HHI DVC - For Both HHI & WDW

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

Hi Friends,

We have been looking at DVC for years and are looking at finally joining with a 50 point resale contract at HHI! We go to HHI every year; however, we would like to mix it up a bit with a trip to WDW every few years.

After reading countless articles, it seems like this is realistic, as long as the WDW trips don't fall in high demand DVC seasons.

Do you think we would be able to get some choice at the 7 month mark at WDW now and going forward? Just wondering if reservations will continue to get more difficult.

Any advice/insights are much appreciated!

 

[Jerry5788]

Most people on this blog will say buy where you want to say.

I am sure you can get to WDW at the 7 month mark but be aware you may not get the resort or room size that you want. A 50 point contract might be a little small if you need to say book a 1 Bedroom instead of a studio. Sure you can bank/borrow and go every other year or every three years but my guess that isn't your goal as you mentioned wanting to go to HHI as well.

Here is an older post that is very good at showing availability of most of the resorts.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...tudios-some-1-bedrooms-prepared-2015.3419112/

 

[kristenrice]

With only 50 points, you aren't going to get much at 7-months at WDW. Your "low-demand" DVC seasons are not going to be in "cheaper" seasons. On top of that, studios tend to book up quickly so you may be left with 1BR's and 50 points will not cover more than a night or 2. If you were planning on purchasing more than 50 points, your plan is doable, but I would definitely plan on booking 1BR's since those are the "easiest" to get at 7-months at WDW. It's different at HHI. HHI only has 21 lock-offs meaning only 21 possible studios and 21 possible 1BR's. They also have 76 dedicated 2BR's which makes it much easier to get a 2BR at HHI...there are three times as many!

So, I would think the "best" idea would be to purchase enough points to secure a 2BR at HHI which should be enough to get you a 1BR somewhere at WDW. If you are able to get a studio and end up with leftovers, you could always rent them or bank them.

I'm in a similar quandry....we own 100 AKV points (pre-2011 resale) and 50 HHI direct points. Now that the kids are teens and the DH is almost retired, we have found that we would prefer to spend more vacation time at HHI. I'd love to "switch" and have 100 at HHI and only 50 at AKV. I do still like to take solo (with a friend) trips in October to WDW for my birthday/F&W and for those, it is imperative that we have a home resort at WDW so that we can get a studio. If I sold the AKV, I'd have to try and find a 50 point resale (not likely) and I would also have to either find a 50-85 point HHI resale with my UY or buy direct. Either way, I would spend a LOT of money to end up with basically what I have now, just in reverse. So, for now, we are going to stick with our every-three-years at HHI and maybe try our luck with the AKV points at 7-months at HHI and see what happens.

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

Thank you Jerry! That is really sound advice and I appreciate the insight about how the 1 bedroom/studio comes into play at the 7 month mark. Thinking that it would be good to wait a bit for a bigger contract or to add on a second at WDW.

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

Thank

If you were planning on purchasing more than 50 points, your plan is doable, but I would definitely plan on booking 1BR's since those are the "easiest" to get at 7-months at WDW. It's different at HHI. HHI only has 21 lock-offs meaning only 21 possible studios and 21 possible 1BR's. They also have 76 dedicated 2BR's which makes it much easier to get a 2BR at HHI...there are three times as many!

I'm in a similar quandry....we own 100 AKV points (pre-2011 resale) and 50 HHI direct points. Now that the kids are teens and the DH is almost retired, we have found that we would prefer to spend more vacation time at HHI. I'd love to "switch" and have 100 at HHI and only 50 at AKV. I do still like to take solo (with a friend) trips in October to WDW for my birthday/F&W and for those, it is imperative that we have a home resort at WDW so that we can get a studio. If I sold the AKV, I'd have to try and find a 50 point resale (not likely) and I would also have to either find a 50-85 point HHI resale with my UY or buy direct. Either way, I would spend a LOT of money to end up with basically what I have now, just in reverse. So, for now, we are going to stick with our every-three-years at HHI and maybe try our luck with the AKV points at 7-months at HHI and see what happens.

Thank you Kristen! That is very helpful advice about the 2 bedroom pool vs the studios/one bedrooms. I NEVER would have thought of that angle. We were thinking more along the lines of break even on what we are currently doing, picking up an extra day, and adding points over time.

Can you help with one question please? How does the need to switch your points at AKL and HHI come into play? I thought you would just use both at HHI, is it tied to use year?

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

Kristen, Forgot to ask, do you ever have issues booking at HHI at 11 months?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I would say in Not-Fall, "some choice" is likely to be 1BRs (which, as previously observed, will be pricey on a 50-point contract, even if you bank and borrow a little), or the Big Three (AKV Savannah, Saratoga, and OKW). Amongst studios, the studios that sleep 5 will be harder gets. At AKV, Standard has more limited inventory.

In Fall, there won't be choice. At 7 months, you'll be looking at Saratoga, and even that may have holes and waitlist depending on specific dates.

