Points to stay Friday's and Saturday's

[FisherFamily]

I am sure this is a pet peeve for many DVC'ers. For those DVC'ers who are in the know what are the discussions at the annual meeting on this subject?They gave us discounts to on tickets so they are not completely closed to suggestions. I know Disney is in business to make money and many of their decisions are based on what will help their bottom line however I think that if booking a full week that the F&S points should be the same as the other nights. Has this ever been brought up to the powers that be? Just curious! We always book 5 nights sun-thurs. I have heard many people say they go off property Fri & Sat. then come back to a villa for 5 more nights. This is I am sure a big issue for those who are flying in a long distance and can only come once a year. If I could book 7 nights at a villa for the same points per night I would stay for 7 instead of 5 and so would my dollars.

 

[BrentKohl]

I've always assumed that the increased number of points on Fridays and Saturdays was designed to prevent Florida resident DVC owners from continuously frequenting the DVC resorts on the weekends.

 

[LisaS]

If they lowered the point cost for weekend nights then they would have to raise the points cost for weeknights. The total cost to stay seven consecutive nights would end up exactly the same. The change would make it cheaper to go for just the weekend, but it would cost more for those who go for Sun-Thurs nights, and those who go for 7 nights would pay exactly the same amount they do now.

I look at it this way: The true price of the villa is the cost of a week's stay divided by seven. You get a discount if you stay just Sun-Thurs. You pay a premium if you want to occupy a villa for just the weekend.

This didn't seem odd to me because other vacation destinations (Las Vegas, for example) price their rooms exactly the same way: discounted prices on Sun-Thurs nights, much higher rates on Fri and Sat nights.

 

[Chuck S]

Just do what other have done, buy enough points to cover weekends. For instance, if the pointcharts were "equalized", and the 80 points req'd for a full week were changed so all days cost the same, you'd be paying 11 to 12 points per night at OKW for a studio in value season, not bad...but then we'd see weekends become popular with local members...possibly booking the weekends only, thus blocking other members from securing a full week. And in reality, if you are staying a full week, it would cost the same points either way. Also, if DVC has a percentage of members moving on weekends, it gives them "availability" for cash ressies to offset the cost of trades in the Disney collection, etc. In a way, it is the higher weekend points that make the trades possible and adds flexibility to DVC.

I suspect Disney/DVC NEEDS to be able to count on a percentage of the rooms being available for cash on the weekends for the system to operate properly.

 

[Plutofan]

I would think that Friday and Saturday are typically high demand days in a normal resort. So I believe that Disney makes those nights higher so that they do not have a bunch of stray days in the system and so that they can sell off those dates easier for cash. I bet that Friday and Saturday are the days that get booked the most for the 25% DVC discount. Disney knows that they have a better chance of getting DVC members to pay for cash for those nights to complete a vacation so that they can keep the exchange inventory down to a managable level.

 

[Sammie]

Like Lisa said if they lower them, they raise the others. I am fine with the way it is, as I knew that buying into it.

 

[JimC]

We did as Chuck said, bought points for week stays and did not worry about the weekend premium. That was when we lived in PA.

However, now that we are down here in Orlando, we will most likely do just five night stays. It is too easy to come and go being so close. Eliminating the weekend nights gives us lots more options for additional trips!!

The premiums keep more full weeks available in the system for all members.

 

[MIDisFan]

This didn't seem odd to me because other vacation destinations (Las Vegas, for example) price their rooms exactly the same way: discounted prices on Sun-Thurs nights, much higher rates on Fri and Sat nights.

This is also the way most other Vacation clubs or Points based timeshares work. I know RCI points, Fairfield, Blue Green and Sunterra all have higher weekend rates

 

[disney junky]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they couldn't change the points now for existing resorts other than with the calendar year. I mean points never change, right? That was one of the things we were assured of when we bought.

 

[Judique]

I am sure this is a pet peeve for many DVC'ers. .

I don't think so....not for us anyway. We are VERY happy to have cheaper 5 day weeks! We understand that to most people weekends are going to be more appealing as a short stay. My daughter just asked me if she could book a weekend in May using my points. She would fly in Fri and back home Sunday night. The studio points would be 58 at BWV. I suggested she get a value room! She doesn't quite 'get' how I purchased my points - with 5 day Sun to Fri's in mind. (I do occasionally add a weekend night.) The total points for the resort cannot change, so to make weekends more 'affordable' for you, my advance planning would be put in jeopardy. I readily accept that a week (7days) of DVC costs a set amount of points, and that 6 days or 5 days or 4 days as the case may be, will be cheaper and I make my plans based on those parameters as I did several years of research before buying. Right now, 5 days works best - later on, I'm prepared to pay for 7-14 days and I bought the points to do it. A timeshare was a hard sell for me, and at the time, the points and season based system was the only kind that ever made any sense financially to me or for our travel plans. Now, I can see myself with a cheap full week 'trader', but I still haven't gotten to the point where it will work with my travel plans - that's a retirement option that I will look into...no need to pay maintenance on it now and worry about making it work on a limited time schedule.

