Possible buyer looking for CONs

[M1Thumb]

I am doing my research in advance of a possible DVC purchase and hope that somebody can help answer a couple of questions:

1) Does it make sense to ever book at one's non-"home" resort? For example, we are interested in buying into the Grand Floridian but recognize that we would sometimes want to stay at another DVC property such as Bay Lake or Kidani. With the 11 mo / 7 mo difference for home / non-home resort owners, is this even a reasonable possibility? Or does booking a non-home resort effectively mean that you'll have to take what ever is available? What are people's experiences in booking at non-home resort?

2) Using points at WDW resort hotels: On a similar note, I see on the points charts that one can use points to stay at a WDW resort like the Polynesian. Is there a restriction as to how far in advance one can book a resort room using DVC points?

3) The villa #s on the DVC Resource Center thread ( http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2823943 ): Can somebody explain this? Does this indicate that there are no 1 Bedroom units available anywhere except for Boardwalk, Wilderness Lodge, and the Beach Club?

4) I have heard many of the PROs for buying in. I know full well that this will be a luxury purchase rather than a tangible investment. What are the CONs to consider? Booking difficulties? Any issues with the RCI network? Any property condition / maintenance issues?

Thanks for the help!

 

[drusba]

1. It is very common for members to reserve non-home resorts 7 months out. Often what they do is reserve home at 11 months out to assure a reservation and then switch at 7 if they can get what they want. As to availability at 7 months it depends on type of room and time of year. AKV concierge and value rooms, BWV standard and boardwalk view, BLT standard view, BWV GVs, and the OKW GVs at Hospitality House, can be difficult to get 7 months out any time of year. Otherwise, other rooms at the near park resorts--BCV, BLT, BWV, and to some extent VWL -- can be difficult to get from end of Sep through Marathon weekend in Jan, DVCs highest demand quarter of the year, but they are usually available the rest of the year at 7 months out. AKV, SSR and OKW are also usually available at 7 months out except AKV and OKW can sometimes be issues in mid-Oct, Thanksgiving, first two weeks of Dec and Christmas week.

2. Do not purchase with the idea of using Disney hotels. They cost too many points, the points go up annually, and it is cheaper to rent your points and pay cash for the rooms. That said, it might be something to try once in a great while and you can reserve 11 months out at least. Also, if there is a DVC at a resort, there is no hotel availability at the same resort--you cannot reserve Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club or Boardwalk Inn on points, and soon that will include Grand Floridian. Also, if you purchase resale, which is a lot cheaper than purchasing through Disney, you don't get to use the Disney hotels on points.

3. 1BRs are readily available at all resorts. It is just that most 1BRs are part of 2BR lock-offs, which are adjoining 1BRs and studios, which can be reserved as 2BRs, or separately as a studio and a 1BR.

4. DVC is not cheap including because there are fairly high annual dues, which can increase annually, You get limited housekeeping and the housekeeping you get has had some issues at times. The rooms are generally nice but not as plush as some of the hotel rooms (although it appears that Villas at Grand Floridian may be plush). They can suffer wear over time just like hotel rooms and though they do go through major refurbishments, those are usually not quite as often as the ones for the hotel rooms.

 

[disneynutz]

Keep reading the threads here in this forum, your questions are discussed daily.

Many of the DVC resorts will be available at 7 months but you want to pick your favorite resort as your home resort.

Disney advertises that your points can be used everywhere but the reality is, your points are best used for DVC resort stays.

All DVC resorts have studios, one bedroom, and two bedroom villas. Many also have 3 bedroom villas.

Yes you can have booking difficulties. RCI network is a limited DVC version, only 600 properties out of a few thousand. Yes there are property condition / maintenance issues, too many IMO but most guests ignore them because they are on vacation and they are at Disney.

Bill

 

[Dean]

I am doing my research in advance of a possible DVC purchase and hope that somebody can help answer a couple of questions:

1) Does it make sense to ever book at one's non-"home" resort? For example, we are interested in buying into the Grand Floridian but recognize that we would sometimes want to stay at another DVC property such as Bay Lake or Kidani. With the 11 mo / 7 mo difference for home / non-home resort owners, is this even a reasonable possibility? Or does booking a non-home resort effectively mean that you'll have to take what ever is available? What are people's experiences in booking at non-home resort?

2) Using points at WDW resort hotels: On a similar note, I see on the points charts that one can use points to stay at a WDW resort like the Polynesian. Is there a restriction as to how far in advance one can book a resort room using DVC points?

3) The villa #s on the DVC Resource Center thread ( http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2823943 ): Can somebody explain this? Does this indicate that there are no 1 Bedroom units available anywhere except for Boardwalk, Wilderness Lodge, and the Beach Club?

