Guaranteed Week Owners

[fromscratchmom]

When you purchased your guaranteed week, how did they calculate the points required for a week which may span 2 different seasons but not by the same number of days in that week from one year to the next? In such a case does your point requirement still remain stable regardless of the fluctuations, as one would expect, so that you always have it covered without buying what will sometimes be extra? And if so, did they calculate it as an average over years or by the current year or some other way?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The guaranteed weeks are a fixed number of points that have been calculated from the average requirement over the life of the contract plus 10%.

 

[Henwen88]

Yes. There is a guaranteed week chart for each (available) resort that breaks down the points needed for each week (1-52). And that's your price - in perpetuity - even if there are reallocations, etc. However, you aren't obligated to use your guarantee each year, so when you opt out, you get your full points back to use (including that extra 10%).

 

[fromscratchmom]

Thank-you!

 

[Mumof4mice]

Am I understanding correctly that there's really no disadvantage to purchasing a guaranteed week then? One could still book when the 11 month window opens, cancelling the guaranteed booking to save 10%. If the room is unavailable, then there's the guaranteed booking to fall back on?

 

[STA]

Yes you are correct, the only disadvantage is that DVC, to date, has not allowed GW purchases to be included with sales incentives. Otherwise if the number of points the week costs is in the ball park of what you wanted then it’s a win-win! Good luck with your decision

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Frankly, if you want a CCV studio with regularity for marathon, the first two weeks of December, Jersey Week or Columbus Day week, a GW is absolutely the way to go. All of those are going to be competitive.

 

[Henwen88]

Am I understanding correctly that there's really no disadvantage to purchasing a guaranteed week then? One could still book when the 11 month window opens, cancelling the guaranteed booking to save 10%. If the room is unavailable, then there's the guaranteed booking to fall back on?

Yes you are correct, the only disadvantage is that DVC, to date, has not allowed GW purchases to be included with sales incentives. Otherwise if the number of points the week costs is in the ball park of what you wanted then it’s a win-win! Good luck with your decision

Yep! And a studio week's worth of points at CCV were too small to even hit sales incentives (our week was 118 points... not sure where the incentive kicked in, but it was more than that).

 

[ziravan]

And CCV is offering tremendous flexibility if you buy a race weekend. If you buy that package, you can alter the start and end of the guaranteed week.

 

[LënuSëkahsëni]

One could still book when the 11 month window opens, cancelling the guaranteed booking to save 10%. If the room is unavailable, then there's the guaranteed booking to fall back on?

My guaranteed week showed up in the system about 11.5 months before my trip. If I wanted to use those points to book normally I would have needed to opt-out before booking to free up the points. Once you opt-out you no longer have a guaranteed week for that year.

You could pull this off with banked points. Book the room at 11 months with the banked points and then cancel the guaranteed week. I'm not sure if borrowing would cause an automatic opt-out for the next year.

 

[ziravan]

My guaranteed week showed up in the system about 11.5 months before my trip. If I wanted to use those points to book normally I would have needed to opt-out before booking to free up the points. Once you opt-out you no longer have a guaranteed week for that year.

You could pull this off with banked points. Book the room at 11 months with the banked points and then cancel the guaranteed week. I'm not sure if borrowing would cause an automatic opt-out for the next year.

Borrowing from the next year does automatically cancel the guarantee.

 

[Henwen88]

And CCV is offering tremendous flexibility if you buy a race weekend. If you buy that package, you can alter the start and end of the guaranteed week.

I wish they would have offered this when I purchased... don't race, but would love to be able to change the start/end days. You're not even obligated to register to run. What a neat concept... I bet it's a huuuuge headache for MS though lol.

 

[fromscratchmom]

I wonder would it be possible for them to sell guaranteed weeks at older resorts at some future point or if the original legal paperwork associated with the older resorts would prevent that? Not to mention will they continue with each future resort as it appears they will?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I wonder would it be possible for them to sell guaranteed weeks at older resorts at some future point or if the original legal paperwork associated with the older resorts would prevent that? Not to mention will they continue with each future resort as it appears they will?

