Sharing villa with non-DVC family/friends

[MadamG2U]

I don't charge family members, I guess I enjoy seeing them have a good time. However, if we eat out I don't pay they cover the cost of my meal and drinks.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here but just curious how other people handle it when you own DVC and travel with others who do not own DVC (and share a villa with them). Do you cover the room since you pay for the points anyway? Do you have them chip in some of the cost and if so how do you figure out what is reasonable?

Again, I’m sure this varies by situation - maybe you’d treat 1 grandparent tagging along differently than a friend with multiple kids, etc. Just looking for some perspectives on what others have done.

I pay, and I get the king room. They usually pay for a dinner for me at some point.

I've only had my cousin (and her family), and my best friend staying with me in this sort of situation.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Pre DVC we paid for a villa to share with family and also everything except park tickets. It was a fantastic trip and zero stress because everything was prepaid (one of the only times I'll advocate for the dining plan). Everyone knowing their exact financial outlay made it very easy.

Now that we're members, we find ourselves more guarded. We bought for our immediate family's use and there's not a ton of wiggle room. Without some sort of reimbursement from guests, sizing up means our once a year trip becomes once every year and a half. Maybe someday we can add on points and that won't be an issue, but I would probably never pay for everything for anyone other than my kids. People are more reliable when they have at least a little skin in the game.

 

[gillep]

We have invited people twice, neither time have we asked for any payment.

My mom and her husband: stayed all together in a one-bedroom (they got the nice bedroom) they paid for the majority of the meals while we were there in thanks for the room, it all worked out well.

My husband's family: we have secured three BCV studios for them so each family can have their own space, and we are staying in a YC resort room for a variety of reasons. I am sure they will pitch in for some drinks/meals/etc., but if we were not footing the bill for the rooms this vacation would not happen and we are OK with that and took it into consideration before we made the offer to book them studios.

For us, it is just the dynamic when traveling with our families. My family, we each pay for certain things, and usually it all evens out in the end and we don't worry about it too much. With my husband's family, if we want to vacation with them we need to foot a large part of the bill and that's OK with us. We have also paid for hotel rooms and other items to accommodate this, not just DVC points.

I have not taken friends yet; if we did, I would likely just work it out similarly to when we take my family. I would get the room they would 'reimburse' me in food and drinks.

 

[crisi]

We treat on the room. Guests buy their own tickets, airfare, etc. Our guests usually treat us to dinner or get us a gift.

 

[Chilbert]

To me, inviting someone (family, friends) is like handing them a bill for several thousand dollars when you consider tickets and meals. When we invite someone, it is because we want to vacation with them, so we generally cover the room, tickets and meals (if they are eating at a sit down with us). This way money never becomes an object and everyone has a great time. Oh, and in some cases (not generally), we will cover airfare.

 

[5th gate dreamers]

We treat on the room. Guests buy their own tickets, airfare, etc. Our guests usually treat us to dinner or get us a gift.

Here again is where I said we dvc owners aren't the gatekeepers to Disney world. No one we go to Disney world is our "guest", and I would expect any family or friends to laugh at us if we talked in such a manner. I feel like the same crowd who feels that people who go with dvc owners are guests of the owners are the same crowd who think more than one second about being told welcome home or care about the purple light...we dvc owners don't own Disney, were merely leasing 50 years. Now, it'd be different if it was forever property, but it aint.

 

[5th gate dreamers]

A lot of haughty and snooty comments on this thread in general. No wonder so many non dvc owners hate us.

 

[Bruggok]

Here again is where I said we dvc owners aren't the gatekeepers to Disney world. No one we go to Disney world is our "guest", and I would expect any family or friends to laugh at us if we talked in such a manner. I feel like the same crowd who feels that people who go with dvc owners are guests of the owners are the same crowd who think more than one second about being told welcome home or care about the purple light...we dvc owners don't own Disney, were merely leasing 50 years. Now, it'd be different if it was forever property, but it aint.

What are you talking about? When my relatives and friends stay at my home or an AirBnB I rented, they are my guests. I don't see anything here as snooty or haughty. Nobody here is saying "muahaha no one stays at dvc except through me!" The rooms are mostly available for cash stays.

 

[Sandisw]

A lot of haughty and snooty comments on this thread in general. No wonder so many non dvc owners hate us.

I am not sure what you are referring to but the whole topic is how different people choose to use their DVC ownership with family and friends,

No right or wrong way to look at it, If someone like me wants to take guests on my points, is that snooty?

