Would you agree with a check-in fee?

Leave the mousekeeping as is.
Living one hour from the WDW, I take multiple two - three nights trips a year, and have never had a stay in one location of more than 5 nights. Switching resorts is common for us and we will continue to do so.

No.

Leave it alone. I bought it based on just this flexibility, to have stays that worked for me.

I imagine I've already paid a premium for this flexibility.

Members should know going in what they have paid for.

(And, I'm always doing split stays!)

you also need to consider that what you are asking could make people like me - who will reserve a day or two in months who are mostly filled - stop doing that - DVC is based on being 98% full most nights - you are really talking about an increase in fees for every member - if DVC like some of the other timeshares is only filled 75 to 30% with members - which is what your request could possible do.

I can't afford more fees - if DVC started to charge me for housekeeping - would always rent my points and stay at Pop for my one night visits. Which really do not think DVC wants. could be wrong - but this sounds like another way for DVC to cater to the rich not to the everybody.

No new fees for housekeeping. Housekeeping is the single largest dues line item for almost all DVC Resorts (averages about $1/point).

http://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-program/financial/2015-resort-budgets

Most of the house keeping costs are fixed so don't think any change would make much of a difference.

NO new fees for housekeeping! Why would anyone suggest making DVC less flexible?

jodifla said:

NO new fees for housekeeping! Why would anyone suggest making DVC less flexible?

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Here's the reason:

hakepb said:

Housekeeping is basically $1/point in the dues breakdown.
For a VGF 1BR, that is about $300/week in mid season.

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How can cleaning a 1BR cost $300? Because on average it's not cleaned once per week, but multiple times per week. Even if housekeeping costs include cleaning the other guest areas (does it?), it's still very costly.
So who goes for one week, pays for the cleaning for who goes for a couple of days.
However wanting a system that doesn't charge everytime is a legitimate wish. And as I said I don't think it will ever change.

Wyndham issues owners "housekeeping points" based on their points ownership. Then every time you stay somewhere, whether for a day or 7 days, you're charged for a week's worth of "housekeeping points." I'm a Wyndham owner, and I hate this as a rip off.

We are new HGVC members as of about two weeks. We bought another timeshare that had a week reserved in 2016 that we were not going to be able to use so we canceled it. That gave us 5000 points to use. We were able to book five nights at Tuscany Village near the Outlet Mall, three more nights at Tuscany Village and then still have enough for a week in a one bedroom at Marco Beach (if we can book it - we have to wait until 276 days from check out to book non-home). For each of the two reservations I booked at Tuscany Village, we had to pay a $52 booking fee. If I need to change it, I won't have to pay again. If I had booked my home resort, I wouldn't have to pay any fee. When I make the reservation at Marco Beach, I'll have to pay a slightly higher fee because I can't book that one on-line (it's an affiliate, not HGVC owned). So maybe booking fees should be considered.

Also, I had to book a three night minimum. But 30 days out, I can book a two night minimum for cash for whatever remains and the price is pretty reasonable.

Our other timeshare is a Sat to Sat, with no full cleaning, but we can swap out towels twice a week on scheduled days. I'm not sure how the housekeeping will work at Tuscany Village, but I'll find out.

So, not really nickel and diming us, but a way to maybe reduce member fees.

As someone who is typically in the same room for 2-3 weeks I'm happy with the way things are. Little nickel and dime fees depending on what you do, I hate.

We very seldom have split stays and rarely stay long enough to have a full cleaning before we leave. Of course, I think that when I check into a room, it should be cleaned from the previous guests, and all appliances, light bulbs, curtains,doors, shower heads and drains should be in working order. That's what I paid for when I bought into DVC and pay my annual dues. We have a teenaged son who likes to sleep in, and so on trash/towel day, housekeeping doesn't even come into the room to trade out the used towels. We make our beds ourselves and take trash and recycling to the appropriate locations. Any more direct charges for housekeeping would probably result in my not giving a tip to mousekeeping during our stay. I figure that they should be able to afford to pay a living wage if charging more to clean the room.

It all comes down to the math. If it would lower my dues enough it might be worth it. But if I am just breaking even at the end of the year than I wouldn't want it changed.

For what it's worth, I just booked Wyndham 3 nights at Bonnet Creek. But. I couldn't get them together. Same room type, 1BR Deluxe, 2 nights plus 1 night.

I called the resort and linked the reservations. On paper it's two reservations, in reality it's one trip.

I had housekeeping credits for one trip, not two.

So. How much did I have to pay in housekeeping credits for a split stay that's not really a split stay?

63 credits at $2.25/credit= $141.75.

It was worth it to me to upgrade from Star Island to Bonnet Creek.