 

[Chuck S]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they couldn't change the points now for existing resorts other than with the calendar year. I mean points never change, right? That was one of the things we were assured of when we bought.

They can not change the total number of points in the chart, they can change the number of points needed for any given season...but if some nights go up in points others must go down. There has been one instance of the point chart being adjusted, OKW 1996 has an adjustment. I don't remember the specifics, but I remember value season studios going up from 69 pts per week to 80 pts per week.

 

[helenabear]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they couldn't change the points now for existing resorts other than with the calendar year. I mean points never change, right? That was one of the things we were assured of when we bought.

The total number of points requried to rent a room for the entire year cannot change. They will fluctuate based on when certain holidays fall (Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas etc) but the total for that year will never change.

So they can change the variations of the points, but not the grand total.

I don't mind how it is with the points. I bought what I thought I would need for about 10-13 nights (which is my average). When I pluck down a week, I am happy to give out that point, and when I only stay for three nights, that's also easy for me as well

I know I was told they do what they do on the weekends to keep from more locals taking it up on weekends. Seems to be the normal thing to do in all time shares though

 

[Cruelladeville]

I bought enough pts for weekends, but I found that I would rather pay cash for Friday and Saturday, and save the pts to get an extra vacation out of it. I did that last spring, and had enough pts to use at Thanksgiving in a studio. I feel like I won the lottery!

 

[keishashadow]

Even though our initial buy in was based upon visiting S-T, then moving elsewhere in a split stay for another 3 nights, we've found that the best laid plans can go astray.

Each trip we've wound up "burning" weekend points to either come in early on Saturday or stay another day on Friday. Since the 3 days DCLs leave on Thurs & 4 days on Sunday, that's another booking challenge.


We're used to hopping around @ least once each trip, no biggie IMO, think it adds another dimension to trip, able to enjoy different ambiance of another resort. One of the best features is day-by-day booking availability that doesn't restrict you to a week's stay.

 

[goofy4tink]

We also bought enough points to stay on Friday, Saturday nights. However, I found myself getting greedy with my points, so I arrive at my DVC resort on a Sunday now, but get to WDW on a Friday and stay at a different resort, usually a moderate or a value, for those two nights. This way I can fit two trips in each year, rather then just one!!!

 

[CarolMN]

Friday and Saturday nights cost more to equalize the demand. It isn't just locals who would "use up" the weekend nights if they cost the same number of points as the weeknights.

How many of us would come in on a Friday and stay for 9 nights, thus using up 2 Fridays and 2 Saturdays? That's how we used to do it pre-DVC. (Well actually we still do it sometimes, just bought more points to cover it, LOL). If we're visting non-Disney attractions, we'll stay off site near those attractions for the first or last weekend.

Without the point differential, the demand for Friday and Saturday nights would far outstrip the demand for Sunday - Thrursday nights. It's no different than if DVC charged the same points for Christmas week as they did for a week in the middle of September or January.

Those of us who want the higher demand times must pay for them - that's the way the system works best. Don't think of the weekends as costing more - just think of it as a big discount for the other nights!

 

[disney junky]

Thanks for the clarification. I thought it was something like that.


I know when we first considered buying, we didn't consider days, but rather we considered the number of points we would need for a week. Since we've owned for a little while, we just take what we get, weekend or not, because we have little flexibility in our current situation.

 

[Granny]

I am sure this is a pet peeve for many DVC'ers. .

Not us. It would cause a nightmare since those living in Florida, Georgia, etc would be apt to book a lot of weekend stays. I know that if we lived within a few hours of WDW, we'd book a lot of weekends if the points weren't higher.

As long as the point rates are achieving the goal of balancing occupancy across all days I have no problem with the point schedule.

 

[FreeTime]

When we purchased we looked at how many points we would need for the week. But like another poster said, we have become gready and often do not stay on the weekends because we can get more vacations a year that way. However, typically I just decide how long we are going to stay and use the points that are necessary. We are always borrowed "out" we have only 10 points left in our 2007 use year. I know that eventually there will be a year when we won't go or we will only go for a short trip and we will catch back up.

I have seen the comments for several years that the assumption is that the weekend points are higher because the Fl residents may book those rooms up. I just don't get this. Regardless of if you are a Fl resident or not, your window is still at 11/7. So if I was reserving 11 months out I should still be able to get my weekend room.

 

[drakethib]

I think the weekends cost two many points so we do our trips chekcing in on Sunday and out on Friday morning.

But by doing so we can take more trips with our points.

We knew the points were high on weekends when we bought so it all works out in the end.