At 50 points, you won't be getting DVC member perks regardless. Even if you do want HHI points to book HHI in summer (that and holidays are the two times where home resort tends to be really necessary), at 50 points you might as well make the plan to buy 50 at a WDW resort as well for those WDW trips.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Kristen, Forgot to ask, do you ever have issues booking at HHI at 11 months?

Not Kristen, but I have had no trouble booking at HHI at 11 months.

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

I would say in Not-Fall, "some choice" is likely to be 1BRs (which, as previously observed, will be pricey on a 50-point contract, even if you bank and borrow a little), or the Big Three (AKV Savannah, Saratoga, and OKW). Amongst studios, the studios that sleep 5 will be harder gets. At AKV, Standard has more limited inventory.

In Fall, there won't be choice. At 7 months, you'll be looking at Saratoga, and even that may have holes and waitlist depending on specific dates.

At 50 points, you won't be getting DVC member perks regardless. Even if you do want HHI points to book HHI in summer (that and holidays are the two times where home resort tends to be really necessary), at 50 points you might as well make the plan to buy 50 at a WDW resort as well for those WDW trips.

Thank you! I'm sure Saratoga for every trip or a 3 night split stay in 3 resorts is not what DH has in mind!

Yes, adding a second resort down at WDW would be great. We love the beach club/BW area; however, we are very curious to see how the skyliner changes that area!

 

[mathgeek]

I would buy two contracts, one at HHI and one at WDW. I bought my HHI and BWV contracts using "buy where you want to stay," and my SSR using "buy where you don't mind staying if you can't change your reservation at the 7-month window." Over the past 10 years I have found that it has gotten more and more difficult to get WDW reservations at the 7-month window anyplace except the Big Three, as _auroraborealis_ mentioned, especially in high season times. And getting a summer studio reservation at HHI with non-HHI points was almost ridiculous the one time I tried, which is why I ended up buying there.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

Not Kristen, but I have had no trouble booking at HHI at 11 months.

Thank you Bobbi! That is great to hear that hasn't been a problem as it is a smaller resort!

This year was the first time we were unable to get a room for a summer weekend (to tack onto the end of another vacation) when starting to look in January for a studio/1 bedroom. Finally got one with the help of a travel agent! Whew! I'm having mixed emotions about telling everyone how great the resort is going forward! It seems like it is starting to get harder to book!

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

I would buy two contracts, one at HHI and one at WDW. I bought my HHI and BWV contracts using "buy where you want to stay," and my SSR using "buy where you don't mind staying if you can't change your reservation at the 7-month window." Over the past 10 years I have found that it has gotten more and more difficult to get WDW reservations at the 7-month window anyplace except the Big Three, as _auroraborealis_ mentioned, especially in high season times. And getting a summer studio reservation at HHI with non-HHI points was almost ridiculous the one time I tried, which is why I ended up buying there.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

From one math geek to another - thanks!!! That was what we suspected; that it would be like winning the lottery to get what we wanted at HHI if it wasn't our home resort. With BWV and HHI, you can summer at HHI and winter at BWV. Fun!!

 

[kristenrice]

Thank



Thank you Kristen! That is very helpful advice about the 2 bedroom pool vs the studios/one bedrooms. I NEVER would have thought of that angle. We were thinking more along the lines of break even on what we are currently doing, picking up an extra day, and adding points over time.

Can you help with one question please? How does the need to switch your points at AKL and HHI come into play? I thought you would just use both at HHI, is it tied to use year?

We (typically) go to HHI for Spring Break which is always the first full week of April. Since we want a 1BR for 5 nights, and sometimes those 5 nights include Easter, we can run into availability issues at 7 months. I will say that SO FAR (since 2011), we have not had an issue. In 2013, we brought my parents so we needed a 2BR. We were only able to book 4 nights with our HHI points and had to wait until 7 months out to book the last night with our AKV points. We had to waitlist it because it was not available. Fortunately, that waitlist came through. We only plan to travel during that one week of the year so I can really only speak about that availability, but I can tell you that I would not want to give up my home resort advantage, particularly when Easter falls during that week.

It's a similar situation for WDW in the fall. Because I want to keep visiting in October, and I know that I will probably be staying in a studio, I will absolutely need to book at 11 months in order to get a room. Therefore, I cannot let go of my AKV points and "trade" them for HHI points. If I didn't have any points at a WDW property (i.e. I only had HHI points), there would be a very good chance that I would not be able to get a studio in October at 7 months without having to wait list or piece together a reservation.

Kristen, Forgot to ask, do you ever have issues booking at HHI at 11 months?

So far, no...but like I said, we only travel the first week of April...and we only go every third year. We'd like to start going every year, or at least every other year, but with only 50 points, that won't work unless we can get lucky and get a 1BR at the 7 month mark. I'm going to start looking at the 7-month availability for 2019. Our next planned trip to HHI is 2020, but we will have AKV points available to use in 2021 so we could go to HHI instead of WDW if it's available.

