So I thought Id write a post in case anyone else wanted a math heavy analysis of DVC point cost. I went for my tour with Disney and was sold. (My parents were already members and we were already interested so it wasnt a hard sell). When the guy was talking to me, I kept getting a sense that he wasnt telling me the complete math story of what it was costing me. It took me a while to figure out what was bothering me and the following is how I made sense of it
.
1st of all, Im basing all my math on resale prices.
If you look at straight cost per point, at a place like the timeshare store, costs are ranked as follows.
Cheapest to most expensive on initial cost
1. Vero Beach $59/pt
2. Hilton $65
3. OKW $67
4. Saratoga $75
5. Boardwalk $79
6. Animal Kingdom Villas $79
7. Wilderness $80
8. Beach Club $93
9. BLT $100
10. Aulani $105
11. Californian $132
12. Floridian $145
Seems like if I want to buy a ton of points cheaply I should buy Vero Beach. (I'm tempted!)
Remember though that these are 50 year contracts. So the total cost of ownership includes
Initial cost plus yearly fees x 50 years.
So for example if I bought 100 BLT points at $100/pt, my initial cost is $10,000. Lets say the yearly fee stays at $5/pt/year then my yearly fee is $500. So my total cost for ownership is $10,000+$500x50=$35,000. So the first thing I learned was that the initial cost is ONLY 28.5% of the total cost of membership. The annual fees is the major cost of ownership. Each $1 difference in annual fee between properties is the same as paying a WHOPPING $50 difference in initial price per point for a membership.
So how do annual fees stack up? They vary widely.
Annual fee
1. BLT $4.78
2. Saratoga $4.91
3. Californian $4.94
4. Floridian $5.41
5. OKW $5.41
6. Beach Club $5.79
7. Wilderness $5.93
8. AKV $5.97
9. Boardwalk $6.01
10. Hilton $6.28
11. Aulani $6.44
12. Vero Beach $7.75
Also, over 50 years, I would get 50x100 points which is 5000 points total. $35,000/5000 points=$7/point. That is how much each point costs me. So if a stay cost me 250 points for a week lets say, then that is $1750 for a week. So I decided to take annual fee into account and reorder which points are cheapest per point over the life of the contract. So for a 100 point contract, a person gets 5000 points total, and I repriced the contracts per point of the 5000.
So how does this reorder things? If you take annual fees into account, then it looks like this .
1. Saratoga $6.41/pt
2. OKW $6.75
3. BLT $6.78
4. Wilderness $7.53
5. AKV $7.55
6. Hilton Head $7.58
7. Californian $7.58
8. Boardwalk $7.59
9. Beach Club $7.65
10. Floridian $8.31
11. Aulani $8.54
12. Vero Beach $8.93
So while Vero Beach seems like a steal initially, it becomes by far the most expensive DVC property to own. BLT which seems expensive initially becomes the 3rd cheapest property to own.
One last adjustment. The contracts expire at different times if you buy resale. So what happens when you take the length of ownership into account? (I googled the info-can't post links yet)
So the cost for Beach Club would be initial cost + annual fees x 27. The total points would be # points purchased x 27.
Taking this into account then the ranking from cheapest to most expensive per point looks like this
1. Saratoga $6.83
2. BLT $7.00
3. AKV $7.85
4. Californian $7.87
5. OKW $7.89
6. Floridian $8.37
7. Aulani $8.67
8. Hilton $8.69
9. Wilderness $8.89
10. Boardwalk $8.94
11. Beach club $9.23
12. Vero Beach $9.94
BLT becomes the 2nd cheapest property to own. Vero Beach becomes even worse. Floridian is nearly 16% cheaper than Vero Beach!! And the contracts with shorter time frames do worse as well except for Saratoga.
Caveats (because there are always some) .
1. If you are planning on reselling your points at sometime, then you have some extra steps to take into your calculations
2. The shorter time frames may be better worth it because you will lay out less money overall
3. Home resort matters (thats why we dont all rush out and buy Saratoga Springs)
4. Annual fees will change (I know) but the principle wont (that annual fees really matter A LOT).
So my main point is that the initial price per point doesnt really matter nearly as much as annual fee which seems small but adds up. Length of contract matters too. It is the lack of discussion on annual fee that made the math not feel right when I was talking to the DVC rep from Disney. Remembering this is what keeps me from buying a ton of Vero Beach points.
