While the destination is popular with owners, points sales at Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas look bleaker with every passing month.
When Members are asked where Disney should build another Disney Vacation Club resort, they often list places like the Caribbean, the Colorado Rockies, or other exotic locations. Although visiting resorts that are not at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort might be high on a Member’s wish list, its quite another thing when in comes to buying points at such resorts.
Disney seldom has problems selling DVC points for the resorts located at the Parks. But it has had issues marketing the DVC resorts that are not adjacent to a Disney Park. Some proposed Disney resorts, such as one near Washington, D.C., never came to fruition. The size of Disney's Vero Beach Resort was scaled back from the original plans due to weak sales. Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort opened in March 1996 but it was not until December 2001 that the resort was fully declared for the DVC inventory.
Today DVC containus to sell resorts adjacent to a theme park for $145 to $185 a point while both Vero Beach and Hilton Head Island are priced significantly lower at $115 a point. This disparity is also reflected in transfers of the two.
Aulani is the third DVC resort not located near a Disney Park and is a very popular destination among members. However, this popularity has not translated into strong sales. Its sales have lagged behind its counterparts located at Walt Disney World.
The chart below compares Aulani and Polynesian sales since the Polynesian commenced sales in January 2015. Through 2015, Aulani monthly sales kept pace, averaging 75,241 points to the Polynesian’s 76,867 points. But beginning in January 2016, Aulani started to decline while the Polynesian improved.
From January 2016 to February 2017, the Polynesian averaged 127,344 points per month to Aulani’s 41,406 points. And the downward trend has continued as Aulani has averaged only 25,160 points over the last four months.
The Polynesian’s sales took off in early 2016 when Disney introduced its first set of sales incentives for the resort. Since then, Disney has continued to offer different incentives, including the latest the Free Points for Life Offer. Ironically, Disney has offered incentives for Aulani that match, if not exceed, those offered for the Polynesian or Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. However, these added incentives have failed to jumpstart sales at Aulani.
Although Disney has been actively marketing Aulani since July 2010, only 51% its rooms have been added to the DVC timeshare program--just 241 of 467 vacation homes. The rest are under Disney's control, likely rented to cash guests along with more than 350 hotel rooms located at the resort.
By comparison, the Polynesian Villas & Bungalows opened sales in January 2015 and in less than 2 1/2 years has declared 360 of its 380 rooms for the DVC membership.
Not Aulani sales news is grim. Although total sales volume is lower at Aulani than for the Polynesian, the average deed size at Aulani is much larger: 153.3 points per deed versus the Polynesian’s 132.9 points per deed. Recently, one individual purchased seven Grand Villa Fixed Week deeds totaling 7,773 points, while another individual purchased three deeds containing 600 points each.
Disney has realized for some time that Vero Beach and Hilton Head Island must be priced lower than the resorts located near the Parks. However, with Aulani, Disney has priced it to match the base prices of the Walt Disney World resorts it is actively marketing, which is currently $176 a point.
Perhaps it is time to admit that Aulani, like other resorts that are not near a Park, cannot be priced the same as the Park resorts.
Wil Lovato is a contributor to DVCNews.com and has been a Disney Vacation Club owner since 2009. His DVC Home Resorts include Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Villas, and Aulani. He can be found posting on many Disney discussion forums under the username of “wdrl.”
