Aulani Thoughts

[SueDonJ]

All,

I came across this on YouTube while looking for videos of Aulani property and rooms. This is the 3BR Grand Villa model (which looks pretty sweet).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra6Fby8GRJo

A couple of general comments:

1) Very consistent feel with the 3BR at Maui Ocean Club
2) Spectacular view from this unit (but is the sunset from this building blocked by JW Marriott?)
3) My MOC unit doesn't have a bidet
4) Aulani Grand Villa has an extra 400 sq ft versus MOC (but I'm not sure where it went because the living/dining area seems a tiny bit smaller??)
5) The overhead shower heads are very cool, we don't have those either

Looks like a beautiful room and proeprty, I'll see if I can find a video of just a simple 2BR.

Best,

Greg

It does look beautiful but man alive - look at how much it costs! 3BR Point requirements for a week range from 665 for a Standard View in the lowest season to 1,288 for an Ocean View during holidays. Dues on those points range from $3.89 at Bay Lake Tower to $6.77 at Vero Beach.

The 3BR Ocean View for a week in June will cost you 938 points. Cheapest dues on that would be $3,648.82, most expensive would be $6,350.26. If you want the home resort advantage at Aulani it would be $5,374.74. Wow! That's without any buy-in costs.

 

[slum808]

It does look beautiful but man alive - look at how much it costs! 3BR Point requirements for a week range from 665 for a Standard View in the lowest season to 1,288 for an Ocean View during holidays. Dues on those points range from $3.89 at Bay Lake Tower to $6.77 at Vero Beach.

The 3BR Ocean View for a week in June will cost you 938 points. Cheapest dues on that would be $3,648.82, most expensive would be $6,350.26. If you want the home resort advantage at Aulani it would be $5,374.74. Wow! That's without any buy-in costs.

One of the users on another site who routinely reviews new deeds, commented on a huge point purchase made before the MF fiasco. He finally worked it that it was enough points for the OV GV during a holiday week + the 10% premium for a fixed week. Even with the old MF cost that a hell of a purchase. $140k + $5500 MF ouch!

 

[GregT]

All,

I just got the call from Disney's Tele-Sales department communicating that they've gotten approval now to sell in California.

He confirmed that the $5.73/point MF does not have any developer subsidy in it.

Current pricing (as has already been noted elsewhere) is $112/point for 160 points and $104/point for 220 points. Minimum purchase is 100 points for $120/point.

Best,

Greg

 

[presley]

All,

I just got the call from Disney's Tele-Sales department communicating that they've gotten approval now to sell in California.

He confirmed that the $5.73/point MF does not have any developer subsidy in it.

Current pricing (as has already been noted elsewhere) is $112/point for 160 points and $104/point for 220 points. Minimum purchase is 100 points for $120/point.

Best,

Greg

That is good news. I just went to look at the price of a 70 point resale contract that was online a few days ago. It is no longer listed. It was at the old MF rate and for sure less than the above pricing.

I think the seller wanted to return the contract to Disney, so that is probably why it is gone. Disney has offered to buy back all the old contracts. Oh, well.

 

[GregT]

That is good news. I just went to look at the price of a 70 point resale contract that was online a few days ago. It is no longer listed. It was at the old MF rate and for sure less than the above pricing.

I think the seller wanted to return the contract to Disney, so that is probably why it is gone. Disney has offered to buy back all the old contracts. Oh, well.

Drat -- if I could find one of the contracts at the old MF rate, I might buy it. Please let me know if you see one.

Thanks!

 

[slum808]

Its been reported that Disney is offering a full refund including any interest paid on the loan. I doubt we'll be seeing any low mf contracts come up untill this offer ends. Even then there's a high possiblity that Disney will ROFR these contracts to get rid of the subsidy.

Drat -- if I could find one of the contracts at the old MF rate, I might buy it. Please let me know if you see one.

Thanks!

 

[GregT]

Its been reported that Disney is offering a full refund including any interest paid on the loan. I doubt we'll be seeing any low mf contracts come up untill this offer ends. Even then there's a high possiblity that Disney will ROFR these contracts to get rid of the subsidy.

This would certainly be my expectation -- that Disney would offer a full refund, and any private transaction would get ROFR'd...

But still fun to look for!

Best,

Greg

 

[marmite]

Sometimes reading the disboards I get the sense that a lot of DVC owners don't really consider themselves timeshare owners but something along the lines of Disney family members. Okay, maybe not that extreme but it's a weird mentality. That must have something to do with the overall reluctance of the majority not being open to private exchanges - "Oh no, I just *couldn't* give up my DVC for a lowly timeshare."

Maybe some do, but for me, I will likely never trade my DVC because it is really poor value for me -- I could rent my points for much more, and then rent a timeshare week (on ebay or the board at TUG), and have a bucket of money left over (almost joking!).

Even when I go to book a full week at a DVC resort, it takes a lot of points, which equate to a lot of money with the maintenance fees per point (not even considering the initial investment). The difference between me trying to book a week during the low season vs. high is huge, so if I was trying to do a trade I think it would be tough. Dollar for dollar, it might be 'fair' to trade a few days at DVC for a full timeshare week elsewhere. I don't know how many people would want to do that.

But as for Aulani, I am saving my points for a trip there. Yesterday I booked a few days at DVC Beach Club Villas and was talking to the agent about the availability of Aulani at the 7 month window (for people who own DVC but not Aulani). He said it was quite easy to get at 7 months, ESPECIALLY oceanview. The standard view (the cheapest rooms) go first.

If I love Aulani, I would be tempted to get a cheap contract at any DVC, and use it for Aulani. I don't see the need to own there at all, and couldn't imagine how the 'numbers' could ever work out.

Cheers.

