Which home resort to choose?

[mhgrove]

My question is, how important is the "home" resort? I know with home you can make reservations 11 months in advance, and can only go out 7 with other resorts. How easy is it to get reservations at non-home resorts, say towards the end of summer or fall at the smaller DVC resorts like BCV or Boardwalk?

 

[DVC Mike]

The most popular philosophy about how to choose your home resort is “Buy Where You Want to Stay”. If you really love a particular resort, then buy into it. There are some people who have a particular fondness for a resort and really want to stay at that particular resort, and they would be unhappy if they were not able to book there. These folks should buy where they want to stay, provided that they can reliably plan and book to take advantage of the 11-month home resort booking advantage.

If a specific resort (theme/style, location, villa type and/or view) is important to you and you want the 11-month home resort booking advantage, then buy into that resort. The need for the home resort booking advantage varies by resort, villa type, view and time of year that you most often vacation.

If any resort is fine, then buy where you get the best overall deal for total cost of ownership.

The length of the contract may or may not be an important factor to consider.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

I would say you need to buy where you want to stay. Unless you travel at times when it is not as busy like September and then you still need to be very flexible.
I am trying to get 5 nights in June now and I cannot get a full 5 nights anywhere but SSR.

So I would just say to buy where you will be happy staying.

Also BCV is going to be one of the hardest to get into if not the hardest so if thats where you want to stay then you definetely need to buy there.

 

[mhgrove]

Hmm, good information. Thanks to both of you.

I think BCV or Boardwalk are the best as far as location, and it seems like those two are among the hardest to get into. One of those may be the way for me to go..

 

[luvindisneyworld]

I would say that you are doing the right thing if thats where you will be spending most of your time.I know having the 11 month booking window is great even down to the 7 month.BCV is our favorite resort.

Hmm, good information. Thanks to both of you.

I think BCV or Boardwalk are the best as far as location, and it seems like those two are among the hardest to get into. One of those may be the way for me to go..

 

[Lauralei]

PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME! I have a question and this looks like the perfect place to ask it. We own at SSR but only stayed there once. Last year we stayed at WLV and we just came back yesterday (2/23/08) from AKV. We always go Presidents week and have had no problem booking at the 7 month window. My DH is wondering why people are making so much fuss about their "home resort". Is the booking window the only difference? Is there something we should be aware of that we're not? Please let me know if there is any other difference than the 11 month as opposed to 7 month booking window. Thanks.

 

[Donald is #1]

PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME! I have a question and this looks like the perfect place to ask it. We own at SSR but only stayed there once. Last year we stayed at WLV and we just came back yesterday (2/23/08) from AKV. We always go Presidents week and have had no problem booking at the 7 month window. My DH is wondering why people are making so much fuss about their "home resort". Is the booking window the only difference? Is there something we should be aware of that we're not? Please let me know if there is any other difference than the 11 month as opposed to 7 month booking window. Thanks.

Well there are 3 differences:
1) Booking window
2) Length of contract
3) Overall ownership costs


I went with the book where you want to stay philosophy and choose AKV over SSR even though SSR is slightly less cost. By the way nothing against SSR, I like it. However I love AKV. I am very happy with my decision. With AKV for example, depending upon the room type your want (for example value or conceirge) you may have a hard time booking the room at 7 months. That being said, I am currently waitlisted for a savannah view room and I made the reservation just under 11 months.

 

[Lauralei]

Thank you Donald #1. It sounds like the main difference is the booking window. I don't really care about the length of contract or dollar amount. I just came back from AKV (with a SV) and it was great! So far, I have had no problems booking at the 7 month window. Thanks again.
Go Yankees! Go Giants!(football)

Me and my DH were concerned that there might be some kind of catch that near the end of the contract you could only stay at your "home resort" for the last few years.

 

[ldo]

If you want a smaller resort and plan to go at Christmas, it can matter. Also, at 11 mths, you have a better chance of getting BWV standard rooms (less points). Also, I would assume that concierge at AKV would be difficult to get for peak times at 7 mths. Otherwise, it really makes no difference for booking.
We chose VWL, only b/c some years we will want to stay there at Christmas --but otherwise, we are happy trying out other resorts for a few years.

