I know there are other posts on the Boards about Guaranteed Weeks ("GW"), and I think it's *******.com that has a breakdown explanation of GWs, but here's my explanation:
First of all - the price is exactly the same as just buying points, as in, the price per point is identical. The difference with a GW is the points required for that week versus booking it normally. It's also called Fixed Week - I honestly don't remember which
DVC calls it, but I find GW a better descriptive term since you still have flexibility and are not stuck with a week that's "fixed" each year.
So, with a GW, you choose a week each year, always Sunday-to-Sunday, 1 through 52. There's a chart they have that shows each week or at least each week for the next several years, but I'm 99% sure that it's based off of Week 1 starting on the first Sunday in January, and counted out from there. So it may not always line up the same if you're looking at holidays, etc. For example, we have Week 48, which is usually the week after Thanksgiving. I think there are a handful of weeks during our contract in which it falls 2 weeks after Thanksgiving.
Back to how it works, you get a week each year, that week is automatically booked for you each year - you don't have to do anything. It's supposed to be booked for you prior to the 11-month window for that week, but apparently sometimes it happens late, but you will have that week. However, you pay a 10% premium (usually - more on that later)
on how many points it costs to book that week. So, for example, when we purchased our Copper Creek GW a couple years ago, a week in the beginning of December was 107 points. Our GW contract is for 118 points, which is what that week costs us to book (107 plus 10%). It costs more, but it's guaranteed for us every year - the week gets booked for us and uses our full 118 points.
One of the key features is that the full contract gets used for that week every year, regardless of what the points chart currently states. So, if the points go up to book that week - it's still guaranteed at that cost (118 for that Copper Creek week). If they were to go down, still the full 118. So, the "premium" to have that week could cost more, or less, depending on changes, but for the holder of the GW, the cost is always the same. So there's some comfort there in not needing to worry about changes in the points chart.
To elaborate further with examples, since some days are sometimes in November, that week could be more than 107, also, and importantly, now that the points chart has changed some, that week is 110 points (I think), but it's still 118 for us. Another example, with Riviera, in the original points chart, a week in October in a Standard View Studio was 118 points. If you have a GW for such a week, then it would cost you 130 points to book that same week. This is what we did with our second, add-on contract that we got last summer. HOWEVER, the
points charts have already changed, with October becoming a higher-point time period. In next year's, 20222, point charts, a week in October is actually 130 points to book. For us, we have that week booked automatically for us, at 130 points - exactly the same as everyone else. So we have no premium to have that Guaranteed Week.
So if you're looking at a popular DVC time of year, you are assured that you will have that room for a week, and you're assured that if (or when) DVC starts to reallocate the points charts to try to better account for these popular times, it doesn't affect you.
Flexibility - this is really a key part, and what made us actually see the GW as a no-brainer for us - you do NOT have to use that week that you've chosen. You can always opt out of the week and use your points just the same as everyone else - whenever you want at whatever resort you want. You also get the full points in your contract - so no premium to book anywhere or any time else. So, for that 118 point contract, if we don't use that Guaranteed Week studio, we have 118 points to use that are no different than anyone else's contract. Now, the one bit of inflexibility is that you can't make any changes to your GW reservation - it's an all or none situation. In other words, it's booked Sunday-->Sunday, if you want to change it to Saturday to Saturday, or make it only 5 of those days, you can't. You have to cancel the whole week then book it through a regular reservation. That's no different than everyone else though, so it's not a penalty in any way.
So, we got the GW at Copper Creek with our first purchase 2 years ago because we were worried about how hard it is to get a studio at Copper Creek,
especially in December. When my wife first told me about it, I balked - we were interested in DVC for the flexibility to use points at all the resorts, whenever we wanted. I didn't want a "fixed" week like any other timeshare. However, as I researched regarding the concerns over how hard studios are to get there and was questioning whether to even make the purchase, learning about how the GW works and that you don't lose that flexibility made it very worth our while. We also have wanted to go to Wilderness Lodge at Christmas time for a while, and we wanted to try to make a tradition out of going each year at that time. At the same time, we actually have yet to use our GW there (or even get to WL at Christmas - have tried a few times but things came up) - the first year we bought in too late to get a booking for that week, last year we canceled because of the pandemic, then this coming year, we have a trip booked that week, but we actually opted out of our GW because we booked a 2-bedroom to have family come with us. We had the points to use because of our add-on at Riviera and because of canceling last year.
Then I explained previously our planned usage (or lack of) for the Riviera GW we bought. Given that it could become a very difficult reservation to get in the future though, and given that the premium to have that week is already gone, having the option to have that week booked for us made it a no-brainer to us.
Take a serious look at it.
