What would you do- managing points and large groups?

[wdwnut]

Hi: I have 2 large trips being planned for 2010- one is a group of 8-10 in April and another group of approximately 24 in May. Our home resort is BWV, and most people have stayed there with us at one point or another. They would like to stay there again for the trips. We would probably be getting gvs. Due to a finite number of points, I was thinking of limiting the trips to Sunday-Thursday (5 nights). During a planning get-together for the small group trip, when I broached the subject of limiting the trip or paying for an additional night on cash, my sister-in-laws said no. I also suggested possibly staying at OKW for a couple of the days to conserve points for the larger group trip. What do you think would be the best course of action here?

 

[bbluvsdis]

It seems to me if the points are yours then the decision is yours. Have you considered 2 bedrooms instead of the GV. Two 2bedrooms are less points than 1 GV, at least it is for our trip. Your family will have to make concessions if they want to go. Like you said there are only so many points.

 

[delmar411]

well if these are your points and they are your guests then you make the arrangements that suit how you want to allocate your points.

If these are points for the whole extended family that you all put into then I guess it's time to look at how to maximize those points so everyone gets the timeframe/days they want while possibly giving up the location they want.

You won't be able to please everyone so I wouldn't stress about trying to.

 

[dis-happy]

Throw out the idea of renting points (having them transferred in to your account) for the add'l days and figure out how much it will cost extra per person and let them make the decision. Make sure you get the non-refundable cash upfront!

FWIW, I don't think you can rent the GV for cash and that ressies are limited to points only.

 

[thepops]

How committed are these folks to coming? I've seen numerous threads here with people who have booked larger accomodations and then at the last minute backed out leaving the points owner with a much larger use of points than they would have really needed to use. If you think that's a possibility at all, I'd charge them for the room so if they don't show, you're covered for what they've wasted. Then (totally up to you) if you wanted to treat them to the room, refund their $$ once they are there.

 

[TiszBear]

Here's my 2cents based on my experience. When I was in charge our our grand gathering everyone wanted to me to use my points. Fine I said but I also told them the type of accommadations I was booking and for how long. Some people were on the fence about coming so I informed everyone, via a very nice email about a deposit. I told them that I was making the reservation on this date (11 months at my home resort) and for those that are coming a $200 deposit was required by me. The deposit I informed would go towards the family meals, the phototography time I set up one day and the fireworks crusie. Trust me those that were complaing they didn't want to stay at hte BWV for other places or didn't want to go at a certain time made a decision really quick! There was only one family that really wanted to stay at the POP and that was fine.

I didn't give the famliy a choice really. I told them that I was offering use of my DVC points and as such as I was the planner of the grnd gathering then the decision was left up to me as to where we stayed and for how long. No one really didn't mind.

Good luck