I certainly don’t think so. We bought to enjoy with others and since we were fortunate enough to become DVC, if we can share some happiness with others, then woohoo for us and them.

 

[crisi]

Here again is where I said we dvc owners aren't the gatekeepers to Disney world. No one we go to Disney world is our "guest", and I would expect any family or friends to laugh at us if we talked in such a manner. I feel like the same crowd who feels that people who go with dvc owners are guests of the owners are the same crowd who think more than one second about being told welcome home or care about the purple light...we dvc owners don't own Disney, were merely leasing 50 years. Now, it'd be different if it was forever property, but it aint.

Someone we are sharing a room with at our own cost is certainly our guest. Just like someone we treat to dinner out is our guest - even though we don't own the restaurant. Or when I had my husband's 50th birthday party at a venue - I didn't own the venue, but they were my guests. My wedding guests were also my guests - again, I didn't own the venue. This is a perfectly ordinary and acceptable use of the word guest. Is English not your first language?

 

[gisele2]

I think that if someone is paying a little , even if it is a quarter of the value , if they can pay , they have no obligation to you afterward . Now they are our guests if they don’t pay . I invited my parents to Disney , my in-laws to a beach house elsewhere. You can do what you want with your points and your money. But I don’t feel an obligation to pay for everyone just because I have a timeshare or two

 

[bobbiwoz]

Never charged anyone who stayed with me, nor have I charged friends in different villas.

We have rented points through an agency twice.

 

[5th gate dreamers]

i just saw the replies. i dont want you all to think im ignoring them...i just have nothing constructive to add. anything i add will just widen our gulf because i feel like i have an antithetical response to each of you. well just have to disagree and move on.

 

[gisele2]

i just saw the replies. i dont want you all to think im ignoring them...i just have nothing constructive to add. anything i add will just widen our gulf because i feel like i have an antithetical response to each of you. well just have to disagree and move on.

The big difference with paying for someone and not paying for someone for me (because the points are not free) is that if I pay , I decide. This is clear with my family.

 

[Yinn]

For me it just depends on the friend.

Some friends, we're very strict with money. If we go out to even lunch, you pay for your sandwich, I pay for mine.

Some we split the bill evenly. Others, I've got this time you get next.

DVC is kind of the same way. If we're not used to keeping tabs on each other then I wouldn't keep tabs for this either. But if we typically itemize, I might do so here too.

 

[Figment of Speech]

I'm not a DVC owner, but I'd like to chip in from the point of view of someone who could be invited, rather than someone doing the inviting.

If I go on a road trip with someone (not a family member) in their car, I'm going to offer to pay for the gas — all of it. They bought or leased the car, and they're going to have to cover the wear, tear, and mileage on the vehicle that all driving, including this road trip, will slowly and gradually contribute to. The very least I can do is cover the only concrete and in-the-moment cost. Splitting gas evenly wouldn't be sufficient, since they're already absorbing so many other costs. I've made that request of others when we took my car, and no one ever batted an eyelash at it, and I'd insist on it if we took theirs.

Likewise, if someone (besides a family member) invited me to stay at their DVC property with them, I'd expect them to ask for some kind of compensation. Just because they've already paid for the points doesn't mean there's no value to them: If I weren't enjoying part of that value, my hosts would either have the room to themselves or be paying for a smaller space.

At a bare minimum, if my partner and I were invited to someone's DVC property, I'd want to cover all the groceries and any restaurant meals we ate together. I'd insist on it, and we wouldn't come if they didn't say yes. This, in my opinion, is equivalent to paying for gas on a road trip.

If they let us and gave us the figures for it, I'd offer to cover anywhere from a proportional share of that year's MFs to an equal share of that trip's point usage. This is true whether they upgraded to a larger room for us or if we're just more people sharing a smaller space. Money has value, but so does comfort. Of course, I say all this partly because I've been researching DVC and know how much it costs. Someone who doesn't know that can't be blamed for not offering much compensation, but now that I know, I could never accept an invitation without discussing ways to return the generosity.

I respect that a lot of folks just want to share what they have, and that's beautiful and kind. But too much giving can make recipients feel indebted to you, and for some, that's a very uncomfortable feeling. Allowing people to reimburse you can also be a kindness. I definitely understand not wanting to demand compensation, but, one, it might not be as awkward as some may think. Some guests might expect or welcome the opportunity to repay you at least a little. And, two, if they offer reimbursement unprompted (and you know they can afford it), please just accept it. That warm feeling you get when you offered to let them stay with you? That's the feeling they deserve to experience when you accept their offer in return.

