When people come with you...

[N&B'smom]

My parents will be joining us for our first trip HOME next year. Because we JUST bought into DVC this past Spring I don't exactly know how to handle it. They will be sleeping in the room with the king size bed while we have the studio portion of the 2 bedroom villa. (VWL) I'm wondering how in the world I'm supposed to come up with a figure so I know how much to charge them. I'm not looking to charge them full price what they'd pay if we just booked the trip like normal. But I do want to offset some of our initial costs. Does that make sense? Any ideas on how to handle this?!?!?

Thanks in advance, I'll be booking soon!

Shelby

 

[T.E. Yeary]

How about asking if they could help with groceries or meals?

 

[Geyser Gazer]

We decided from the get go that parents stay free but I completley understand that sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do while your paying off your DVC Mortgage. I would think a fair thing to do could be to charge them the difference in points between the one and 2 bedroom units X $10/pt (typical going rate for renting).

 

[Deb & Bill]

If we invite someone, they stay for free. However, they usually offer to take us to eat one night or more. If someone begs to go with us, they don't go.

Our guests usually buy their own tickets, pay for their own meals and souveniers. Unless it's a kid that we invite, then we pay for everything except for their extra spending money.

 

[Mike]

I would think a fair thing to do could be to charge them the difference in points between the one and 2 bedroom units X $10/pt (typical going rate for renting).

That is exactly what we are doing with friends of ours that are joining us next year. They are not subsidizing my vacation at all and they are getting a great rate. I rented points for them at $10/pt and I am only requiring them to get the points needed to upgrade from a 1BR to a 2BR. It's a pretty sweet deal for them and I am happy that they are joining us.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

There is no right or wrong answer here, as you will get many opinions.

For us, we have never charged anyone to stay with us. In fact, on a couple of occasions, we have reserved a seperate room for our guests at no charge.
We never ask for anything in return, however my sister has always bought us a nice dinner to say "thank you".
Some of our guests have offered nada.

I completely understand the folks who want some compensation for their DVC, but I just can't bring myself to ask.

MG

 

[dianeschlicht]

We don't charge people that we have invited and certainly would not charge close family like parents or children. Usuaully, our guests help with the groceries and meal preps and almost always take us out for a nice sit down meal as a treat. Once, our guests bought CDS tickets for all of us!

 

[pumpkinboy]

We have charged some guests (those who want to "rent" from us) and treated others. The upcoming trip in October, we are treating our friends. They expect to cover groceries and many of the meals (with the benefit of our 20% off DDE benefit), and to get their own park tix and MNSSHP tix.

A later trip next year, we will going with friends to whom we have rented reservations before, also really close friends. We are charging them the rental cost of the studio they rented last time, but we will all stay together in a 2BR (with them in the studio portion). I think they were expecting to pay us for their portion of the room, and since we have a Std view BWV, it'll be a bargain over the studio ressie we rented them last year. With them I expect we'll each cover our own meals (again with our DDE benefit tho), our own park admission etc.

If you want/need to charge them, then go for the cost of a studio ressie over on the rent/trade board. That is a pretty liquid and representative market that you can point to as a comparable fair market value. Or better yet, pull up what rack rate would be, then charge them $10 a point and show them how much they are saving.

edited to add: Then again, we have never charged the parents. They pay for some meals, plus they gave life to me, instilled courtesy and good values, helped mold me into a productive member of society, and all that. If you can possibly afford not to charge them, then do it. If they insist, or if you can't make the trip without charging, then make it something nominal. The difference between the 1BR and 2BR point costs would be reasonable, but if you can do with a little less, maybe just charge them the cost of maintenence fees for the year on the points used for the 2BR. Good luck!

 

[kadaten]

As many time as DH's parents have paid for our vacations, I can't imagine charging them to stay with us. And my mom....well, she can't afford it, so I wouldn't charge her either. Both will help with meals and groceries when they come along, so I consider that their payment. I'm sure they'll also offer to stay with the kids one night so DH and I can go out, so that's a BONUS we wouldn't get if they didn't join us.

That said, if you need to charge someone, I think the idea of basically "renting" them the points difference between the 1 and 2BR untis sounds pretty fair. Just be up front with them about how much you expect them to contribute to the stay....

Hope you all have a great time!

 

[Pluto 2]

its your parents give them the room for free.

 

[Shawn]

My parents will be joining us for our first trip HOME next year. Because we JUST bought into DVC this past Spring I don't exactly know how to handle it. They will be sleeping in the room with the king size bed while we have the studio portion of the 2 bedroom villa. (VWL) I'm wondering how in the world I'm supposed to come up with a figure so I know how much to charge them.
Shelby

Throwing some ideas out there. You don't say what dates you are going, but if we assume you are going for Dream Season, and are staying at SSR.

1 BR: 25 pts / night (Sun - Thurs)
2 BR: 31 pts / night

1 BR: 50 pts / night (Fri - Sat)
2 BR: 65 pts / night

As others have said, charging $10 per point is about
right.

Options A. Only charge them the difference between
1 BR and 2 BR which would be

Sun - Thurs: 6 pts or $ 60 / night
Fri - Sat : 15 pts or $150 / night

Options B. Split the costs right down the middle.