 

[BillPA]

Just an FYI, dues are high and HHI resale has additional cost to purchase over the WDW resort.

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

We (typically) go to HHI for Spring Break which is always the first full week of April. Since we want a 1BR for 5 nights, and sometimes those 5 nights include Easter, we can run into availability issues at 7 months. I will say that SO FAR (since 2011), we have not had an issue. In 2013, we brought my parents so we needed a 2BR. We were only able to book 4 nights with our HHI points and had to wait until 7 months out to book the last night with our AKV points. We had to waitlist it because it was not available. Fortunately, that waitlist came through. We only plan to travel during that one week of the year so I can really only speak about that availability, but I can tell you that I would not want to give up my home resort advantage, particularly when Easter falls during that week.

It's a similar situation for WDW in the fall. Because I want to keep visiting in October, and I know that I will probably be staying in a studio, I will absolutely need to book at 11 months in order to get a room. Therefore, I cannot let go of my AKV points and "trade" them for HHI points. If I didn't have any points at a WDW property (i.e. I only had HHI points), there would be a very good chance that I would not be able to get a studio in October at 7 months without having to wait list or piece together a reservation.

So far, no...but like I said, we only travel the first week of April...and we only go every third year. We'd like to start going every year, or at least every other year, but with only 50 points, that won't work unless we can get lucky and get a 1BR at the 7 month mark. I'm going to start looking at the 7-month availability for 2019. Our next planned trip to HHI is 2020, but we will have AKV points available to use in 2021 so we could go to HHI instead of WDW if it's available.

Holy cow! Did you see a lightbulb go off? Probably not, it is pretty low wattage!

I didn't realize that all the points had to be for that resort to book at 11 months. For some reason, I thought as long as you had some, you could book from your pool of points at 11 months. Hmmmmm... Clearly have some more brainstorming to do on this! Thanks again!

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

Just an FYI, dues are high and HHI resale has additional cost to purchase over the WDW resort.

You are right; it is a lot higher. We just love the HHI resort and go there more than WDW (to my horror LOL)!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I didn't realize that all the points had to be for that resort to book at 11 months. For some reason, I thought as long as you had some, you could book from your pool of points at 11 months.

Think of it this way: Otherwise, someone could buy 200 (cheap) SSR points and 25 ($$) VGC points and get 11 months at VGC with 225 points. It would make "home resort priority" an absolutely meaningless joke, and there would be no reason to have premium costs for any points.

As it is, because points are sold to fill a resort 365 days, but demand is not evenly distributed, home resort can still be cut-throat at many resorts for particular units at various times of the year (or all year, in the case of a handful of resort/unit types).

 

[Dean]

Holy cow! Did you see a lightbulb go off? Probably not, it is pretty low wattage!

I didn't realize that all the points had to be for that resort to book at 11 months. For some reason, I thought as long as you had some, you could book from your pool of points at 11 months. Hmmmmm... Clearly have some more brainstorming to do on this! Thanks again!

Spend some time with the points charts. I'm always concerned when someone is looking at such a small contract. I actually think that getting WDW with HHI is not that difficult if you're OK with staying where you can get. If you'll use it at HHI during higher demand times most of the time and occasionally at WDW, HHI is likely your best option even with the higher dues. Have you considered non DVC timeshares for HHI as well?

Specific to DVC and 50 points, one needs to consider that there could be a reallocation and the possibility they'll chose to or have to get a 1 BR at times. So whatever you decide your needs end up at, make sure you have at least a 20% cushion in the number of points, possibly more. I wouldn't buy at WDW and HHI at say 50+50 but I might do 2 home resorts if you end up at more than that total say 150+50

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

Spend some time with the points charts. I'm always concerned when someone is looking at such a small contract. I actually think that getting WDW with HHI is not that difficult if you're OK with staying where you can get. If you'll use it at HHI during higher demand times most of the time and occasionally at WDW, HHI is likely your best option even with the higher dues. Have you considered non DVC timeshares for HHI as well?

Specific to DVC and 50 points, one needs to consider that there could be a reallocation and the possibility they'll chose to or have to get a 1 BR at times. So whatever you decide your needs end up at, make sure you have at least a 20% cushion in the number of points, possibly more. I wouldn't buy at WDW and HHI at say 50+50 but I might do 2 home resorts if you end up at more than that total say 150+50

Thank you Dean! That is really good feedback and much appreciated. Quick question, what is a reallocation as it relates to DVC?

 

[Jerry5788]

Thank you Dean! That is really good feedback and much appreciated. Quick question, what is a reallocation as it relates to DVC?

DVC can make adjustments to the point chart for a resort to better reflect supply and demand. Reallocation is the process of raising the point requirements for a specific resort / room size / view / season / day of the week, while lowering the points for another room size / view / season / day of the week at the same resort. The key to reallocation is that the total points for the year in a single resort is a fixed number and cannot change.