Please help us to choose: DVC Aulani vs. Marriott Ko Olina

[MagicJourney]

We initially thought about a 200-400 pts purchase at Aulani, but later found Marriott Ko Olina, which is on the same beach, and also highly rated. Now we are in a dilemma: which one to buy?

The quality of two resorts seems comparable, although Marriott is a bit older. The resale price of Ko Olina is much cheaper. A two bedroom with ocean view costs less than $20k, while a 2br ov at aulani requires 441-595 pts for a week. So the initial investment of Aulani could double or even triple that of Ko Olina. MFs is also higher for Aulani, $2500-$3000 vs. $1900.

Although we prefer Aulani, it's hard to justify the huge price gap. If we were not DVC member, we would have bought Aulani to get into DVC, but we already own at BLT.

An off-site DVC property may not make a whole lot of sense? Maybe adding another timeshare system is not bad? What do you think? Perhaps someone haven been to both resorts could throw us some light?

 

[DVC Dude]

With your exact situation, and it may be an unpopular suggestion here, I would go with Marriott.

Because the two resorts are next to each other, it is hard to justify the 2-3x price difference for DVC.

But my suggestion is only if you intend to use Marriott Hawaii every year and not trade it as most of your trades will be a downtrade as Hawaii is more expensive than others.

I used to own Marriott and liked it, but sold it after a few years as I found I could rent the same week at the same price or cheaper than owning.

Also, I think the DVC system is far superior to Marriott.

 

[Soccerluvinmama]

Aulani is our home property. When we were there in February we took the time to view both of the Marriott properties next to Aulani. After taking a tour of both, we knew that for our family, Aulani was the right place for us. Having a 12 year old daughter, the extensive pools and activities are exactly what we want (to be honest, I love it for myself too). Both of the Marriott properties were nice, but they seemed "boring". For our family, Aulani was the better choice.

 

[dundey]

I have not been to either resort, but am familiar with and own both DVC's and Marriott.

I would personally go with Marriott in your situation. You are already in DVC, and the non - Orlando properties that you can get into with Marriott are very good - Aruba, etc. If you plan to go to Hawaii every year, the choice may be more difficult, but still hard to justify 2 - 3 times more.

If you plan to go to other places once in awhile I think that tilts the scale even more in Marriotts favor. Plus you can trade into Interval International with Marriott to open up even more options.

 

[davidl81]

How hard is Aulani to book at 7 months out? If it is not super hard then maybe buy a 400 point SSR add on.

 

[wdwlver]

I just booked aulani today at 7 mos out. 8 nights ocean view studio. My home resort is BCV.

 

[JWG]

The amenities (pools, hot tubs, lazy river, etc.), activities, and dining at Aulani appear superior to Marriott. But, obviously with a price premium.

There are two Marriott properties in Ko Olina, the Marriott Vacation Club and the JW Marriott Ko Olina Resort. The JW has a spa (as does Aualni). I truly believe Aulani is the best resort in Ko Olina, but again, with a price premium.

 

[abdgeek]

Aulani, as well as several other DVC resorts, is my home resort. I bought Aulani when it opened because I wanted to have 11 month booking availability. I can only travel during peak seasons and wanted to be able to plan accordingly. That being said, Hawaii is somewhere I go every 2-3 years. As the OP said, if you don't plan on going every year and are ok booking 7 months out it may make sense for you to add on points at a less expensive DVC resort if possible.

 

[CailinFig]

How hard is Aulani to book at 7 months out? If it is not super hard then maybe buy a 400 point SSR add on.

I researched this prior to making an offer on a contract. I think the peak times for Aulani are summer (especially June which currently has a lower point requirement) in addition to Christmas/NYs. However people were reporting they were able to book at 7 months during the peak periods in the OV category. We ourselves rented an OV studio one month prior to our October visit. I think it just depends when you visit.

We bought into Aulani bc we are West Coasters and visit Hawaii frequently. Although Oahu is not necessarily our favorite island, we loved Aulani and decided to try to buy into DVC. DH did not want an East Coast home resort.

Could you do the best of both worlds? Buy into the Marriott and use your BLT points to stay a couple nights at Aulani to extend your Hawaii vacations?

 

[Dean]

We initially thought about a 200-400 pts purchase at Aulani, but later found Marriott Ko Olina, which is on the same beach, and also highly rated. Now we are in a dilemma: which one to buy?

