Question : Considering buying TWO resorts.

[canoe86]

looking for any positives or pitfalls in this scenario.

Thinking about buying small contract at BLT. (say75 pts) It will be our first. Then, we would buy a 200 pt OKW contract.

What is my home resort? When can I use the points at other places?

For example, say I book a reservation for 275 points at OKW, can I do that 11 months out? Do I have to split the stay? Or do I wait 7 months?

What do you guys think?

 

[erionm]

From 11 months to 7 months + 1 day, the points can only be used at the resort they are from. At 7 months they could be combined and used at any resort.

 

[RobDoc]

looking for any positives or pitfalls in this scenario.

Thinking about buying small contract at BLT. (say75 pts) It will be our first. Then, we would buy a 200 pt OKW contract.

What is my home resort?

You will have two Home Resorts - BLT and OKW

When can I use the points at other places?

With both contracts, you may use the points owned (75 at BLT and 200 at OKW) at other resorts 7 months from your arrival date.

For example, say I book a reservation for 275 points at OKW, can I do that 11 months out? Do I have to split the stay? Or do I wait 7 months?

You can make a reservation at OKW 11 months before your arrival date using OKW points. In your scenario, you can use 200 points from the current OKW Use Year (or any banked points) and borrow from the next OKW Use Year. You can use points from the BLT contract 7 months from arrival.

You can always use points from your Home Resort (OKW) at 11 months and points from other resorts (BLT) 7 months from arrival.

Enjoy!



What do you guys think?[/QUOTE]

 

[ToddyLu]

So you could use your 200 points at OKW and 75 points from BLT for the same time frame but it would be a split stay at 11 months. Say the first 5 nights you could use your OKW points there and then BLT points at BLT for the last 2 nights during your vacation. You would have 275 combined for any resort at 7 months. At 7 months all points are equal so it doesn't really matter what home resort you have at that time.

 

[JimMIA]

looking for any positives or pitfalls in this scenario.

Thinking about buying small contract at BLT. (say75 pts) It will be our first. Then, we would buy a 200 pt OKW contract.

What is my home resort? When can I use the points at other places?

For example, say I book a reservation for 275 points at OKW, can I do that 11 months out? Do I have to split the stay? Or do I wait 7 months?

What do you guys think?

What would be the point of a 75-point contract at BLT?

Are you considering just spending a few days there, and doing a split stay elsewhere as others have guessed?

If so, you might be better off just buying OKW and then trying to switch a few days of your trips to BLT at the seven-month mark.

You're going to have a tough time finding a 75 point contract at BLT on the resale market. If you buy direct from DVC, you're going to pay $120 per point I believe = $9,000.

Also, if you look at the dues history for other new resorts, you'll see that BLT's dues are likely to be higher than OKW's within just a very few years -- and annual dues add up to much more than your purchase price over time.

You could probably buy a 300 point OKW contract resale for about $60 per point and have the whole thing for $18,000, and have lower dues in the long run.

 

[jnsolomon]

What would be the point of a 75-point contract at BLT?

Are you considering just spending a few days there, and doing a split stay elsewhere as others have guessed?

If so, you might be better off just buying OKW and then trying to switch a few days of your trips to BLT at the seven-month mark.

You're going to have a tough time finding a 75 point contract at BLT on the resale market. If you buy direct from DVC, you're going to pay $120 per point I believe = $9,000.

Also, if you look at the dues history for other new resorts, you'll see that BLT's dues are likely to be higher than OKW's within just a very few years -- and annual dues add up to much more than your purchase price over time.

You could probably buy a 300 point OKW contract resale for about $60 per point and have the whole thing for $18,000, and have lower dues in the long run.

I agree with almost everything said here and am actually in the process of adding some OKW points to my BLT points. In looking at annual maintenance fees, I don't think the evidence supports BLT being higher than OKW. They may increase at a faster rate for a year or two, but I don't see them being higher.

 

[JimMIA]

I agree with almost everything said here and am actually in the process of adding some OKW points to my BLT points. In looking at annual maintenance fees, I don't think the evidence supports BLT being higher than OKW. They may increase at a faster rate for a year or two, but I don't see them being higher.

Every hotel-connected resort DVC has built has initially started with dues lower than OKW.

Every hotel-connected resort which has been in operation more than five years now has dues higher than OKW. BLT and AKV will be no different, IMHO.

 

[jnsolomon]

Every hotel-connected resort DVC has built has initially started with dues lower than OKW.

Every hotel-connected resort which has been in operation more than five years now has dues higher than OKW. BLT and AKV will be no different, IMHO.

