Pros and Cons of Aulani Sub contracts for Sleep Around Points

[JGINPL]

Hello I'm looking at Selling my SSR contract and getting a subsidized Aulani Resale contract for my sleep around points. I would go to Aulani a few time but mainly go to WDW. I have no problem staying at SSR in the future and prefer 2 bedroom when booking my stays. Please let me know what you guys think. I appreciate all advice.

 

[davidl81]

Aulani sub contracts to me are the best value in DVC resale depending on the price you buy it at. They have the lowest annual dues in the portfolio and the contract is longer than SSR. You get a legitimate booking advantage if you ever want to travel to Hawaii during a busy season. I see absolutely nothing wrong with those. They are hard to find, so if you have one already I would suggest jumping on it and sell the SSR later.

 

[JGINPL]

Aulani sub contracts to me are the best value in DVC resale depending on the price you buy it at. They have the lowest annual dues in the portfolio and the contract is longer than SSR. You get a legitimate booking advantage if you ever want to travel to Hawaii during a busy season. I see absolutely nothing wrong with those. They are hard to find, so if you have one already I would suggest jumping on it and sell the SSR later.

thank you for your help. I'm hoping to negotiate a $95 per point

 

[Bing Showei]

Hello I'm looking at Selling my SSR contract and getting a subsidized Aulani Resale contract for my sleep around points. I would go to Aulani a few time but mainly go to WDW. I have no problem staying at SSR in the future and prefer 2 bedroom when booking my stays. Please let me know what you guys think. I appreciate all advice.

If you will be spending the majority of your time at WDW, a big factor in play would be when you bought your SSR contract. If those SSR points were acquired pre-2019, you are also giving up the ability to book outside of the O14 resorts, not something you can buy back anywhere except through Disney. In that respect, it's not a straight one-to-one SAPs exchange

 

[JGINPL]

If you will be spending the majority of your time at WDW, a big factor in play would be when you bought your SSR contract. If those SSR points were acquired pre-2019, you are also giving up the ability to book outside of the O14 resorts, not something you can buy back anywhere except through Disney. In that respect, it's not a straight one-to-one SAPs exchange

That is a good point that I didn't think about, the SSR ones are pre-2019. I will have to consider that a little now

 

[CarolMN]

Things I would consider before proceeding:

• Are the "savings" really enough to sell what I already have?
• Am I willing to wait for a subsidized Aulani contract to become available in an acceptable use year?
• How long will it take to break even after considering all the costs to sell and repurchase? Have to do math that includes commission, closing costs, difference in dues (about $0.80/point).
• Am I willing to accept the risk of Disney selling off Aulani and losing the ability to book the other DVC resorts?
• Loss of Blue card if applicable.

Without doing the math, not sure it's worth it unless I need the 11 month window for Aulani, and even then.......

Good luck with your decision.

 

[JGINPL]

Things I would consider before proceeding:

• Are the "savings" really enough to sell what I already have?
• Am I willing to wait for a subsidized Aulani contract to become available in an acceptable use year?
• How long will it take to break even after considering all the costs to sell and repurchase? Have to do math that includes commission, closing costs, difference in dues (about $0.80/point).
• Am I willing to accept the risk of Disney selling off Aulani and losing the ability to book the other DVC resorts?
• Loss of Blue card if applicable.

Without doing the math, not sure it's worth it unless I need the 11 month window for Aulani, and even then.......

Good luck with your decision.

Do you think they would sell Aulani before the expiration date of the contracts?

 

[CarolMN]

Do you think they would sell Aulani before the expiration date of the contracts?

No idea. It's probably a small risk, but not a zero risk.

 

[vacay77]

Just curious but what's the difference between a subsidized Aulani contract versus a regular Aulani resale contract?

 

[Drewski77]

thank you for your help. I'm hoping to negotiate a $95 per point

A subsidized Aulani contract will go for much more than $95 at this time, even regular Aulani contracts are going for well above $100.

If you are a little flexible with vacation dates and staying in higher view categories, or bigger than a studio, I think you are better off with SSR.

We just did the opposite, bought SSR to primarily stay at Aulani.

 

[AZMermaid]

Just curious but what's the difference between a subsidized Aulani contract versus a regular Aulani resale contract?

When Aulani was being built, they miscalculated the dues. So much so that sales were halted for weeks while they fixed it. Those contracts bought before that time have subsidized dues. Off the top of my head, it’s $2ish dollars a point less, so a significant amount year after year. We have a subsidized Aulani contract- bought direct 10 years ago this week.

 

[TeamRiley]

We just bought a subsidized Aulani contract at the first of the year. Primarily for Aulani, but for the other resorts as well. We did not want to use our VGC points anywhere but DisneyLand.

I think the subsidized contract is a great deal. It took me a while, but I found the right number of points and the same UY. Worked out great.

That being said, you will be lucky to find one these days for less the $130 per point. That might change the cost analysis quite a bit. Even regular Aulani contracts are going for almost $130 right now.

 

[JGINPL]

Thanks for everyone's insight. I think I'm going to give it a shot. Got a really nice deal on the subsidized dues, so if it passes, it is meant to be:

 

[chalee94]

When Aulani was being built, they miscalculated the dues. So much so that sales were halted for weeks while they fixed it...[and all the DVC executives at that time got fired...]