The quality of two resorts seems comparable, although Marriott is a bit older. The resale price of Ko Olina is much cheaper. A two bedroom with ocean view costs less than $20k, while a 2br ov at aulani requires 441-595 pts for a week. So the initial investment of Aulani could double or even triple that of Ko Olina. MFs is also higher for Aulani, $2500-$3000 vs. $1900.

Although we prefer Aulani, it's hard to justify the huge price gap. If we were not DVC member, we would have bought Aulani to get into DVC, but we already own at BLT.

An off-site DVC property may not make a whole lot of sense? Maybe adding another timeshare system is not bad? What do you think? Perhaps someone haven been to both resorts could throw us some light?

For HI and for a week at a time, I'd go with Marriott over DVC for Oahu as the main goal. You should be able to get a week there off ebay for likely under $10K annual and cheaper biannual.

 

[Mazz519]

I researched this prior to making an offer on a contract. I think the peak times for Aulani are summer (especially June which currently has a lower point requirement) in addition to Christmas/NYs. However people were reporting they were able to book at 7 months during the peak periods in the OV category. We ourselves rented an OV studio one month prior to our October visit. I think it just depends when you visit.

We bought into Aulani bc we are West Coasters and visit Hawaii frequently. Although Oahu is not necessarily our favorite island, we loved Aulani and decided to try to buy into DVC. DH did not want an East Coast home resort.

Could you do the best of both worlds? Buy into the Marriott and use your BLT points to stay a couple nights at Aulani to extend your Hawaii vacations?

We just booked Aulani at 7months for the end of June beginning of July Ocean
View 7 nts…. was rather easy… To OP, I own both DVC (OKW, BWV, HH) and Marriotts
(Aruba). I like having time with both companies, I juggle and mix a lot of my vacations with both Timeshares.

 

[JimC]

We own in both programs. DVC is a premium priced program that we believe is worthwhile primarily to stay on property at WDW and DL. I suspect you will find Aulani a better themed resort. Neither is in an ideal location if you want to visit/enjoy other offerings of the islands.

I would buy a Marriott resale if I wanted to own in Hawaii. But I would probably buy on another island.

 

[amym2]

Do you have young children? If so, I can't imagine staying at the Marriott property next door and having to tell the kids they can't use the Aulani pools and lazy river and can't take part in the activities there. We have stayed at the JW Marriott next door without the kids and had a great time, but our family trip to Aulani cannot be beat.

I agree, are you wanting to buy at Aulani because you think it will be difficult to book otherwise? We had no issues using our SSR points, but we were there in October, so it was the slow season.

My sister and BIL have a Marriott timeshare (not in HI) and love it, and we are Marriott fans, but I'd say my answer to your question depends on your family make-up. They don't have kids, so their Marriott timeshare is ideal; we do, so we prefer our DVC.

ETA: We have stayed with them at a Marriott timeshare near WDW and it was great, but since you already own at BLT that may not be an issue.

 

[dsneygirl]

Do you have young children? If so, I can't imagine staying at the Marriott property next door and having to tell the kids they can't use the Aulani pools and lazy river and can't take part in the activities there. We have stayed at the JW Marriott next door without the kids and had a great time, but our family trip to Aulani cannot be beat.

I agree, are you wanting to buy at Aulani because you think it will be difficult to book otherwise? We had no issues using our SSR points, but we were there in October, so it was the slow season.

I agree. I can't imagine the Marriott has anything on Par with Auntie's Beach House and all the other amazing activities offered on site. We stayed 10 days and left for one day. The other 9 were just at the resort and we (and our kids) were never bored for a minute.

If you don't have young children than take that out of the equation.

 

[Dean]

I agree. I can't imagine the Marriott has anything on Par with Auntie's Beach House and all the other amazing activities offered on site. We stayed 10 days and left for one day. The other 9 were just at the resort and we (and our kids) were never bored for a minute.

If you don't have young children than take that out of the equation.

While I've stayed at the Marriott and been on property at Aulani, I haven't participated in activities at either. As a rule Marriott does better in the activity department than does DVC. At around $5-6K for a biannual or $10K for an annual plus cheaper dues, the ability to do a lockoff and the internal Marriott trading preference; Marriott is clearly the better overall choice if ONLY HI is the question and a week at a time fits the travel plans. Where DVC starts to become a better consideration is for WDW (maybe other DVC resorts) and HI or where one might stay other than roughly weekly multiples.

 

[amym2]

While I've stayed at the Marriott and been on property at Aulani, I haven't participated in activities at either. As a rule Marriott does better in the activity department than does DVC.