4) I have heard many of the PROs for buying in. I know full well that this will be a luxury purchase rather than a tangible investment. What are the CONs to consider? Booking difficulties? Any issues with the RCI network? Any property condition / maintenance issues?

Thanks for the help!

Everyone is different but buying to use points for non DVC options adds significant cost to your membership and is more expensive than simply buying less points and paying cash for the other options. Likewise, buying at a high cost/high demand resort will add considerable cost over going the other way. If one must be at GF most of the time and can plan well ahead, it might be a good choice but not for one who plans to stay there at times and at other places routinely. I'd think one need to be at GF 70-80% of the time with those points to make buying there reasonable. Otherwise buy less points and buy somewhere else that's cheaper. It often makes sense to book at a different resort, but it's better to be trading up than down, with GF you'd always be trading down. Not that big of a deal for a rare trip but a lot of cost for routine choices.

As for getting other resorts, it depends. Getting AKV concierge, BCV 2 queen 2 BR, BWV BW view, value AKV and a few others is not likely even if you travel off season.

Buying to use with RCI is likewise a problem. NO guarantees, top options unlikely to be available, every trade a down trade. For a 2 BR for a week you'd likely be giving up 270 GF points worth $4000 to a timeshare worth far less. There are rare exceptions but not enough to justify buying to use them.

Definitely read and develop your own perspective, IMO it takes about 6 months of active investigation to do so. Good luck and enjoy whatever decisions you make.

 

[bwvBound]

1) Does it make sense to ever book at one's non-"home" resort? For example, we are interested in buying into the Grand Floridian but recognize that we would sometimes want to stay at another DVC property such as Bay Lake or Kidani. With the 11 mo / 7 mo difference for home / non-home resort owners, is this even a reasonable possibility? Or does booking a non-home resort effectively mean that you'll have to take what ever is available? What are people's experiences in booking at non-home resort?

FWIW, we've owned DVC since May 2004 and have stayed at our home resort only twice (once being booked through RCI as an inbound exchange against other timeshare). We generally book 7-10 night stays at BWV and have also enjoyed stays at Vero Beach, Grand Cal (10 nights there this year; 3 weekend trips), Aulani (8 nights in one visit), AKV Concierge, OKW, VWL, etc.

Granted, I'm blessed. But with a little patience I think most could be successful learning the system and playing the game. Best wishes with your researchch!

 

[Nabas]

4) I have heard many of the PROs for buying in. I know full well that this will be a luxury purchase rather than a tangible investment. What are the CONs to consider? Booking difficulties? Any issues with the RCI network? Any property condition / maintenance issues?

Questions 1 to 3 are already well answered. Also some of the cons were mentioned. Some more (sorry if I missed these.

DVC is expensive, one of the most expensive timeshares direct or through resale.

DVC's cost benefits are limited to the 12 DVC resorts. Using your points to purchase pretty much anything else is non cost effective. As already suggested, your best bet is to rent your points (some of the major rental sites offer to rent your points at $11/point) and then use the cash proceeds to pay for other vacations.

DVC is a long-term commitment. Do you want to vacation at DVC resorts (mostly WDW) 10 years from now? For a WDW addict, it's a no-brainer but most peter out after their children reach a certain age. Yes, you can sell your membership but, financially, it makes more sense to simply rent points from an existing DVC member if you go for less than 10 years.

 

[bwvBound]

4) ... Any issues with the RCI network?

Personally, I wouldn't buy into DCV with the intent to use RCI against the DVC points. My reasons:

1) DVC's buy-in and annual dues are pretty steep. There are far, far less expensive timeshare to use for nimble RCI exchanging.

2) The DVC-RCI relationship is a corporate membership. Unlike with some/most other timeshare, the individual DVC owner does not have a direct membership with RCI and this cannot take advantage of many RCI member benefits such as discounted rental weeks, etc. Sadly, DVC owners aren't invited to participate in discounted "last minute" exchanges which are a great tool of the trading game.

3) DVC offers to its members only a hand-picked subset of resorts from the larger RCI Directory. Sometimes the choice is based on quality standards but some you just can't figure out. (I'm thinking of certain locations where a resort of humble quality is on the DVC list but not a "Gold Crown" located just a few miles away? )

All that said, these aren't problems with the RCI network itself, just the way DCV repackages RCI for the DVC community.

 

[M1Thumb]

Some good stuff to mull over. Thanks for the responses!

 

[sndral]

Any issues with the RCI network? Any property condition / maintenance issues?

Thanks for the help!

Just wanted to point out that back in 2008, DVC switched from Interval International (not sure on exact name) to RCI, so they could switch the exchange co. from RCI to something else again.

 

[bakerworld]

For us the biggest hurdle is the planning - if you want a vacation that is longer than 4N in your venue of choice you better be hopping on that phone/pc at the earliest possible moment. We feel we're LOCKED.