why buy dvc vs other timeshares

[Dean]

Is Marriott the same as the rest of the timeshares where you are purchasing a specific week of every year? With DVC, you purchase points that can be used any time. So, if we decide to go during spring one year and summer the next and winter the next, it doesn't matter. We use our points where (a nice list of options!) and when we want to. We love that flexibility!

I hope this doesn't sound negative toward you as I don't mean it that way but your post does allow me to make a point about DVC members. Most have no clue about timeshares and as such make a lot of assumptions about them, there are exceptions of course. Many times they are wrong in those assumptions. While many timeshares are fixed unit size, fixed week and fixed resort; many are not. There is a varying degree of flexibility of many other systems. Marriott mostly has fixed resort and unit size with floating weeks within a season. Even then some have lockoff's where you can stay in a smaller unit and even get two weeks for the "price of one" and some have a split week feature as well. There are a number of other points programs and clubs out there as well. Thus the idea that DVC is flexible and everything else is not, is simply wrong. I would agree that DVC is more flexible than most and certainly is it for being on property.

 

[walter]

Hey Dean,
Have you seen any pictures or heard of the progress with the Surf Watch Resort at HHI?

 

[unixadm]

Why buy DVC verses others (Marriott, etc)?

Assuming all things equal, it is to go to Disney! Marriott and others and others have properties all over and some do the points systems just like Disney (was DVC the first to do that?), but basically we love Disney. I like to stay on property and have access via boats, walking, bus, monorail, etc to the parks. I like that it is flexible for other things as well.

Making a decision about such a purchase is a big one. Make sure you evaluate what your past vacations were, what you want your vacations to be and what you think you and your family will want to do in future vacations. If Disney is a big part of it, then DVC may be the best way to go....but if not, then another timeshare might be better for you. It is a personal choice.

 

[gjw007]

There are a number of other points programs and clubs out there as well. Thus the idea that DVC is flexible and everything else is not, is simply wrong. I would agree that DVC is more flexible than most and certainly is it for being on property.

I want to emphasize this by using RCI as an example. Most of the resorts in the RCI system are the traditional, 1 week available to you every year at the same time at the same resort. This works for many people, including myself. I go to Orange Lake the same time every year and I know what my accommodations are and there is no surprise. It is waiting for me without me needing to do anything. This is not for everybody. It is also nice to be near Disney without being overpowered by Disney.

RCI has another program called RCI Points which is very similiar to DVC with some differences. First, the number of points are higher but Friday and Saturday night require more points than does Sunday through Thursday. Second, you are not guaranteed a specific weeks with an exception. You can be guaranteed you home week if you let RCI Points know 12 to 13 months in advance. This is without charge. You can guarantee your home resort 11 to 12 months out. There is no guarantee that you will get your unit. 10 months or less, it is fair game for everybody. Points are points are points. So if somebody calls and is not an owner of the resort during this time, they can make the reservation as it is available to everybody. Think of this as DVC's 7-month rule where everybody can make points at any of DVC resorts. In theory, RCI Points resorts can check in anytime of the week for as long as they like. I say in theory because there are resorts that even in the RCI Points system that operate as if they were still RCI Weeks resorts. Sheraton's Vistana Resort is one of them (as told to me by RCI when I went to make reservations). RCI allowed this because they were pushing for resorts to switch from weeks to points. RCI Points resorts fall back to weeks resorts if you let your membership with RCI terminate. Third, you can borrow and carryover RCI Points just like DVC points can be banked and borrowed. Fourth, banked points expire if not used. Fifth, different times of the year have different point requirements.

RCI Points and DVC have some difference as well. To use RCI Points, you must join RCI and pay an annual membership fee. As an owner of DVC, you don't require an annual membership fee. RCI Points automatically cares all your points left over to the next year, DVC has dates that limit the percentage of points that you can bank. In RCI Points, if you didn't use any of your points, they get transferred to the next year. In DVC, if you don't specify to DVC by the 6th month, you cannot bank 100% of your points to the next year. RCI Points charges $20 per night for 1 to 3 nights and $70 for stays greater than 4 nights. In addition, the resort may charge a housekeeping fee for short stays. DVC doesn't charge. The amount of RCI Points required may be drasticly reduced if making reservations within 45 days of the scheduled vacation. In DVC, depending on your points (in holding account), you may run into problems with the 60-day rule.

I've not tried to cover all basics but give an idea of some of the similarities and differences. Marriott and others have their own points system which is different than what I described for RCI Points. They all have their quirks.

 

[Joe T.]

Caskbil (?) said it well. We also own a Marriott TS in addition to DVC. MVCI is much more expensive without the flexible of the point system or minimum stays. For the fees, MVCI is a pretty good trading value. Your week can be listed with MVCI for rental, but they take a large fee. Not all bad because they assume the liability.

We belong to a MD TS User's Group. The constant complaint with MVCI is their high fees for internal trades and their refusal to use points. We also own a Fairfield TS, and the have the flexibility of points. MVCI needs to come into the 21st century. We have been seriously considering selling.

 

[Dean]

Hey Dean,
Have you seen any pictures or heard of the progress with the Surf Watch Resort at HHI?

No good pictures but it did open on time in early June and the reports are that it is gorgeous. All the rest of the buildings should open in Feb which will not make my wife happy as she was counting on using it next year and getting an ocean view unit with our garden view ownership. I have reserved the week starting today at both Grande Ocean and Surfwatch and have them rented out. So I should get some pretty good info soon. I did get a call from one of the people at the resort last week and they were really talking it up.

 

[Dean]

Marriott and others and others have properties all over and some do the points systems just like Disney (was DVC the first to do that?)

Not by any means. There were a number of points systems prior to DVC and DVD specific looked at a couple of them to decide how DVC would be implemented.