Interesting. Maybe that's true in general, but if you actually experience the activities at Aulani, I think it would be hard to say that the activities are better at any Marriott than at Aulani. The Menehune Trail, Hula lessons, Ukulele lessons, etc at Aulani are examples of activities that are only available to Aulani resort guests. Add in the awesome lazy river, pool slides, and new grotto area, and the Marriott timeshare cannot compare.

We actually ran into a family at Aulani that had just spent a few nights at the Marriott Beach Club, and they said it was fine, but WOW, they just could not get over how awesome Aulani was. So I agree, that if you are purchasing this just for HI, and you have kids or think you'll bring kids (nieces, nephews, grandkids), go with DVC. Otherwise, sure, give Marriott a try.

 

[Dean]

Interesting. Maybe that's true in general, but if you actually experience the activities at Aulani, I think it would be hard to say that the activities are better at any Marriott than at Aulani. The Menehune Trail, Hula lessons, Ukulele lessons, etc at Aulani are examples of activities that are only available to Aulani resort guests. Add in the awesome lazy river, pool slides, and new grotto area, and the Marriott timeshare cannot compare.

We actually ran into a family at Aulani that had just spent a few nights at the Marriott Beach Club, and they said it was fine, but WOW, they just could not get over how awesome Aulani was. So I agree, that if you are purchasing this just for HI, and you have kids or think you'll bring kids (nieces, nephews, grandkids), go with DVC. Otherwise, sure, give Marriott a try.

I realize they do more there because they don't have the parks but you're looking at $10K and yearly under $2K plus a lot more exchange options for the Marriott vs maybe $40K and yearly fees around $2500 or more for a 2 BR for a week. Add the II fees and you're still at good $500 a year difference in addition to the up front difference.

Another option is to buy an RCI option and try to trade in but this is unlikely to be consistent as a long term plan.

 

[MagicJourney]

Thanks for all your great suggestions! DW and I actually changed minds several times when we read posts from both sides.

We were at some point very close to Marriott, but just can't get over the great pool and activities at Aulani. If choose Aulani, the upfront costs is huge (>500pts) for a 2bdr OV, which is required when we bring parents or other family members to hawaii... I almost started to blame myself to post our dilemma here to make it even harder to choose.

Luckily, DW came up a genius idea when read through all the posts one more time:
1. buy a biannual Marriott Ko Olina for family vacation exclusively.
2. buy 200 pts @ BWV (our dream after BLT purchase ), which we could also use to book Aulani for short Hawaii trips.
3. (optional) we may still have some budgets left for a small add-on, 50pts maybe, at VGC in future.

Sounds like a good plan? a couple of questions for Marriott Owner here. Is summer week (July, August) at Ko Olina hard to reserve at 12 moths? Is it better to buy an odd year contract? since summer weeks probably has gone for this year?

Now I am so glad to post here, so we can find a perfect plan fits our needs based on all the valuable options. Thanks again, everyone!

 

[JWG]

Sounds smart. I think you'll be able to do 7 months at Aulani if you want most times. We did it over Christmas and New Year's, we stayed 12/21-1/2 and did pay cash for two nights (12/30 and 12/31), but got points the other 10 nights.

 

[Dean]

Thanks for all your great suggestions! DW and I actually changed minds several times when we read posts from both sides.

We were at some point very close to Marriott, but just can't get over the great pool and activities at Aulani. If choose Aulani, the upfront costs is huge (>500pts) for a 2bdr OV, which is required when we bring parents or other family members to hawaii... I almost started to blame myself to post our dilemma here to make it even harder to choose.

Luckily, DW came up a genius idea when read through all the posts one more time:
1. buy a biannual Marriott Ko Olina for family vacation exclusively.
2. buy 200 pts @ BWV (our dream after BLT purchase ), which we could also use to book Aulani for short Hawaii trips.
3. (optional) we may still have some budgets left for a small add-on, 50pts maybe, at VGC in future.

Sounds like a good plan? a couple of questions for Marriott Owner here. Is summer week (July, August) at Ko Olina hard to reserve at 12 moths? Is it better to buy an odd year contract? since summer weeks probably has gone for this year?

Now I am so glad to post here, so we can find a perfect plan fits our needs based on all the valuable options. Thanks again, everyone!

Buying both is not unreasonable. If you do decide on both Marriott and Aulani, what's best might depend on how you use it. If you're planning to stay at the Marriott and then Aulani the same trip say EOY, your choice is likely best. An alternative option would be to buy Aulani then say another option say Waiohai. One thing to be careful about for EOY purchases is they are often close to the price of the annual. Another alternative might be to buy 2 Marriott locations instead of Ko Olina and Aulani.