SSR owners, did you buy there just to stay at other places instead?
I'm very curious, I see so many SSR owners saying this, that they never stay at their home resort, but wait till the 7 month window to book somewhere else. I'm wondering, if that is the case, why didn't you purchase at the resort that you loved in the first place? Just a totally curious question.
Yes, we did. As others have noted, it was what DVC was selling when we bought in early 2004.
Before buying, we had traded into BWV a few times through II. We used BWV for an annual Business Conference and it fit our needs. When it came time to buy DVC we did our research and "knew" exactly what we wanted: BWV, 200 pts, Dec UY. We tracked resales and made offers. After multiple rejections, "just missed," "contract wasn't as advertised" and two "seller changed their mind" experiences we threw in the towel and handed our credit card to a DVC guide to go on the waitlist: BWV, 200pts, Dec UY.
Four months later the DVC guide called, "Our contract was in!" We were thrilled ... until we received the paperwork and started going through it. Saratoga Springs? Oct UY? What the heck? We phoned the guide who apologized for the mistake and resent the paperwork.
Again, SSR, Oct UY.
The next call to the guide was different. He didn't apologize but instead started to strong arm us. He "sold" us on the reasons to buy SSR over BWV:
- Longer contract (SSR was the only resort, at that time, to offer a full 50 year contract)
- Lower dues
- Use the points at any DVC resort in the system (the "points are points" pitch)
- A verbal promise, "You won't have any problems booking BWV for your conference dates w/in the 7 month window."
Don't you know -- the guide was right! As much as we went into the deal worried and angry about being pushed into both resort and UY against our wishes ... our experience has been satisfactory. SSR points work at all the DVC locations. The Oct UY been 'ok' (although Dec would have been better).
In our nine years of ownership we've stayed at SSR twice - the first time being in Dec 2009 to visit the new Treehouse units.
"... why didn't you purchase at the resort that you loved in the first place?"
Because it didn't exist at that time? Maybe still doesn't exist? Because there is no one DVC location that we'd want to own?
Frankly, we don't vacation in Florida very often. At the time we purchased (2004) there were no DVC locations in CA/HI. Our usage pattern, except for the annual business conference, remains very scattered. In the past 12 months we've enjoyed Vero, BWV, and Grand Cal (2x). Looking ahead, we plan to hit BWV (January), AKV (May) and possibly a Concierge Collection location. It is important to us that DVC points work easily across a network of locations.