Point estimates for new short stay II exchanges

[global_mom]

Does anyone have a guess as to how many points the new short stay II exchanges will "cost"?

I had a great conversation with our guide and asked him about the new 3-4 night exchanges. I knew that it would all be done online but did not realize that the exchange inventory would be resorts that had availablity within 60 days of the day that you are searching. Its a way to get rid of those "leftover" days that go unclaimed. This is great for us b/c we love to take spur of the moment trips as much as we love to plan WDW trips 11 months in advance. If this all comes together as proposed then this would be an added value to us.

What do you all think that these will cost? Has anyone been given an idea of point cost? Will it be a cost per night or a flat cost regardless of destination?

Thanks for the input!

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Member Services actually creates a reservation at a DVC resort to exchange on your behalf into the II system. The tricky part is figuring out which DVC season and days of the week would be comparable to the II resort you're requesting. (For the 7-day bookings they currently have, it's not too difficult to compute, because the points will always be two weekend days and five weekdays. I'm not sure how they'll do it with 3 or 4 day bookings. Will they always charge you a Friday or Saturday night, or can you get away with exchanging in a Sunday-to-Thursday booking, which would be far fewer points?)

 

[global_mom]

(For the 7-day bookings they currently have, it's not too difficult to compute, because the points will always be two weekend days and five weekdays. I'm not sure how they'll do it with 3 or 4 day bookings. Will they always charge you a Friday or Saturday night, or can you get away with exchanging in a Sunday-to-Thursday booking, which would be far fewer points?)

This is what we are also interested in. If there will be weekend point prices then hoepfully there will also be some choices for the weekdays. We love to do long weekends but would be "priced out" if the points were typical of weekend point prices.

Wish that we could get some info. as how this will work.

 

[Dean]

The information is so sketchy that we really know nothing other than they are planning to have 3/4 day options coming up in a couple of months. Anything else is no better than a guess and here's a few of mine. Expect them to be higher than the split amounts for a full week would be, likely significantly moe and expect the same exchange fee of $95. Also expect that it will only be certain resorts with limited availability likely at a shorter lead time to the 1-2 years they have now, ? 6 months or so. Given II has never done this before in any way, it will be interesting to see exactly what happens.

 

[global_mom]

The information is so sketchy that we really know nothing other than they are planning to have 3/4 day options coming up in a couple of months. Anything else is no better than a guess and here's a few of mine. Expect them to be higher than the split amounts for a full week would be, likely significantly moe and expect the same exchange fee of $95. Also expect that it will only be certain resorts with limited availability likely at a shorter lead time to the 1-2 years they have now, ? 6 months or so. Given II has never done this before in any way, it will be interesting to see exactly what happens.

The DVC member website itself has so many issues, do we hold great hope that the new ressie system for short term II will really work?

 

[Dean]

The DVC member website itself has so many issues, do we hold great hope that the new ressie system for short term II will really work?

Actually I'm sure the system itself will work as it will be run by II's software it appears and not fall to DVC for the programming. The question is will it add any value or actually offer usable availability to members and that's what remains to be seen.

 

[global_mom]

Actually I'm sure the system itself will work as it will be run by II's software it appears and not fall to DVC for the programming. The question is will it add any value or actually offer usable availability to members and that's what remains to be seen.

we cant wait to see. We plan to buy more points but it does not seem that we should base that decision on II short term availbility as it might be yucky places with high point requirements.

 

[Dean]

we cant wait to see. We plan to buy more points but it does not seem that we should base that decision on II short term availbility as it might be yucky places with high point requirements.

If you've read much on these boards you know that my opinion is buying DVC with the idea of exchanging is an extremely poor choice. My crystal ball would say good to great places, few resorts early on with little availability except off season with higher to much higher points. Think 350 points for a week instead of 270 for a 2 BR peak time. If you have to make a decision now I'd not certainly not buy extra points due to this issue. It's new to DVC and new to II and it may not work out at all.

 

[DVC Mike]

If you've read much on these boards you know that my opinion is buying DVC with the idea of exchanging is an extremely poor choice.

Dean,

Isn't that advice applicable to most timeshares, and not just DVC? Shouldn't you buy any timeshare primarily to use it? It seems a lot of timeshare owners are disappointed with not getting the trades they want, or typically trading down. I know DVC is worse to trade with than other timeshares due to its cost, but don't all timeshares face the same problem?

 

[global_mom]

If you've read much on these boards you know that my opinion is buying DVC with the idea of exchanging is an extremely poor choice. My crystal ball would say good to great places, few resorts early on with little availability except off season with higher to much higher points. Think 350 points for a week instead of 270 for a 2 BR peak time. If you have to make a decision now I'd not certainly not buy extra points due to this issue. It's new to DVC and new to II and it may not work out at all.

I think that I read too much on these boards!

I 100% agree that we should not add on just for the trades. We already have 500 points so we aren't desperate for more but we just thought that these short exchanges would be a fun "perk". With 3 children under 12 we cant always get away for a full week so we have not even explored the II exchanges. Of course, it may all be such high point requirements that it would never be worth it to do any short trades. I love the planning associated with DVC, I am a major planner, but sometimes it would be fun to just jump in the car and go somewhere new. But, we made sure that we did not put all of our travel budget into DVC points so that we could still travel to plenty of places without DVC and pay OOP.