I just wanted to point out that those advocating a Wyndham type system at DVC were probably thinking a few bucks per visit.

Once DVC starts in with the nickels and dimes, just like Wyndham, it won't end there.

Bring a very large piggy bank for the nickels and dimes you'll be shelling out.

There were times that we would have loved to spend the entire week at one resort, but ended up doing a split due to availability. We were fine with this as we never really minded moving mid-stay. I would hate to think that a situation like this would end up costing us more money. I would not be in favor of a check-in charge.

ziravan said:

For what it's worth, I just booked Wyndham 3 nights at Bonnet Creek. But. I couldn't get them together. Same room type, 1BR Deluxe, 2 nights plus 1 night.

I called the resort and linked the reservations. On paper it's two reservations, in reality it's one trip.

I had housekeeping credits for one trip, not two.

So. How much did I have to pay in housekeeping credits for a split stay that's not really a split stay?

63 credits at $2.25/credit= $141.75.

It was worth it to me to upgrade from Star Island to Bonnet Creek.

I just wanted to point out that those advocating a Wyndham type system at DVC were probably thinking a few bucks per visit.

Once DVC starts in with the nickels and dimes, just like Wyndham, it won't end there.

Bring a very large piggy bank for the nickels and dimes you'll be shelling out.

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Your example is a worst case scenario for Wyndham. Had it been all together it would have been 63 total and that would have covered up to 7 days. In general housekeeping costs money and it has to be paid for in some way by somebody. In your example you could have gotten a full cleaning on the change day though I suspect you didn't. Exchanges through RCI for less than a week usually have added housekeeping fees as well. I can generally get a good exchange in the area for little more than that cost for a full week and often at a resort that's better than Star Island if not Bonnet Creek.

Dean said:

Your example is a worst case scenario for Wyndham. Had it been all together it would have been 63 total and that would have covered up to 7 days. In general housekeeping costs money and it has to be paid for in some way by somebody. In your example you could have gotten a full cleaning on the change day though I suspect you didn't. Exchanges through RCI for less than a week usually have added housekeeping fees as well. I can generally get a good exchange in the area for little more than that cost for a full week and often at a resort that's better than Star Island if not Bonnet Creek.

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Like I said, worth it to make the change, but not cheap, either.

I'm still figuring out Wyndham. I'll make better housekeeping credit decisions in the future.

In this case, I asked DW, "Are you willing to pay $150 for 3 nights at BC instead of Star Island?"

It was a no-brainer.

ziravan said:

Like I said, worth it to make the change, but not cheap, either.

I'm still figuring out Wyndham. I'll make better housekeeping credit decisions in the future.

In this case, I asked DW, "Are you willing to pay $150 for 3 nights at BC instead of Star Island?"

It was a no-brainer.

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Yes, with Wyndham you do have to consider those and plan accordingly. In effect it creates a certain amount of minimum stay situation. Even then the price is high and I suspect intended to be punitive. A better comparison might be when you exchange through RCI for less than a week or for DVC's full cleaning price for OOP currently. Individual resorts usually charge a housekeeping fee that is variable in amount and how it's allocated but roughly $25-89 is the usual range I've seen per stay shorter than a week IIRC. I haven't seen many over a $100 except for some houses and 3 or 4 BR villas. The one's that are higher also tend to correlate with lower reputation in terms of sales and the like such as Holiday Inn and Summer Bay. Some of the better companies like Hilton and Bluegreen were among the lower fees. Interestingly the Star Island and Bonnet Creek fees through RCI are $75 per unit regardless of size.

The reality is that it should lower the costs for those with longer stays in smaller units and raise them for those with shorter stays in larger units. Ultimately it would depend on how it's implemented. Personally I think just leave it along unless they want to institute a minimum stay anyway. But do realize those who are creating more housekeeping needs proportional to the points they own are being subsidized by those on the other end. A good way to look at this from that perspective is the valet parking change where the many would have been subsiding the few had they continued it for free. My view in general on such matters is that there are items that are included in simply running a resort and not everyone is going to take advantage of every item. For DVC that might include the pool, exercise room, front desk and transportation system among many others. For something to be reasonable to be FFS it needs to be specialized, have real dollars associated with it, not be an item that most would agree are simply part of running a resort, not have a significant economy of scale and be easy to administer FFS. The valet parking was the poster child for this situation. Housekeeping, when it's excessive, is one that actually meets most if not all of those criteria. But it would be a change, would require changes to the reservation system plus training for the various staff involved. The other possibility is removal of the trash & towel service since it's something they do poorly anyway in my experience and other than studios, really doesn't fulfill real need. A towel exchange option would satisfy the studio needs and be far cheaper and more efficient and likely more helpful.