Has anyone done the math on owning points, renting points, and bonus time?

[Ediesbeads Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ediesbeads]

We have been owners for about three years. We've used the heck out of our measly little 8,000 annual points. We use points on midweek stays, bonus time on weekend stays, we've used hot weeks through travelers plus, and I've used RCI for Extras Vacations and Last Call vacations. I've also inquired about renting points, and that looks like a good option for us too. We've done a lot of traveling in our three little years! It's been great!

I keep wondering if we need to buy more points, but I'm actually doing pretty well using the points we have and working the system to get the best trips for our money.

What is your opinion? I like the idea of ease of booking using points, but when those higher maintanance fees hit I may not love it so much! LOL!

Edie

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Everyone should do their own rent vs. own computation. My own view is that if you own less than around 15000 annual points, you are better off renting than owning unless you use a lot of bonus time or Hot weeks. That's because I rent points for very cheap ($.035/point for saved points, $.05/point for annual points plus a $49 booking fee) and at that rate, it's cheaper to rent than own.

You can get BG Points (unqualified) for around $.05/point plus closing and 2010 MF. So, if you add 10000 points, then you are paying an upfront fee to get additional points for around $.04/point. So, there is an economic formula for buy vs. rent.

Buy only as many points as you believe you are going to use every year. Rent the rest.

Also, upgrade to Premier if you will use the features. The extra amount you pay to purchase a package from Pinnacle Vacations is worth it if you use the VIP/Charter member features a lot.

Lastly, it even makes sense to purchase directly from the resort if you trade in fixed weeks. So, don't rule out making a developer purchase if that makes sense for your needs.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

I keep wondering if we need to buy more points, but I'm actually doing pretty well using the points we have and working the system to get the best trips for our money.

With more points you pay more money in yearly fees, but less per point. So you might try to compare the vacations you'd be likely to take if you had more points versus the vacations you'd likely take if you were doing what you're doing now. Would you end up spending more but staying in nicer places; spending the same by cutting back on bonus time and the RCI stuff; spending less? You can compare price per night - sometimes bonus time is cheaper than paying with points, sometimes points are cheapest, while Last Call is cheaper than either, and many Extra Vacations are as well. So if you had more points, does that mean you'd be doing fewer Last Call vacations and what kind of impact does that have?

As Jim said, it's a very individual thing. I've been eying some points that're cheaper than the prices Jim quoted, so I just did some comparison calculations, and the difference over the next few years between buying more points and doing what we've been doing is negligible. Plus if we bought more points, we'd have a higher MF we'd need to pay whether we're vacationing or not. It is easier to just use your own points, but OTOH the methods we're using now are not particularly onerous.

So we're back to default mode - if I find a deal hubby can't resist, we'll buy more points. So long as he can resist, we'll go with what we have. And when he's merely tempted, I'll crunch some numbers again.