That said, it can also be a case-by-case thing. If your guest is a next-door neighbor who happened to mention in passing that they'd like to see WDW, it's more appropriate to open the gate to compensation than if, say, your guest is your kid's friend's parent who just lost their job and you want to lift their spirits with the gift of a memorable time with their child. Many people in this thread also make the distinction between family and friends or between people they invite and those who invited themselves.

There are so many thoughtful and giving people in this group, and it's really inspiring. I just wanted to suggest that it may be in your guests' interests sometimes to let them give back and even to open the door for them to do so.

 

[kristenrice]

We frequently invite my family to stay with us but never ask for any compensation. The last trip, I used my DVC points to cover our room and my dad used his airline miles to cover my airfare. We split the cost of our meals 50/50 and that ended up being a very affordable trip.

 

[KBoopaloo]

We’ve done three big trips with extended family (one trip was smaller than the others and we booked two 2 bed villas, the other two trips we booked a studio and two 2 beds). We had 13 people on the smaller trip and 17 on the larger ones - all aunts, uncles, cousins. We basically offer up the idea of the trip as an invite to all 18-24 months in advance and provide an estimate of what the ticket costs and plane tickets would likely be. Basically the invite is that we’ll provide x number of nights of accommodation if people want to come and here is a guess of what your other expenses might be. We usually split the cost of a grocery delivery and usually we are treated to dinner one of the nights we go out though that is not at all an expectation we have.

We do ask people to commit to coming by a certain date so as not to be stuck with reservations we don’t need but our extended family is also especially close and in each other’s business and no one would ever flake on us at the last minute barring an actual emergency. I think you really have to understand and accept the dynamics of the people you are inviting and plan accordingly or things can go south.

 

[gisele2]

I'm not a DVC owner, but I'd like to chip in from the point of view of someone who could be invited, rather than someone doing the inviting.

If I go on a road trip with someone (not a family member) in their car, I'm going to offer to pay for the gas — all of it. They bought or leased the car, and they're going to have to cover the wear, tear, and mileage on the vehicle that all driving, including this road trip, will slowly and gradually contribute to. The very least I can do is cover the only concrete and in-the-moment cost. Splitting gas evenly wouldn't be sufficient, since they're already absorbing so many other costs. I've made that request of others when we took my car, and no one ever batted an eyelash at it, and I'd insist on it if we took theirs.

Likewise, if someone (besides a family member) invited me to stay at their DVC property with them, I'd expect them to ask for some kind of compensation. Just because they've already paid for the points doesn't mean there's no value to them: If I weren't enjoying part of that value, my hosts would either have the room to themselves or be paying for a smaller space.

At a bare minimum, if my partner and I were invited to someone's DVC property, I'd want to cover all the groceries and any restaurant meals we ate together. I'd insist on it, and we wouldn't come if they didn't say yes. This, in my opinion, is equivalent to paying for gas on a road trip.

If they let us and gave us the figures for it, I'd offer to cover anywhere from a proportional share of that year's MFs to an equal share of that trip's point usage. This is true whether they upgraded to a larger room for us or if we're just more people sharing a smaller space. Money has value, but so does comfort. Of course, I say all this partly because I've been researching DVC and know how much it costs. Someone who doesn't know that can't be blamed for not offering much compensation, but now that I know, I could never accept an invitation without discussing ways to return the generosity.

I respect that a lot of folks just want to share what they have, and that's beautiful and kind. But too much giving can make recipients feel indebted to you, and for some, that's a very uncomfortable feeling. Allowing people to reimburse you can also be a kindness. I definitely understand not wanting to demand compensation, but, one, it might not be as awkward as some may think. Some guests might expect or welcome the opportunity to repay you at least a little. And, two, if they offer reimbursement unprompted (and you know they can afford it), please just accept it. That warm feeling you get when you offered to let them stay with you? That's the feeling they deserve to experience when you accept their offer in return.

That said, it can also be a case-by-case thing. If your guest is a next-door neighbor who happened to mention in passing that they'd like to see WDW, it's more appropriate to open the gate to compensation than if, say, your guest is your kid's friend's parent who just lost their job and you want to lift their spirits with the gift of a memorable time with their child. Many people in this thread also make the distinction between family and friends or between people they invite and those who invited themselves.

There are so many thoughtful and giving people in this group, and it's really inspiring. I just wanted to suggest that it may be in your guests' interests sometimes to let them give back and even to open the door for them to do so.

I agree with you.