Using DVC points for non WDW holidays ??

[Littlegem]

Hi there,
I hope someone out there can give me an idea about this & I have posted same on the UK DVC page too.....

What I would like to know is if any of you have ever used your DVC membership to book one of the other Vacations that are offered within the Timeshare club??

My problem is that I went to view SSR back in 2005 & was very impressed by the whole DVC idea... BUT.... My DH is not the type of person who would want to vacation at WDW more than every 5 yrs or so ( thats if I could get him to go that often..! ) ....

I have just dug my book out again with details of the DVC membership in it & realised that we could go other places instead & use our points for a vacation there...

The problem is that I don't know realistically how easy or difficult this is to do.. ??

Also my husband is worried that we will be tied to a particular time of the year to take our vacation depending on how much we pay, but I hope I am right in thinking that you can go whenever you like, subject to availability, and enough points of course..!

If anyone has any experience they can share I would be really grateful, as I am back in Florida in 4 weeks time for a trip with my baby son, and plan to make another appoinment with the DVC club to explore the possibility of taking a membership...

Hope to hear from you all soon,

Hazel,Chris & Travis
__________________
"There are no Strangers, only Friends we havn't met yet..!"

 

[DVC Mike]

Hi there,
My problem is that I went to view SSR back in 2005 & was very impressed by the whole DVC idea... BUT.... My DH is not the type of person who would want to vacation at WDW more than every 5 yrs or so ( thats if I could get him to go that often..! ) ....

If you're only able to go to WDW once every 5 years, then DVC membership is probably not a good fit for your family.

DVC membership might make sense if you meet most or all of these criteria:

• The cost of membership and dues does not appear to present a financial hardship.
• You vacation at Walt Disney World frequently: ideally at least once every two years.
• You plan to continue vacationing at Disney World far enough into the future to make the membership at least break even.
• You prefer to stay in Deluxe or DVC accommodations and/or you stay a long time (10 days or more per year). If you always stay at a Value resort, or always stay off-site, or you really spend the entire day at the parks away from your hotel, and you don't spend time at the resort itself (other than crashing at the end of the day), then DVC may not be for you.
• You are able to plan your vacations well in advance -- ideally 7 to 11 months out. If you aren't a planner, don't even look at becoming a DVC member. If you can't plan and book your vacations 11 months in advance, and staying at a particular DVC resort is important, then don't join DVC. If you really don't care which DVC resort you end up with, then it's not an issue.
• You can do without daily mousekeeping and room service (of course, you can pay extra and get mousekeeping as a DVC member).
• You desire more space than a typical resort room (such as a 2 bedroom villa, with full kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms and jacuzzi suite, and even a washer/dryer).
• You’re not looking at DVC as an investment or a way to make money (it’s not). It is a decision to prepay, at today's rates, the next several decades of Disney trips.

 

[Littlegem]

Hi Mike,

Thanks so much for the quick reply....

We meet quite a few of those bullet points ( Thank Goodness ! ) ... I have to say that although Chris isn't much of a Disney person, I have been every year for the past 4 & as I said I will be back again this October...

On the other hand we obviously won't use it as much as a USA DVC member..

I am curious how many years it takes to "break even"..??

I would be buying cash so the cost is not a problem, but I don't know what the current level of maintainace fees are per point, or how many points I would need for at least a 2 week WDW holiday?

Also there is still that problem of whether its easy to get vacations in the other "off world" destinations...

 

[mgriff75]

There are a number of good points calculators to figure out how many points you need. Here is a link to one.

http://www.dvcdreams.com/dvcCompChart.shtml

You may also want to consider other timeshare companies besides DVC. I own a small DVC contract (50 points) but am able to do DVC also by exchanging my Fairfield Points contract thru Interval International. The points of this is that I can do DVC, but can also economically go to other places. Using DVC points to do an Interval International exchange is not a very good value. Maybe buy DVC for your use, and research another choice for the whole familty to use. Fairfield/Wyndham points is a good choice for me because I live on the east cost of the US. In my opinion Worldmark is a good choice for the West coast of the US. There are many other good choices in the US and I'm sure there are some good choices for you in the UK. But it will take a lot of research. Make sure that what ever you buy retail mantains its value. DVC is a good choice on that point. But many timeshare loose most of there value the second you sign on the dotted line. So in that case buy resale. Ebay is a good source to find great resale deals.

I would still do DVC but combining it with other timeshares gives you the best of both worlds.

Matthew

 

[Littlegem]

Hi Matthew,

I think you are right that it makes more sense for me to just get a small contract at DVC for myself & look at something else for family Vacations..

I will have a look at how many points I realistically need to take a WDW break & invest in something my DH would like better also !

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply,

Hazel

 

[Dean]

I'll agree that it makes no sense to buy DVC for a trip once every 5 years. You have a number of ways to get into the system for trips that infrequent including renting from an owner, cash stays or trading in with other timeshares. You might want to look at other timeshares. For Europe, Sunterra is pretty well placed though there is some concern for their financial stability at present. Marriott might be a good option and there are many more options to look into.

