May 2024 Direct Sales Up

[intamin]

I was really tempted by the OKW offer, but held back because of the upcoming Poly. Now that I saw the video of the rooms, I’m really glad I did. OKW has easy availability, but I think Poly won’t.

Definitely. 7 month availability at the tower especially is going to be pretty sketchy and DVC points are too expensive to not be able to book what you actually want. I'll admit I am a little annoyed that Poly ended up being the same association because maybe I would've considered buying Poly direct when they had a sale on it a little over a year ago or Poly resale more recently, but we knew being able to book the tower was non-negotiable for us and I would've been even more mad at myself if I had gambled and lost.

 

[DonkeyHoTay]

@DonkeyHoTay -- care to weigh in here?

Since my strategy was strictly SAP, I may not ever stay at OKW. I haven’t booked a single night there yet and I have 1500 points in reservations so far through the end of the year alone. I respect that not everyone likes OKW, but with SAP what difference does it make?

Or maybe they go big with a 3bedroom every year for a week and a half. Decisions decisions.

Those and bungalows and cabins and a ton of 1 bedroom villas everywhere. I can find and book them all at way less than 7 months no problem.

DonkeyHoTay just bought something like 2,400 pts at OKW... good price, but still!

Exactly like 2400, and the way I see it the buying power of that many direct SAP is more than worth the nominal dues premium. I will be booking the penthouses at Poly tower as soon as they are released!

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Exactly like 2400, and the way I see it the buying power of that many direct SAP is more than worth the nominal dues premium. I will be booking the penthouses at Poly tower as soon as they are released!

I’m rooting for you (I personally would prefer to blow my points at the bungalows), but there are a lot of wealthy people who looooooooove Poly, and only 2 (or is it 4?) penthouses. Even if the point chart is as wild as I expect, I would be surprised if non-Poly points get access to them for more than a random dropped night or two here and there. As I understand it, Disney can choose to not even declare any of them into the DVC system for years if it wants…. It sounded like a lot of the first year rooms were already rented for cash.

 

[DonkeyHoTay]

I personally would prefer to blow my points at the bungalows

They are sooooo nice... they're my go-to option with the Copper Creek cabins a close second.

 

[MartyParty]

Since my strategy was strictly SAP, I may not ever stay at OKW. I haven’t booked a single night there yet and I have 1500 points in reservations so far through the end of the year alone. I respect that not everyone likes OKW, but with SAP what difference does it make?

My thoughts exactly and an often overlooked fact with SAP at the seven month mark.

We recently picked up 200 OKW all in for around $115/pt. Put them to use at VDH for January. VDH being around $239/pt right now, I think? But we're not saintly as we did buy VDH points as we prefer DL for a visit (used that allotment up for the year). No real way or need to try and put a price on this type of points usage as that's how the DVC program is designed. Number one regret for folks buying in and loving DVC is that they didn't do it sooner. I'm thinking of you VGC when you were around $100/pt direct. Now that would have been some sleep around points!

All good. Happy with the points we have and how it all worked out.

 

[DonkeyHoTay]

Number one regret for folks buying in and loving DVC is that they didn't do it sooner. I'm thinking of you VGC when you were around $100/pt direct. Now that would have been some sleep around points!

Oh wow! VGC was actually that cheap?!?!?!?!? I would have bought those points and I've never been or going to California.

 

[DonkeyHoTay]

This triggered a conversation we had with our Guide Dillon. We talked about OKW, blah blah blah. But then he said he had a guy purchase a huge amount of points and with the "sale" and refund thing, he ended up paying nearly half. I want to say it was like $50,000 or close, when all said and done. I was like Whoa. Glad that guy likes it there.

I will stay at OKW, but it is not my first choice. It feels like it is so far from the parks, this includes SSR too. Meaning I would not buy in there. The bus ride around the whole place is long...... I do like Olivia's. But with high dues, I would rather be BWV, GF, BLT, PVB. More money, but trade offs seem better to me.

