DVC is getting out of controle with point increases

Did I mention that SHARKS :-)scared1::scared1::scared1:) were recently spotted in the Delaware River?

There have always been sharks in the Delaware Bay. That's all some fisherpeople catch. I imagine some of them make it to the river.
 
If Disney continues to increase the points needed to stay at the resorts I'm gonna end up selling and paying out of pocket and staying in a studio over at the value resorts.I'm being forced to choose a shorter vacation now or stay in studios instead of a 1 bedroom.We used to be able to do 2 vacations of 5 days at SSR in a 1 bedroom for around 200 points.Now they raised the points to stay every year since we've purchased DVC.My 2 vacations per year at SSR now costs more than the 200 points to stay in a 1 bedroom both times.Ive settled for a studio for out may trips and a 1 bedroom for out October trips.At this rate I'm gonna be stuck with a studio all the time if i want the 5 day vacations.Disney's excuse to my wife and I was that there's cheaper value priced rooms been added to AKV to compensate the rise at SSR and other resorts. This does nothing for me.I feel there slowly pulling the old bait and switch on us. And If I came out of pocket for the value resorts they will even give me free food most of the time!. DVC members get nada.Just a fancy monthly payment to be in the club.Does anyone else feel the same way?

Mr.Tight
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Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 5:55 pm
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I feel your pain. We can't do 1 bedrooms for as many nights as we used to by staying on weekdays only. We vacationed one way for almost 15 years and now Disney decided to become more aligned with the run of the mill timeshares by making all the nights about equal in order to encourage weekly stays, so we must vacation differently now. I hate that they "adjusted" the points two years in a row. I think they just expected folks like me to rush out and add more points, but I refuse. DVC is not the same product I bought 15 years ago, that's for sure. I'm not completely dissatisfied, but I am sad that it has changed so much and is no longer what it used to be.

Instead of buying more points, I just renew my Universal annual pass every year and spend more time there. The Universal hotels are much better managed and we love spending spending part of our Florida time there. Universal has really stepped it up with the WWOHP.
 
I think I missed it too. I really think I just stopped caring. Our vacation habits REALLY took a hit with the point reallocation. We simply adjust our stays to shorter times now (less time and money we spend in the parks). Six and seven nights stays are now four or five nights. And 2 bedroom villas are now 1 bedroom villas.
Last year we actually stayed three nights inside the park and three nights additional outside of WDW for which we visited Sea World, Aquatica and Bush Gardens. I'm sure disney could care less if they lost our business for those extra three nights....and we feel the same. :rolleyes1

We were hit too, Maria. There is a lot to do in Florida besides WDW, and we love going to the beaches, doing Sea World (though the one in California is much nicer), Busch Gardens, and especially Universal. We definitely give Disney less money than we used to, and we feel good about that. I just think DVC values it's customers less than they used to. I used to be a member, now I'm just another source of income for them, but a smaller one now since we do spend less days there.
 
Well it's not my "tactic" Tisbit. For us, sure we use all our points.

I highley doubt any DVC member does not plan on using all of their points. ;)

Oh and Tisbit...and just noticed you inserted the little "teacher" icon in your reply to my post :teacher:

I've been a Member since 2000 and on and off these threads about the point allocation for like 1-2 years now. Not to be coy, but I don't feel I need the teacher icon inserted when replying to me. I "get" the whole allocation concept. Thank you.

Don't be so sensitive...the 1+1 icon is saying that there is a certain level of mathmatics involved. When you start taking everything personally, then reasonableness goes out the window. :teacher:

Like Maria above, I don't think that's a tactic. Often it's just a reasonable adjustment, based on a new reality, that provides a better value for the person making the decision. There are "some flaws" with all thinking. There is always a nit to pick. "Designed" + "might" does not = "is."

Actually, the correct equation here is "designed to book the rooms almost every night" + "you DO actually choose to only spend 3 days" = "someone else might take your place.

And that would be the difference between adjustment (or "tactic" if you prefer) and theory. Tactics and adjustments are reality based; theories are based on...um, ASSumptions. It would be interesting to see the citations/emperical data for this blanket statement...:rolleyes:

Or not. From anecdotal reports of last minute availability, I wonder.

