Why Buy Aulani Direct?

[Drewski77]

With the size of the Aulani resort, and with it being so far away and expensive for most to get to, I'm wondering why someone would pay the direct pricing for Aulani at this point which I believe is $165 a point. Not too mention the high maintenance fees.

My wife and I live on the west coast and plan to go to Aulani every 2-3 years, but if we ever wanted to go more frequently it seems like the perfect option would be to buy a resale SSR contract and simply use it for Aulani trips as I think it will be a long time (if ever) that the 7 month window would be difficult to book at Aulani.

This has nothing to do with Aulani not being a great place to go, but just not being a great place to buy into.

 

[dsnydaddy]

I think that what you mentioned may be a big reason that they are selling slow. I love the Aulani and hope to spend a goodly amount of my points there. But I wanted a foot hold in WDW. The way I figure it, many people bought into the Aulani with no intention on staying there. It was just what was for sale at the time. That should translate to tighter availability at 7 mos in WDW and better availability at 7 mos at the Aulani

 

[jani3]

With the size of the Aulani resort, and with it being so far away and expensive for most to get to, I'm wondering why someone would pay the direct pricing for Aulani at this point which I believe is $165 a point. Not too mention the high maintenance fees.

My wife and I live on the west coast and plan to go to Aulani every 2-3 years, but if we ever wanted to go more frequently it seems like the perfect option would be to buy a resale SSR contract and simply use it for Aulani trips as I think it will be a long time (if ever) that the 7 month window would be difficult to book at Aulani.

This has nothing to do with Aulani not being a great place to go, but just not being a great place to buy into.

I agree with you and even with the current $14 per point credit they're offering, it's still not worth it to me.

 

[supersnoop]

Are there any weeks that are difficult to book for owners? Aulani offers fixed weeks. That would be the only reason I can imagine buying direct would ever make sense.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Are there any weeks that are difficult to book for owners? Aulani offers fixed weeks. That would be the only reason I can imagine buying direct would ever make sense.

Aulani is huge and I doubt that anything other than the 11 month booking window would ever be necessary. However, it seems like a few owners were hit very hard by the point reallocation for 2016 where the requirements went up a lot during summer months. Although I still don't think the requirements changed enough that paying 10% more to start would have been less, but perhaps.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Fixed week?

 

[Dean]

With the size of the Aulani resort, and with it being so far away and expensive for most to get to, I'm wondering why someone would pay the direct pricing for Aulani at this point which I believe is $165 a point. Not too mention the high maintenance fees.

My wife and I live on the west coast and plan to go to Aulani every 2-3 years, but if we ever wanted to go more frequently it seems like the perfect option would be to buy a resale SSR contract and simply use it for Aulani trips as I think it will be a long time (if ever) that the 7 month window would be difficult to book at Aulani.

This has nothing to do with Aulani not being a great place to go, but just not being a great place to buy into.

Fixed week, esp for ocean front. Certain weeks are likely to be difficult such as weeks 7, 26-30, 51 & 52. But unless one is set on a 3 BR, OF or one of those weeks it really shouldn't be an issue. Anyone going most years that could fine a subsidized contract would likely be better off owning there but the the occasional trip, it shouldn't be necessary.

 

[AulaniNutz]

I am an Aulani owner and over the last year have been watching different availability (i.e. high
travel times) as my windows for vacationing in Hawaii have diminished due to DD's school.
If you are flexible, and do book at seven months, it seems you can get what you need/want except
for the holiday times (President's week, Easter, summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the first weekend
in May when the Japanese have a week off starting with Showa day).

I've pondered the same situation, i.e. was it a "mistake" to buy Aulani (especially direct) instead of SSR,
at least for now? Though my cost is no where near $165 (even with a $14 reduction).
If you were considering Aulani, at least wait for a resale contract with the subsidized dues. They do
crop up, but you have to hop on them fast. And I don't know how many different UY contracts exist
with subsidized dues. I have never seen my UY show up with subsidized dues.

Here we are in Sep, and you can still get nice rooms for Nov & Dec except for the Thanksgiving & Christmas weeks.
Some of the rooms for next June are already booked, Hotel Room, 1 bedroom Standard, GV Standard (GV standard
is booked for all of June!). Jan-Mar have decent availability (President's week in Feb is pretty booked).

The "more expensive" categories, i.e. Ocean View, seem to take longer to fill up, maybe
due to more availability or their higher cost. So if I were to have SSR points, I'd use them for those views,
'cuz there is no way I want to go to Hawaii and not have an Ocean View. Even though I live near the ocean in CA
and have an ocean view every day!

YMMV.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We bought 380 points at Aulani, direct, but at the opening price point. Can't even remember what it was. We have 1400 points total across seven resorts. About half of those we got on the secondary market. We wanted enough Aulani points to book ocean view one bedroom at 11 months. We have been ther four times and are going again in June. We are taking the whole family this time and have already booked two studios, garden view. The standard view studios were already gone. At seven months, once I can use other non Aulani points, I will book a two bedroom ocean view for 10 days. For us, it was well worth the cost. We love it so much even though we have to come from Chicago. Would I do it again? Not at the current price point. But I also would never pay the rack rate they charge for an ocean view one or two bedroom, from 1200 to 2500 per night. So for us, even after maintenance fees, it seems like we are getting a deal.

They are obviously having more trouble selling than they thought they would so I'm surprised they haven't lowerd the prices. I'm guessing they thought the Asian market would go crazy for it but I don't thnk that is the case. We also got the lower maintenance costs that Disney first came out with before they realized how much money they were losing. As you may recall, a few executives lost jobs over that one. However, we have had our deeds redone twice now, by them, not us. So I'm not so sure that disney did all their homework as thoroughly as they should have. Also, it is very clear that Disney didn't expect so many people to hang out at the resort all day, making it very crowded initially. It's still crowded but the addition of the other pool has helped.