Wow disney.co.uk

[Sammie]

Actually this is not entirely true.

Our dues do pay for housekeeping. The more rooms are turned over due to crazy disney promotions, the more housekeeping and housekeepers are required to clean those rooms. Also the more housekeepers the more healthcare costs associated for any benefited positions.

So our dues do pay for our housekeeping. They also pay for theirs.

A cash room generates revenue which is used to pay housekeeping.

Honestly as a member I never give it a thought as to whether the rooms, are filled with other DVC members, RCI members that have traded in, renters, or someone paying cash, regardless of what they paid.

If this truly bothers you, I am afraid you are going to be unhappy with DVC for a very long time.

 

[Chuck S]

A cash room generates revenue which is used to pay housekeeping.

Honestly as a member I never give it a thought as to whether the rooms, are filled with other DVC members, RCI members that have traded in, renters, or someone paying cash, regardless of what they paid.

If this truly bothers you, I am afraid you are going to be unhappy with DVC for a very long time.

And most any other timeshare that is actively selling, as well. The majority of actively selling timeshares offer nearly free stays to bring in sales traffic.

 

[dor1]

We own at ssr and are brits who love our dvc and our holidays in florida.
I cant complain about our dvc holidays and the great memories they have given our family.
With these current offers from the u.k it has become increasingly difficult to justify using our points over a cash booking.
We travel as a family of 5 which disney classes as 4 adults and 1 child,we like to eat out every night of the holiday but find to eat on site every night would be too expensive.Whilst we dont mind eating offsite we would love to be able to eat on site more often,on our last trip we ate at boma,turf club and kona cafe.
These meals for us were averaging around $200,we stay for 14 nights so if we had free ddp you can see the saving we might make.
With the 45% off the room and the $150 dollar gift voucher it's tempting to not use our points.
I didnt buy into dvc to rent points or to have holidays elsewhere,and i am still happy with our purchase,it just dosent seem as special and exclusive as it once was.

 

[Brian Noble]

Most of this inventory comes from DVC Members using their points to trade out for DCL, ABD, or the Disney Collection. Those points are used to book rooms that are, in turn, rented out to the general public at "market rates", and the revenue received (less a cut to CRO for marketing) is used to pay for the cruise, guided tour, or hotel stay the Member chose.

The general public, when renting hotel rooms or villas, expects daily housekeeping, so it is provided. I suspect there is some mechanism to also recapture some revenue to pay for the higher housekeeping costs---either via the $95 fee, or some other reimbursement from CRO to DVCMC.

Disney also owns points at each resort---some for maintenance intervals (which I'm guessing they do not rent except as breakage) and some from foreclosures, etc. The points Disney owns via foreclosure are theirs to do with as they wish, including rental. I suspect that there is also a mechanism here to recapture those extra costs in some way. You would have to inspect the budget to be sure. I would guess that there is a negotiated rate at which CRO pays DVCMC for these services, but probably not quite the same level that a Member pays for additional cleans.

As for whether or not the accounting is done properly: you have two choices. You can assume that Disney is playing by the rules, or you can be skeptical and live with never knowing for sure. If they are trying to hide some improper transfer payments, you will probably never discover it without having direct access to the accounting data and a *lot* of time and auditor manpower. After all, DVCMC is audited annually, and *those* folks don't find anything improper. What are the chances you will if you go to the Orlando offices and ask to see the books?

 

[Brian Noble]

One more thought: as to "devaluing". Disney is not devaluing anything---that's just the price the market will bear. Since the collapse of 2008, Disney has had a very tough time renting their pricier rooms---and the Villas are among the most expensive. They have had to resort to aggressive discounting just to move inventory. That's not Disney's fault. It's the economy's fault. There may even be times when renting is cheaper than owning. But, in the long run, that's not likely to be true over time.

