Welcome home stay

[Girlstar30]

When booking the welcome home stay after buying direct, will DVC try to grant you a split stay if you want (for example, 4 nights at Riv, 3 nights at PIT, and 5 nights at Poly Studio) or is it just one reservation for the same resort that they will offer? I'm trying to do the math to see if it's cheaper to book cash stays for more nights or just finance direct for a few months, if theyll give me what i want for this year. Thanks!

 

[Sandisw]

It’s a new thing to give current owners a welcome home stay so all you can do is ask!

It’s going to come down to what they still have that is not yet booked from their inventory, if it’s sold out for points

 

[Girlstar30]

True! I'll report back what they say!

 

[CarolynFH]

True! I'll report back what they say!

Keep in mind that the welcome home stay is for entirely new buyers, not for those who have resale points and then buy direct. Since you have a resale contract in ROFR, you may not be eligible.

 

[ah10is]

When booking the welcome home stay after buying direct, will DVC try to grant you a split stay if you want (for example, 4 nights at Riv, 3 nights at PIT, and 5 nights at Poly Studio) or is it just one reservation for the same resort that they will offer? I'm trying to do the math to see if it's cheaper to book cash stays for more nights or just finance direct for a few months, if theyll give me what i want for this year. Thanks!

I just bought direct and got my welcome home stay booked as a split stay! 3 nights at CCV and 4 nights at AKV. You give them a couple of options when booking and MS services works on it. I could have had a full week at either…but asked if it could be a split stay and they were able to do it! I like split stays so that’s why I had asked. To add, neither of these were available to book on my own.
I had already rented points for Poly before I decided to purchase…so I have 3 nights there too for my June trip.

 

[Girlstar30]

Keep in mind that the welcome home stay is for entirely new buyers, not for those who have resale points and then buy direct. Since you have a resale contract in ROFR, you may not be eligible.

Oh geez well maybe I'll tell them I'll buy direct if you welcome me home but secretly i will buy either way

 

[Girlstar30]

I just bought direct and got my welcome home stay booked as a split stay! 3 nights at CCV and 4 nights at AKV. You give them a couple of options when booking and MS services works on it. I could have had a full week at either…but asked if it could be a split stay and they were able to do it! I like split stays so that’s why I had asked. To add, neither of these were available to book on my own.
I had already rented points for Poly before I decided to purchase…so I have 3 nights there too for my June trip.

Did you have resale first or are you new with direct? Well I have hope that they may give it to me either way! I'm with you we love split stays and our trip will be about 3 months out from when we actually purchase if we go for it, so we will definitely need some pixie dust to make more riv and poly nights happen! Congratulations and welcome home! ️

 

[maui22]

When booking the welcome home stay after buying direct, will DVC try to grant you a split stay if you want (for example, 4 nights at Riv, 3 nights at PIT, and 5 nights at Poly Studio) or is it just one reservation for the same resort that they will offer? I'm trying to do the math to see if it's cheaper to book cash stays for more nights or just finance direct for a few months, if theyll give me what i want for this year. Thanks!

Ours was in 2009. They booked a split stay between AKV Kidani and BLT for us. That was long ago, so policies may have changed.

 

[ah10is]

Did you have resale first or are you new with direct? Well I have hope that they may give it to me either way! I'm with you we love split stays and our trip will be about 3 months out from when we actually purchase if we go for it, so we will definitely need some pixie dust to make more riv and poly nights happen! Congratulations and welcome home! ️

New direct! However, I am also in the process of closing on a resale! But direct 1st.

 

[WanderingLars]

When booking the welcome home stay after buying direct, will DVC try to grant you a split stay if you want (for example, 4 nights at Riv, 3 nights at PIT, and 5 nights at Poly Studio) or is it just one reservation for the same resort that they will offer? I'm trying to do the math to see if it's cheaper to book cash stays for more nights or just finance direct for a few months, if theyll give me what i want for this year. Thanks!

If I may add-on to this question... We just purchased 300 points direct at the Riviera and would like to do our Welcome Home stay sometime in the fall. Do we have to book at the Riviera or can we request a Welcome Home stay at other resorts as well? We will have the 11 month window open for our home resort in the future, but would like to use the Welcome Home at other resorts if possible, maybe Copper Creek or Animal Kingdom. Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[atthebeachclub]

If I may add-on to this question... We just purchased 300 points direct at the Riviera and would like to do our Welcome Home stay sometime in the fall. Do we have to book at the Riviera or can we request a Welcome Home stay at other resorts as well? We will have the 11 month window open for our home resort in the future, but would like to use the Welcome Home at other resorts if possible, maybe Copper Creek or Animal Kingdom. Thanks for any thoughts!

