Is Aulani a bad choice?

[DisReno]

I am looking to add on 200 pts. We currently have 200 pts at Beach Club. We want to be able to have a beach vacation either at Vero, HH, or Aulani as often as we can. Have read some things where it doesn't sound like Aulani is the best choice. Just looking for the smartest choice.

 

[D-Trick]

Can you be more specific on what your concerns are?

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have points at both vero and aulani and love both. We live in Illinois. My husband loves spring training and goes to vero every year for a few days to catch baseball games on that side of florida. It’s a great place.

We also love aulani and try to once a year for at least 10 days. It’s a long haul from Illinois but once there it’s paradise to us. But we never leave. We have been around the islands so there is not much we have not seen. We go in either September or may do ocean view one bedrooms are easy to get even at 7 months. Starting in June thru august it gets much busier.

There’s not much nightlife at either resort. At vero in order to get an ocean view you need the 3 bedroom cottage or one of the ‘hotel’ studio rooms with ocean view.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

There isn't much of an issue booking Aulani at 7 months so I don't see a need to own there specifically. It's not a bad choice but I'd weigh it the same as SSR or other sleep around points that people buy.

 

[Willow1213]

The downside to Aulani is the major increase in dues for a Beach resort. You should be able to easily book Aulani at 7 months, outside of major holidays.

 

[Frederic Civish]

I am looking to add on 200 pts. We currently have 200 pts at Beach Club. We want to be able to have a beach vacation either at Vero, HH, or Aulani as often as we can. Have read some things where it doesn't sound like Aulani is the best choice. Just looking for the smartest choice.

Aulani has not been in high demand. Yes, it is great for people who want to visit Hawaii or plan to visit there frequently. But it seems like Disney planned on a ton of interest from the U.S. and then also expected a ton of interest from other countries around the Pacific, and the tourism from Asia and other places has diminished a lot from COVID.

So the result is that Aulani DOES rent out, but not as quickly as some and it might not be necessary to OWN there, especially in the next few years.

In then end, you will have to decide what makes sense for you. If it does make sense and you plan to go there at least every 2 to 3 years, then it is NOT a bad choice at all.

 

[DonMacGregor]

The downside to Aulani is the major increase in dues for a Beach resort. You should be able to easily book Aulani at 7 months, outside of major holidays.

I don’t think you can look at Aulani through the same lens as VB or HHI, though. One, hurricanes literally almost never hit the Hawaiian Islands. The last real big storm to hit Oahu was Hurricane Iniki way back in 1992. Hurricane Lane, in 2018, was the wettest ever, but didn’t make landfall. So you can see catastrophic weather events are pretty far apart. Florida and South Carolina have a strong potential to be hit with big storms every single year. The weather patterns in the northeast Pacific just don’t send big storms that way.

Second, the construction is much different. Aulani, under a thin patina of theming, is basically two large modern curtain wall towers. Interior hallways, very little exterior trim that is susceptible to decay, etc. Much different than the low and spread out (and in Hilton Head much lower lying) VB and HHI. At the end of the day, Aulani gets less weather exposure than even any of the WDW resorts.

When Aulani opened in 2011, non-subsidized dues were $5.73 PP, versus VB at $6.78 (non-subsidized) and HHI $5.68. Today, we're at $9.14 PP for Aulani, $12.85 for VB, and $10.73 for HHI (and $9.36 for OKW, for good measure, which was "only" $4.98 in 2011). So, Aulani is definitely increasing at a slower rate than the East Coast beach resorts. Finally, since 2011, dues at OKW, BWV, SSR, AKV, and BLT have all increased more, percentage-wise, than Aulani.

 

[KalamityJane]

You can get some really good deals on Aulani and the contract doesn’t end until 2062, where SSR ends in 2054. If you are looking to go to Aulani, the hotel rooms and standard view rooms which are lower point cost need the 11mo advantage to book. The dues are higher but if you can get a good price per point, the extra length of contract makes it a decent choice for SAP. There’s also subsidized dues contracts that are the cheapest dues at DVC, if you can find one.

