Still battling DVC. World Passport Collection

[Daitcher]

Uh oh Dave...I think you just found something we can both agree on, what's up with that? Oh, yeah -- and the whole Dean thingy too.

See, I'm not all that bad? I do have my days, however.


DAVE

 

[Daitcher]

Phantom PMenace is more like it.

Not that is a good one!

I laughed for about 10 minutes with this one. Nice to sit back and not be a part of the fight for once.


DAVE

 

[Jenbear]

Lisa F I agree wholeheartedly with you. I want to have fun, travel to different places and deal with a company I know will be around in 50 years!!

 

[JudyS]

I fell in love with Boardwalk in 1998, but couldn’t afford to buy at the time. While I was saving up to buy at Boardwalk, I started learning about other timeshares. I now own both a Boardwalk contract and four other timeshares. (And I’m about to close on another one!) I’ve traded through a number of timeshare companies, including Interval International. (II is the timeshare exchange company that provides the World Passport Collection trades.)

For people who want to both stay at the DVC and trade into other timeshares, the most cost effective method is to own both at the DVC and somewhere else. There are some low-cost resorts that will trade for many nice resorts in II. In fact, I rented out my DVC points this past year, because I was able to trade into the DVC using one of my other resorts instead.

My parents own a timeshare with a resort in Lake Buena Vista (can throw a rock and hit Downtown Disney). It was a five-star when they bought it (wavers back and forth to a 4-star), all weeks there are considered red weeks because I think anything in the area is all red weeks. She has a 2-bedroom deluxe, top of the line in her resort. She has tried many, many times to trade for a week through II to get into a Disney property, and has never been able to get in!

Kimszath, II has what is called a “regional block” for Orlando. This means that most Orlando resorts are not allowed to trade into most other Orlando resorts. Non-DVC resorts in Orlando can not trade into the DVC, no matter how desirable they are. With the right non-Orlando resort, though, it is possible to trade into DVC resorts; I’ve done it twice in the past year.

If you or anyone else here wants advice on trading into the DVC, drop me a PM.


As for trading out (exchanging one’s DVC resort for the World Passport Collection), I agree with Dean (as usual!) Specifically:
Most of the resorts in II are much less expensive than the DVC. Trading DVC for one of these resorts means giving up much of the value of your DVC points. In some cases, you could buy a week at the resort with the money you get from renting out one year’s DVC points.
The most desirable weeks at the most desirable II resorts usually are used by the owners or rented out, and therefore do not get deposited into II.
Marriott owners get first crack at all weeks deposited at Marriott resorts. All others, including DVC owners, get only the leftover Marriott weeks.
As Wingkng notes, Starwood has its own system, so most Starwood units don’t get deposited into II, either.
However, if you already own DVC and have some points you aren’t using, there is really no penalty for searching for a World Passport Collection resort; if you can’t find what you want, you keep your points.

I bought DVC about a year and a half ago knowing I would not be using it all at WDW for 50 years. I looked at a lot of the World Passport Places and where I wanted to go, researched some of the costs etc and found it to be fine to trade off points… based on how much the cash option would be to stay on the beach for the accomadations I had, I saved money using an exchange

This raises a good point. For many resorts, trading in via II (World Passport Collection) may be cheaper than paying cash to rent directly from the resort. It just isn’t likely to be the cheapest way to stay at that resort, because you probably could have traded in with a resort that cost less than the DVC. Of course, as other posters have mentioned, not everyone wants to spend a lot of time managing their timeshares and trying to get every last bit of value out of them. As for me, I love the “thrill of the hunt” -- finding that bargain timeshare or getting that great exchange. It’s better than the lottery!

 

[Dean]

For many resorts, trading in via II (World Passport Collection) may be cheaper than paying cash to rent directly from the resort. It just isn’t likely to be the cheapest way to stay at that resort, because you probably could have traded in with a resort that cost less than the DVC. Of course, as other posters have mentioned, not everyone wants to spend a lot of time managing their timeshares and trying to get every last bit of value out of them. As for me, I love the “thrill of the hunt” -- finding that bargain timeshare or getting that great exchange. It’s better than the lottery!

I'd say that in general one could rent their points at $10 per point and reserve almost anything in the exchange world cheaper. The trouble is that most people look at something like travelocity or the systems own website (Marriott, Disney) for prices.

Here's an example. Lets take Marriott's Grande Ocean July HH on the beach, the premier timeshare resort on the island. A rental through Marriott directly would be around $3000 plus tax, a little more for an ocean front unit. I rented one of my weeks this year, an oceanfront unit, for $2300 total and had an ocean side week listed at $2100 before I exchanged it to get a second unit at Marriott's Surfwatch the same week. That person saves $1000, gets a guaranteed OF unit and gets owners preference in unit assignments plus no exchange fee. A DVC member that exchanged in during this time would pay a $75 exchange fee, give up 270 points and be put in the lowest of 7 unit assignment priorities, #6 is cash rentals. That means you'd get no view and no location. And if you were a regular member of II, you could rent weeks at GO about 3 months of the year (off season) for less than half the roughly $750 per year maint fees.

I do realize that there are some protections and other benefits tied to certain options that are worth money. If something is cancelable for a refund, that would make it worth somewhat more than if it wasn't. And there comes a point of return where the meager savings are not worth if. But I think many people make assumptions that are not accurate overall and that's especially true in this area. One can frequently find places to rent condo's and timeshares for less if you dig a little deeper.