I agree with you Jim, but when many people try to justify their point of view with "I will just spend less days/less money in the park, it will often fall on deaf ears to DVC management, for the exact reason you said. For every person that had a negative impact, there were people with a positive. The difference is people will not complain/post as viligently when there is not a problem.

As for the last minute availability, there has always been some last minute availability, but before it appeared to be more weekends or sporadic, where as now there seems to be more solid periods (3-4 day stretches) that remain available.

You are right about actual booking patterns, we just don't know and likely will never know. DVC refused to release them during the reallocations and will not likely release them ever, unless they are forced to. I am also someone that truely believes that we will face another point reallocation in the next 5-7 years. The points were dropped dramatically for weekends, just to change peoples behaviors/vacation habits. Once thoes habits have been changed, I believe weekends will be next to impossible to get with the current point charts and DVC will swing back towards a higher point cost for weekends (not as high as before, but maybe halfway to what they used to be). This is all my opinion, but is reasonable and makes sense. Most hotels/resorts book solidly on the weekends and DVC will be no exception with these lower point charts. My advise is not to depend on any set number of points. :surfweb:
 


MiaSRN62 :For us, sure we use all our points.
Tisbit : I highley doubt any DVC member does not plan on using all of their points.
????
Well......I was just addressing your following comment :

Tisbit: Second, you will still use all of your points.


Tisbit : When you start taking everything personally, then reasonableness goes out the window.
ha ha...no....you simply lost me at "tactic"......;););)
I'm quite reasonable, thank you very much :confused: Like I said before, been on these reallocation threads for a couple years now. I "get" the numbers.

Maybe find another way to rephrase your position without using that word ("tactic") to describe how I personally feel about the reallocation as stated in my original post ? Might just do the trick Tisbit ;););)
 
I honestly have no clue if the point reallocation hurt or helped us. I know a 2 bdrm in March was 296 points (I think), but we haven't done that in so long. The past 6 years have been the first week of April since DD hit high school and now both boys are in HS. Must go during spring break since it is so hard to take them out with missing classes. Sometimes that week in magic season sometimes premier depending on Easter.

One thing I am hoping is that getting our requests might be easier. Learned long ago, arriving on Sat. we always got our requests. Once we started arriving on Thurs. or Fri., that stopped. I always wondered if that was due to more people staying during the week and not the weekends. If there were empty rooms Friday night, then there were more rooms/buildings to choose from when we arrived.

Our SP starts on a Friday and mostly the kids just watch movies on Thurs., so we try to fly out on Thurs. taking them out of school for one day. It is also cheaper to fly Th and not Sat. we have found. So now if less people are staying on the week days (which I really highly doubt), we might get our requests :worship:
 
WDWMom : Once we started arriving on Thurs. or Fri., that stopped.
Friday, Sat and Sun are big days for check-in and check-out. Arriving in the middle of the week is usually a breeze. We have always gotten our requests when arriving Mon-Thurs. So this would lead one to believe there is a good amount of availability during the middle of the week too ? My daughter is about to check-in to SSR. She is stuck in traffic on I-4. I told her to text me when she checks in. Curious to see how easy it is to get a room or even her request (Congress Park).
 


Friday, Sat and Sun are big days for check-in and check-out. Arriving in the middle of the week is usually a breeze. We have always gotten our requests when arriving Mon-Thurs. So this would lead one to believe there is a good amount of availability during the middle of the week too ? My daughter is about to check-in to SSR. She is stuck in traffic on I-4. I told her to text me when she checks in. Curious to see how easy it is to get a room or even her request (Congress Park).

