I personally would not purchase HHI or VB except to use those points for the 11-month booking window advantage at those resorts.
If you're going to use your points mostly to stay at HHI, fine. But not having a home resort at WDW and the high dues would steer me away from HHI otherwise.
The information above about dues being low at HHI is incorrect. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but HHI dues are among the highest (if not THE hignest) of any
DVC resort.
While I do agree that those wanting to primarily use their points at WDW would be best served to purchase a WDW resort rather than HH or VB (BWV recently passed ROFR at $33 per point)- there is a common misconception about the current dues for HH.
The HH dues comment is an oft repeated one and currently that is the case (they are $0.21 per point higher than BWV). However, until 2007 HH dues were still among the lowest in DVC - only OKW, VB (subsidized) and SSR were lower. Thru 2006 (and HH even saw a large increase that year) HH maintenance fees were still lower than BWV, VWL and BCV. BLT and VCG were not open until 2009.
In 2005 the HH resort found it necessary to advance the capital reserve schedule for some exterior structure repairs. This was already included in the capital reserve budget, but not for a few more years so the reserve fund was inadequate to cover the expense. DVD stepped in and provided a loan to the HH owners to cover the expense, the repairs were made and the owners saw their annual dues increased to pay back the loan (with interest) from 2006 until 2012 when DVD will be repaid. After that time the dues should return to a more normal level (we shall see).
Please note that this additional expense was not an assessment and the increase fell within the allowed % for an increase. The increase was $0.48 for 2006, $0.64 for 2007 but the subsequent increases have only been $0.18, $0.16 and $0.21. In 2005, the HH dues were only $0.03 more than SSR.
From 1996 when HH opened, thru 2005 the HH dues had a total increase of $0.70 for that 10 year period. In 2006/2007 (when the Cap. Reserve Budget was underfunded) the increase was $1.12 and 2008/09/10 saw an increase of $0.59.
Many on this board have suggested that the HH dues are higher due to hurricane related issues, higher staff costs, higher maintenance costs, etc - but the fact remains that the loan provided by DVD is the one single factor responsible for the majority of the increase over a 2 year period (2006/2007)and the dues should return to a more normal level after another 2 years. Actually, a decrease should be anticipated for the 2013 fees barring some other reason for an increase.
Stay tuned!
Here is the history of DVC annual fees over the years:
Year OKW VB(s) VB HH - BWV VWL -BCV SSR AKV -BLT VGC
2010 4.87 5.18 6.61 5.57 5.36 5.20 5.15 4.46 4.95 3.78 3.94
2009 4.73 4.97 6.41 5.36 5.21 5.04 5.00 4.34 4.85 3.67 3.82
2008 4.56 4.71 6.04 5.16 5.04 4.87 4.80 4.21 4.71
2007 4.40 4.39 5.63 4.98 4.85 4.73 4.63 4.12 4.62
2006 4.24 4.12 5.27 4.34 4.69 4.61 4.48 3.98
2005 3.86 3.84 4.87 3.86 4.41 4.35 4.27 3.83
2004 3.68 3.67 4.67 3.70 4.25 4.22 4.18 3.80
2003 3.49 3.37 4.37 3.69 4.11 4.05 3.97
2002 3.22 3.33 4.17 3.49 3.92 3.80 3.77
2001 3.13 2.70 3.98 3.32 3.83 3.63
2000 3.16 2.87 4.07 3.25 3.94 3.62
1999 3.16 2.82 3.99 3.18 4.02
1998 3.17 2.76 ---- 3.20 3.94
1997 3.14 2.90 ---- 3.16 3.84
1996 2.99 2.82 ---- 3.16 3.70
1995 2.84 2.76
1994 2.70
1993 2.63
1992 2.56
1991 2.51
