you can't combine them. What you would have to do is make ressies using each contract separately, reserving as many days as you can from each contract, then link the reservations.

In our example, with 100 points you can reserve 3-nights for 81 points, leaving 19 points still in that March SSR account. With the 50 point contract you can reserve only 1-night for 27 points, leaving 23 points in that September BCV account.

So you see you could only reserve four of the nights you wanted. You were only able to use 81 + 27, or 108 of the 150 points you have. You wind up having to bank the remaining 19 points and 23 points respectively into their individual use years.

One way to get around this requires you would need to do some point management by banking and borrowing within the accounts. Example, for your 100 point March SSR contract, you would borrow 8-points from the next use year, giving you 108 points, enough to reserve 4-nights at 27pts/night. You reserve the 5th night using the Sep use year points. 27-points, leaving 23 points left over. You bank the 23 points. You link the 4-day vacation with the 1-day vacation so you don't have to change rooms.

Next year, your 100 point contract refreshes with 92 points (100 minus the 8 you borrowed) and your 50 point contract refreshes with 73 points (50 plus the 23 you banked). Your total is 165 points.

Had they not been different use year months, you then simply could combine them for making a reservation. 100 + 50 = 150 points. You make a 5-day reservation for 135 points and bank the remaining 15 points. Next year you will have 165 points (100 + 50 + 15 that were banked)

As you can see, having different use years requires more attention to your points, how you use them, and banking and borrowing.

As already explained, having two different resorts can give you 11-month windows at each resort, by only using the points for that resort. In this case it makes no difference whether the points have the same use year or not because you're not trying to combine points in any way to make a reservation.

Again using 100 and 50 point contracts at two different resorts, 'A' and 'B', it would work like this:

Year one, use your 100 point contract at resort 'A', borrow another 50 resort 'A' points from the next year and make an 11-month 150 point reservation at resort A. Bank your 50 resort 'B' points into the next year (year two).

Year two, use your resort 'B' 50 point contract, borrow 50 points from the next year (year three), and with the 50 points previously banked from year one, you have 150 points available to make an 11-month ressie at resort B. Your 100 point resort 'A' only has 50 points in it (100 minus the 50 borrowed into year one). You bank these 50 points from resort A to the next year. (year 3)

Year three, your 100 point resort 'A' contract will have 150 points available (100 new points plus the 50 banked). Your 50 point resort 'B' contract will have zero points. (50 points minus the 50 points borrowed). Make a reservation at resort 'A' using all 150 points.

Year four: Same as year one. Your 100 point resort 'A' renews with it's regular allocation of 100 points (you did not bank into year 4, nor had you borrowed anything from year 4). Your 50 point resort 'B' renews with 50 points. (again because you had not banked any points into year 4, nor had you borrowed any points from year 4). You simply repeat what you did year one.

Using this flip-flop method you get the 11-month window at resort A for 2 years out of 3, and the 11-month window at resort B for 1 year out of 3.

Hope this helps.