 

[Juliet25]

I've encountered difficulties booking stays even within the 7-11 month home advantage window (I tried for some dates in November on friday and had no luck getting a BW or standard view at my home resort), so I'm glad I bought at a resort I like instead of one I'd just have to settle for. I have to get better about doing day-by-day ressies at 11 months out to get exactly what I want. So I'm a big proponent of buy where you want to stay. I don't at all regret not buying SSR (though I think I would have been happy with AKV as my home resort, but it wasn't an option when we bought in).

That said, however, my first DVC ressie was for a one bedroom in SEpt at the Beach Club. I booked in May with no problems.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Like the others I would say buy where you want to stay. That said I have to say that we own at BWV and we have only stayed there maybe 3 times in 10 years. Otherwise, we have stayed at BCV, VWL, HHI, and VB (a lot). We did not buy BWV with this in mind, but we have found that you can stay elsewhere fairly easily... I imagine OKW and SSR will accomodate us in the future too.

However, we never try to stay during holidays.

 

[crisi]

As DVC gets bigger, more members will want to occationally stay at the same 130 (or so) VWL rooms. They won't add more VWL rooms. Some of those members may just want to stay there once, but I'll lay good odds that over the past month someone bought SSR or AKL and will fall head over heels for VWL and want to take all their future trips there. Every time that happens, it means more competiton.

Granted there may be a VWL owner or two who jumped with joy at the thought of VAKL and will use VWL points to stay there - but fewer rooms means fewer points and fewer owners.

When I was single, I never ran out of cookies in the cookie jar. When I got married, I could usually get cookies, but sometimes my husband would get them first. Once I had kids, I had better buy my own bag of Oreos or I never got any.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

My question is, how important is the "home" resort? I know with home you can make reservations 11 months in advance, and can only go out 7 with other resorts. How easy is it to get reservations at non-home resorts, say towards the end of summer or fall at the smaller DVC resorts like BCV or Boardwalk?

To me, it totally depends on how far in advance you can plan your travel. If your jobs allow you to plan vacations 8 - 11 months out, then a home resort advantage at smaller resorts (like VWL or BCV) can be a big advantage, especially during busy times like Easter and Christmas. However, if you're going to be booking at the 7 month window or beyond, there is no longer a home resort advantage. It's first come, first served. Home resort no longer matters. I'm a big planner, but my son plays hockey and baseball. Sometimes, I don't know his schedule far enough in advance to plan trips. Therefore, I'm finding that for right now in my life, Home Resort priority isn't helping me all that much. I'm know that won't always be the case, though.

We stayed at BWV in late July last year. I called in late March for the reservation (1-BR). When I called, there were no standard views available, so I had to pay more points to get the preferred view. Had I called at the 7 month window, I'm not sure if I would have gotten it or not, but I didn't have any issue getting a preferred view at the 4 month window.

If contract expiration date isn't of concern to you, by all means, buy where you want to stay. But if you're trying to decide, smaller resorts (BCV, VWL), certain views (BWV standard) and OKW grand villas (much less points than other resorts) are more difficult to get than others. Larger resorts, such as OKW and SSR, will always be easier to book because they have more inventory over all.

Best of luck on your decision. It's a tough one. For us, we just fell into SSR, because at the time, AKV hadn't been announced and all other resorts had a 2042 expiration date. We wanted the 2054 contract expiration and loved the "condo" feel versus the "hotel" feel. So, we pulled the trigger and haven't looked back! Think through what's important to you. Do you prefer stretching your points as far as you can and making as many trips as possible or an experience, regardless of the cost? Some resorts, by nature, require a lot more points to stay at and charge higher annual maintenance fees. All things to factor in to your decision. Again, good luck!!!

 

[Donald is #1]

When I was single, I never ran out of cookies in the cookie jar. When I got married, I could usually get cookies, but sometimes my husband would get them first. Once I had kids, I had better buy my own bag of Oreos or I never got any.

Great analogy!

 

[tink4ever]

It is so true that you should buy where you love and want to stay. I love to book at the 11 month window and that is why we bought at my favorite resort VWL and my DH's favorite resort BCV so whichever we chose it will be our favorite and we are guaranteed a room. I know some people like to try all of the resorts but for us we love the same comfort of our home resorts every trip.

 

[spiceycat]

now I love BCV.

that say - if you ever think you might want to use the standard view points at BWV - buy there.

this is especially usefully for Thanksgiving week - you can actually stay here in a studio for 49 points Sun-thurs (leaving on Fri).

so if I can't get standard view go with OKW or now AKV just because the points are lower.