What to do 🤔

[VandVsmama]

The prices of DVC rooms don't generally increase in price though.

Lets look at Pop Century
1/1/2018 a standard room was $226
1/1/2025 a standard room went to $324

1/8/2018 a standard room was $126
1/8/2025 a standard room went to $183


Poly Standard Studio
1/1/2018 a standard room was 16 points
1/1/2025 a standard room went to 17 points

1/8/2018 a standard room was 16 points
1/8/2025 a standard room went to 17 points

https://c.touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/hotels/disneys-pop-century-resort/rates/2018#gsc.tab=0

https://c.touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/hotels/disneys-pop-century-resort/rates/2025#gsc.tab=0

https://secure.cdn5.wdpromedia.com/media/dvc/catalog/resorts/adventures/2018 DVC PVB Pt Chart 122616.pdf

https://dvcfan.com/polynesian-villas-2025-dvc-points-chart/

In my family’s decision making process, we were considering what the cost would be to stay at a Deluxe resort if paying cash.

There was ONE night 6 1/2 yr ago that we stayed at AKL in a Savannah view concierge level hotel room for $325 incl. tax. No way could I get that room for that price now paying cash (not using DVC points).

 

[eticketplease]

DVC rooms can’t increase in costs, aside from small adjustments up in some seasons and correspondingly down in others. But I think there’s an argument to be made that Disney raises hotel pricing to drive more DVC sales as it looks to be “such a good deal” compared to rising hotel rates. But then DVC has to build more and more to have something new to sell. Weird unending cycle.

Yup and then they also profit from renting the majority of the rooms as they are not all declared into the DVC inventory for owners to book with points.

 

[Brian Noble]

DVC rooms can't increase in points. They do increase in cost, because Dues go up. They increase more slowly than hotel rooms do, because the cost basis for the increase is only operating expenses--that's part of the value proposition of any timeshare, but they do increase.

Disney is not setting hotel prices to make DVC look good. They are setting hotel prices to maximize their revenue per available room-night. That happens to make DVC look okay.

 

[eticketplease]

DVC rooms can't increase in points. They do increase in cost, because Dues go up. They increase more slowly than hotel rooms do, because the cost basis for the increase is only operating expenses--that's part of the value proposition of any timeshare, but they do increase.

Disney is not setting hotel prices to make DVC look good. They are setting hotel prices to maximize their revenue per available room-night. That happens to make DVC look okay.

Did you see my example? DVC Rooms CAN increase in points. Yes it is very rare but it is possible. What can't change is the total number of points per the resort.

The example was 2018 PVB Standard Studio on the same day vs 2025.

Obviously dues go up but I was not factoring that in as a cost as I believe the person was just comparing buy in costs, similar to buying a car I am not factoring in insurance, maintenance and gas costs on my car payment as those are separate line items are expected to fluctuate somewhat year to year.

 

[Brian Noble]

Yes, I did, and you are entirely correct. I just didn't want any casual reader to think "this is what I pay forever."

 

[eticketplease]

Yes, I did, and you are entirely correct. I just didn't want any casual reader to think "this is what I pay forever."

Sorry you are much more knowledgable then me when it comes to these things and wasn't sure if you saw everything.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I'm not sure that I'd say Disney is for sure not setting room rates to make DVC look more attractive. Obviously they want to maximize profit. But in my view there is a real incentive for them to push people toward DVC purchases when setting their regular hotel room rates. The captive audience that is a DVC owner is likely more valuable than the one time visitor willing to pay $900/night for a hotel room.

 

[Brian Noble]

The captive audience that is a DVC owner is likely more valuable than the one time visitor willing to pay $900/night for a hotel room.

Where do you think those DVC owners come from?

 

[lilsonicfan]

Where do you think those DVC owners come from?

Well that's exactly the point I'm making. Price the rooms high to inspire people to buy into DVC.

 

[Brian Noble]

But they paid the price for that room in the first place. Sure, maybe there was a prevailing discount, but still.

