# Should I buy OKW or Saratoga to use in Hawaii



## Emmahattiejacob (Feb 25, 2011)

We live in Cailfornia and travel to Hawaii every other year.....we like the new Disney property but weren't sure how well we could get in on the 7 month window ......we have thought about buying direct ....any thoughts.....


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## glypnirsgirl (Feb 25, 2011)

I have had pretty good luck using my OKW points to book other resorts at the 7 month mark. There are instances that are almost impossible at the 7 month window:

BCV or BWV during Food and WIne 
any resort for the month of December (admittedly, I missed the 7 month window and was actually at about 5 months when making this attempt)
Vero Beach during the summer 

I have heard of friends from DVC even getting in Grand California at 7 months. I have not attempted this myself.

Other than those limited exceptions, I have been able to book other resorts at the 7 month window.

I have no idea what availability will be for DVC non-owners at Aulani. I doubt that DVC will deposit to RCI for the first 18 months or so. Certainly trading in using RCI could be much less expensive than buying DVC points and booking at 7 months. However, I doubt that it will be available in RCI for the first year or two.

I think that buying a resale OKW or SSR contract makes a lot of sense for using for Aulani. It is much less expensive MFs for OKW or SSR than Aulani will be, the point value is the same, the points will cost less up front.

Unless the resale contract was extended, OKW will expire 15 years before SSR. Because of this, the SSR contract may be a better value for you (remaining years divided by cost). 

elaine


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## littlestar (Feb 25, 2011)

I've wondered about how hard it will be to get in at 7 months.  I'm wondering if the Japanese market will be a major player in regards to availability in Hawaii.  Should be interesting to watch.  

I'd probably be tempted to buy some SSR points and try getting in at 7 months, but I'd hate to tell you wrong since you live on the west coast. Have you thought about points at the Grand Californian instead?


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## glypnirsgirl (Feb 25, 2011)

Points at GCV are in the 90s (resale) Points at SSR or OKW are in the 60-70s - depending on whether the contract is stripped or not.

elaine


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## Twinkstarr (Feb 25, 2011)

To the OP, if it were me(DVC owner at SSR/VB) I'd buy where I want to stay. 

I specifically bought Vero Beach points, because that's where we want to stay for Spring Break. In all the years we've owned never had a problem at the 11 month window, even managed to book one of the six Beach Cottages. Nor have we had a problem getting Grand Villas for the holidays at SSR at the 11 month mark.

Now I do play with the 7 month mark with the SSR points, but I'm going to WDW and I've been able to get my A choice at the 7 month mark. Now if I really wanted to stay at HHI/VB/VGC/Aulani and have to wait till the 7 month window I don't want to hear that nothings available and one of those resorts was the only place I was considering.


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## bnoble (Feb 25, 2011)

It's just too soon to know with Aulani---and will be for a couple of years, until that resort has a fairly large owner base.

If you are buying specifically for Aulani, I would either buy there now, or hold off for a few years to see how things shake out, at which time you might have some confidence that your preferred visit dates are likely to be available at 7 months.


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## chriskre (Feb 25, 2011)

Emmahattiejacob said:


> We live in Cailfornia and travel to Hawaii every other year.....we like the new Disney property but weren't sure how well we could get in on the 7 month window ......we have thought about buying direct ....any thoughts.....



When do you plan on going to Hawaii?

If you're following the school calendar you may need to buy there to have the 11 month booking advantage.  If you want the grand villas you're probably going to need to own there as well.  

I've had luck booking Vero with SSR points at 1 months notice but I was taking whatever was available which were studios and Inn rooms.  If those rooms are all you need then you may be able to get something.  You might be facing the parking lot though.   

If you bought SSR then you could do a points transfer from an Alauni owner and you'd retain the booking advantage of those points.


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## LisaH (Feb 26, 2011)

Does DVC have points saver program or give points discount for last minute reservation?


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## chriskre (Feb 26, 2011)

LisaH said:


> Does DVC have points saver program or give points discount for last minute reservation?



Nope.  :annoyed:


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## Emmahattiejacob (Feb 26, 2011)

*More info on our plans*



DenLo said:


> Aulani is a large enough resort that I believe you will be able to get a reservation at the 7 month mark, but not for every date in the year.  One of the busiest times for the Japanese will be during Golden week which begins April 29 through May 8 in 2011, in 2012 it's from April 28 through May 6th.
> If Aulani was open in 2011 Easter week and Golden week would have conflicted and it would even harder to make reservations for that period.  Another busy time will during Spring break, March and the first half of April, and then Christmas and New Year's eve weeks.
> 
> When Aulani sells out, IMO these four periods will be the hardest dates to book at the 7 month mark.  I think if you really want to travel during these times to Aulani you need to buy points at Aulani.
> ...


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## darius (Mar 2, 2011)

*If you are going to travel during peak times...*

Hi Andy,

Just my 2 cents..  If you are going to travel in peak times, and frequently to the Disney resort in Hawaii I would recommend buying there.   Having said that, with other resorts in the past (during non peak times), I've generally been able to get everything I wanted at 7 months out (WDW-Beach Club, Boardwalk, etc).   

Hawaii will be a difficult thing to guess, however if you really love Hawaii and plan on using some points to cruise I would simply buy direct from Disney.    FWIW,  I purchased my first contract through resale in 2005 (SSR), and added each contract (Additional SSR and Grand CA) direct from Disney.    When I added from Disney direct, the resale market was (at most) $10 per point diffferent from resale.   Now with you wanting to go to Hawaii most of the time I would recommend buying direct from Disney because you won't be able to get any "deals" on hawaii resale for some time to come.

Good luck!


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## chalee94 (Mar 2, 2011)

LisaH said:


> Does DVC have points saver program or give points discount for last minute reservation?



if they did, they'd be violating the law.


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## bnoble (Mar 2, 2011)

Not necessarily.  Wyndham does this, and I believe other point systems do too.  The books can be balanced by using spoilage points.  DVC instead monetizes spoilage points by renting out inventory backed by them.  Some fraction of that revenue goes to offset dues.


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## a1000monkeys (Mar 2, 2011)

I think once the resort is fully built out in 2013, there shouldn't be a big problem getting reservations at 7 months out except for the highest demand times around spring break, summer, and X-mas/new years, bascially anytime that most schools are out on break.

I would expect that nearly 1/3 of the resort sells to Japanese.  Japanese school kids get far less vacation time than they do in the U.S.  Most school have four weeks in late summer so I suspect this will be one of the highest demand times at Aulani.

Until the resort is complete there will be fewer rooms available so you may expereince some difficulty getting all the dates you want, especially holiday weekends which will probably get booked up by local owners.

FWIW, when I was on the phone with Member Services the other day there was decent availability for a 1br in mid-September, just a few weeks after the grand opening but within the 7 month reservation window.


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## BocaBum99 (Mar 2, 2011)

Aulani is so expensive from a points point of view that I have pretty much decided I am only going to go there via RCI.


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