It can be other places within 7 months. Call Member Services before you do anything with your points and I think they can assist.

 

[maui22]

If I may add-on to this question... We just purchased 300 points direct at the Riviera and would like to do our Welcome Home stay sometime in the fall. Do we have to book at the Riviera or can we request a Welcome Home stay at other resorts as well? We will have the 11 month window open for our home resort in the future, but would like to use the Welcome Home at other resorts if possible, maybe Copper Creek or Animal Kingdom. Thanks for any thoughts!

Welcome Home!
Our friends who purchased Riviera used their Welcome Home Stay at VDH. They did try for a Welcome Home Stay at other places last year, but it was 2-3 months out and during busy October. DVC was not able to find a room for them. Next try was VDH, I think it was 6 months out and they had success.

 

[sndral]

If I may add-on to this question... We just purchased 300 points direct at the Riviera and would like to do our Welcome Home stay sometime in the fall. Do we have to book at the Riviera or can we request a Welcome Home stay at other resorts as well? We will have the 11 month window open for our home resort in the future, but would like to use the Welcome Home at other resorts if possible, maybe Copper Creek or Animal Kingdom. Thanks for any thoughts!

Since this fall is w/in 7 months they’ll try to find availability at whatever resort you want, however fall is only a couple of months away & is very popular w/ DVC, so there may not be much available, between Copper Creek & Animal Kingdom, I’d guess AKV Kidani might have availability - but they’re supposed to start a refurb in October, so maybe not?
I’d give MS a call & see what they can find for you.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Keep in mind that the welcome home stay is for entirely new buyers, not for those who have resale points and then buy direct. Since you have a resale contract in ROFR, you may not be eligible.

This has changed. Now anytime you buy a new direct contract you will be eligible for another welcome home stay.

Edit to add a disclaimer. Always ask your guide before making buying decisions. Things change often.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I didn’t ask but I don’t think they will since that would be two reservations and they will only do one. They are very strict on it, like if you need to cancel then won’t book a new date.

 

[WanderingLars]

It can be other places within 7 months. Call Member Services before you do anything with your points and I think they can assist.

Thank you so much for the reply! We are so excited to finally soon-to-be DVC members (our documents are being prepared right now)

 

[noisykid]

Just to add to this in case it helps anyone, we just closed on our first contract direct at the poly. We already had a cash reservation for Boardwalk for this coming November. We were able to convert that cash reservation to a welcome home stay with our points. We had to bank our 2025 points forward (we have an October use year) to cover it because it was a one bedroom, but everything worked out flawlessly.

 

[Mouseforward]

I just use mine to convert a cash beach club today. 40 days out to a points stay. They had nothing at beach club, boardwalk or riv, but Bay Lake Tower had something that they could give me.

I also had to bank my points forward, and made sure they did not touch the 2024 points for MB.

And of course, swear on a stack of Bibles that it was for personal use.

 

[airjay75]

I was going to try to do this with my original 300 direct points (I guess I could theoretically do it with the additional 300 I just added on). But, when my 7-month window opened up, everything I was interested in (other than PIT) had wide open availability - BCV/VGF/BLT/CCV - probably helps I was looking for 1 BRs in early February. So, I just went ahead and booked it myself. Of course, I've probably changed my original booking 5 or 6 times since then and am now doing just 1-week at CCV, so even if I had used MS, it wouldn't have made much difference.

I have thought a couple of times about using it for an early December reservation, but then everytime I think about traveling during that time, it just doesn't work for us this year.

Hope you're able to use to snag something good!

 

[DanCali]

I didn’t ask but I don’t think they will since that would be two reservations and they will only do one. They are very strict on it, like if you need to cancel then won’t book a new date.

They did show me some flexibility on a Welcome Home stay

Technically, I think that once you make a reservation using the newly-purchased contract you are no longer eligible? But I made a reservation for my 2nd choice dates and then figured I'll call them to see if they can find my first choice dates a month earlier (I knew they had the inventory since it was at CFW). They told me that I wasn't eligible but did anyway it as a "one time exception".