Help needed - enroll or not?

[joyzilli]

I'm trying to decide if I should enroll my Aruba week in the points system. We would like to use the points every other year for 1, 2 or 3 night stays throughout the year in Boston at the Custom House.

Is it possible to see the online inventory at the Custom House for this year? Would someone be willing to check for me? I am flexible with dates, just curious if the resort shows any availability.

My other thought was to purchase a resale week at the Custom House and use their split week option for 2 stays during the platinum season (May - Oct.).

Any thoughts would be helpful - I have a contract for a resale in my hands, but I'm having second thoughts if that's the right thing to do, or if joining the DC makes more sense.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

I'm trying to decide if I should enroll my Aruba week in the points system. We would like to use the points every other year for 1, 2 or 3 night stays throughout the year in Boston at the Custom House.

Is it possible to see the online inventory at the Custom House for this year? Would someone be willing to check for me? I am flexible with dates, just curious if the resort shows any availability.

My other thought was to purchase a resale week at the Custom House and use their split week option for 2 stays during the platinum season (May - Oct.).

Any thoughts would be helpful - I have a contract for a resale in my hands, but I'm having second thoughts if that's the right thing to do, or if joining the DC makes more sense.

Depends upon how much the contract is for, and whether it is a Gold or Platinum week....

There are only 84 Villas in the Custom House, so it usually always booked full except during the dead of winter in January. It is a very unique property located right in the city.




.

 

[joyzilli]

The resale price is great (I've been following the latest on ebay, etc.) - and it's during Platinum season.

 

[dioxide45]

I think you need to determine your cost to enroll and how many nights you can get out of the Aruba week at Custom House compared to how much it will cost to buy a Custom House week and book the split stay or daily use options. One thing to remember is that there is a fee involved if you buy a Custom House week and do split or daily use. I think it is $80 to split a week and $29 for each reservation for daily use. These fees are setup to cover additional expenses such as housekeeping for those short stays.

I wonder if these split week and daily use fees are now covered by the consolidated fee structure for those weeks that are enrolled in DC? I would expect yes.

 

[joyzilli]

I do understand the costs involved to either enroll in DC or purchase the Custom House unit. I really could go either way - what I am most concerned over is the ease of which I'll be able to books the single days, or even the split week, at the Custom House VS. the ease to book nights during the year using DC points.

If someone is already enrolled in DC points and is willing to check availability for nights at Custom House, anytime, that would be helpful. I would hate to enroll and then never see anything available (since it's such a small resort).

 

[m61376]

Another consideration is how much do you enjoy going to Aruba and/or trading for alternate locations? If you convert the week to DC points for use at the Custom House, of course you lose the ability to use it as a week in Aruba or elsewhere. While buying at the Custom House would give you added vacation time, it also encumbers you with an additional MF. Of course, if you anticipate using both weeks, then buying at the Custom House, esp. if you found a good deal, may be the ideal solution.

So besides points availability, the way you want to use your week(s) should be considered.

 

[jdunn1]

I know nothing about this topic but I just read another post about Custom House this monring about how owners can break-up their week into individual one day stays? I think I read this was possible at Custom House. If so, resale would be the way to go, in my oppinion.

 

[dvc_john]

I did some checking (for Custom House), and if I did it right (the online points system is pretty new, and I haven't played with it much yet), I found quite a bit of availability from very late March thru October (which is as late as I can check).
I checked for a 4 day reservation, and found most availability beginning on a Sunday or Monday. (Looks like weekends might be harder to get.) Other check-in dates were hit or miss. Found only 1 February availability, but found something for most weeks that I checked April thru October.

 

[joyzilli]

We usually go to Aruba every other year, so either trade through II or rent the unit in the alternate year. I appreciate your help and also for the DC custom house "search"....still not sure what I'm going to do...