 

[AstroBlasters]

But they paid the price for that room in the first place. Sure, maybe there was a prevailing discount, but still.

Basically, the team that is in charge of making sure the rooms are at an optimal price to maximize profit and utilization is NOT the same team in charge of selling and marketing DVC.

 

[lilsonicfan]

To be clear, I wasn't suggesting that a person who looks at high rack rate pricing says, okay, instead of buying a room at the Grand Floridian for $900/night, let me look into DVC. Instead, I think it's far more likely that that person either has stayed at the Grand Flo before and wants to stay again but can't stomach the high prices, or stays once and looks for ways to save, compared to the ever increasing rack rate, and chooses DVC. That's my point. Disney as a whole strongly benefits from high hotel pricing driving people to DVC. In my view, and maybe I'm wrong, that must be at least one factor in how they price the hotels.

 

[AstroBlasters]

To be clear, I wasn't suggesting that a person who looks at high rack rate pricing says, okay, instead of buying a room at the Grand Floridian for $900/night, let me look into DVC. Instead, I think it's far more likely that that person either has stayed at the Grand Flo before and wants to stay again but can't stomach the high prices, or stays once and looks for ways to save, compared to the ever increasing rack rate, and chooses DVC. That's my point. Disney as a whole strongly benefits from high hotel pricing driving people to DVC. In my view, and maybe I'm wrong, that must be at least one factor in how they price the hotels.

I would not be surprised if the managers on the hotel side have their bonus based solely on hotel optimization and can’t stand DVC….

 

[Genie+]

I know people complain how expensive onsite prices are but it comes down to the alternatives and what you get for the price difference. Personal details matter too. The math doesn’t work for everybody, it does work for plenty. Once you factor in resort fees, resort parking fees, theme park parking, the price gap starts closing and differences in experience come into question. It’s still not slam dunk. Sure there are alternatives, and depending on party size and goals onsite might not win. It does win for enough people to keep those rooms selling.

Over-pricing onsite rooms just for DVC’s sake would backfire. DVC needs people to see the value in onsite and enjoy that experience enough to wanna come back. Maybe for Deluxe a little bit, but they’re also playing with the discount psychology there, regardless of DVC. For values and moderates I think pricing strategy is based on what guests value and will tolerate - that’s it.

 

[kilik64]

@VandVsmama we came about it the same way, can stay deluxe for about what we had paid to stay value/moderate and knew we were going to be going yearly for the foreseeable future.

People wanna think dvc saves you money but it definitely doesn’t. You’ll end up spending just as much if not more (especially if you can’t keep the add on bug at bay!) usually since you will be more locked in to going regularly.

I don’t pay attention to the but if you invested the money stuff, sure I could do that but that’s way less fun and I have enough other monies going for that purpose.

As @Brian Noble likes to point out, you bought a TOY, and toys to me are for fun, no reason they have to be a completely rational purchase.

 

[Brian Noble]

I will do a time-value-of-money analysis, but that's mostly because my ENGR 120 professor would have a conniption if I didn't. It is a toy, but I want to know what the thing actually "costs" In a way that lets me compare it to other toys I might buy.

I have definitely not saved money owning timeshare. But that's because I have actually gone on (many!) vacations. If I had been left to my own pay-as-you-go devices, I'd've found reasons not to take some of those trips. The use-it-or-lose-it nature of timeshare is a good way to make sure I go on trips.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I will do a time-value-of-money analysis, but that's mostly because my ENGR 120 professor would have a conniption if I didn't. It is a toy, but I want to know what the thing actually "costs" In a way that lets me compare it to other toys I might buy.

I have definitely not saved money owning timeshare. But that's because I have actually gone on (many!) vacations. If I had been left to my own pay-as-you-go devices, I'd've found reasons not to take some of those trips. The use-it-or-lose-it nature of timeshare is a good way to make sure I go on trips.

It’s like the psychological difference between buying an annuity for cash flow vs doing manual withdrawals every month.

 

[disneylandtour]

In terms of final price...

