??? Relatives want to contribute $$ towards the room, but you are using points

[ilovediznee]

we wil be taking my husband's whole family and my mother to OKW next May. already they are asking how much they need to give us towards the room. they know we have a mortgage, etc. with our points, but want to contribute financially towards the trip. any ideas?

 

[cibflower]

When we took our extended family last April, if they suggested a desire to contribute, we asked for one month's mortgage payment. I know this may sound kind of high in price, but that way we knew anyone who did contribute, contributed equally.

You may also want to consider them paying for something while you are down there like groceries, your park ticket, a character meal, etc.

Hope this helps,
Cheryl

 

[Dean]

There are many factors including your and their circumstances, who invited who, is this a one time trip or likely to be a recurring venture, how long are you staying, etc. In general, I'd say that the difference in points between what you would have paid without them and what it is costing you now times $10 per point is the gold standard. If you want to give them a break to $8 pp, that is reasonable. You can then divide proportionally. They should also share in the grocery costs. Many would just base it on the yearly maint fees for those points and many other variations you could consider.

When we take family, we don't ask them to pay us for the room, just cover most of the groceries. It's our way of helping them do things they couldn't do on their on. It's also nice to spend some quality time with family we don't get to do very often. We are able to do that without making a big difference to our month to month expenses but I suspect most people aren't in that situation.

What you don't want to do is end up having people feel uncomfortable now or later that you could help but best to handle anything at this time than have to dance later. Also, you don't want to start an ongoing expectation that you can't handle repeatedly.

 

[dvcdudes]

I would have them do something like pick up the check at dinner once or twice.
Like Dean said, if this is going to be a recurring thing, I would figure out a $ amount you feel comfortable with.

 

[SnowWitch]

My brother, wife and son are going with us next summer to VB, we normally would onl;y reserve a 1 bedroom but since they are joining us we are getting a 2 bedroom. So we are looking at the point difference between a 1 and 2 bedroom which is like 8 or 9 points and charging $8 per point. So like $80 a night!!! I think its fair.

 

[spruce]

A nice sit down dinner or groceries is all we ask.......spruce

 

[SleepyatDVC]

FOOODDD!!

 

[Figment2]

WHen I took some friends down in January, they paid for my air fare. In October some of the same friends are going again and I've told them to just buy me dinner.

I'm just glad I can share my joy of WDW with them.

Cyn

 

[PKS44]

Reasonable--- depends on what reason you are using...If you want to sort of offset your costs, then even $8pp seems a bit usurious to me. That's okay if you are wanting to make a little profit on the deal, if that is your reason for taking the money.
Of course you can possibly get $10pp on the open market, so if that is what you were going to do with those points then you are "giving up" something for your family. If you would just use the points later then they aren't "worth" $10pp or even $8pp.
Whether you bought the points recently or at the beginning of DVC -I would guess the "cost" of those points to you is probably around $5.50 to $6 a point. (maintenance + original cost) $8 a point would be a mark up of 33%. That's a lot more than the "time cost" of money adjusting for inflation and a fair return on a typical, reasonable investment.

I do welcome any corrections if I have misrepresented or miscalculated, since I am planning on lending some points to a friend but I don't want to do it at a loss.

Paul

 

[vernon]

This is much easier if it is simple to see the points cost i.e you book a 2 bed instead of a 1 to accommodate the extra people. Room cost is X number of points. If you're fitting an extra person into a room you would get anyway then IMHO taking money for "board" can look a little opportunistic ( let them treat you to a meal might be better in this case)
It also depends on the length of a stay, for a couple of nights a meal is probably fair, for 2 weeks it isn't.

I've previously done similar to that which Figment and Snowwitch have done. The cost in both cases has been similar but these were for long trips
.
Personally I don't have any problem in taking money for helping friends and family have top quality accommodation, even at $10 per point people are getting delux class rooms for the price of an All Star. If it involves getting a 2 bedroom instead of a 1 then they get the use of a full kitchen as well. Obviously if I felt the need to "treat" someone I wouldn't charge but IMHO if people are in a similar financial position to me I don't see why I should underwrite their vacation.

If it was the other way round and people were "treating me" I'd feel I should pay at least market rate as 1) I don't like to feel beholding to people 2) I wouldn't feel I could suggest a similar trip in the future. 3) I'd feel honour bound to repay them in another way.