I don't think buying less points for an every 5 year trip is reasonable either but it is workable if you have a way to dispose of the points in between, possibly by renting them. Don't forget there are other resorts off property in Orlando that are just as nice as those on property and in many ways, some are actually better and at a fraction of the price of DVC.

 

[CarolMN]

.....(snip)....Also my husband is worried that we will be tied to a particular time of the year to take our vacation depending on how much we pay, but I hope I am right in thinking that you can go whenever you like, subject to availability, and enough points of course......

There are some timeshares for which that is true, but DVC is not one of them. You are correct.

 

[Littlegem]

Just wanted to Thank both Dean & Carol ,

I really appreciate your comments ..

Hazel

 

[bwvBound]

Also my husband is worried that we will be tied to a particular time of the year to take our vacation depending on how much we pay, but I hope I am right in thinking that you can go whenever you like, subject to availability, and enough points of course..!

Sounds like your husband was listening to one side of the conversation in the YouTube short, "Spud Murphy Sells Timeshare."

 

[suzanny]

Despite what the hard core Disneyphiles say, it really is easy to trade with disney points. I live in Orlando, and I've NEVER used my points for the resorts here. I've been to Hilton Head and Vero beach lots of times, but I also use the points for disney cruise line and interval international.

First, you can bank and borrow, thereby using 3 years of points at a time for a lavish vacation. I've never used that many at a time and it takes a lot of planning, but it's possible...

Second, it's easy to trade into interval international. I've gone on trips to Europe and had a great time, saving money along the way.

The argument against trading outside of DVC resorts is that it's a better deal to rent your points to someone else for $10/point than to use them yourself somewhere else. That's another option...

-Suzanne

 

[Dean]

Despite what the hard core Disneyphiles say, it really is easy to trade with disney points. I live in Orlando, and I've NEVER used my points for the resorts here. I've been to Hilton Head and Vero beach lots of times, but I also use the points for disney cruise line and interval international.

First, you can bank and borrow, thereby using 3 years of points at a time for a lavish vacation. I've never used that many at a time and it takes a lot of planning, but it's possible...

Second, it's easy to trade into interval international. I've gone on trips to Europe and had a great time, saving money along the way.

The argument against trading outside of DVC resorts is that it's a better deal to rent your points to someone else for $10/point than to use them yourself somewhere else. That's another option...

-Suzanne

It's easy to trade for cash equivalent options like DCL but it's a poor deal financially. It's easy to trade for moderate or lower demand options in II but not for options that are equivalent in terms of quality and demand. How many have gotten a 2 BR on season (Mid summer, easter or xmas) in HI for a 2 BR at a Marriott or Westin resort. Or a 1 BR or higher at a Westin, Reef resort, Atlantis or Marriott Aruba for weeks 51-16. Just like the difficult vs not DVC reservation question, one can't look at easy to get options as an indication of how one would do with difficult exchanges. DVC is an expensive timeshare with high fees and with only good, but not great, II trading power. In many ways, any and every Marriott Gold or Platinum week will out trade DVC head to head and in many other ways as well, even for non Marriott options.

The one and only beauty of trading DVC is the request first option. But, IMO, there are far too many negatives for that to be a good enough reason to own DVC as a trade vehicle. If one simply wants to own DVC to use and maybe trade rarely, like once every 5 years, maybe, just maybe it's be a reasonable choice. Now if DVC and II allows member to join II directly and pick up the other benefits of membership, that could change, but one would likely lose the current request first setup.

The argument isn't really as simple as trade or rent, at least to me. Additional pieces of info include what type/cost of timeshare could I get the same thing for otherwise and what could I rent it for using cash through a number of systems.

 

[PKS44]

I agree that the best use of your money is if you use your points at DVC resorts...that said -vacation every 5 years is not ideal for DVC-- BUT you could plan to use 4 years' worth of points every 4 years by getting a use Year that ends right in the middle of when you would go--but that plan would have you coming every 4 years at exactly the same time (the end of your use year and the beginning of the next use year to allow you to use 4 years worth of points on one vacation) Of course you could use less than 4 years worth any other time of year....
Whether that is a good use of your money is a different question...

 

[Littlegem]

Thanks to Suzanne, Dean & PKS44, for the helpful comments...

A quick update....

Now that I have done a little research through these boards & via WDW, my long suffering DH is actually comming round to the idea that a trip to WDW or one of the I International destinations would be a reasonable idea..

He likes the idea of a luxury break away, and as long as I don't expect him to drag around the parks all day every day, he thinks a nice vacation in Florida or some other warm location, with Golf or Scuba Diving, could be a pleasent idea..

I am still a little worried by the high yearly maintainance fees ( £500 ) on 200 points for AKV, which overtime I am sure will increase... In fact I am guessing over the 50 yr contract it will be around £ 35,000..

I plan to bank & borrow points to take one break every two or three years, as we Brits usually like to have a longer vacation than you guy's in the States take...