 

[ocdb8r]

We were at Ko Olina last month and made it over to Aulani for the tour. While it's definitely a nice resort, I wasn't blown away. To me it fit the bill of many of the other DVC resorts (and with all the talk, I think I was expecting much more). They have created beautiful common areas (reminded me of Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom and the Grand Californian with big open spaces and enormous lobbies...and very rich appointments and attention to detail), but as with most DVC resorts, the units are appointed with very straight-forward amenities and furnishings (nothing overly luxurious). The pool area and slides are nice, but not as dramatic as they seemed in the artist renderings. I thought the artificial reef was a letdown given its size (and the additional cost to use it). I did appreciate all the little extra activities they have on offer, especially the attention to Hawaii and it's history.

However, I left wondering if anything on offer was worth the premium Disney is commanding. There are quite a few very nice alternatives in Hawaii and I just couldn't see any justification for the ownership and maintenance fee cost for Aulani. I know this is often a debate with Disney, but given we're not talking about a resort where they offer the unique benefit of being on-site with the parks, I wonder if the little extras will be enough to make Aulani more of a success than Vero Beach and Hilton Head.

 

[slum808]

However, I left wondering if anything on offer was worth the premium Disney is commanding. There are quite a few very nice alternatives in Hawaii and I just couldn't see any justification for the ownership and maintenance fee cost for Aulani.

While Aulani itself may not offer enough value for the price Disney is asking, it certainly upgrades the “Club”. Many existing owners are excited to go, and for new owners like myself, it finally tipped the scales in favor of buying in. I purchased VGC because I wanted the home resort priority, but the abilty to use my points at Aulani played a big factor in our purchase.

While Aulani will help Disney sell other properties, the problem of selling Aulani remains. I think Disney missed the boat by not developing a second Disneyland property at the same time. There are a lot of east cost DVC owners who want to stay at VGC on the way over to Aulani. The problem is getting into VGC at the 7 month window is spotty at best. I think in some ways, the new trust point system that Marriott has could have worked for Disney. If they combined ownership in Aulani with the new DL property, they could have spread the Aulani’s cost into the trust. If they had a three resort package with Aulani, DL, and a ski area, I would consider paying retail for that. I think it would be very attractive to west cost or Asia rim customers.

 

[Culli]

Sometimes reading the disboards I get the sense that a lot of DVC owners don't really consider themselves timeshare owners but something along the lines of Disney family members. Okay, maybe not that extreme but it's a weird mentality. That must have something to do with the overall reluctance of the majority not being open to private exchanges - "Oh no, I just *couldn't* give up my DVC for a lowly timeshare."

I'm similar to Tink, own DVC among other TS units. Keep in mind most people on the DISBOARDs are on the DVC site as Disney owners not necesarrily TS owners. Yes technically the same thing but they bought as the whole "Disney" thing and making their trips to DIsney, not as timeshare owners. You should see the wars that start when people ask about trading and the general response is don't buy DVC to trade it is too expensive. If you buy DVC buy it to stay at WDW/WDL oh my you wouldn't believe how little a majority of the DVC disboards know anything about timeshares. On the flip side TUG is all about timeshares and how to use them, max your value etc. A majority of post on DVC dis is pretty much Disney only related.

Most TS owners don't know anything about timeshares, and DVC is no different. I would guess a vast majority of people on TUG are pretty savy timeshare owners.........the exact opposite is true for the disboards. The DVC owners that understand TS are usually found here on this site.

 

[mj2vacation]

How much would it cost to rent the villa for cash?

 

[Twinkstarr]

I'm similar to Tink, own DVC among other TS units. Keep in mind most people on the DISBOARDs are on the DVC site as Disney owners not necesarrily TS owners. Yes technically the same thing but they bought as the whole "Disney" thing and making their trips to DIsney, not as timeshare owners. You should see the wars that start when people ask about trading and the general response is don't buy DVC to trade it is too expensive. If you buy DVC buy it to stay at WDW/WDL oh my you wouldn't believe how little a majority of the DVC disboards know anything about timeshares. On the flip side TUG is all about timeshares and how to use them, max your value etc. A majority of post on DVC dis is pretty much Disney only related.

Most TS owners don't know anything about timeshares, and DVC is no different. I would guess a vast majority of people on TUG are pretty savy timeshare owners.........the exact opposite is true for the disboards. The DVC owners that understand TS are usually found here on this site.

So true, though I think we are seeing more questions about RCI-trading than usual. Seems like everytime I look at the DISboards there is at least one current thread about trading.

Tim from DVC News has brought up that a lot of people have banked points they need to use and perhaps that has something to do with it. I was just down this past weekend and all 36 GV's at SSR were full, which I have never seen even Thanksgiving week.

 

[MichaelColey]

How much would it cost to rent the villa for cash?

I don't think Disney gives the ability to see VGC rental rates online, but I would expect Disney to rent them for about $500/night for a Studio, $750/night for a 1BR, $1000/night for a 2BR and $2000/night for a 3BR. I could be off on that and I'm sure it varies depending on the time of year, but it's probably fairly close.

If you can rent from an owner, I would expect the rate to be about $12/point, so (for a fairly average season): about $350/night for a Studio, about $600/night for a 1BR, about $750/night for a 2BR and about $1600/night for a 3BR.

I wouldn't expect availability to be very good either direct from Disney or through an owner.

 

[glypnirsgirl]

I looked up a 2BR and they are renting for $875 per night - island view.

I could not get a price on the 3BR because I could not find any available.

elaine

 

[glypnirsgirl]

Price increase

I just got an email saying that Aulani is going to $135 per point effective December 6th. Do you think this is to create a sense of urgency?

elaine

 

[bnoble]

I suspect it is a reflection that sales are going well.