Staying at other DVC's vs Home Property...

[hardingk]

How easy is it to use your points at other DVC's? Or do you have to stay at your "home" property the most?

 

[geffric]

No you don't have to stay at your home property. You can book at your home resort at 11 months out, you can book at other DVC properties at 7 months out.

Our home property is OKW and we love it there.. so we do tend to stay there more than others... I have never had a problem getting into othe DVC resorts..

 

[dianeschlicht]

You can stay at any DVC as long as you are within the booking windows and have the points, and there is availability at any other DVC resort.

The booking windows are the most important aspect of that. I own most of my points at OKW. If I want to stay at SSR, I have to wait until 7 months or less from check out to book that reservation. That means that I COULD run the risk of there not being the unit size I want at the specific times I want. Not to worry though, because I can also be put on a "waitlist" and get my preferred stay at something other than my home resort that way.

 

[hardingk]

You can stay at any DVC as long as you are within the booking windows and have the points, and there is availability at any other DVC resort.

The booking windows are the most important aspect of that. I own most of my points at OKW. If I want to stay at SSR, I have to wait until 7 months or less from check out to book that reservation. That means that I COULD run the risk of there not being the unit size I want at the specific times I want. Not to worry though, because I can also be put on a "waitlist" and get my preferred stay at something other than my home resort that way.

Thanks, how often does it happen that you can't get your unit size a few months out? We usually book at least 3 months out.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks, how often does it happen that you can't get your unit size a few months out? We usually book at least 3 months out.

I have no idea, because I generally book 11 months out. It really depends on the time of year and if the resort and time you are booking are very popular. For example: If you want to book BCV for October Food and Wine festival, you will likely be out of luck even close to the 7 month booking window. This is because BCV is a few steps away from the F&W action at Epcot, and BCV is one of the small DVC resorts. THe same thing will be true if you are trying to book VWL during December. VWL is the smallest on -site DVC, and is VERY popular during holiday time.

 

[Granny]

Thanks, how often does it happen that you can't get your unit size a few months out? We usually book at least 3 months out.

If you want to stay somewhere besides your home resort on a regular basis, DVC will work much, much better for you if you can plan at least 7 months out. You want to be calling on the exact date your 7 month window comes open for many times of the year.

Tell us what times of year, and what resorts, and we can give you a better response.

 

[wtpclc]

Keep in mind that if you are booking 3 months out, your home resort will not matter. You only get an advantage with home resort when you book 11 to 7 months out. After 7 months, resorts are up for grabs to any DVCers.

 

[crisi]

If you want to stay anywhere, DVC is going to work better if you plan more than three months out. New Years Eve (according to one post) is completely booked now - in May. Now, that's the exception (a very popular time of year), but it isn't unusual for DVC to be completely booked up three or four months out for certain nights (and if its booked up for one night in the middle of your week long trip, it can be a problem). Busy WDW times and busy DVC times do not necessarily overlap - DVC is pretty busy in October and early December.

If you can't plan more than seven months out, it doesn't matter where you buy, "points is points" at seven months out.

If you are flexibile with your travel dates and don't have your heart set on any one resort ("well, we would have liked VWL this trip, but it was booked, oh well, maybe next time" instead of "I'm so disappointed, I had my heart set on VWL and its all booked up!") any resort will work fine. You may wish to give a smaller resort a preference since resorts usually fill close to order of size (smaller resorts first).

Some flexibility comes from using the waitlist, but there aren't guarentees and for some people the stress of the waitlist is too much.

 

[hardingk]

If you want to stay somewhere besides your home resort on a regular basis, DVC will work much, much better for you if you can plan at least 7 months out. You want to be calling on the exact date your 7 month window comes open for many times of the year.

Tell us what times of year, and what resorts, and we can give you a better response.

Thanks, I don't have specifics, it was just more of a general question.

A few more questions:
1. What units usually book up the fastest?
We would only be looking at at studio for now, SSR or OKW to start I guess.

2. We are also interested in Vero Beach and Hilton Head, are those places hard to book? Say June or late August. How fast do they book up?

I guess what I am trying to figure out is if we buy into DVC, will we get the dates we want when we can just book a room normally and possibly get an AP rate.

Any advice is appricated!

 

[crisi]

Conventional wisdom is that Grand Villas book first, then studios, than two bedrooms and one bedrooms last. YMMV and we don't really know for sure since DVC doesn't publish that information, we can only go on our own experience and what others have reported here.

HH and VB are very difficult to get in the summer months and people who want those resorts in the summer often own there. They are really easy to get in January.

 

[Fortywinks]

Conventional wisdom is that Grand Villas book first, then studios, than two bedrooms and one bedrooms last. YMMV and we don't really know for sure since DVC doesn't publish that information, we can only go on our own experience and what others have reported here.

HH and VB are very difficult to get in the summer months and people who want those resorts in the summer often own there. They are really easy to get in January.

I agree here. Just yesterday, I changed from a studio to a 1br at SSR for 06/17-23 (5 nites) with no problem.

 

[wtpclc]

Just wanted to add that, becasue OKW and SSR are the biggest, those will likely be the resorts that will eb easiest to get. On property, I believe VWL is hardest, then BCV, BWV. AKV will likely be very hard until more phases are done.

 

[WDWLVR]

We own at Boardwalk and a small add on at Vero but have managed to also stay at VWL, BCV, and OKW. We also have a one night stay booked at Hilton Head for this October. We were once able to book a one bedroom at OKW on very short notice (about a month out) and a Beach Club studio in late December with about 3 months notice. Most of the time we book 11 months out at our home resort and don't switch from that very much.