"Charging" Guests - how much?

[Coach81]

We have taken my wife's brother with us before and what we charged him was the difference between what we would have normally used (cash difference) for just us and what the accomidations(sp) are by adding him (normally just a one bedroom). I would suggest the same for you. Good luck with it.

 

[disney dumbo]

I see no problem with everyone pitching in for part of the room. I think that posts like this only make those who choose to accept money from their "guests" feel guilty for doing so. The bottom line is that what works for one might not work for another... There's no right or wrong here.

Well said!

It is rare for us to go on any trip without a crew... whether it be Disney (pre-DVC), beach, long weekend some where, cruise, etc! Most of my family and friends appreciate all the hard work and planning that I do... to make the trip as special as possible. There are times when we pick up the tab... but that would be impossible to do EVERY time.... and besides that... just like the OP... no one expects us to do that!

DVC does add it complexities. If your group is going to stay at the same place... they'll have to go gen. res. or rent off the board. I think it's nice if you have enough points they can rent through you!

For me, owning a condo, or your own home is not equivalent to DVC... it's more easily compared to a cruise. I don't think people expect, when you book a cruise... and "ask" them to go, for you to upgrade to a suite to accommodate them... out of your pocket simply because you invited them.

 

[DisFlan]

I agree there's no wrong or right way to do this, and it really depends on the situation. We don't charge the part of our family (my sis and her family) who often stays with us, but we travel and stay with them elsewhere on their nickel during the year so it usually evens out. They pay for their own park tickets, BBB, MNSSHP tickets etc., and we split most of the meals we all eat together. They pick up the whole tab for a TS meal or two while we're there just to show appreciation for sharing DVC with us.

We don't go with a "you pay for exactly this or that" plan. On our last two DVC trips with them, they insisted on paying for our "big" grocery runs - they have two kids and figured they'd be eating the bulk of it. It all seems to work out to everyone's satisfaction. It's a treat just to have family together WDW.

We've never invited non-family guests and I don't know that we ever will. We enjoy using it for US too much.

DisFlan

 

[dr&momto2boys]

We stayed at a GV with my DH's mother and step-father and his sister's family. We used our points for the stay for a week. We expected nothing in return. But MIL ended up paying for everyone's (6 adults, 2 kids) 7 day park-hoppers. And sister ended up paying for limo transport for our family from house to airport and back again. I thinked they picked up the tab on other misc. things along the way as well. It was nice because no one expected anything and everyone just kept on giving.

 

[mmmagic7754]

You can find out how much they would pay if they booked cash then charge them half price.Disney vacation for half price is pretty good

 

[kid-at-heart]

When we travel with guests, if they insist, we allow them to buy us dinner - once only during the trip. If the guests are on a tight budget and they insist on buying us dinner, we either choose a "counter" meal or suggest we would rather have a bottle of wine (mentioning that our favorite is "such-and-such wine" ((some type which cost between $10-$15)... Our guests are happy they could give us something in return for their vacation and we are happy they honored us with their company.

 

[marynvince]

Take the total amount of points your stay requires, Multiply by $10 and that is the cost to the group if no one was a DVC member. Can divide that total dollar amount by the number of families or some other equitable measure based on accomodations being consumed...All bedrooms are not created equal.

Good Luck

 

[crisi]

I'd do dues myself. Or I'd have them pick up a shared expense. For instance, when we went with friends to a beach home they were borrowing from a friend of theirs (so they got the house for "free" - but it was a resource we didn't have access to) we picked up the rental car.

And I don't see any problem with charging family - these are points you could be using to take an extra trip or extend your trip yourself - it isn't like you have a "spare bedroom" they can use that doesn't really put you out. And given the number of "can you believe my friend/family is cancelling on me!" threads of late, I'd say its even wise to make people make some sort of monetary committment to the idea. "Guests" often take advantage of the situation - or they fail to understand the situation (someone commented in one of those threads that their guests said "the room was very nice considering it was free"). People appreciate better what they themselves pay for.