 

[kboo]

You can get some really good deals on Aulani and the contract doesn’t end until 2062, where SSR ends in 2054. If you are looking to go to Aulani, the hotel rooms and standard view rooms which are lower point cost need the 11mo advantage to book. The dues are higher but if you can get a good price per point, the extra length of contract makes it a decent choice for SAP. There’s also subsidized dues contracts that are the cheapest dues at DVC, if you can find one.

^^ Agree with this!

After our recent trip to Aulani I really toyed with the idea of getting a passel of AUL resale points, with the idea of banking and going every other year, since we had such a great time there. Ultimately, though, I realized that if you're "ok" with paying for oceanviews, you can use SAP from somewhere else without having to deal with AUL dues. Also, we spent a lot of points for a week, and if we were to go back, I'd definitely island hop, and only spend 3-5 days at AUL. So, looking at 11 mo advantage for 3-5 days every 2-3 years ... didn't seem so necessary for me. I guess, consider whether the point savings for booking a lesser view every 1-2 years is balanced by saving on dues or having a different home resort.

I just looked at the point cost difference between standard and oceanview - in a studio, regardless of the week, it's about 55-60 points more for a week in OV (compared to standard); even in a 2BR the difference is 110-140 points over a week. So that's like 20 points/night, max.

For a beach vacation, and especially Hawaii, I don't mind being "stuck" in an oceanview room, especially since our future trips will usually involve more casual/affordable stays in other locations before unwinding at Aulani. That said, reading about <$100/pp Aulani deals still has me wondering ...

 

[kilik64]

If you can find an Aulani subsidized contract, definitely Aulani. If not there's some argument to be made to get another one just book there at 7 months.

VB and HHI, frankly, are pretty stupid buys. High dues and both end in 2042. I don't think its crazy to think they will be the first resorts to go to a 0 value for purchase or close enough to it, to where you give it away to get out from paying the ever increasing high dues.

There are other factors obviously (cost to get to Aulani can pretty high depending on where you live being one), but buying VB or HHI shouldn't even be part of the equation.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Everyone's set out what could possibly be a concern; you might have different ones. For the price of Aulani resale I think it's a really good deal, BUT it is also important to look at the Aulani points charts. Island Garden view is a good choice if you can't get Standard, but it's still a high point cost compared to WDW.

 

[sndral]

I am looking to add on 200 pts. We currently have 200 pts at Beach Club. We want to be able to have a beach vacation either at Vero, HH, or Aulani as often as we can. Have read some things where it doesn't sound like Aulani is the best choice. Just looking for the smartest choice.

Have you spent much time visiting the Hawaiian islands?
I personally wouldn’t buy Aulani because although I like visiting Hawaii I far prefer to stay on other islands & wouldn’t want to limit myself to O’ahu.

 

[DanCali]

If you can find an Aulani subsidized contract, definitely Aulani. If not there's some argument to be made to get another one just book there at 7 months.

We added Aulani subsidized to use as a trader for 7-month bookings. The subsidized contract is not as cheap as regular Aulani or some of the 2042 resorts, but I expect we can also get a higher price on it if we sell it 10-15 years down the road. In the meantime, we'll be paying low dues to compensate for the compromises we have to make for 7-month bookings.

But we also own BLT and AKV and looking to add some other resorts (VGF, PVB) we'd like to book with more certainty during higher demand periods at 11-months out.

 

[kboo]

Have you spent much time visiting the Hawaiian islands?
I personally wouldn’t buy Aulani because although I like visiting Hawaii I far prefer to stay on other islands & wouldn’t want to limit myself to O’ahu.

I definitely agree with that. This was our first trip back to Hawaii in a few years, and I felt like spending a whole week in Ko Olina was a little limiting. Coming from the East Coast I could see us spending a few days at Aulani at the beginning or end of the trip to get over jet lag or unwind as the case may be.

