DVC Annual Dues Rates For 2013
 

Only a 1.7% increase for SSR. I can live with that.

No show that DVC pinned BLT with the largest % increase. They are going to make that up somewhere and the low MFs were a bait for the direct sales (no longer needed).

Percent changes:

Animal Kingdom Villas 4.40%
Aulani Hawaii (Pre July 27, 2011) 6.52%
Aulani Hawaii (Post July 27, 2011) 4.90%
Bay Lake Tower 6.52%
Beach Club Villas 2.57%
Boardwalk Villas 4.00%
Grand Californian 5.77%
Hilton Head 1.56%
Old Key West 2.71%
Saratoga Springs 1.73%
Vero Beach 4.09%
Wilderness Lodge 3.27%

It's now 2 years in a row that BLT has had the highest annual MF increases. Given that the high rise complex should be cheaper to maintain, that the large increases only started happening once the resort was sold out and that there were problems with Aulani 's original MF it sure looks like the MF at BLT were kept artificially low while BLT was for sale and that they are making up for it now.

If these type of increases continue in 2-3 years BLT is going to have higher MF than SSR. If I was a BLT owner I would not be very happy!

I'm a little surprised at the 4.4% increase for AKV. I usually budget for a 3% increase so that caught me off guard. OTOH, only 1.4% for HHI was a nice surprise:goodvibes. It looks like my MF's will be about $870 this year. I bought $800 worth of Disney gift cards from Target and paid $722 for them. It looks like I'll have to get one more $50 card (for $47.50) which will make my total out-of-pocket cost about $790. I love Target! I'm saving about 9% on my MF's:banana:.

I have $40 deposited every two weeks into my online savings account which I use to pay our MF's every year. We bought our HHI contract direct last January and financed it. Since I budgeted about $1050 for MF's and I am only paying about $800, I can take the extra $250 in the account and make an extra payment on the loan:cool1:,

You can pay your annual fees using Disney gift cards? My first annual fees as a DVC owner are coming up, so this would be interesting to know how it is done.

Devil is in the details. It will require a look at the full budget to see where increases occurred. Last year's high increase for BLT was attributed to a higher percentage of villa guests vs. hotel guests using shared resort amenities.

The average DVC increase appears to be about 4% so BLT is only 2.5% above that. CMs and technology for the new front desk may be a factor. Changes to TOTW lounge?

According to DVC, property tax assessments are largely based upon selling prices so it's likely BLT taxes went up again as point prices rose in '12.

Aulani problems were (understandably) discovered within a year of the first budget estimate. Resort was not even open yet. This will be the 6th year of operations for BLT with budgets being audited annually by large independent firms and government oversight.

The lower opening day dues for BLT are entirely a function of the higher point charts. Simple mathematics.

If DVC is guilty of any deliberate missteps, it likely relates to furnishings which were not durable enough to withstand years of guest use & abuse. While that may cause money to correct, it should not lead to many years of high percentage increases.

Yes you can. I just called MS in January and paid with 3 different gift cards.

I buy ours at the grocery store when our store has 20 cents off per gallon of gas for every $50 you spend in gift cards (normally its 10 cents off).

Only? That is over 60% above the average. That seems pretty steep to me. {EDIT: looks like average is about 3.7% and BLT is 6.52+% which is 2.82% above average, or over 75% above average!}

What is it in real dollars?

Which line items were responsible for the increase?

What additional products or services are tied to the cost increases?

Obviously we do not know that yet. However, it is not as simple as blowing it off as "only" 2.5% (or more) above the average. That is an outlier and needs to be explained/rationalized. That may be done when the details are revealed. BLT's MFs have risen nearly 16% in 2 years! It does seems odd that there would be such a disparity in cost increases at only one resort. Seems like artificial manipulation as a theory as some have expressed cannot simply be overlooked.

what are the Vero Beach (Subsidized) dues for 2013?

Thank you for posting.