 

[mamatojon]

In our case, we were going to charge them the dues. We were going to use our points for a room for my BIL, but my MIL ended up using hers - since she is his mom she didn't charge him anything (I wouldn't with my kids either). But when it was our points we were going to charge him dues. Partly because we were going to use 2 years worth of points, and more so because treating him would create a strange dynamic between our two families where we believe that he would feel that he owed us something of comparable value, and they just don't have the resources to treat us to something comparable. I wouldn't expect to be paid back, but we know that they would feel strange and want to. By paying us for the dues, there was the sense that they had paid their fair share and didn't owe us, and we felt like even though we were going to miss a trip the next year, we had some $$ to do something else.

 

[PSC]

I agree with other posters who offer the room as a free gift. Airfare, park tickets and dining are the responsibility of the guest. If my guest wants to pay my bar tab at dinner one night, I'll gratefully accept the offer.

We bought the points we have because we could afford them, treating friends to a magical experience is all the compensation we desire.

 

[spruce]

Our charge is minimal. We get the master bedroom and 1 sit down dinner. The real payout is being able to witness the magic as a first timer experiences it and knowing that our good fortune allowed us to bring that into the life of someone we care about.
The grand gathering photo in our signature is real......fab 5 rented for 30 minutes and a disney photographer for an hour in front of cindys castle before the park opened.
That was cool. The blowups are awesome. The kids were excited and the adults were teary eyed, myself included. We pulled off a big surprise. That's our payout.

 

[jamstew]

I see no problem with everyone pitching in for part of the room. I think that posts like this only make those who choose to accept money from their "guests" feel guilty for doing so. The bottom line is that what works for one might not work for another. We never charge my parents when they travel with us but we have accepted money from friends with whom we've shared a villa and I have no regrets about that. They would have had to pay for a room somewhere else and I would have used less points had they not stayed with us so it worked out for all of us. There's no right or wrong here.

That's kind of where I am on the issue. I'm planning a Disney trip with some of my cousins for next fall. We started talking about it long before I bought DVC, so everyone knew they'd be paying for accommodations. I'd be going anyway, but I'd stay in a studio rather than a 2BR, so I looked at the point differential (100 points for five nights), calculated what I could rent the 100 points for, and will divide that by the number of people who end up going. It doesn't come out that different from what everyone would be paying if I didn't have DVC. I don't feel the slightest bit guilty about charging them. I'm using points that I could have for another solo trip for me in order to facilitate a trip they would have taken (and paid for) anyway. That said, I wouldn't charge my brother or sister if they wanted to go with me.

 

[sarcasticblonde]

I would charge them a flat rate, but that is just me.

On a side note, it never ceases to amaze me when people judge someone for asking a question. The OP wanted to know how to calculate the charge for his guests. They didn't ask whether it was correct etiquette to charge. People can do what they please even if it doesn't jive with what someone else would do.

 

[gobofraggle]

I think some of you guys with the 'i wouldn't charge a guest!' response are sounding slightly holier-than-thou and not recognising that:

- While you wouldn't charge someone to stay at your home, it doesn't cost you anything to have them stay at your home. It's more like if you invite someone to stay at your home but don't have room and so have to pay for a room in a local hotel - how often do you do that, really? I'm not saying you wouldn't do it, but you wouldn't do it for as many people I'm sure, and you must be able to recognise it isn't the same thing as inviting someone to use a spare room in your home.

- this 'costs' you points which would pay for next year's vacation - you aren't inviting them to share something you would use anyway (like if you all camped out in a studio) - they are using up your next year's vacation. Whether or not you can swallow this cost is very personal to your financial situation and very personal to just how strongly you feel about those particular family members!

To be clear, we've never gone with family to DVC, but I know a couple of family members I'd be happy to pay for and some I'd be happy to share the experience with if it doesn't cost my my opportunity to go the following year (i.e. they pitch in and I recoup my costs so that I can afford another vacation the next year).

 

[crisi]

I guess I am going to sound a bit negative here, but your "guests" are not guests if they are paying for the room, IMHO.