I'm pretty simple in matters like this, I'd rather be upfront and discuss things in an open manner and come to a solution one that everyone feels happy with as opposed to the "treated" not knowing what sort of meal would suffice to repay the gift IMHO if someone is going to take exception to you charging them a realistic rate, they are likely to take exception to the meal they treat you to being more expensive than they would otherwise have gone to.

Similar to Dean, I'd like to feel both parties feel comfortable in repeating the exercise in future if you enjoyed each others company. If you're too generous, all parties may feel they can't suggest it.

 

[Doctor P]

Another way of looking at it if you got a 2BR instead of a 1BR is to charge them say 25% less than the deeply discounted rate recently reported for OKW studios ($149). If they got the studio on their own, tax would bring the total to about $167. If you charged 25% off the non-taxed studio rate, you would charge them about $112. Another way to justify this is to look at it as getting the maximum member's discount off the deeply discounted room. Everybody wins in this scenario.

 

[Dean]

Of course there are many ways to figure one's cost of points per year. The minimum is original cost pp divided by the number of years plus the yearly fees. Most of us would add a factor that takes into account the time value of money and some would add in the interest they paid if they financed it. At a purchase cost of $50 pp at OKW and using an expected return of around 8%, that comes to around $8 pp. The figure would be lower if you used a lower rate of return though over the long haul, 8% is extremely reasonable. For BW, financed purchases, WLV, higher upfront cost per point; the number will go up. There's also the long term risk of assessments, increasing fees and the like.

Of course everyone lookes at this differently depending on how they separate money and vacations in their mind, what they intended to use DVC for and the like.

 

[rbuzzotta]

I plan on taking my sister and BIL and nephew. We will be getting a 2 BR. I do not plan on charging them for any portion of the room because we will be getting a 2 BR regardless. My sister has offered to watch my girls while DH and I enjoy some time to ourselves (something we have yet to do on vacation!!). I am sure they will pitch in for groceries and pick up the tab for a meal or 2. Now, if I weren't going and let them use points, I would ask for something.........not 8-10 though. I think that sounds steep for family.......JMHO!

 

[Disney Adventurer]

To me it depends on who's going. I would probably expect more from friends than family. And for sure, Mom's and Dad's don't pay anything, after all, they've done there time and paid their "dues."

 

[Laurajean1014]

During one of our 10 days trips to OKW we use an add-on 2 bedroom for in-laws. All we ask is for them to take our ds out one evening while we wine and dine as a couple!

 

[sratay]

My wife and I bought into DVC (VB and OKW) as a second home. We love bringing family and friends down to WDW and VB to share the wonderful ambiance and hospitality the Disney offers in these time share units. We wouldn't think of charging people to stay at our "1st" home and the same holds true to our "home away from home". If someone wants to take us out for dinner, that's great, but they feel no obligation to do so. I just feel lucky to be able to afford the luxury of DVC. But I realize everyone is different, so there is no right or wrong way to share the accomodations. The most important thing would be to make sure everyone is on the same page so there are no misgivings later. Enjoy!
Steve in Iowa

 

[dianeschlicht]

I agree with the previous post. We always invite family and friends down. We don't ask for or expect anything, but most do something like a dinner out or cook a nice meal in the villa. The couple we are taking in January has already purchased CDS tickets for us. Some of our guests can afford it, some can't. It is fun to take those who can't afford to go any other way, so I don't care if they don't contribute.

 

[bicker]

We have to, at times, to preclude animosity between family members. If I didn't have my father pay, my mother would have been jealous.

I don't use dollars-per-point, though; I basically ask for how much they would have spent at whatever hotel they would have stayed at. We shared a two bedroom at OKW for a six days, and my father kicked in $580, how much he would have paid at PO.

 

[going2wdw]

We may have some friends to with us on a trip and I had planned to charge the difference in points between a 1 bd & 2 bd at 2* the maintenance for the year. This is about $6-7 dollars.

If family ever comes with us I probably won't charge them anything.

 

[TnRobin]

For my family, we have done the dinner/food thing. For our friends we have done $5 per point (This is what I calculate my basic cost in the points are).