Why are DVC members buying multiple contracts?

[AKLFan3]

My family and I are in the process of buying at AKV. We just need to have a few more questions answered by our DVC guide before we purchase. I noticed that many members on these boards have contracts at 2 or more resorts. Besides being able to book at all of the resorts you own 11 months in advance, what is the advantage? Spending $15,000-$16,000 at each resort you buy is a lot of money. Or is spending $30,000 for 2 resorts really an excellent deal for your families? Thanks for your responses.

 

[DVC Mike]

Typically, the reason is that the owner wants the 11-month booking advantage of the Home Resort Priority Period in order to make it easier to get the resort they want, at the time they want, with the accommodations they want. This reduces any possible frustration at the 7-mo window, or having to “settle” for another reservation while missing out on the one you really had your heart set on.

I believe the 11 month booking window has become very important in making it easier to secure certain "hard to get" reservations, particularly because of the rapid increase in the size of DVC membership.

I want a better chance of getting VWL at Christmas, and BCV and/or BWV during the F&W festival, or AKV Value/Concierge. Thus, I purchased points at those resorts. This won't guarantee me a reservation, but it does guarantee that when I do try to book at the 11-month window, I am only competing with other owners and not every single DVC member to get a prime reservation.

 

[DVC Mike]

Spending $15,000-$16,000 at each resort you buy is a lot of money. Or is spending $30,000 for 2 resorts really an excellent deal for your families?

You don't have to buy 160 points or more at each home resort.

Some folks purchase small add-ons at other resorts and then, by banking and/or borrowing, book a vacation there at the 11-month window every 2 or 3 years.

 

[zalansky]

We bought our second contract because we wanted more points and DVC offered a deal we could not refuse. (double developer points) We also liked AKV so we were excited to add on at another resort. Since you're new to owning, be careful of this...wanting to add-on can become an addiction of sorts. I already want to buy another 100 pts.

 

[JimMIA]

Sometimes, it's simply a question of a better deal one place or another. For example, in our case, we originally bought OKW resale. Later, we decided we'd like to have more points and that decision just happened to coincide with a great promotion at SSR direct from Disney. So we bought an addon at SSR.

If you purchase direct from Disney, your first contract has to be 160 or more points. However, you can do an addon for as few as 25 points (50 if you need financing).

If you make your purchase resale, you can purchase whatever is available. Once you're in DVC, the same addon rules apply on direct addons through Disney -- 25/50. Some members use that strategy -- buying small at first, and then adding on -- to build DVC accounts in financially manageable chunks, rather than financing or really strapping themselves.

 

[DeeCee735]

I fully understand why people buy at multiple resorts, and was extremely tempted to do so when AKV came out, but with both our add-ons we went with buying at our home resort. And I think our main reason is that it is our ultimate favorite DVC resort, having more points there enables us to have more than one vacation a year, having multiple contracts there enables us to leave an equal share to our kids, and there is always the chance of getting into the other resorts when we want to (i.e. HH last April, AKV this year in April)

The only other place we'd like to try is WV, and I'm sure we'll get that when we want it as well. I never had a problem booking my home resort or the other two DVC resorts we've stayed at with even less that 7 months notice. I have always travelled during our schools February break or April break (this is high time). We figure we'll own it into our 80's, sooner or later we'll get to stay at every DVC resort! Yes, while the newest one is new it may be somewhat difficult, but I really think that once the newest resort excitment dies down, it'll be very possible to get into for everyone.

This of course is JMHO, and our own personal experience. If we were to buy additional contracts, at say 100 or more points each, we'd be more likely to buy at multiple resorts, but with small add ons it just made sense to us to stick with our home place.

Good luck on your decision and have fun planning.

 

[AKV707]

In our case, we have done a 25 point add on at AKV which is our home resort. I don't see us adding a second resort, at least at this point. My thinking is to have all of our points at AKV so we have flexibility with the size of our accommodations. We will definitely, on occasion, want to stay at a different DVC resort and i am willing to take my chances, at least for now at the 7 month window. With AKV as my home, I figure I can't go wrong. An AKV stay will always be OK with us.

 

[Spark]

We have a 100 pt contract at the BCV and an 80 point at the BWV...Having stayed at all of the resorts prior to purchasing, we knew these were our favorites and knew that, at least for the next few years, we will be wanting to go at peak times (i.e. Easter). Therefore, the 11 month window would be important. Our initial plan was to bank/borrow and switch off every other year. We could not resist, however, this year taking lots of family down so have used lots of points for standard view studios at the Boardwalk! Probably wouldn't have gotten those at the 7 month window for Easter week...