The OP is just using the word "guests" in the Disney sense of the word.

 

[gobofraggle]

...We were going to use our points for a room for my BIL...treating him would create a strange dynamic between our two families where we believe that he would feel that he owed us something of comparable value, and they just don't have the resources to treat us to something comparable. I wouldn't expect to be paid back, but we know that they would feel strange and want to. By paying us for the dues, there was the sense that they had paid their fair share and didn't owe us, and we felt like even though we were going to miss a trip the next year, we had some $$ to do something else.

This is part of the problem we would have. The only people we might invite would be my wife's sister and her family - but they wouldn't be able to offer anything similar in return as a gift, and it would be uncomfortable... I'd rather charge them a low-ish rate and let them feel on top of the situation.

Another problem, and the main reason why we may never invite them, is that they don't seem to 'get' Disney and so I don't know how much they would appreciate the experience. I have a feeling that if they paid for it, or towards it, they might appreciate it more than they would a freebie. And it wouldn't be as galling for us to hear if they didn't appreciate it and we'd paid!

 

[HGD24]

When we invite people to stay with us, we don't charge them. When family and close friends ask to use our points, we charge them. Usually $10/point.

Here's why we charge: those are points that we would otherwise bank for a future vacation or rent if we could not vacation that year for some reason. Also, it takes time to call MS and arrange their stay and to set up ME and DDP if they opt for those offerings...sometimes, it takes multiple calls to get them as close to what they want as possible. We feel that our vacation points and time are worth something and we've never had friends or family who asked to use points be upset for paying $10/point, especially when they've already researched the cash price for the room that they would be staying in.

ETA - We have 2 relatives who invited themselves along while we are there in Oct. We will ask them for $$ for their room since they invited themselves and want to stay where we stay.

 

[ILuvTigger]

I see it in different aspects...if you invite someone, yes I don't see charging them, but if you and your family or friends are talking about going, and each of you would be paying for lodging and come to the conclusion of upgrading to a larger place to fit all of your needs, yes I can see you charging them the difference of what your own needs would have been. If it was you and your family (6 total) you would have the 2 bedroom which for your time frame is 207 a week, versus the GV of 541 week (333 pt difference). Yes it would be great if you can just call it a gift, but you are giving up next years vacation to do this. I feel you should be compensated, to determine what is fair is difficult....first, what would they have in return, do each set of families get their own room?? If so where would your 4 children sleep? You have to base it on their luxury as well. I am assuming you are keeping the master bedroom and bath. If you were to divide the points up 541, I think your family (6 total) should take care of half of those points (271) and the other 270 divided with the other two parties, making it 135 each, if you multiply that with the number I see posted $6 pp that is $810 for each of the other familys , just over $115 a night. I only think that is fair if they are having their own room/s. Which if they rented points from someone for their own studio, they would be paying $740 (@ $10 pp) for the week, but with your villa they have use of the kitchen and laundry room which is a plus. I think $115 a night is an awesome deal for what they are getting, only if they get their own room/s. If they have to share that space $75 - $80 a night. Either way they are making out!! I hope you can come to a conclusion!! Good luck and let us know what you came up with.

 

[db78]

I would charge them a flat rate, but that is just me.

On a side note, it never ceases to amaze me when people judge someone for asking a question. The OP wanted to know how to calculate the charge for his guests. They didn't ask whether it was correct etiquette to charge. People can do what they please even if it doesn't jive with what someone else would do.

Amen! If the OP had asked whether or not you feel it is appropriate to charge, then these comments would be understandable. But they didn't, so we shouldn't judge.

To the question, we haven't been in your type situation before, but I think Crafty Mouse's reply makes the most sense.

Regardless of what you choose to do, enjoy your vacation!

 

[TDC Nala]

I charge anyone who isn't immediate family. But not very much.

the concept of the DVC as I understand is to share the mouse.

No, it isn't. It's so I can get myself a prepaid hotel room at Walt Disney World.