DVC II question - Deposit vs Request First

[amycurl]

Well, today, there was a 2 bedroom at Animal Kingdom, and Old Key West, and Hilton Head and Jansen Beach all spotted in II.

 

[rickandcindy23]

And here I am on Kauai, four hours earlier than home, sleeping in. I got up at 6 AM.

Not that I would grab those dates. Too hot.

 

[ljmiii]

If you have recommendations I am definitely open ears as I am still in the Research phase of everything.

I only have experience with MVC, HGV, and DVC. My 'in general' advice is that timeshares are not for everyone and in particular you have to be willing and able to plan and reserve vacations long in advance when the ability to book opens - 12 and 9 months with HGV, 13/12 with MVC, and 11/7 with DVC. And that MVC resale weeks are the least expensive, HGV is the easiest to use as long as you are happy with their primary destinations and not their affiliates, and DVC is for staying at DVC resorts.

I don't know where you like to vacation other than Hawaii. On O'ahu, MVC's Ko Olina and Aulani are right next to each other. If you had older kids, my advice would be to stay at Ko Olina and walk over to Aulani for the eats and entertainment. But Aunty's Beach House is supposed to be amazing for the 5-12 set. HGV has many resorts at Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki (and has the Penguin Club for 5-12s), we own at and love the Lagoon Tower.

On the Big Island, both HGV and MVC are in Waikoloa with HGV having a much greater variety of accommodations (and the MVC location is points only). On Maui, HGV's new resort suffers from being across a major highway from the beach while MVC's Maui Ocean Club is quite nice. Lastly, on Kauai only MVC has resorts and Waiohai is our favorite Hawaiian MVC resort. Kauai Beach Club is quite nice with great views and a huge pool complex, but Kauai Lagoons has suffered because of an ownership change on the hotel side of KBC - guests are no longer welcome to use KBC's pool and beach.

 

[frytard]

I only have experience with MVC, HGV, and DVC. My 'in general' advice is that timeshares are not for everyone and in particular you have to be willing and able to plan and reserve vacations long in advance when the ability to book opens - 12 and 9 months with HGV, 13/12 with MVC, and 11/7 with DVC. And that MVC resale weeks are the least expensive, HGV is the easiest to use as long as you are happy with their primary destinations and not their affiliates, and DVC is for staying at DVC resorts.

I don't know where you like to vacation other than Hawaii. On O'ahu, MVC's Ko Olina and Aulani are right next to each other. If you had older kids, my advice would be to stay at Ko Olina and walk over to Aulani for the eats and entertainment. But Aunty's Beach House is supposed to be amazing for the 5-12 set. HGV has many resorts at Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki (and has the Penguin Club for 5-12s), we own at and love the Lagoon Tower.

On the Big Island, both HGV and MVC are in Waikoloa with HGV having a much greater variety of accommodations (and the MVC location is points only). On Maui, HGV's new resort suffers from being across a major highway from the beach while MVC's Maui Ocean Club is quite nice. Lastly, on Kauai only MVC has resorts and Waiohai is our favorite Hawaiian MVC resort. Kauai Beach Club is quite nice with great views and a huge pool complex, but Kauai Lagoons has suffered because of an ownership change on the hotel side of KBC - guests are no longer welcome to use KBC's pool and beach.

Do you find it advantageous TJ be a part of both RCI and II? The three you own is the jones I was looking into. Hyatt looked cool too but pricier than others.

 

[Dean]

Yep I would get a small one for Disney trips to be in the park. Definitely not a lot of value but you “pay for the Disney experience” I guess

The reality is that while technically DVC owners are timeshare owners, they are not a traditional timeshare owner in some aspects. For many, likely most, DVC is simply a prepaid hotel room for DVC. Those of us here on TUG are not the usual for DVC even more so than for most timeshares. Thus the comparison for many is to a hotel room on property on cash and for that it can be a very good deal though not always. They value staying on property. Personally we prefer it but also we're happy staying off property as well.

 

[ljmiii]

Do you find it advantageous to be a part of both RCI and II?...

To me, RCI and II are what happens when the plan fails. When I first bought at Waiohai it came with a week I couldn't use and when COVID hit I had to trade through II to get some value out of our 2020 weeks. Since we are limited by the school vacation calendar our trade attempts were not a pleasant experience (though I did manage to get something rather than nothing).

That said, I have read of others who not only manage to make useful trades but enjoy the whole 'box of chocolates' experience of snagging great weeks through II.