The UK market is often given better promotions than the US market, because folks in the UK tend to take longer vacations to Florida than US guests do. In other words, the marketing expense *per booking* is higher, but *per night* is lower, because a UK guest might stay for two weeks, while a US guest might stay for only one (or less---the average US vacation was something between 3-4 days last time I looked). Those marketing expenses are non-trivial.

 

[TagsMissy]

Is it showing 42% off the USD rate or the converted rate?

If the discount is off the USD then I can understand the reduced rate a bit better when you consider the Euro is currently about .70 on the USD and if TPTB want to keep the Brits coming they need to adjust accordingly.

I do understand the beef though.

What does the Euro have anything to do with Brits??

 

[Judique]

A cash room generates revenue which is used to pay housekeeping.

Honestly as a member I never give it a thought as to whether the rooms, are filled with other DVC members, RCI members that have traded in, renters, or someone paying cash, regardless of what they paid.

If this truly bothers you, I am afraid you are going to be unhappy with DVC for a very long time.

The reality is an empty room generates nothing but dust.

A sold room will generate income somewhere and keep the economy moving. Some part of the proceeds will be used to pay for housekeeping.

 

[FigmentLady]

A few years ago DH and I were upgraded from a room at pop century to a 1br at SSR.
We bought into the DVC a few months later. If we hadn't stayed at SSR I'm not sure we would have taken a tour.

I understand people being upset bc it stinks when you see someone paying less than you for the same experience. However, the UK deals don't apply to me as an American so I can't let that bother me at all. I like to think maybe those same people will do what we did, enjoy the resort so much they fall in love and buy in.

 

[MickeyMcMouse]

Look at it from another angle - Disney will NEVER do anything that is loss making.

There will be profit somewhere, whether it's in the actual deal itself or from other sources ie from shopping in their outlets or parks - $60 for a polo shirt !!

If I am not mistaken, the deal includes the basic dinning plan, so there will be opportunity there to upsell.

The profit might actually be keeping the price of our dues down

David

(a UK DVC member, who is actually staying at Saratoga right now - on points )

 

[Judique]

These meals for us were averaging around $200,we stay for 14 nights so if we had free ddp you can see the saving we might make.
With the 45% off the room and the $150 dollar gift voucher it's tempting to not use our points.
I didnt buy into dvc to rent points or to have holidays elsewhere,and i am still happy with our purchase,it just dosent seem as special and exclusive as it once was.

I think time takes away the special and exclusive as we get used to a higher standard of living.

That said, I am also still happy with my purchase but don't need it as much now as when I first bought in ten years or more ago.

So I am renting about 1/2 my points this year and next.

That has paid my dues for both years and I am still taking 3-4 trips over the two years. Staying in a combo of studios and one bedrooms, only 2 going.

The renting was so easy I was tempted to not use my DVC and sign up for a free dining offer, or to get a room at Bonnet Creek or use my starwood points and stay at Swan or Dolphin.

But free dining is too much food and I can segment and just buy what I need - get a deluxe plan and do Le Cellier for lunch one day and Narcoosee or the Cali Grill the next night. Then take a dining break and eat junk food in the parks. I usually go for about a week and we've done dining plan quite a few times for the entire trip or we've paid out of pocket before the plans and booked sitdowns everyday. I'm dined out at Disney. It's not really special anymore, but we still like an occasional sitdown.

Anyway, the point is DVC still fits and is cost effective for us. It's been paid for and is still a great product. I don't stress over small housekeeping issues. I don't worry about who gets a better deal. Every deal has it's price.

 

[paulh]

uk DVCer here, the original free DDP (starter,main,desert and tip all included)
would say it was going to be a problem (did it a few times ourself)
But with the way its now structured were better of on our points and we have never regretted buying DVC (at $1.60-£1)
Just a marketing tool used by Disney to fill rooms which IMHO is getting more and more diluted as the years go by and will eventually stop (have looked at offer and honest not worth booking)
Long Live DVC
Paul