DVCNews Debates: Non-DVC point usage

[TimK]

I've become less and less opposed to non-DVC point usage over the years. If I want to spend a few nights at Disneyland Paris someday or the Disneyland Hotel, I would look seriously at using points vs. paying cash. For the relatively small number of points involved, it's not worth renting or jumping through other hoops to save a few bucks.

Cruises use up so many points that I may be more inclined to rent for something like that. Particularly if there are discounts to be earned via the cash booking. We're considering a 7-night cruise in late 2013. I booked a placeholder cruise when we were on the Dream a couple weeks ago to lock-in the rebooking discounts (about 10% off of fare) and we're in line to get over $400 in stateroom credits with the booking. Those are tough incentives to ignore when considering using points instead.

But I certainly don't look down on anyone who books such options with points. There typically are savings and if you want the most hassle-free experience and have no other way to use the points, go for it!

[Ranger275]

I've become less and less opposed to non-DVC point usage over the years. If I want to spend a few nights at Disneyland Paris someday or the Disneyland Hotel, I would look seriously at using points vs. paying cash. For the relatively small number of points involved, it's not worth renting or jumping through other hoops to save a few bucks.

Cruises use up so many points that I may be more inclined to rent for something like that. Particularly if there are discounts to be earned via the cash booking. We're considering a 7-night cruise in late 2013. I booked a placeholder cruise when we were on the Dream a couple weeks ago to lock-in the rebooking discounts (about 10% off of fare) and we're in line to get over $400 in stateroom credits with the booking. Those are tough incentives to ignore when considering using points instead.

But I certainly don't look down on anyone who books such options with points. There typically are savings and if you want the most hassle-free experience and have no other way to use the points, go for it!

We have also booked a cruise while on board to get the cash discount. Now when I bought into BLT it was on the ship and on that cruise they told us if we called DVC within so many days after the cruise (can't remember what that was) and book a cruise using points we would get the same discount but with points. Do they still do that?

[moneyhappy]

We have also booked a cruise while on board to get the cash discount. Now when I bought into BLT it was on the ship and on that cruise they told us if we called DVC within so many days after the cruise (can't remember what that was) and book a cruise using points we would get the same discount but with points. Do they still do that?

Yes, you need to book with DVC within three days of getting of the cruise.

[Stitch]

It's a nice incentive, but if it went away it's hardly a deal breaker.

We looked into RCI, once, many years ago, and could not find suitable options.

I don't see ourselves using the points elsewhere if it means giving up our time in HHI. We have a very hard time doing that!

[wdrl]

The way I look at it, our DVC points represent prepaid vacation "dollars" that I can use however I want. There are lots of Disney vacations that are on my bucket list: Tokyo Disney, Hong Kong Disney, Disneyland Paris, a transatlantic Disney cruise, the upcoming Shanghai Disney. If our DVC points help us get to those places, then I'm definitely not opposed to using our points for non-DVC vacations.

Everyone says its better to rent your points and use the cash to pay for the non-DVC stays. However, I've always wondered whether renting points is as easy as its made out to be. It seems rental prices have been stuck at about $10 a point for a few years, even though our yearly maintenance fees have creeped up about 2-5% each year. In a recent email David's rental site was offering some points for as little at $8 a point, which suggests that even the $10 rental figure is not a sure thing.

Having said all that, I think it will be a long time before we try to exchange our DVC points for non-DVC vacations. Like Stitch, I'm very reluctant to give up our time at the DVC resorts. We have yet to stay at BCV, VB, or the VGC, and our first stays at SSR and Aulani will be later this year. Not only do we want to try out all the DVC resorts, but we want to go back to BLT and VWL and AKV and HHI and BWV. And when the new Villas at Grand Floridian opens, we'll want to stay there, too. So it will be a long time before we'll have points available for a non-DVC stay.

[Ranger275]

It's a nice incentive, but if it went away it's hardly a deal breaker.

We looked into RCI, once, many years ago, and could not find suitable options.

I don't see ourselves using the points elsewhere if it means giving up our time in HHI. We have a very hard time doing that!

I did belong to RCI through a time share my wife picked up really cheap. You could never get into the good places and they had a lot places that weren't very nice. We ended up giving back the time share to the property as we never used it and could never get anything good through RCI with it.

[scolling007]

When we went out to DL for the D23 Expos last year we converted our points to stay at the Grand Californian. the GCV were all sold out and the CM told us that we could convert the point and use them there if we wanted to, so that is what we did. Even with the $98 fee to convert the points it was well worth it for us, as it would have cost us almost $300 a night to stay there and the convience of being connected right to DTD and DCA was awesome!

[bakerworld]

Being fairly new to DVC, we will probably be taking advantage of the DVC resorts for a few years altho we did already use our pts to stay at CBR. I was really missing the resort and DH said go for it so even tho it might not be the most costworthy use of pts we enjoyed our stay at CBR.

[bkwrm0527]

The points I used at DisneyWorld (Saratoga Springs and Animal Kingdom Concierge level) and the points I used at Aulani provided me with added value items I didn't expect. So I am going on the Magic with the hope of pleasant surprises. Keeping my eye on the Tokyo and Hong Kong posts--really want to go.