Help me understand

[PrincessASquared]

I am a newer DVC member and own a reasonable amount of points at SSR. (enough for two week long vacations per year.) Why do members purchase smaller point amounts (ie. 50 pts) at the other DVC resorts? I understand the 11 month rule but if you can only book enough days based on the points you own ,50points wouldnt be a very long vacation. I also understand that you can use all your points anywhere at the 7 month mark but wouldnt most resorts be filled by then? Please help me understand the benefits of doing this?:confused:

[DVC Mike]

While some members just add on additional points at their home resort, others add on points at other resorts.

Typically, the reason is that the owner wants the 11-month booking advantage of the Home Resort Priority Period in order to make it easier to get the resort they want, at the time they want, with the accommodations they want. This reduces any possible frustration at the 7-mo window, or having to “settle” for another reservation while missing out on the one you really had your heart set on.

This is especially important with certain “hard to get” reservations, such as:


VWL at Christmas
BCV during F&W Festival
BWV standard view room
AKV Concierge/Value room
OKW GV
VB Cottage or during Spring Break
HHI during Summer
I believe the 11 month booking window has become very important in making it easier to secure these types of reservations, particularly because of the rapid increase in the size of DVC membership.

I want a better chance of getting VWL at Christmas, and BCV and/or BWV during the F&W festival. Thus, I purchased points at those resorts. This won't guarantee me a reservation, but it does guarantee that when I do try to book at the 11-month window, I am only competing with other owners and not every single DVC member to get a prime reservation.

Of course, people who don’t own at a resort are able to secure these “hard-to-book” reservations from time to time, so there is no requirement to own multiple resorts. In fact, a lot of DVC owners own just one resort and seem to get along just fine, thank you.

Keep in mind that if you have more than one home resort, all vacation points being used to make a reservation during the Home Resort Priority Period must be associated with that home resort. That is, you cannot combine points from multiple resorts to book one resort during the Home Resort Priority Period. You may combine all the points you have at all your home resorts and book any DVC resort only at the 7-month window.

Some folks purchase small add-ons at other resorts and then, by banking and/or borrowing, book a vacation there at the 11-month window every 2 or 3 years.

[peemagg]

I am not sure on this either, but my guess would be so that they just had a few extra points each year. Maybe they are using more points than they originally planned on using.

[jsdt]

Most of my points are at SSR, however, we found it hard to book at either BCV or BWV during November when we normally go. When we decided to add on some additional points we purchased at BCV. We don't have enough for an entire week (only 2-3 days), but we can bank and borrow and be assured a stay at BCV at least once every 3 years, plus if we don't mind moving mid-week we can get 2-3 days at BCV and then the rest of our trip at SSR.

When we just had SSR points it seemed like at least for the times we wanted to go and the room sizes we wanted we found it very difficult to get in to BCV even with attempting to book at the 7 month window - this "small' purchase of points at least gets us their occasionaly.

[Horizon93]

DVC Mike has explained it really well. I am a recent member myself. I am considering adding on already! I, however am leaning toward adding on at AKV where all of my points are. My reasons are:

the ability to book larger accommodations at AKV when needed at the 11 mo window
AKV is a great resort, and the value and concierge options are likely going to need the 11 mo window
I can add on in small 25 point increments and the points will be useful immediately. 25 points at a second resort would not be very helpful.


I hope all of this info helps.