DVC with friends

[.landry]

I poked around a little and didn't see anything about how people handle this and Im curious.
When you are staying with friends on your points do you take them as guests or do you split the cost (pp as it were)?
How did you come to the conclusion about if you would or how much you would?

We are planning a trip with the parents of a good friend of our daughter. We really like them and have spent a fair amount of time with them so were not worried about traveling with them. We are talking about sharing a 2 br. They are in a similar financial situation as we are so were not worried that we're putting all of us in an awkward situation when talking about costs (since we all know that these trips ain't cheap, no matter how you do them)
I am not interested in asking them to pay $15 or $17 pp. I was thinking $10. Part of this is also because the mom is friends with some bigwig at MK and gets VIP day passes. They are FOR SURE a valuable part of the whole collaboration.

So what do you do?

 

[Capang]

We have DVC and when we bring guests we don't ask for money for the room. That's just how we work it, though. We only expect them to pay their food and ticket costs.

 

[crisi]

We provide the room. Usually our guests buy us a dinner - or three - as a thank you. On other sorts of trips friends have provided the room, we got the rental car.

 

[.landry]

We provide the room. Usually our guests buy us a dinner - or three - as a thank you. On other sorts of trips friends have provided the room, we got the rental car.

OH. i like that!

 

[aoconnor]

I think $10pp is fair since if they had rented them it would have cost $15+. If you wanted to keep it easy, you could split the maintenance fees for the points used. That's what I've done.

 

[wnielsen1]

$10 pp is reasonable, $6-$7 pp (to reimburse management fees) is reasonable, free is reasonable. It is all about the financial situation of both parties, etc. They sound like good friends so just have a discussion ahead of time to set expectations.

 

[.landry]

I think $10pp is fair since if they had rented them it would have cost $15+. If you wanted to keep it easy, you could split the maintenance fees for the points used. That's what I've done.

Thats sort of what im doing. I just want to cover the maintenance for the points with a nice round number.

 

[DduzDis]

I am in the process of this with my brother and his family. We booked a 2BR lock-off for Sept (we would normally do a 1BR by ourselves). If they were to back out we get the luxury of having a 2BR for our family of 4 if there are no 1BRs available if/when that happens. It is a risk we took and it does look like they will be able to come, but they still have not booked flights (which I consider their first step to having some skin in the game). We are only having them cover their food, travel, etc. Nothing for the room as it was a gift from us. It is great to be able to share our DVC, but there is a risk as they don't have to commit quite as much as we do since they don't have anything to lose.

 

[.landry]

$10 pp is reasonable, $6-$7 pp (to reimburse management fees) is reasonable, free is reasonable. It is all about the financial situation of both parties, etc. They sound like good friends so just have a discussion ahead of time to set expectations.

For sure. I think if it were different friends who might be in different financial circumstances, we'd do it differently.
Im more curious about how other people handle it.

 

[crisi]

OH. i like that!

Usually there are enough expenses when traveling with friends that - as long as everyone is amicable and doesn't care about being "absolutely fair and equal" - volunteering to get this or that if they pick up that or the other works well for us. And if your friends are getting you VIP tickets for free, that's already a significant contribution to the vacation.

I did take one trip with my girlfriends years ago where everything needed to be absolutely even. We'd get out of a cab and were making change between us for the cab fare. By the end, we all agreed it was a little ridiculous.

 

[.landry]

Its our first time doing this so It hadn't occurred to me but when you said it I realized that we keep thinking of the room as the significant cost when its really everything else.

 

[disneynutz]

It depends on if you are in a giving mood? You can take the number of points for their room, the dues, the true point cost and have them pay that. Other costs like admission and food, each pays as you go.

Bill

 

[davper]

If I invited, I cover the cost. Otherwise, I ask them to pay the MF on the extra points used.

 

[kniquy]

We are traveling with our in laws next month. We are getting 2 studios at Poly for 3 nights and then 4 nights in a 2 BR at AKV. I was originally going to "charge" them (because they insist on helping pay for the trip) $6-7 per point of the additional cost in points (so we would normally need to get a 1BR for our family of 5 --so the additional points needed for a 2BR) but then we just said - pay for a HEA dessert party and we will call it even. We know they will pick up dinner a few times during the trip, so we were not going to hit them up for any other money.