This is true, but these resorts all had higher dues than OKW when they opened. They didn't start out lower than OKW and end up higher, they have always been higher. Since opening 8 years ago BCV dues have gone up 37%. Over the same 8 year period, OKW dues have gone up 51%. The numbers are similar for BWV and VWL.

I still think that OKW is a better overall value, due to the lower buy-in cost.

 

[JimMIA]

This is true, but these resorts all had higher dues than OKW when they opened. They didn't start out lower than OKW and end up higher, they have always been higher. Since opening 8 years ago BCV dues have gone up 37%. Over the same 8 year period, OKW dues have gone up 51%. The numbers are similar for BWV and VWL.

I still think that OKW is a better overall value, due to the lower buy-in cost.

You really need to go look at the dues history threads. Your info is way off.

 

[jnsolomon]

You really need to go look at the dues history threads. Your info is way off.

I think that is what I am doing. Honestly, if I am looking at the wrong info I apologize.

The thread I am looking at shows that when BWV opened in 1996, it's dues were $3.70 and OKW's were $2.99 for 1996. Wilderness Lodge's were $3.62 in 2000 when it opened and OKW's were $3.16 that same year. When BCV opened in 2002 it's dues were $3.77 and OKW's were $3.22. According to the chart I am looking at, none of these resorts ever had lower dues than OKW. I am sorry if I am misreading what you are saying.

 

[Sandisw]

looking for any positives or pitfalls in this scenario.

Thinking about buying small contract at BLT. (say75 pts) It will be our first. Then, we would buy a 200 pt OKW contract.

What is my home resort? When can I use the points at other places?

For example, say I book a reservation for 275 points at OKW, can I do that 11 months out? Do I have to split the stay? Or do I wait 7 months?

What do you guys think?

Just be sure that when you decide on how many BLT points to buy (since that will be your smaller contract) that you get enough to book whole nights the way you want to use it.

As others have said, BLT and OKW points can only be combined at the 7 month mark.

So, if you plan on using the 75 points at BLT yearly and split stay with OKW, be sure that 75 will get you the # of nights you want. If you plan on using banking and/or borrwing to go to BLT every other year, be sure that the 150 will be enough.

I say this is because we started out with 50 VWL points to become owners and then added on 130 points at BLT. I realized that at 11 months, I didn't have enough in either contract to book my entire 5 nights without borrowing from one of the contracts.

For example, the 50 point contract was enough for 1 night in a 1 bedroom, but not enough for 2. Same with the BLT--enough for 3 nights, but not quite enough for 4. Therefore, unless I wanted to borrow (which I did not), I could not book my entire trip until 7 months when I could combine the VWL and BLT points.

I ended up selling the VWL contract to own everything at BLT.

Good luck!

 

[McCrae]

This is a link to DVC news and the information they have on dues.

http://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-program/owning-dvc/faqs?task=view&id=51

If this information is correct the claims made about dues are not accurate when discussing OKW.

Only one resort has started out with cheaper dues than OKW and is now higher. That is VB(sub).

One resort, Saratoga Springs started off with higher dues but are now lower than OKW.

I dont think anyone can make a strong case based on the trend of dues increases we have seen at other resorts that OKW dues will end up being lower than BLT. We have no evidence to suggest this. Last year both resort dues went up roughly the same...3%.

Personally I wouldn't split my home resorts because I would like to be able to use all of my points to book at the 11 month window for the same resort.

One thing I would suggest you consider is the potential resale price for BLT vs OKW. Due to it's longer lease and it's location on the monorail I think you are always going to getting a better resale price for BLT than OKW and would expect BLT to hold it's value better.

 

[JimMIA]

I think that is what I am doing. Honestly, if I am looking at the wrong info I apologize.

The thread I am looking at shows that when BWV opened in 1996, it's dues were $3.70 and OKW's were $2.99 for 1996. Wilderness Lodge's were $3.62 in 2000 when it opened and OKW's were $3.16 that same year. When BCV opened in 2002 it's dues were $3.77 and OKW's were $3.22. According to the chart I am looking at, none of these resorts ever had lower dues than OKW. I am sorry if I am misreading what you are saying.

I have to go back and look when I get some time. It's possible I misread something.

 

[LisaS]

gkrykewy posted a great dues chart in this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2396184 It makes it easier to see the trends.

 

[JimMIA]

I finally found one of Doc's posts with the dues, and I must have just misread them. I was mistaken -- sorry about that!

 

[canoe86]

I was just throwing a low point number out there. Not buying a 75 point contract.

Also, this answers my question. I thought there might be an advantage to owning different places, but there really isn't unless you have enough to buy what you want. Or split stays.

 

[homercrispy]

we have points at vero and at saratoga, and have stayed at every resort. we have never planned a vacation more than a couple of months ahead of time, so it does not matter where we buy points