They cannot. It is part of the declaration.

 

[Bing Showei]

They cannot. It is part of the declaration.

What about if they ROFR a dedicated week contract? Can/do they resell those? Or do they just strip the GW status and make them mere-mortal points? Can they re-allocate the week to another week?

At VGF for example, I wonder if they maxed out the 35% cap in the Public Offering Statement, or is there room for them to offer more guaranteed weeks.

 

[disneynutz]

They are no where close to the 35%, most buyers don't know about GW, many guides don't really know about them and they don't bring it up during the sales meeting.

Bill

 

[wdrl]

What about if they ROFR a dedicated week contract? Can/do they resell those? Or do they just strip the GW status and make them mere-mortal points? Can they re-allocate the week to another week?

At VGF for example, I wonder if they maxed out the 35% cap in the Public Offering Statement, or is there room for them to offer more guaranteed weeks.

When Disney reacquires a Guaranteed Week deed -- whether it be due to ROFR, foreclosure, or buyback -- the Guaranteed Week feature is removed and the points are returned to their original Residential Unit inventory. Disney can then sell those points either as traditional DVC points or, if possible, as part of another Guaranteed Week Deed.

As disneynutz posted above, none of the resorts that offer the Guaranteed Week option are anywhere near the 35% maximum for the entire resort. The Villas at Grand Floridian has sold the most Guaranteed Week deeds but less than 3.88% of its total points are committed to Guaranteed Week deeds.

However, when GW sales are viewed by accommodation type, VGF has a few weeks that are near the maximum number of GW deeds that can be sold for some accommodation types. Due to the 35% cap, Disney can sell no more than 5 Lake View Studios, 5 One-Bedrooms, and 5 Two-Bedrooms for any single week. None have maxed out, but there are nine weeks that have sold 4 GW studios, one week that has sold 4 GW One-Bedrooms, and four weeks that have sold

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

I would be very happy to have a GW at VGF in early December, since we go every year. But I have been able to get something in early December at VGF anyway. Once a standard view studio, once a lake view studio, and once a 1BR. One year, we “settled” for a Poly Studio, which was also great.

But I do have a GW at VGF at the 4th of July week for a studio. I have never used the points for that week. I bought it resale, and got it for a great price, because it appeared that the GW feature confused many buyers. We don’t like to go in July, and if we did, it would be to go with our children and grandkids, meaning we would opt for a 2BR. And if we did, we might stay for 6 nights rather than 7. So it has always been better to use the points for other purposes.

Having said that, if I were participating in a Run Disney event on a regular basis, I think the GW has a lot of appeal.

 

[fromscratchmom]

I would be very happy to have a GW at VGF in early December, since we go every year. But I have been able to get something in early December at VGF anyway. Once a standard view studio, once a lake view studio, and once a 1BR. One year, we “settled” for a Poly Studio, which was also great.

But I do have a GW at VGF at the 4th of July week for a studio. I have never used the points for that week. I bought it resale, and got it for a great price, because it appeared that the GW feature confused many buyers. We don’t like to go in July, and if we did, it would be to go with our children and grandkids, meaning we would opt for a 2BR. And if we did, we might stay for 6 nights rather than 7. So it has always been better to use the points for other purposes.

Having said that, if I were participating in a Run Disney event on a regular basis, I think the GW has a lot of appeal.

Watching for a GW resale for a great price may developing into a dream of mine now...unlikely though it may be that I'd get one of the weeks I'd want despite my flexibility... It just seems as though it's the only way I'd get one at the resort I want it at. But I'm so glad you've mentioned your resale purchase! At least there is this possibly small but still fun to think about possibility of getting an amazing deal.

 

[Dean]

Am I understanding correctly that there's really no disadvantage to purchasing a guaranteed week then? One could still book when the 11 month window opens, cancelling the guaranteed booking to save 10%. If the room is unavailable, then there's the guaranteed booking to fall back on?

If you need the points and that resort not much. You get the extra points but you can't break them up. Personally I think one can play it to have both the guaranteed reservation and the lower points if they work it right.