When reserving your vacation using Club Points, your strategy is very different than when reserving your week. When using your week, you want to reserve when the points required are the HIGHEST to get max value.
Related: When to Reserve Your Home Resort to MAX Your Ownership
When using your Club Points to make a reservation, many owners look at their schedule, look at the Points Calendar to verify they have enough points to cover it, and then BAM – they’re on their way! But if you want to MAX your Club Points, and stretch them as far as you can, you should take a little more time in planning WHEN you actually go to that resort.
Let me walk you through the process. I’ll use OceanWatch in Myrtle Beach, SC as an example. By looking at the Points Chart for OceanWatch 2023, we can see that the most popular times to go is over the 4th of July (5400 Club Points Ocean Front view for the week). Next most points required is during the summer months – middle of May to middle of August for 4675 Club Points, Ocean Front view.
Now find the “shoulder season” – the NEXT most popular time to go to the resort. By referring to the Points Chart, you can see it is Mar 24-May 11, and Aug 11-Nov 30 for 3500 Club Points, Ocean View for the week. To MAX the value of your ownership and get the closest to the best time to go, tweak your options even more by finding those weeks that are before and after and nearest to the high season. That would be May 4 through the 11, or August 11 through August 18 in this example. By simply googling the weather in Myrtle Beach, you will find that the average temp in early May is high 60’s to low 70’s compared to mid-August being low 80’s average temps – much warmer for a beach vacation. BEST week at this resort to MAXIMIZE your ownership value, in my opinion – August 11 through August 18, 2023.
If you have a flexible schedule, remember to schedule the week CLOSEST to the high season — right before or right after the highest points required. By simply moving your week to the best week in the shoulder season, you would save 1175 Club Points, get the best weather for the season, and that’s with an Ocean Front view villa — you could enjoy even more with a different view!! More points to enjoy more vacations!!! Start doing your little happy dance — that’s something to celebrate!!