Splitting DVC points and cash

[Lisa Lynn]

My husband and I are very excited about completing our dvc purchase through resale. We are anticipating that it will be finalized within the next 6 weeks (we are in the RoFR phase). We will have 281 points and we are looking to reserve a 2 bedroom villa in late August. My questions are:

-Will most resorts likely have 2 bedroom villas available when we book in 6 weeks? If not, which ones might?

-If we want to stay at OkW, after we use our 281 points, how much will we owe in cash ( note we are staying for 10 days)

 

[Chuck S]

Welcome to the DISBoards!

Points and cash can not be used together for a day. Some nights may be booked on points, others on cash, but you can not, for example, pay for any night with 7 points and $50 cash.

The DVC Member cash discount is 25% off rack rate for the room, so to get a rough idea, price a non-discounted stay for the nights you'll need through the Disney website, and subtract 25%.

Remember that any rooms not booked by members at 60 days prior to arrival are turned over to cash reservations, so if you close late you may not find availability anywhere, except perhaps SSR. and that will be "iffy."

As long as you close and are in the DVC system prior to that, you may find some availability at OKW, but remember that most members have booked their vacations far in advance.

I don't think there are any major conventions/activities during August, so you may get lucky with a short notice reservation.

I hope the tiki room gods smile down upon you and you are able to find the perfect reservation.

 

[chalee94]

Will most resorts likely have 2 bedroom villas available when we book in 6 weeks? If not, which ones might?

doubtful.

larger resorts like SSR, OKW or AKV would be most likely to have something available...but that is awfully last minute...

If we want to stay at OkW, after we use our 281 points, how much will we owe in cash

here is a link to the OKW point chart.

7 consecutive nights (5 weeknights + 2 weekend nights) in late aug cost 269 pts.

you would also have the option of borrowing from your next UY most likely to rent additional nights.

otherwise, you cannot combine pts and cash to book a single night stay, so you would have to book 7 nights on pts and see if you can book 3 nights from the cash inventory (MS can handle both reservations) and then you would link the reservations.

unless you borrow from your next UY, most likely you would have pts left over (281 pts available less 269 pts used = 12 pts that might go to waste.) you would have the option of purchasing up to 24 one-time-use pts from MS since you are inside the 7 month window, but you would need at least 37 pts to book a weeknight at OKW in late aug so that might not be a workable strategy.

 

[Deb & Bill]

There are some villa categories that cannot be booked using cash. Like the BWView at BWV. Or the dedicated two bedroom villa with two queen beds at BCV (only 25 of them).

 

[mjc2003]

Last year we booked a trip on July 15th for August 24th-30th, so that was about 5-6 weeks before the trip. We stayed 2 nights at AK Jambo (b/c we wanted to try out the resort before our big November trip), and then 4 nights BWV. We got a 1BR, not a 2BR as you are looking for, and I know 1BR's are the last to book but according to my notes there was availability for SSR, AKV, OKW and BWV for 2 BR's.

10 days might be a bit of a different animal. On such short notice you might have a hard time getting 10 consecutive nights. You might want to prepare for the possibility that you will have to do a split stay.

 

[Lisa Lynn]

If we can get a 2 bedroom villa at either SS or OkW for 10 nights in late August and can use up to 281 points, does anyone know what the actual Cost would be for the extra nights with the 25% discount? I think we would need approx 131 points for SS and approx 107 for OkW. What would that translate to in dollars? Also, are the treehouses at SS usually available?

 

[MouseMomx2]

If we can get a 2 bedroom villa at either SS or OkW for 10 nights in late August and can use up to 281 points, does anyone know what the actual Cost would be for the extra nights with the 25% discount? I think we would need approx 131 points for SS and approx 107 for OkW. What would that translate to in dollars? Also, are the treehouses at SS usually available?

It doesn't work that way. You would have to book at the full rack rate, minus the 25% discount. I believe the 2-bedrooms run about $500-700 per night. DVC does offer one-time use points for situations like yours, however the maximum is 24 points so this won't be an option for you this time.

Do you have any points available to borrow? If not, mysuggestion would be to book as many nights as possible with points and then decide what you want to do about the remaining nights. Some members book a value resort for their remaining nights to save money. If you decide to do that I would suggest doing those nights first so you can then move "up" to the 2-bedroom.

 

[chalee94]

rack rates per night at OKW can be found here:

http://www.mousesavers.com/oldkeywest2012.html

villas may or may not be available for cash. and the 25% discount may or may not be available.