Shocking news! The family offered to pay!

[FreeTime]

My Sis offered to pay me for their room for our next trip we had planned. I hadn't planned on charging anyone in the family. I told her that it would be everyone's Christmas gift for the next year or two. But she said they want to pay their part. Since her family is insistant, what should I charge them? I am thinking maybe the annual dues for the room or maybe asking them to pick up our room for the trip down and back. Help!

 

[Chuck S]

Are you spending a lot of time together with them in the parks? How about having them pick up the tab at a table service meal or two?

 

[RuthnPaul]

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[debloco]

JMHO, but you might consider asking them to pay the "going" rate for renting points which is around $10 per point (and please, let's not start the "how much should points rent for" debate, I'm just stating what it is right now) What size unit do you have booked for them? If it's their own unit then look at the number of points it took to make the ressie and multiply that by $10. If you have upgraded from what you would have booked for just your family (say from a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom) I would figure out how many more points the 2 bedroom was and just have them pay for the "extra points" you had to use. Of course, you could choose any amount per point that you are comfortable with if you decide to go this route.

CLC Tiger Pom Mom

 

[gjw007]

I'd go with the annual dues. That is what it cost for the rooms. Your purchase price is a sunk cost but if you want to include it, take the purchase price / number of years left in the contract when you purchased it, together with the annual dues, multiple this by the number of points requires. This should determine the cost of the unit assuming that you plan to keep the contact for its entire life. If you charge more than that, you are looking to make a profit. I'm under the impression that you are not looking to make a profit off this situation. It also avoids potential future arguments since you can show how the cost was determined and that you weren't looking to profit off them.

 

[rocketriter]

You can also pick something of approximately equal value (without being very picky about the numbers) and invite them to chip in for it. Park passes, a certain number of dinners, plane tickets, whatever. If they're sincerely making this offer (and it sounds like they are), they you should respect their wishes and offer them a way to carry their weight. If you want to keep a "gifty" quality about the whole thing, maybe choose something for them to do that's of slightly less than the value of the room. But stay loose about it and look out for their comfort level, neither soaking them nor making them feel like charity cases.

This is, by the way, a very good first step for traveling together in the future. If it's understood that different families will pick up different parts of the trip with approximately equal value, this could be "the start of a beautiful relationship."

 

[Pig Pen]

I treated 6 family members to 9 nights in a 2 bedroom villa and was never even offered dinner. I didn't do it expecting anything in return, but the only person who thanked me was my son's girlfriend.

I was kind of disappointed.

 

[FreeTime]

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I feel bad about charging them anything, since we always like to share our home away from home at least once a year with friends/family. They did go with us last year and didn't pay for the room then, but bought groceries and a few meals. Maybe they saw how nice DVC is and are feeling a little bad about not paying last time. I guess I will probably just have them pay the annual dues, or maybe I can get them to babysit for a week so hubby and I can take a trip of our to the world (I just thought of this one!)!

 

[rocketriter]

Maybe you can ask them to babysit every night for a year!

 

[bobbiwoz]

It was good that your sister offered, and if it's a true offer, I think just the price of the dues for the room is too small an amount.

When we were buying DVC, my sister liked the idea of Disney vacations and asked me some questions, but decided not to buy into it herself. She asked me if there ever was a time that she would want to join us, if we would sell her whatever it took for her to come. I decided that if that happened, I would charge her $8, if the "going rate" was $10 a point, because after all she was family, and that's what we agreed on.

So, that's what we have in mind for the future, it hasn't been tested, because so far, she's only come at MY invitation, and we haven't charged her anything.

Good luck in deciding what you think is fair!

Bobbi

 

[mel&me]

It depends on how you feel. Myself, close family I would just take them if they insisted on paying, It would be dues and/or maybe a nice dinner. Other relatives $8 a point.

 

[fkj2]

Or, maybe a variation of mel&me's suggestion:

The cost of the annual dues for their accommodations and Dinner at a nice restaurant at WDW while they babysit your kids for you, overnight of course.

 

[eileenfk]

When I have a family member who wants to pay their share of the cost I charge them my actual cost of the points.
This is my dues, plus what it cost me to purchase the points (the cost of my package divided by all the points I will get before it expires). For me, this is about $5.5 a point.
This way the person feels like they are not taking advantage of me. As long as I can afford it I don't mind paying for the room. My family members (the ones I take) are not at all greedy, so they would feel guilty taking advantage of me. They pay what they can, and often pay the cost of meals we eat out.

- Eileen

 

[kathleena]

When I let my family use my points, I round the annual dues up to the next dollar. I do that because I figure I have laid out the cash too and now am losing use of the points. So I go with $5pp.

 

[sparkysfriends]

We take our close friend (our children's godparent) with us to WDW many times. He shares the 2nd bedroom with our olderson. We've never asked him for money, just invited him as our guest. Every single time he has paid for 2 very expensive dinners for all of us. I have never and will never expect such a thing, but it does feel nice to be appreciated. Maybe that's why we are all so close.
We also make a trip to HH every Feb. Last year we had a lot of extra points because we couldn't make it to WDW. We had enough points to cover a Grand Villa for 5 nights of the week. We offered to bring 2 of my sisters and their families. They accepted and offered to pay cash for the 2 weekend nights so we could have a whole week. It was fabulous. One of my sisters enjoyed it so much that she asked if we could do it again. My other sister is not available this year, but my mom is. Unfortunately I had to tell her that I only have enough points left to cover 3 weeknights. She and my mom offerd to pay the member discount rate (which was available) for the remaining 4 nights (including the weekend nights). This all worked out and we will be going.
I guess my point is that there are many ways to work this out. The fact that they offered to pay is really nice. While I have been in this positive situation with the above mentioned family/friends, I have also been approached by family members who just expect me to take them with me. They figure it's no skin off my nose. These are the very same people who thought that DVC was aridiculous purchase. Needless to say, we have not and probably will not be traveling with any of them. There are all kinds of prople out there!

 

[momsully]

We did a large family reunion last year and I charged my inlaws $8 a point. We had to borrow points to cover all the points needed for the trip but it was worth it.

 

[SamSam]

For my brother and his family, plus their friends going when we weren't going we asked for annual dues rounded up (as another poster did). So we asked $5 a point for what their room cost. They got a bargain and we didn't feel we were being taken advantage of.

 

[QuiltTeddy]

Originally posted by Pig Pen
I treated 6 family members to 9 nights in a 2 bedroom villa and was never even offered dinner. I didn't do it expecting anything in return, but the only person who thanked me was my son's girlfriend.

I was kind of disappointed.

I certainly know that feeling. My sister and her husband didn't even offer a "thank you". AND, when we were out to dinner, she actually took out a calculator to figure out what the 5 of them owed on the bill versus husband and myself. Disgusting if you ask me.

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by rocketriter
You can also pick something of approximately equal value (without being very picky about the numbers) and invite them to chip in for it. Park passes, a certain number of dinners, plane tickets, whatever. If they're sincerely making this offer (and it sounds like they are), they you should respect their wishes and offer them a way to carry their weight. If you want to keep a "gifty" quality about the whole thing, maybe choose something for them to do that's of slightly less than the value of the room. But stay loose about it and look out for their comfort level, neither soaking them nor making them feel like charity cases.

This is very close to what I was going to say. It looks like you decided to let them pay the dues amount, which is probably what I would have gone with.

I do like the idea of getting them to watch the kids while you take another trip, though!

 

[patsal]

For my little sister, I asked for $8 per point, for $88 per night she is gettign a studio over Feb. break and I don't think she'll be able to do better than that even at AS or POP during the President's day holiday week.