Hope that they will release the info. soon! Thank you for the replies!!

 

[Dean]

Dean,

Isn't that advice applicable to most timeshares, and not just DVC? Shouldn't you buy any timeshare primarily to use it? It seems a lot of timeshare owners are disappointed with not getting the trades they want, or typically trading down. I know DVC is worse to trade with than other timeshares due to its cost, but don't all timeshares face the same problem?

For high end, high demand resorts/seasons that is definitely true but for many it is not. I think for the novice, buying something you will use is important but for the experienced, it may not matter. Certainly it's good to have something you can use and are happy doing so in case something happens. My timeshare portfolio has evolved in that I own things specifically for using that are high demand both in terms of the resorts and the seasons (DVC and top HH Marriott's) and things essentially for exchanging (Marriott Branson). I rent out the high demand options on the years I'm not using them. I also have a couple in between that I use both ways (MX points resort and Bluegreen points). Each complements the others nicely and each has it's advantages and disadvantages.

I think that I read too much on these boards!

I 100% agree that we should not add on just for the trades. We already have 500 points so we aren't desperate for more but we just thought that these short exchanges would be a fun "perk". With 3 children under 12 we cant always get away for a full week so we have not even explored the II exchanges. Of course, it may all be such high point requirements that it would never be worth it to do any short trades. I love the planning associated with DVC, I am a major planner, but sometimes it would be fun to just jump in the car and go somewhere new. But, we made sure that we did not put all of our travel budget into DVC points so that we could still travel to plenty of places without DVC and pay OOP.

Hope that they will release the info. soon! Thank you for the replies!!

Obviously it's your choice what to do and not my place to tell you what to do. However, my opinion is that it is NEVER a good choice to buy any points with the plans to exchange them and my advice to a friend would be to only buy the points you plan to use at DVC and look to other options for the non DVC trips. Lets assume you get the info and it looks good on paper, there are simply too many risks and uncertainties and too little you have control over to make it worth going that route. The only time I think exchanging DVC is a reasonable option is to top resorts during peak seasons and the availability is very low meaning there's a great chance you won't get those options though they may look good on paper.

 

[global_mom]

For high end, high demand resorts/seasons that is definitely true but for many it is not. I think for the novice, buying something you will use is important but for the experienced, it may not matter. Certainly it's good to have something you can use and are happy doing so in case something happens. My timeshare portfolio has evolved in that I own things specifically for using that are high demand both in terms of the resorts and the seasons (DVC and top HH Marriott's) and things essentially for exchanging (Marriott Branson). I rent out the high demand options on the years I'm not using them. I also have a couple in between that I use both ways (MX points resort and Bluegreen points). Each complements the others nicely and each has it's advantages and disadvantages.

Obviously it's your choice what to do and not my place to tell you what to do. However, my opinion is that it is NEVER a good choice to buy any points with the plans to exchange them and my advice to a friend would be to only buy the points you plan to use at DVC and look to other options for the non DVC trips. Lets assume you get the info and it looks good on paper, there are simply too many risks and uncertainties and too little you have control over to make it worth going that route. The only time I think exchanging DVC is a reasonable option is to top resorts during peak seasons and the availability is very low meaning there's a great chance you won't get those options though they may look good on paper.

Thanks Dean, that is good advice. We love DVC and WDW will always be our main reason for owning it. We have started going to WDW more frequently now that we have DVC (about 4-5 times per year instead of 1-2 times per year) and we are sooooo happy with the purchase. We have not looked into other timeshares too much but it sounds like you have figured out the secrets to making it work with others such as Marriott. We would consider another timeshare but we also have the upkeep on our "real" vacation home in the NC mountians and we recently bought a house boat to use on Lake Hartwell, GA. Too bad that there is not more time in the year when we can get away on vacation. I cant wait for retirement (I'm 38 so it may be awhile !

Thanks again!

 

[mbw12]

I just came on there to post some questions about his very same thing!!! any inclination as to WHEN they are going to give us more details and WHEN this will be officially available?

 

[Dean]

I just came on there to post some questions about his very same thing!!! any inclination as to WHEN they are going to give us more details and WHEN this will be officially available?

Rumors are 6-8 weeks.

I'd just caution everyone to not get too excited about this issue short term if ever. As I've noted it's likely to be significantly more costly per night than a 7 day option (most of which are over priced already) and most resorts on the DVC II exchange list are NOT set up to accommodate this.

 

[global_mom]

Rumors are 6-8 weeks.

I'd just caution everyone to not get too excited about this issue short term if ever. As I've noted it's likely to be significantly more costly per night than a 7 day option (most of which are over priced already) and most resorts on the DVC II exchange list are NOT set up to accommodate this.

This is the time frame (6-8 weeks) that our guide mentioned. He said that it was due to be completed sometime between March and May and it would most likely be toward May.