If you carefully look at MFs and resale price, you should be able to find contracts that will give you a per point use cost of around $11 maybe a tad more (that is amortized purchase price and yearly MFs). Lowballing on BLT and SSR, I'm pretty sure, are among your best options. But remember, for SSR, that would be your home resort. (Personally I'm very happy to stay at BLT. And though I own SSR, it's been years since I stayed there. But to each his own). So in this scenario a 15 point studio has an effective price of about $165 per night. And a 20 point studio has an effective price of about $220 per night. You might also want to factor in that there's a loss of investment opportunity. But I'll go with Brian's idea, that this type of disposable income at our house would either go to DVC or to some other type of vacation experience--so the investment loss isn't a real consideration. Investment is a separate category. I avoid the resorts during Christmas and Thanksgiving week, which are among the highest point periods (and also, IMO, miserable times to navigate the resorts). So between 15 and 20 points per night is a good estimate for studios in good locations. You can go less, such as some 9 point value studios over at Jambo House (which I've stayed at many times) or you can go more (such as rooms with theme park views or the longhouse studios at Poly). But 15 to 20 points per night is a good estimate for a well-located studio during a non-peak time--and those prices are pretty much on par with POP, maybe a bit more than the All Stars, but certainly less than moderates.

 

[VandVsmama]

Could we probably earn more money over the next 20 years by having invested the $96/point that we paid for our 100-point Aulani resale contract? Yes.

But my DH really has a hard time pulling himself away from work. If he just takes time off of work and we stay at home, he ends up working part of that time. Road trips? He does conference calls in the car.

When we go on Disney trips, that's when he truly unplugs and he finally relaxes and unwinds. So if the $96/point plus maintenance fees means my spouse will actually enjoy his vacation, then yeah, I'll take that any day of the week.

 

[Mirabell Rose]

I will do a time-value-of-money analysis, but that's mostly because my ENGR 120 professor would have a conniption if I didn't. It is a toy, but I want to know what the thing actually "costs" In a way that lets me compare it to other toys I might buy.

I have definitely not saved money owning timeshare. But that's because I have actually gone on (many!) vacations. If I had been left to my own pay-as-you-go devices, I'd've found reasons not to take some of those trips. The use-it-or-lose-it nature of timeshare is a good way to make sure I go on trips.

‘Saving money’ when discussed with buying DVC means you spend less doing option A versus option B. That is different from placing money in an instrument to appreciate over time. For us Option A, our DVC points, both our direct and resale,
1. were originally purchased at an under $100 each.
2. Have always been utilized 100% by us and family who we invited on trips with us
3. Have been done yearly except for 2020.
4. Except for 1 stay and an add on day here or there, were for 1 or 2 bedroom villas

Our option B for comparison would need to be a comparable type of accommodation and activities, which we have also done time to time over the past 15 years.

My Option A, DVC saved/was less than my Option B’s. This was a combo of the following:
1. Relatively cheap airfare to MCO from where I live
2. Ability not to need a rental car
3. Ability to get groceries at a reasonable price delivered to my resort as I prefer to eat out once a day
4. The per night cost to stay by taking my purchase price and my annual dues and dividing by points per night. I paid cash for my contracts and we’ve tried a few nights in about 3/4 of DVC at Disney World, but most stays are at AKV, OKW, and SSR, so I spend relatively few points per night compared to some of the resorts

We also have only gone to Disney World to stay on points. We like going when it’s cold here, Dec-Feb (lower point times) like going where we are familiar so like the same place every year, and have the ability to have time off when we want versus the school schedule.

Given this, DVC saved me money.

My biggest disappointments have been ticket prices for parks rising much higher than inflation, and the changing of the points tables that increased the number of points needed for some of my favorite times.

I do think there was a lot of good comments here one can consider before buying. However, we bought our first contract without anything other than what our guide explained and what he gave us to read. We absolutely don’t regret it, and we are by no means rich. But I have gotten so much more than $$ back by being able to spend all the vacations we have had since we bought. And the ‘saved money’ made it possible along with our reprioritization of our budget to add experiences and decrease things.