 

[Littlelulu01]

We own Aulani subsidized. I NEVER see the standard 3 bedroom villa available even at 11 months plus 7 days I wonder if that unit even exists anymore. We are able to get the standard hotel room category at 11 months. I love the location of these rooms and you pretty much need to own aulani to get them. If you’re looking at ocean or island view and bigger units, the availability outside summer is pretty easy at 7 months. I love the the low tat (transient accommodation tax) on the hotel category dvc units. I don’t really understand how subsidy is calculated but the percentage discount has gone up as time goes by. We get a room in Hawaii for around $100/night with our subsidized dues. We’re west coast and Hawaii is easy to get to so all our unused points on any of our contracts end up getting burned up at Aulani.

 

[DisReno]

Can you be more specific on what your concerns are?

I don't know, exactly. LOL. I wanted a beach vacation often, but now I understand that after 2042, all bets are off for Hilton Head and Vero. We do sometimes rent out our points, and hope that's still possible for Aulani. I'm still debating if it's something we still should do.

 

[DisReno]

Have you spent much time visiting the Hawaiian islands?
I personally wouldn’t buy Aulani because although I like visiting Hawaii I far prefer to stay on other islands & wouldn’t want to limit myself to O’ahu.

We have, we actually like all of them. The reason we would buy Aulani is right now it's the cheapest, honestly, for 200 points and I know we can book other resorts at 7 months out.

 

[DisReno]

We own Aulani subsidized. I NEVER see the standard 3 bedroom villa available even at 11 months plus 7 days I wonder if that unit even exists anymore. We are able to get the standard hotel room category at 11 months. I love the location of these rooms and you pretty much need to own aulani to get them. If you’re looking at ocean or island view and bigger units, the availability outside summer is pretty easy at 7 months. I love the the low tat (transient accommodation tax) on the hotel category dvc units. I don’t really understand how subsidy is calculated but the percentage discount has gone up as time goes by. We get a room in Hawaii for around $100/night with our subsidized dues. We’re west coast and Hawaii is easy to get to so all our unused points on any of our contracts end up getting burned up at Aulani.

What does owning it subsidized mean? And what does the tat mean?

 

[DanCali]

What does owning it subsidized mean? And what does the tat mean?

Disney made some accounting mistake early on and the maintenance fees were understated. So all contracts that originated prior to July 6, 2011 have dues that are lower by 25% (currently $6.87/point instead of $9.14/point).

Those contracts are relatively rare and will be even harder to find if you're trying for a specific use year. They will obviously cost more upfront (think 25% to 40% premium over regular Aulani, depending how loaded or stripped, and less for larger contracts vs smaller ones) since people are willing to pay more to have lower dues over time.

 

[Littlelulu01]

And what does the tat mean?

The (tat) is the transient accommodation tax. Most dvc properties have the taxes paid and wrapped into the annual maintenance fees. The Grand Californian Villas have the tat built into the maintenance fees. The Disneyland Hotel Villas will have it separated like Aulani so you’ll only pay it when when you stay at one of those two properties. If I use my Aulani or Disneyland Hotel Villa points to stay at Grand Californian villas I don’t pay the tat and likewise I only pay tat when I use any dvc points at these two locations.

The state of Hawaii charges visitors the tat and it varies from year to year. DVC posts an annual tat chart which varies according to room type and season. The tat for our Jan/Feb 2023 Aulani stay was about $5/night for our hotel room and about $100/night for our ocean front grand villa. This in addition to the maintenance fees on the points used.

Regarding the subsidized maintenance fees: good explanation above. I’ll add that the value of the subsidy has grown over the years. Back in 2011 the subsidy was $1.42 per point that dvc paid. This year dvc paid $2.27 per point of my maintenance fees. Far as I can tell dvc kicks in about 25% of my Aulani maintenance fees and will continue to do so over the lifetime of the contract. That’s more substantial a savings rate over the life of contract than resale brokers advertise.