The $50,000 was what he paid after all the savings. Pretty sure my mouth hung open, when he said he paid cash too.

LOL, I'm not sure if he was referring to me or not, but I did buy a lot of OKW points specifically because $95 a point is the cheapest direct points (at quantities over 1000) I've seen in 15+ years. I'm using them strictly as SAP, so I don't know if I like OKW or not.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Oh wow! VGC was actually that cheap?!?!?!?!? I would have bought those points and I've never been or going to California.

Remember, $100 then is not the same as $100 now

 

[CourtneyAshley]

I’m ready for River Country 2.0

I have to wonder though if this will discourage DVC from further foraying into the moderate resort world seeing how poorly sales are going but again maybe they don’t care since they can sell them for cash..? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The main issue i have with Cabins is the fact that the dues are $12 a point... like really? That and then the fact that it is a moderate resort and it is HUGE

 

[CourtneyAshley]

Since my strategy was strictly SAP, I may not ever stay at OKW. I haven’t booked a single night there yet and I have 1500 points in reservations so far through the end of the year alone. I respect that not everyone likes OKW, but with SAP what difference does it make?

Those and bungalows and cabins and a ton of 1 bedroom villas everywhere. I can find and book them all at way less than 7 months no problem.

Exactly like 2400, and the way I see it the buying power of that many direct SAP is more than worth the nominal dues premium. I will be booking the penthouses at Poly tower as soon as they are released!

What is SAP?

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

What is SAP?

Sleep Around Points— in general. It means you are buying at a resort you don’t intend to stay at either ever or the vast majority of the time.

If you have time to kill, there is a long thread in the DVC Purchasing forum called something like SAP+ that discusses pros and cons of various options at length.

 

[CourtneyAshley]

Sleep Around Points— in general. It means you are buying at a resort you don’t intend to stay at either ever or the vast majority of the time.

If you have time to kill, there is a long thread in the DVC Purchasing forum called something like SAP+ that discusses pros and cons of various options at length.

Thank you, I was not sure if it had something to do with renting. I know a few people who have extreme numbers of points but they rent them to cover dues.

 

[intamin]

The main issue i have with Cabins is the fact that the dues are $12 a point... like really? That and then the fact that it is a moderate resort and it is HUGE

Lol yeah, I'm not sure if they were struggling to sell out the cabins before (I don't think so?) or if they switched them to DVC to try and make DVC foot the bill for the new cabins but if they had converted a portion of Port Orleans or Coronado it undoubtedly would've been more successful.

 

[jason423]

I'll be curious to see if Disney does more of this with the older resorts. I would think that many of the buyers of these contracts are existing members rather than too many new ones so its more of a competition with the resale market than competing with selling their active properties. I went back and looked an AKV, which was not as aggressive a sale but a pretty good one, looks like it sold around 285 contracts at just over 46,000 points, give or take a bit since some of the sales may not have been during the incentive period (the definite incentive period had 25860 for 146 contracts). OKW blew that away with 354 for about 64K points with even more aggressive incentives. I think it would make sense for them to continue to do this once or twice a year with some of the resorts they were too aggressive with the buybacks on to try to boost sales every now and then

 

[veginaz]

We recently picked up 200 OKW all in for around $115/pt. Put them to use at VDH for January.

Curious how you got to a 115/pt for 200 direct?

 

[lilsonicfan]

.

 

[MartyParty]

Curious how you got to a 115/pt for 200 direct?

Good catch. $135/point.

Bought 200 points at $50 incentive off the $205/pt. = $155/pt.
Then $20/pt Magical Beginnings for 2023 points = $135/pt.

I've went back to revise the post to $135/pt.

 

[veginaz]

Good catch. $135/point.

Bought 200 points at $50 incentive off the $205/pt. = $155/pt.
Then $20/pt Magical Beginnings for 2023 points = $135/pt.

I've went back to revise the post to $135/pt.

Thanks! Just wanted to be sure I wasnt missing some other aspect of the deal.