I agree it seems the biggest check out days are Friday...then Saturday & Sunday...

although we have had the opposite experience you have had checking in during the week.....on Wednesdays & Thursdays.....we have never gotten our requests .....and when we check in on a Friday/Saturday or Sunday we have received our requests 99% of the time.....

our experience is only at BWV's.....so I can't comment on SSR check in's....I do hope your daughter receives her requests and has a wonderful trip:thumbsup2
 
I feel your pain. We can't do 1 bedrooms for as many nights as we used to by staying on weekdays only. We vacationed one way for almost 15 years and now Disney decided to become more aligned with the run of the mill timeshares by making all the nights about equal in order to encourage weekly stays, so we must vacation differently now. I hate that they "adjusted" the points two years in a row. I think they just expected folks like me to rush out and add more points, but I refuse. DVC is not the same product I bought 15 years ago, that's for sure. I'm not completely dissatisfied, but I am sad that it has changed so much and is no longer what it used to be.

I just think DVC values it's customers less than they used to. I used to be a member, now I'm just another source of income for them, but a smaller one now since we do spend less days there.

DVC has always had variable point charts to help balance out guest demand. There's a very good reason that New Years eve falling on a Saturday costs MUCH more than a Wednesday night in September.

DVC has a responsibility to its members to create a system which best facilitates members using 100% of their points. And weekend nights were clearly overpriced with respect to recent member purchase trends and villa occupancy. The cost for weekend nights simply had to come down.

As for why they changed things two years in a row--the POS states that the cost for any given night can only vary by 20% from one year to the next. Some of the changes ultimately represented a change of more than 20% so the fix had to be spread over 2 years.

Does DVC "care" less about members these days? I dunno. You're certainly entitled to form your own judgments. But whether they do or not plays absolutely no part in the decision to reallocate. It was nothing personal against "La2kw" or any other DVC member. Some members even benefited from the changes.

Regardless of individual impact, reallocating the points charts periodically is an adjustment which DVC is obligated to make.
 
I agree it seems the biggest check out days are Friday...then Saturday & Sunday...

although we have had the opposite experience you have had checking in during the week.....on Wednesdays & Thursdays.....we have never gotten our requests .....and when we check in on a Friday/Saturday or Sunday we have received our requests 99% of the time.....

our experience is only at BWV's.....so I can't comment on SSR check in's....I do hope your daughter receives her requests and has a wonderful trip:thumbsup2

It stands to reason that most people begin and end their trips on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Not all but most.

A lot of departures on those days means a lot of vacant rooms for incoming guests. That should lead to a greater likelihood of requests being met.

Weekday departures are smaller in number and thus it is simply a matter of how well they can match the few vacated rooms with the requests of incoming guests. It's more of a crap shoot on weekdays.
 
palhockeymomof2 : I agree it seems the biggest check out days are Friday...then Saturday & Sunday...
Agreed....but when we're checking out on Friday...we also see A LOT of people checking in.........been an owner for 11 years......this has been pretty consistant. We generally, over the years, did our stays Sun through Thurs (though have done Sun thru Sat as well).....there would always be a big line and many a ME bus pulling up for the weekend crowds coming in.
My daughter just zipped through check-in at SSR around an hour ago and said it was pretty empty in the lobby. She was told there was a room available immediately, but she chose to wait for her "Congress Park" request since she and her friend are going to Sea World for the day anyway.
 
Well for us it has allowed us to extend out trip a night or two. We usually only went on Sun-Thursday because weekend points seemed so high. Now we are not afraid to stay an extra night. We realize it all works outt he same, but I guess there is a pschyological component to it. I would consider a quick weekend visit now as well, which we never considered before.:banana:
 
Agreed....but when we're checking out on Friday...we also see A LOT of people checking in.........been an owner for 11 years......this has been pretty consistant. We generally, over the years, did our stays Sun through Thurs (though have done Sun thru Sat as well).....there would always be a big line and many a ME bus pulling up for the weekend crowds coming in.
My daughter just zipped through check-in at SSR around an hour ago and said it was pretty empty in the lobby. She was told there was a room available immediately, but she chose to wait for her "Congress Park" request since she and her friend are going to Sea World for the day anyway.

I think there is also something to be said about what time you check in. A lot of people check in early afternoon, most likely because of flight schedules, etc. If you get in early, regardless of the day I have not had much of a wait at all. Even people that drive in, usually will get there later in the day (or even plan on getting there around check out time).
 
