My point on benefit of staying at other resorts is just that most people buying the more expensive resorts (vgf, bcv) are buying there to stay there; I am assuming Riv is the same. If you're going to put any real value on staying other places then why buy Riv and not saratoga? Again if you already have a contract that you can use at Riv, the only rationale is you love Riv and want to stay almost exclusively there with those points and book at 11 months.
The value is in having the
option of staying at other places, and of
not having to fight for stays in the EP/HS area at 7 months. Yesterday, 1 hour after the 7 mo window opened, all of the 2br and studios were gone, except for preferred studios. Checking now for at 7mo, availability is as limited at RIV as it is at BCV and BWV (if you want a 1br, you're in good shape). (Granted, not all points have been declared, but again,m that's not a data point we have control over or knowledge of) So if you want to be in the EP/HS area with any regularity, you should really be considering BCV, BWV or RIV as a home resort. But there are basically no RIV resales on the market, or on the market at a discount that makes it worth considering right now. And you have the risk that in the next 2-4 years, with all the improvements and attractions coming to HS and EP, that prices are not going to go down appreciably, and the 7 mo squeeze may get worse. Or you can pay a little more now and not have to worry about it, for the possibility of saving some money a few years down the road. Right now I have a split stay booked next summer VGF/RIV. Points wise, it's a wash whether we did VGF first or RIV, first, but we wanted to have a better shot at F&W. We are also considering whether to (try to) move part of our stay to AKV to be close to AK, or possibly BCV so we can use SAB in the summer. If we had restricted RIV points, we wouldn't have a choice of which part to switch at 7mo, and I think we'd be really unlikely to want to do a split BCV/RIV.
quoting
@Sandisw :
For you, RIV is not a resort that you feel is worth owning and if you can stay there on your other points if you choose.
But, like I have shared, my cost for RIV after selling BWV was $120. Nothing I could get on the resale market for that price that I would want and it made zero sense to sell and rebuy resale.
it really was a win win for all of us. Will I only use points at RIV? No. But I will be able to have first shot at SV or tower studios and that was worth owning there
(close quote)
Just like staying at BLT standard is pretty much limited to owners there, I think studios, 2br and standard room categories are going to be very hard at 7 mo. I have yet to use my BLT or VGF points elsewhere, but we will, maybe, in 2020 or 2021. But I like having the option, and I like having the ability to book at 11 months at both MK and EP/HS areas. Chances are, if we were to try to switch at 7 months to BWV or BCV, we'd do that with RIV points since those are the most "comparable" in terms of location. Similarly, if we were to try to stay at CCV BRV or Poly, we'd probably book at 11 mo with BLT or VGF (I know) points, depending on time of year and how many points we had available.
... That being said I could easily get CC for $145/pp + closing (some with extra points banked which could offset the closing). I would also point out the true cost of staying at RIV. As someone did in another thread they tried to downplay the staggering point cost for RIV compared to many other resorts including CC in many categories. A good example is a week around July 4th right now is 127/Points for a CC Studio vs 160 Std or 190 Prf Studio at RIV. That is a 20% and 33% increase in points requirements on top of the 11% higher maintenance fees of Riviera.
People often compare RIV point costs to CCV but I don't think that's really a fair comparison. I think CCV point costs were artificially lowered to make them more appealing and to line them up with BRV. Otherwise, people would go for resale BRV even more, because of the big difference in costs per point for the same location. Also - CCV villas are quite a bit smaller - studios and 1br sleep 4, right? and 2br sleep 8, not counting cribs. Plus they have stupid cabins!! Poly and VGF point costs for standard line up a lot closer to BLT LV, and here are occupancies:
Studio:
5 (vgf) 5 (poly) 4 (blt) 5 (riv)
1br:
5 (vgf) 5 (blt, 2 ba) 5 (riv)
2br
9-10 (Vgf, ded - LO), 9 (blt, 3ba), 9-10 (riv)
In terms of size, occupancy, amenities and finishes, RIV is more comparable to VGF and Poly (studios cost roughly the same #points as VGF), and BLT's larger villas. So maybe look at the point costs there and compare.