This article covers the best (and WORST!) ways to use your DVC points. For folks that purchase DVC for convenience, holiday pre-planning, or for the happiness of “owning a place” at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, getting a precise value out of Disney Vacation Club won't matter. However, everyone wants to make sure that they are getting a great deal and spend their points the best way possible. Everyone buys DVC with different plans and goals in mind, and there is no shortage of ways to spend those valuable points. Some people may want to bank and borrow and take long vacations in nice rooms once every three years, while others are happy to go several times a year and stay in moderate resorts for shorter stays.
Over the previous few years, the point charts had been shifted (note: your points cannot be `de-valued`, so any addition to one night is matched with a corresponding lower night elsewhere) so weekends aren't priced extraordinarily higher than weeknights. The distinction continues to be there, and in a few cases, it is significant. Back when weekends were (in a few cases) double the point price of weeknights, we'd use our factors for weekdays, and pay out of pocket for weekends. Sometimes, we`d change hotels, staying in resorts where we couldn’t use our points. With the weeknight vs. weekend gap having closed a bit, however, we now view this as typically greater trouble than its worth.
The most valuable tip we can provide isn't always the way you ought to use your points, but the way you shouldn`t use them. One of the largest issues for buying re-sale is the lack of ability to use DVC points for the Concierge Collection, the Disney Collection, or the Adventures by Disney Collection. Basically, Disney uses this as a way to try to entice people to buy points directly from them and not via the re-sale market. But the way you should look at this “drawback” of buying re-sale is the following: Who cares!
If you're a Disney Vacation Club member and you want to take a trip with Adventures by Disney, a Disney cruise, or simply a vacation to somewhere totally random, you are much better off “renting” out your DVC points instead of using them directly for RCI or any of the other collections. To get the maximum value from renting your points you can go on hire/sell/exchange forums at Mouseowners or Disboards or Facebook, in which you could usually get $11-$13 according to points. It is risky dealing with another owner directly, so there’s plenty of brokers such as the DVC Rental Store and David`s Vacation Club Rentals who act as an intermediary. Both are rated by the Better Business Bureau, have full-time staffs helping with the transactions, and each have really great reputations. The drawback of using a broker is that they usually pay much less, but the upside being you get more peace of mind.
Renting out your points is also a great way to cover the cost of your yearly maintenance fees, which can certainly be an annoying cost especially during years you aren’t planning to use your points for a vacation. The moral of the story? If you aren’t planning to use your DVC points for a Disneyworld, Disneyland, or Aulani vacation, then your best bet is to just rent them out and get cash for them. If you are not a DVC owner, then renting points from an owner (or through a broker) is a GREAT way to save money on a Disney vacation, sometimes getting you savings of around 50% of the cost of paying cash.
While most people dream about staying at The Grand Floridan, Copper Creek, or the Boardwalk, the point chart at Old Key West is very favorable in comparison to most of the different resorts. Along with Saratoga Springs Resort, it`s usually the easiest resort to book a room at any time of year. This is because of its massive size and location.
Now you know all the best ways to use your Disney Vacation Club Points! You can now think about the different ways to maximize the value of your DVC points.