Sun - Thurs: 31 pts / 2 = 15.5 pts = $155 / night
Fri - Sat : 650 pts/ 2 = 325 pts = $325 / night


Option B would not be attractive to us (would make me feel like I'm trying to make money off of them). But Option A, especially if you are doing a 5 day Sun - Thursday trip seems reasonable.

Of course, rather than assumijng pointes are worth $10 per point, you could assign them a value of $3 or $4 based you your yearly maintenance fees, and come up with lower numbers that you could rationally justify.


-Shawn

 

[vascubaguy]

I financed part of my points so I can understand wanting to try and cover the overhead. I put mine on a 0% interest credit card so I have about a year to pay it off, so after I get this paid off I will probably not be as needy when it comes to the points. When I decided to do the add-on, I calculated that I would rent the majority of my '05 points in order to help offset some of the financing.

Now after I get mine paid off, I probably won't just "give" the points to family and friends, but I would probably only ask that they cover the "cost" of the points, which would be around $5-6 per point in my case, I wouldn't charge them $10 per point.

Now, since it's just 2 of us, if 2 others go with us and don't want to get a separate room, I wouldn't charge them anything to stay in the same room with us. I'm doing this in March, I have a friend going and she's just going to stay in the studio with us at BWV, but we are only there 5 nights, then switching to another resort and paying cash, so we'll just split that 3-ways.

 

[pplasky]

We just bought in last year. My parents came on our first trip home and I couldn't dream of asking them to pay anything towards the room. They did purchase their own tickets. I was pleasantly surprised when they picked up the grocery tab and a few of the meals as well. Good Luck with your decision.

 

[manning]

With all the money your parents spent on you from the very first moment of your life...... you are going to charge them??????

 

[Disney Doll]

We have a couple who travels with us usually once a year and gets the 2nd BR of a 2BR or GV. We charge them what a moderate would cost during that time period. It's in January, so it's usually around $100/night, give or take $20.

Family we don't charge. I have another friend who comes sometimes and sleeps on the pullout couch, and we don;t charge her either.

 

[JCW]

Ok, I must be the evil child on the boards.

I would charge them no more than $5/pt as others have said.

I love my parents more than life itself and I totally and completely appreciate everything they have ever done for me and continue to do for me and my DH.

However, if we (Dh & I) give away our points, while still paying for them, then the value of DVC is lost for us. (Once paid off, well, that would be different).

Our first trip home will be in May. This will be a huge family trip (16 in all). Everyone was responsible for booking their resorts. My parents were going to stay at BW as that is their favorite. They never asked to use our points, they were just going to pay cash for BW and hope for a discount.

After some calculating, I discovered between banking and borrowing (we only own 150 points and they are financed) we would have 141 points they could use. This would mean we would not have points for a vaca for our 2006 UY but would still be paying the maintenance fees for that year. The reservation for a separate studio for my parents was 136 pts.

So, we decided to charge them $5/pt, but then decided to just round it down to $600 (which will just about cover our maint. for 2006). Maybe you will all think I am terrible, but they would have been paying $300+/night at BW. Instead, for the cost of 2 nights, they are staying for 8 nights. They were thrilled with this savings. They never batted an eye about paying us as they would have been paying Disney instead, and a lot more money.

I would never charge them the full going rental rate of $10/pt. I am not trying to make money off of them, just trying to cover expenses.

JMHO, whatever it's worth.

Fire away, I have my flame resistant suit on if needed

 

[WDWLVR]

When we take DH's parents we gave them the studio portion and didn't charge them anything. They payed for their own park tickets (we have ap's), treated us to one dinner, and also treated us to a day at Universal.

 

[N&B'smom]

Um, yes, they're my parents and I would charge them. Sorry if that seems shocking BUT we didn't invite them to come with us. They decided to tag along and even invited some other relatives. My parents would be the only ones staying with us and I don't think it's unreasonable at all to get some sort of payment from them. We just shelled out all the cash for this for US, not everyone else. Once we feel like we've gotten our money's worth as far as how much we paid/how many trips we've taken, then they can join us for free at any time. I wondered how many people would respond in such a way, just remember, you don't know the way things are within every family or the reasons behind it.

I think the idea of the cost per point for having to get the 2 bedroom is a great idea. Thanks!!! Thanks to all who offered good advice!!

Shelby

 

[N&B'smom]

JCW - well put. That's exactly what I was saying. I don't think you're a horrible child!!! I agree with you wholeheartedly.

Shelby

 

[CherCrazy]

Well, first when I read your original post, I thought it was awful to charge your parents. I would never do that to mine...in fact, we had a 2br at HHI this July and they were supposed to come with us. By our invitation and at no cost to them. Unfortunately, my mom had surgery (again) right before our trip, so they couldn't make it.

But now that I read your latest post saying that your parents invited themselves (and OTHERS!) along, I was reminded of some friends that I have whose parents do the same thing....to the point where it is stifling for their children. These kids (adults actually) can't do a darn thing without the matriarch butting in and running the WHOLE show. My friends are very sweet and just let her do what she wants...I guess it's too hard to argue...or after a lifetime of it, you just kinda give up.

Soooo, if that's your parents too....then charge them DOUBLE!!!