In your situation i would say figure out a price per point based on your MF cost based on the additional points you are using for this trip. Have them pay you a fair amount per point. Let them know how you came up with the price and for comparison price out the same room via Disney. So they know you are giving them a very fair deal. For family i would do $6-7 per point, for acquaintances $10 per point. Most people would not expect to get a free room. I know i would certainly not expect that if the tables were turned and i was using someones timeshare.

I priced out the rooms for our upcoming trip -- It would be close to if not over $8K just for the rooms we are getting, so my inlaws are getting a great deal considering they paid just under $400 for the dessert party.

I guess you have to put a value to those tickets -- will they be for the duration of your trip? will they only be given to you when you get there - thus almost creating a problem planning FP selections. It might be a fair deal - one covers the room one covers the tickets - if in fact the tickets will be for all parks and for the duration of your trip. I would want to find out more details for those tickets -- are they only good for MK, if so then that might only be a benefit of $120 per ticket. There are a few variables to figure out.

 

[Geomom]

We've gone with the same friends twice, and different cousins a couple of times. We ask everyone to buy their own tickets/food/transportation. Our friends have been letting us stay with them for a weekend every year at their vacation home--I look at this as a way to pay them back.

If our guests have a car for some reason, we will ask them to pick up bottled water and some basic groceries--usually they won't let us pay them back for it.

One set of cousins is financially strapped, so while they paid for their tickets and drove to Disney--we actually paid for all their table service meals as it was their first ever trip to Disney and we wanted them to have the full experience without going into debt. (They're in their 50's/60's--might be their only trip.)

 

[BillPA]

No charge for rooms, I let them pay for our airfare and rental car and a few meals...

Just kidding, if I ask them to come, no money changes hands. I provide the room, they pick up their travel, food and passes. Usually they will pay for a dinner or 2 for us.

 

[Dano1182]

We have invited family and friends to join us several times.
I have never asked for money.
They usually pay for a few nice dinners.

If you invited them and never mentioned money it could be ackward asking them after the fact.
If you were paying cash for hotels I may feel different

 

[crisi]

We've gone with the same friends twice, and different cousins a couple of times. We ask everyone to buy their own tickets/food/transportation. Our friends have been letting us stay with them for a weekend every year at their vacation home--I look at this as a way to pay them back.

We leave - weekend after this (! Magic Bands are on my desk!) - with good friends of ours. Over the years, they've had us up at their vacation home many times. They had a friend with a house on the Gulf of Mexico who asked them to use the house, and they invited us to share their vacation (and good fortune). We've treated them occasionally as well, but don't have a vacation home at our disposal within driving distance or friends with houses on the Riviera Maya, so we definitely OWE them this one. They aren't Disney people, but now they have a six year old and want to try it once, and asked us to be their native guides.

But we've also reached the point where our kids are college aged, and we've done Disney a lot....and we want someone to join us because looking at each other all the time gets old - its more fun to share. So if our guests are picking up their own airfare and tickets, providing the room seems like a fair trade for keeping two old married people from having to spend their whole vacation TOGETHER.

(We've been married 23 years. I'm semi retired and he works out of the house. We love each other, can't imagine life without each other - and spend about 14 waking hours a day together on average. Sharing Disney with someone else gives us something to talk about)

 

[tjkraz]

It's difficult to answer without understanding how the trip came to be.

When we INVITE people to vacation on our points, there is zero cost for the room. Period. End of story. We make it clear from the start that the room is our treat an no compensation is required. It's not like we're supplying private accommodations. Even with a 2B villa, it's "X" days of two families occupying the same kitchen, living room, washer/dryer, balcony, eating meals together, etc.

If they want to make a contribution, we suggest paying for groceries and/or a nice meal. Our guests have always embraced that with no objections.

If the circumstances and communications were different in your situation, you'll have to adjust accordingly. At $10 per point, the cost of a 2B is going to add up quickly. I know DVC villas are very nice but you're going to ask these good friends to write you a personal check for $1000-2000 to stay in your timeshare?

 

[Deb & Bill]

If we invite, no charge for the room and maybe they will treat us to a meal or two. If they beg to go along (and this has never happened that we took beggars along), they pay for the extra points that were needed. If we didn't need any more points, no charge. But they get the sleeper sofa and we get the king bed.