Fixed that for you...

Disney halts sales and fires executives amid financial issues with Hawaiian resort - Orlando Sentinel

Financial issues with a new Walt Disney Co. resort scheduled to open this month in Hawaii prompted the company to suspend all time-share sales for the project and force out three executives, including the president of its Celebration-based time-share business, according to several people familiar with the events.

Disney on Friday fired Jim Lewis, president of Disney Vacation Club, the company's time-share division. The company also dismissed Jim Heaney, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Disney Cruise Line and travel operations, and Lawrence Smith, a former director of finance for Disney Vacation Club who was most recently with food-and-beverage operations for Walt Disney World.

The dismissals followed an internal investigation into problems surrounding Aulani, an estimated $850 million hotel and time share scheduled to open Aug. 29 on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Plans call for the resort to have 460 Disney Vacation Club time shares and 359 conventional hotel rooms.

Disney said Monday evening it had appointed Claire Bilby, a 23-year company veteran who had most recently been senior vice president of distribution marketing and Asia Pacific sales, to run its time-share business. Bilby's title will be senior vice president of Disney Vacation Club.

According to the people familiar with details of the investigation, it focused on the annual dues that Disney Vacation Club plans to charge buyers of Aulani time shares. Those yearly fees are used to cover ongoing expenses such as the resort's maintenance and repairs.

Those people said Disney concluded that Vacation Club executives had calculated dues amounts so low that they would not generate enough money to cover the cost of maintaining Aulani. The inadequate dues amounts were included in legal-disclosure documents submitted to the Hawaiian government.

Disney said Aulani's operating costs were underestimated, leading to the inadequate annual dues. It said the mistake was unintentional.

The low fees prompted concerns within the company that Aulani would eventually face a significant operating shortfall, the people familiar with the investigation said. The company also feared the possibility of a brand-damaging backlash from Hawaiian regulators or consumers should Disney attempt to significantly raise Aulani's annual dues in future years to plug any deficit.

All of the people familiar with the events spoke only on the condition that they not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

 

[gskywalker]

No idea. It's probably a small risk, but not a zero risk.

How can they sell it? I had never thought of this because I assumed that there was no way they could sell a property before the DVC lease is up. They sold the contracts based upon the ability to use them as DVC resorts not just the home resort. Has anyone discovered an escape clause?

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I only skimmed through the replies, so I apologize if this was already touched on.

But aside from financial considerations, a big CON (in my book anyway) for buying ANY Aulani contract as SAP is that you are forfeiting your 11-month home resort advantage for ALL of the Florida resorts. Although you're likely to be able to find SOMEthing at 7 months, it's not guaranteed.

I'm in the camp of not buying Aulani unless I intended to use the points at Aulani.

 

[AZMermaid]

Fixed that for you...

Disney halts sales and fires executives amid financial issues with Hawaiian resort - Orlando Sentinel

I thought that too but wasn’t totally sure and was too lazy to look it up. I remember it was a big deal and we had bought right before the halt! Thanks for the details!

 

[AZMermaid]

I only skimmed through the replies, so I apologize if this was already touched on.

But aside from financial considerations, a big CON (in my book anyway) for buying ANY Aulani contract as SAP is that you are forfeiting your 11-month home resort advantage for ALL of the Florida resorts. Although, you're likely to be able to find SOMEthing at 7 months, it's not guaranteed.

I'm in the camp of not buying Aulani unless I intended to use the points at Aulani.

This is a good point. I’m currently on a WL for 12/30. Short story is I took a gamble and lost (so far). There were zero studios available at 8:15 ET at 7 months and only two 1BR options and by 6 months and 28 days, the entire FL inventory was booked up, not a single room. So it happens!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

When Aulani was being built, they miscalculated the dues. So much so that sales were halted for weeks while they fixed it. Those contracts bought before that time have subsidized dues. Off the top of my head, it’s $2ish dollars a point less, so a significant amount year after year. We have a subsidized Aulani contract- bought direct 10 years ago this week.

I saw that somebody already fixed your comment. You are very kind to summarize it that way.

How can they sell it? I had never thought of this because I assumed that there was no way they could sell a property before the DVC lease is up. They sold the contracts based upon the ability to use them as DVC resorts not just the home resort. Has anyone discovered an escape clause?

Any resort can be removed from the system and the management contract could go to someone else other than DVC. DVC and DVD would sell whatever interests they still owned and the existing owners would move into the new system whatever that might be whether it was part of another existing timeshare system or somehow it's own. My guess is that DVD and DVC might still own the majority stake in Aulani so they'd have a big voice in approval even if it was a voting item which I do suspect it is but am not certain without looking it up in the POS.

Doing so would effectively kill any future offsite resort potential for DVC although it seems like they've pretty much stopped planning on more anyway.

 

[RoseGold]

I considered this seriously, but decided against it because of Hawaii's changes in timeshare laws and taxes over time, which I believe to not benefit owners. Also, the DVC beach resorts have had heavy increases in dues, and Hawaii needs tax revenue. I can see any of that working out poorly for Aulani owners. Maybe your crystal ball is different than mine.

And you'd have to pay tax on the gain on your SSR anyway, so this sounds like a lot of work for not much savings.