Just one thing... Am I the only one who thinks the fees are high..? or are they lower in some of the sold out resorts..? I ask because a lot of you seem to own points at more than one DVC home resort.

Thanks in advance for any replys,

Hazel

 

[PKS44]

The fees are higher than the average timeshare--but you get more than a lot of timeshares given that you are paying for transportation including Magical Express....

Look at buying a resale if the time frame does not bother you--(ending contractin '42 instead of '57...

Again using the points for II is not a good long term use of your $$$ (I don't know how to put in a british pound sympbol here)--Renting the points and using the cash for other trips is a better option if you can easily find renters yourself or are willing to do the interet boards for renters like here--which can be work and a bit stressful--though I ahve done it several times without any difficulties...

 

[Dean]

Just one thing... Am I the only one who thinks the fees are high..? or are they lower in some of the sold out resorts..? I ask because a lot of you seem to own points at more than one DVC home resort.

Personally I think the dues are very high but it really depends on how you use it. For a 2 BR for a week, DVC is about 30% higher than a comparable Marriott. But if one uses the flexibility of the points system to your advantage, the real costs decrease significantly. DVC is better for Orlando compared to Marriott but worse for trading and non WDW options.

 

[dreaming_of_disney__]

I find that it's quite easy to plan non-Disney holidays with my points.. I stayed at the Del Coronado in San Diego in 2005 (beautiful), and did Xmas shopping in NYC at the Shelburne Murray Hill last year, I stayed in a 2 bedroom suite with a view of the empire state building, it was very cool. The concierge collection is awesome -the hotels offered are really above par and they are not just US based either. I'm planning to use my points in London next year. So timeshare exchange is not your only option.

 

[Littlegem]

thanks for that Dreaming of Disney....

Its good to know that the non WDW side of the DVC is not just a bluff to get more people to sign up..

Do you have a high or low number of points though..?

We would only be able to start with say 200 pts.. Would this be enough to get a holiday, or will I need to bank & borrow to get something good??
Thanks, Hazel

 

[dreaming_of_disney__]

thanks for that Dreaming of Disney....

Its good to know that the non WDW side of the DVC is not just a bluff to get more people to sign up..

Do you have a high or low number of points though..?

We would only be able to start with say 200 pts.. Would this be enough to get a holiday, or will I need to bank & borrow to get something good??
Thanks, Hazel

Well I have 200 pts also and I find its enough for me and my family right now. Depending on the time of year you want to travel (peak versus low seasons) point values change accordingly. I have banked about half my points this year as I'm planning a fairly large holiday next year to SSR (10 days with a group of 7 estimating about 313 points) . When I went to NYC I used 256 points for 5 nights in a 2 bed suite but I had left over points from the previous year to use.

What really drew me to the DVC was the flexibility in using the points. Im not one who necessarily wants to go to WDW every year, so this is the best of both worlds... The thing to remember is this... If your content to come to WDW and stay at a value resort (ie POP Century or any of the All Star locales) every couple of years then DVC is probably not the economical choice to make. But if your a family who tends to stay at the deluxe resorts (ie the Grand Floridian or The Polynesian etc.) I think that DVC membership will pay for itself in 8-10 visits or so (based on 200 points costing around $20,000 US , and the rapidly rising cost of rooms.). Annual dues for me are $825 which will continue to increase over the years.

So I hope this has helped you Hazel, and not given you too much of a headache, good luck !!!

 

[Dean]

so this is the best of both worlds...

I think the best of both worlds for many is owning less DVC points AND another timeshare option, especially Marriott or one of the other points systems. What's best for an individual depends on HOW you will actually use it. One who plans to trade out once every 5-6 years might be better off just owning DVC. One who's looking at every year or every other year, would be far better off owning DVC options for those trades. Either way one needs to put the effort in to learn the system and investigate the options.

 

[JudyS]

I'm a Disney and timeshare addict. I own DVC (175 points at Boardwalk), as well as whole bunch of other timeshares. Although I love my DVC membership, it is far more expensive than any of my other timeshares, both in initial purchase price, and in annual dues. Therefore, I always use my DVC points myself or rent them out. If I want to trade through II, I use a less expensive timeshare for that. I really can't see myself using DVC for a cruise or to stay at the other options (Concierge Collection, for example) either. It's just not as a good a deal as renting out my points, and paying for the cruise (or whatever) in cash.

If you don't plan on using your timeshare solely for Disney stays, I think your best bet would be to buy a less expensive, non-DVC timeshare, OR to buy a modest number of DVC points (which you would have to do resale; Disney doesn't sell small packages to new owners) and combine that with one or more non-DVC timeshares.

Whether you need to buy DVC at all depends on when you plan to go to Disneyworld. If you plan to keep going in September, it is quite feasible to trade into the DVC through II. I've traded into the DVC about four times in the past two years, all using timeshares that cost me less than $2000 to buy (and that generally provide two or more trades a year, each.) I just got back on Saturday from a trade into Boardwalk Villas. In fact, I mostly rent out my DVC points, rather than using them, because I've been able to use my other timeshares to trade into the DVC for most of my Disney trips.