 

[Dean]

Caskbil (?) said it well. We also own a Marriott TS in addition to DVC. MVCI is much more expensive without the flexible of the point system or minimum stays. For the fees, MVCI is a pretty good trading value. Your week can be listed with MVCI for rental, but they take a large fee. Not all bad because they assume the liability.

I don't agree that Marriott necessarily more expensive, in general it's likely about 50% of the price over the first 10 years. But far more for top options (HI, Aruba) and far less for other options (trading type resorts). In general it should be considerably cheaper if you compare to resale for both items but it will depend on the specific entity you compare to. If you buy DVC points you're essentially buying an undivided interest in a resort. Thus you're buying the higher seasons averaged with the lower seasons. Enough points to stay at HH in summer in a 2 BR is 330 (cost around $23K). You can get a unit at Surfwatch retail for that (garden view) or resale at Grande Ocean for less (oceanside). GO is definitely a much better location than DVC HH (to most people) and both of the Marriott's are on par to better simply from a resort standpoint. If you look to compare Ocean Pointe to VB, DVC loses out big time from a dollars standpoint. And yearly fees for most of the Marriott's are slightly over half the comparable amount for DVC, and that's every year.

There's no question the flexibility has value but how much value depends on HOW you'd use it. Plus if cost was your main factor and you wanted to go to the beach and WDW, just buy something cheap and trade to other top quality timeshares with a yearly cost of likely under $4-500 even if you prorate the purchase price on a yearly basis. If you can do Sun-Fri with DVC, you should come out ahead in the long run. If you do heavy on the weekends, you'll end up throwing money away fairly quickly.

 

[Lasrnw]

We bought into DVC because everyone says "welcome home" !! Only kidding but I do love that! We looked at Fairfields RCI points and I did not think that the resorts compared to the Disney resorts and/or the trade into resorts available thru DVC.

 

[Lisa P.]

It is also nice to be near Disney without being overpowered by Disney.

I think this is a significant statement. My family feels the same way. Which resort system is best for you is really affected by how you feel about this statement.

If you want to stay at DVC resorts when on vacation, then a DVC points timeshare is the way to go. Don't buy DVC to spend your vacations elsewhere, if you really want to use it for non-DVC vacations on a recurrent basis.

If you want to stay at Marriott resorts when on vacation, then a Marriott timeshare is the way to go. Don't buy Marriott if you really want to use it for DVC/onsite WDW vacations on a recurrent basis. They have beautiful resorts offsite (and so do several other companies!).

Do you feel that "24 hour Disney" is important when you visit WDW? Do you care enough to own DVC, at its price? We don't care enough to make it worth the price. We sold our DVC when money was tight and don't regret buying nor selling.

Do you feel that the resorts offered by Marriott fit your plans in the next 5-10 years? We DO care about traveling elsewhere regularly and staying at nice timeshare resorts. We've owned 4 other timeshares, all purchased cheaply as resales. We sold our Marriott because we didn't end up using it, just renting it out, and the maintenance fees were too high for our purposes. We sold a couple other independent timeshare weeks because we ended up owning more than we could use and we chose to simplify, simplify. We kept our Fairfield points because it offers nice resorts where we want them. Decide whether Marriott fits your plan or not.

Visit TUG (see my sig below) to learn more about Marriott or enough to make comparisons. HTH!

 

[laceemouse]

Agree with Dean, other T/Ss can be very flexible. We own a week, early December, in Williamsburg, Va. We trade through RCI. While it is true that we usually get a week's time somewhere else, we can go ANY WEEK OF THE YEAR and have over 3000 destinations to choose from. We are going to Branson later this week, staying in a 2 bedroom unit for a week. We simply deposited the week we own and paid a small exchange fee. Also, we have been given the option of converting to points if we ever want to. RCI also offers aditional weeks for quick get-aways. II does a similar thing. We have bought a week in the fall in The Dells (Wisconsin) for a little over 100$ for a 2 bedroom cabin-type unit! They sell these real cheap when they have not been booked. Soooooo, we have only been to the place we own at the TIME we own once in the several years we have owned the place!

 

[Indea88]

I own various point systems ie; RCI Points, Royal Holiday Club, DVC and traditional timeshare weeks. The beauty of DVC is the quality of Disney Resorts, no exchange fees, no membership fees to exchange companies ( this can add up) and never being able to find what I want with RCI Points when I want it. I cant forget that first "Welcome Home" when we drove up to VWL. My husband looked at me as if to say "do these people feel ok?" Being from Jersey , well you know what I mean... I have a friend who owns HGVC and couldnt get an exchange on a last minute trip to Daytona. He paid Developer price in Orlando 6 years ago has accured over 30,000 HHonor points.Hes been trying to sell for over 2 years. Nice properties but guess what he went to Fla with?our DVC points, I had no problem with that transaction and he wishes he had listened and bought DVC instead. Now he could of gotten an exchange with RCI points, but the property and conceirge service would not be comparable and with RCI there would have been a 149.00 exchange fee and a yearly membership fee. It was a progression in the right direction for us, it fits our needs. I did just book for Maine (summer )but it cost me 149.00 and I couldnt get the summer at the resort I wanted for 2 years 2007!!! This is my frustration at the other points systems.. you live you learn.

 

[Disney Doll]

Since we knew we prety much wanted it for stayting at WDW, we did the "buy where you want to stay" thing. We like being pretty much guaranteed to be on property somewhere, which is not necessarily true of other timeshares that can trade in to WDW. We liked the way we knew Disney would manage, and haven't been disappointed. We figured it would pretty much hold its value, being at Disney and all, and it has.

We liked owning a piece of the magic. We bought their marketing ploy hook, line, and sinker and haven't been disappointed yet!