So someone
recently bought a 1,250pts contract at VDH and I'm completely fascinated by it.
It's borderline un-sellable on resale, not optimized for incentives (yes, the buyer is likely wealthy and $10k in savings 'might not matter'), can't be broken down if they only need 1000 in the future, etc. I hope their guide at least
tried to talk them into smaller contracts, like 5x250 or even 2x625.
I can only speculate they're planning to use them on a Grand Villa. Coincidentally (or not?), a week in a GV around Christmas (and peak Spring Break) is exactly 1,250pts.
Jumping down that rabbit hole: considering there's only 2 GVs, a Favorite Week in a GV will never exist due to the 35% rule. Plus there isn't a FW that always aligns with Christmas, if that's their goal.
And if VDH is like VGC, only one of the GVs will be non-accessible, which could make availability appear even more strained. But if they're savvy to it, this might actually help if they're okay with booking the accessible villa as it's probably in lower demand (and accessible rooms don't show up in searches by default).
I'm concerned that, in addition to the staggering inefficiency of the contract, that they won't be able to book what they want as easily as they might be hoping (or were promised, see: potentially unhelpful guide above). That's a crummy ownership experience for anyone, but especially at such an expense. I hope they're fully prepared to walk their reservation(s) to make their investment worthwhile.
There probably aren't many people who have nearly as many VDH points at them or are targeting GVs, but realistically even 400 available points from just 2 other bookers is enough to out-compete for Grand Villas at any given time. And those 400pts don't have to be from a single contract or UY, so it's actually
fairly accessible. And considering how nice the GVs look (at least to me), I wouldn't be surprised if they have outsized popularity compared to their availability (2 of 344 units and 3% of total points).