 

[Anal Annie]

(So far) we only own at one resort but we still split our initial purchase into 2 contracts in case we ever decided we wanted to sell off a portion. Smaller contracts are easier to sell as there is always somebody looking for an add-on and if you sell you have to sell the whole contract. In our case, we purchased 250 points - one master contract of 200 and one that was 50 points. That way if we decide in 10 years or whatever that we don't need all 250 points we can sell the 50 point contract and keep the 200. There was nothing extra involved to do our purchase that way except that we had to sign 2 sets of documents! Not knowing for sure how many points we'd end up wanting it seemed like a good decision to have one main contract and then do everything else in smaller chunks after that. We purchased in Dec. '06 and I already want to do a small add on at AKV - but the incentives they offer are only for larger contracts of 100+ points and we don't want that many more...We THOUGHT 250 would hold us but we're already out of points and are booking with the DVC cash discount. We will have to learn how to manage our points better after this year.

 

[mbrowninc]

Does anyone know if new members can purchase the min. 160 points at two different resorts. Like 60 pts at AKL and 100 pts at SSR?

 

[jade1]

We own BCV for Spring break, VWL for XMAS, left over points for summer at BWV.

 

[thisisthelife]

To answer your question, for us, We own multiple memberships because when we bought okw back in 96 we loved it so much we wanted to add on. but at that time okw was sold out so we bought into the next project which was BWV, same thing again and again we now are owners of OKW,BWV,BCV and now AKV. as an added bonus we get the benefits of the 11 month windows at all these resorts. When we can afford it we keep adding on and usually the incentives for the new resort are better than buying used at a previous resort we already have.

 

[thisisthelife]

To answer your question, for us, We own multiple memberships because when we bought okw back in 96 we loved it so much we wanted to add on. but at that time okw was sold out so we bought into the next project which was BWV, same thing again and again we now are owners of OKW,BWV,BCV and now AKV. as an added bonus we get the benefits of the 11 month windows at all these resorts. When we can afford it we keep adding on and usually the incentives for the new resort are better than buying used at a previous resort we already have.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

LOL,You get bit by the Bug.
You just have to add on.
You always want more points you have that to look forward to

 

[eva]

Does anyone know if new members can purchase the min. 160 points at two different resorts. Like 60 pts at AKL and 100 pts at SSR?

Unfortunately, this can not be done for the original contract.

Why do people add on at other resorts? Either they want more points and that is the available resort at the time and/or they want an 11 month window at another resort. We own at 4 resorts. We originally bought at OKW in 1997 and have 200 points there. We love that resort and will probably always consider it home. We added on 100 points at Vero because we have enjoyed a few trips there, but mainly because we wanted more points. We use these points quite a bit for trades into DCL and ABD. When they opened BCV we were one of the first in line to buy. We added another 100 points there mainly for the booking window. BCV is definitely DH's favorite resort on site. We rarely trade these points and normally use these only at BCV for stays during the fall for Food and Wine or early December for an early Christmas trip. We can do a week there every other year with those 100 points. In 2007 we added another 150 points at AKV. We've always loved this resort. And now that we have grandchildren, we thought it would be really cool to watch the animals from the room. Since we are doing a lot of extended family trips at WDW, the extra points were quite welcome. I am so looking forward to our stay in an AKV GV next year. It's funny, we use a lot more points now that our two DD's are grown and gone from the nest. That's what I love about DVC. You can tailor it over the years to meet new needs and future vacation wishes.

 

[buzz5985]

I originally bought a HH 150 point resale from TTS. I paid $62/point, which was only 5 years ago. With closing costs $9600. Seller paid dues etc. Then Disney released some BW points for $84/point. Our guide called and we added 100 points

DH and DS prefer HH. BW was for me.

I'd love to add on at AKV. But I'm holding back. I feel Hawaii calling. LOL

We also needed more points for bring family. This summer my sister and her family will be joining us for a week at OKW and then a week at HH. I can't wait. Just called for the OKW reservations yesterday.

 

[brianm27]

Sometimes, it's simply a question of a better deal one place or another. For example, in our case, we originally bought OKW resale. Later, we decided we'd like to have more points and that decision just happened to coincide with a great promotion at SSR direct from Disney. So we bought an addon at SSR.

If you purchase direct from Disney, your first contract has to be 160 or more points. However, you can do an addon for as few as 25 points (50 if you need financing).

If you make your purchase resale, you can purchase whatever is available. Once you're in DVC, the same addon rules apply on direct addons through Disney -- 25/50. Some members use that strategy -- buying small at first, and then adding on -- to build DVC accounts in financially manageable chunks, rather than financing or really strapping themselves.

We did the exact same thing. We started with 50 VB points (resale) to see if this was hat we wanted to do. After we decided that we would need about 120 points a year, we did a 70 point add on at SSR during a great promotion. Since we were owners, we could buy this small contract direct. This also allowed us to pay cash for each transaction as we didn't want to finance vacations.