As you walk out of the stunt show, around the corner to your left across from the Sci-Fi Diner is a DVC Booth. Since the Guide has left, I am taking his place to explain to you all about DVC. Please pardon my cold, I will try not to breathe on you.... and don't pay any attention to the little Dragon, he is not allowed to breathe fire yet (except with adult supervision), and he wanted to help me explain it.
[Sales Pitch]
Welcome Home
First of all, I must tell you that I am an OWNER of 500 points from assorted resorts. We just added 100points last May, and before that we never banked a point. We have used our points for 3 cruises, several stays, and even the stay when I proposed to my wife.
Here are a few of the most common questions I get, and the Answers:
Q What does DVC Promise?
A DVC promises a quality lodging at the prepaid price. There are also lots of amenities depending on the size of room you get.
Q What are it's limitations?
A There are actually lots of them, there are some screwy rules to the banking and borrowing of points (I'll explain the points later), but realistically, the thing you notice most is the lack of daily maid service. You can pay for it, but honestly, most people don't change the sheets at home every night, and some people actually like the fact that the maids don't come into your room every day (DW doesn't have to straighten up the room before we go to the parks)
Q I don't travel to WDW a lot, is this for me?
A That depends on you and your travel habits. For example, when I first looked into DVC, I was told "Look, you go on a trip once every 2 years, if that, you have been to WDW a couple of times. It doesnt make sense for you to join. You will be wasting your money. Two trips later I decided we will be spending more time at WDW, and I bought in. On my first trip to WDW on points (OK, we went on a 3-day cruise first, but when we stayed at an actual resort on Points) I proposed to my DW. Here is the deal, if you think you will be going at least once every 2 years, it pays for itself rather quickly (especially if you are trying to self justify the purchase and compare the costs to Rack Rates.)
Q Is it a good investment?
A Tough question
I think YES. If I wanted to sell my points, I can get pretty much what I paid for them on the aftermarket
and we have taken some really nice vacations that if I added up the costs would be close to what I paid for the points. It is not something that you can sell for more than you paid originally, (reality, they know what you paid, and usually offer you that less the closing costs) but it has held its value well, AND, I GOT ALL OF THOSE VACATIONS OUT OF IT!
Q Can you make money with it?
A Officially, NO. When you buy the points you sign off that you are not buying the points to make a profit. Unofficially, well you can Rent Out your points for around $10.00 per point (OK, $8-$10 is the going rate) and make a small profit by doing that.
Q What are the hidden costs?
A There are a few small fees for using things outside of the DVC resorts, but the main additional cost is the Maintenance fee which starts at around $3.80 per point per year. I will explain this in a later post when I explain the points.
Q Come on, really, How can they claim that they cant raise the prices once I buy in?
A Well, they actually can raise the fee by 5% a year, so they can effectively raise the room rate by 3 1/3% a year. It is in the charter that each room will be available for so many points per year. If they raise the number of points in one season, they have to lower it in another. So, they may raise the points in, say the adventure season, but then they would have to lower them in another season, like the Value Season.
Q What about buying on the Resale Market? I hear that they are a lot cheaper!
A Well, When Saratoga Springs opened they extended the ending date from 2042 to 2054. This gives you an additional 12 years (and confuses things a good bit). If you were to buy in this year at the current level, it is $95 per point less $10 magical beginning buy-back ($85 a point). Divide this by 49 years and you get $1.73 per point per year (Magical beginnings buys your first set of points back at $10.00 per point). So to answer the question, take the number of years left (38) divided by what you are paying per point and see if that number is more or less than $1.73. The big pitfall you have to watch out for is to make sure that they havent borrowed all of next years points. If they have, you will get stuck with an extra maintenance fee before you have any points roll into your account.
Q What is this Renting Points Thingie?
A Well, if you dont own, need a few more points, or just want to try DVC before you buy, you can generally find someone who has extra points to make a reservation for you. Because of the Magical Beginning promotion, DVC actually set the rate at $10.00 a point. I have seen them lower, but they generally rent for $8-$10, usually at the $10 mark. Again profitability associated with this if you bought today, next years points would cost you $5.54 per point, adding in the fees. $10.00-$5.54=$4.46 profit. But if you rent, this brings the corrected cost of the rooms up accordingly. This is one place where it isnt cheaper to rent than to buy.
Q Where can I find Resold Points, or Rented Points?
A Well, since I am standing in front of the Sci-Fi Diner at the DVC booth, I really shouldnt comment, but there is an advertiser on the Dis called The Time-Share Store that deals with reselling points, and there is an entire thread for people wanting to rent points.
[/Sales Pitch]
I will post more later, especially on what the points are and how to use them.