Friday, Sat and Sun are big days for check-in and check-out. Arriving in the middle of the week is usually a breeze. We have always gotten our requests when arriving Mon-Thurs. So this would lead one to believe there is a good amount of availability during the middle of the week too ? My daughter is about to check-in to SSR. She is stuck in traffic on I-4. I told her to text me when she checks in. Curious to see how easy it is to get a room or even her request (Congress Park).

We have found the opposite to be true for us.

I agree it seems the biggest check out days are Friday...then Saturday & Sunday...

although we have had the opposite experience you have had checking in during the week.....on Wednesdays & Thursdays.....we have never gotten our requests .....and when we check in on a Friday/Saturday or Sunday we have received our requests 99% of the time.....

our experience is only at BWV's.....so I can't comment on SSR check in's....I do hope your daughter receives her requests and has a wonderful trip:thumbsup2

Same here except we usually stay at OKW. Even when we have switched resorts, which are usually TH or F, we don't get our requests.

I think there is also something to be said about what time you check in. A lot of people check in early afternoon, most likely because of flight schedules, etc. If you get in early, regardless of the day I have not had much of a wait at all. Even people that drive in, usually will get there later in the day (or even plan on getting there around check out time).



We normally check in before noon. Last year our flight left Detroit at 7am and we were in the room by noon at OKW on a Thurs. Not the area we requested, but that was OK as we liked where we ended up. We have even checked in as early at 9am and not gotten our requests on a Thurs. So for us, it really is the day of the week and not the timing of check in.
 
I think there is also something to be said about what time you check in. A lot of people check in early afternoon, most likely because of flight schedules, etc. If you get in early, regardless of the day I have not had much of a wait at all. Even people that drive in, usually will get there later in the day (or even plan on getting there around check out time).

True...and then this can be said for any of the previous comments regarding check-in/check-out lines etc and at DVC and non DVC resorts alike.
We have checked in and out at ALL different times. I've gotten to the lobby as early at 8:30 am and as late as 1:30 am. Been DVC'ing for 11 years now. I will agree, the longest lines seem to be 1 pm to 5 or 6 pm.
 
Can't say we've ever had long lines at OKW any time we have checked in. Maybe waited for 1 or 2 people in front of us. Now I do remember waiting once at AKV, but that would have been in the morning too. We also waited for our one and only stay at BWI. Can't remember the day of the week, but it was probably not a weekend as we stayed at OKW for 2 nights first.
 
WDWMom :Can't say we've ever had long lines at OKW any time we have checked in. Maybe waited for 1 or 2 people in front of us
Oh I do have memories of lines. We primarily stayed at OKW as it was our "home" from 2000 to 2009 before we sold it to purchase AKV and BLT. We stayed many weeknights and weekends.....I can recall standing in line with 5 CM's waiting on people. One time so busy, the "concierge" desk actually started checking people in. Most of these experiences were prior to the opening of AKV......and most were during either July/Aug or Oct/Nov.
 
WOW! Never had that problem in the 13 years (16+ trips) at OKW. Even during our Oct/Nov. trips. I guess we have been lucky. Don't think I've ever waited more than 10 minutes to check in.
 
WOW! Never had that problem in the 13 years (16+ trips) at OKW. Even during our Oct/Nov. trips. I guess we have been lucky. Don't think I've ever waited more than 10 minutes to check in.

I'm certainly not saying all my trips to OKW had long check-ins.....but maybe certain times of the year were a little busier ? I zipped right in (as well as had longer waits) at every DVC actually (even had a long wait at VB one time). Guess it's just hit or miss.
 
I agree with you Jim, but when many people try to justify their point of view with "I will just spend less days/less money in the park, it will often fall on deaf ears to DVC management, for the exact reason you said. For every person that had a negative impact, there were people with a positive. The difference is people will not complain/post as viligently when there is not a problem.
I find that DVC members, esp those on DIS and similar sites, tend to have an inflated idea of their self worth in the system and of the DVC membership as a whole. Threats such as "we'll spend less", "I'm going to call and complain" or "I'll sell if..." really mean nothing even if carried through. Even when most people complain, they generally don't do so in a manner that's effective leaving their only chance of their complaint meaning anything being if they're are among a singular chorus of others with the same complaint (glasses in studios).
 

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