So here you go (I have a google spreadsheet but I can't post links yet).
1st of all, Im basing all my math on resale prices.
If you look at straight cost per point, at a place like the timeshare store, costs are ranked as follows.
Cheapest to most expensive on initial cost
1. Vero Beach $59/pt
2. Hilton $65
3. OKW $67
4. Saratoga $75
5. Boardwalk $79
6. Animal Kingdom Villas $79
7. Wilderness $80
8. Beach Club $93
9. BLT $100
10. Aulani $105
11. Californian $132
12. Floridian $145
Seems like if I want to buy a ton of points cheaply I should buy Vero Beach. (I'm tempted!)
Remember though that these are 50 year contracts. So the total cost of ownership includes
Initial cost plus yearly fees x 50 years.
So for example if I bought 100 BLT points at $100/pt, my initial cost is $10,000. Lets say the yearly fee stays at $5/pt/year then my yearly fee is $500. So my total cost for ownership is $10,000+$500x50=$35,000. So the first thing I learned was that the initial cost is ONLY 28.5% of the total cost of membership. The annual fees is the major cost of ownership. Each $1 difference in annual fee between properties is the same as paying a WHOPPING $50 difference in initial price per point for a membership.
So how do annual fees stack up? They vary widely.
Annual fee
1. BLT $4.78
2. Saratoga $4.91
3. Californian $4.94
4. Floridian $5.41
5. OKW $5.41
6. Beach Club $5.79
7. Wilderness $5.93
8. AKV $5.97
9. Boardwalk $6.01
10. Hilton $6.28
11. Aulani $6.44
12. Vero Beach $7.75
Also, over 50 years, I would get 50x100 points which is 5000 points total. $35,000/5000 points=$7/point. That is how much each point costs me. So if a stay cost me 250 points for a week lets say, then that is $1750 for a week. So I decided to take annual fee into account and reorder which points are cheapest per point over the life of the contract. So for a 100 point contract, a person gets 5000 points total, and I repriced the contracts per point of the 5000.
So how does this reorder things? If you take annual fees into account, then it looks like this .
1. Saratoga $6.41/pt
2. OKW $6.75
3. BLT $6.78
4. Wilderness $7.53
5. AKV $7.55
6. Hilton Head $7.58
7. Californian $7.58
8. Boardwalk $7.59
9. Beach Club $7.65
10. Floridian $8.31
11. Aulani $8.54
12. Vero Beach $8.93
So while Vero Beach seems like a steal initially, it becomes by far the most expensive DVC property to own. BLT which seems expensive initially becomes the 3rd cheapest property to own.
One last adjustment. The contracts expire at different times if you buy resale. So what happens when you take the length of ownership into account? (I googled the info-can't post links yet)
So the cost for Beach Club would be initial cost + annual fees x 27. The total points would be # points purchased x 27.
Taking this into account then the ranking from cheapest to most expensive per point looks like this
1. Saratoga $6.83
2. BLT $7.00
3. AKV $7.85
4. Californian $7.87
5. OKW $7.89
6. Floridian $8.37
7. Aulani $8.67
8. Hilton $8.69
9. Wilderness $8.89
10. Boardwalk $8.94
11. Beach club $9.23
12. Vero Beach $9.94
BLT becomes the 2nd cheapest property to own. Vero Beach becomes even worse. Floridian is nearly 16% cheaper than Vero Beach!! And the contracts with shorter time frames do worse as well except for Saratoga.
Caveats (because there are always some) .
1. If you are planning on reselling your points at sometime, then you have some extra steps to take into your calculations
2. The shorter time frames may be better worth it because you will lay out less money overall
3. Home resort matters (thats why we dont all rush out and buy Saratoga Springs)
4. Annual fees will change (I know) but the principle wont (that annual fees really matter A LOT).
So my main point is that the initial price per point doesnt really matter nearly as much as annual fee which seems small but adds up. Length of contract matters too. It is the lack of discussion on annual fee that made the math not feel right when I was talking to the DVC rep from Disney. Remembering this is what keeps me from buying a ton of Vero Beach points.
So here you go (I have a google spreadsheet but I can't post links yet).