A list for Claire . . . .

[lilpooh108]

I'd love for the DVC villas to update their bedding. The style of the minimalistic new contemporary styles of bedding for the hotel side for Beach Club and Yacht Club resorts should be incorporated into the villas.

Comforters are just gross... and they really don't wash them between each guest's stay. Then they throw them back on the bed. Gross.

 

[ppony]

(Haven't read all pages)

Great lists though that I've read.

My personal desire is BETTER LIGHTING in the AKVs! We're getting older, it's not like our vision is getting better. The one thing DH and I LOVED LOVED LOVED about BLT was the lighting. The dark decor isn't what bothers us. We like that. I just don't like to have all lights on in the joint and STILL can't see squat. Anyone ever change a diaper in nearly all dark? Of course though, w/ a dark room, you don't see how dirty it is. Maybe that was their intention?? Ehhhh? Ehhhhh? OH, and this issue is only going to be worse w/ the MADITORY energy efficient light bulbs, if that wasn't already the problem.

I'm on the NIX Dee Vee Cee camp. I call her Aunt Flo. I can't listen to her. She's so classless and "diner-waitress-y". IMHO of course. Um, no offense to waitresses everywhere. You RULE!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

DH was looking at the 360 degree pictures of the different villas at BWV, and noticed that the virtual tour has not changed to reflect the new decor. Hasn't it been 2 years or something? This needs updated.

 

[kamgen]

I completely understand both sides of the points inventory vs cash inventory argument. I do see why the rooms are available for cash and not points...but, when you call within 7days of vacation, the rooms should be released for points or cash. Why leave the room vacant......jmho on that one.

Bedding is a huge issue and I think should be a top priority to get fixed. The mattresses, sheets and blankets are horrible for a high-end vacation property. Especially since this is our "home away from home"...the beds are horrible for such extended stays.

I agree with many of the other things people have said...give us back the old logo, get rid of DeeVeeCee and give us a more informative DVC magazine.

One thing I wish they would change is the member cruise costing so much more than a regular cruise. I mean, thanks for chartering the ship for us so we can hang out together and celebrate being members....but I will pass on being over-charged for it. We love the special events, gifts and speakers, but we have to pay for it prior to even knowing what we are paying for. We did the SSMC in 2008 and while we loved it, we didn't love it anymore than the other sailings we did. again, just my opinion.

 

[rlmas]

As a poster commenting on trades, I just wnt to clarify that I do not necessarily want better trades - just equal ones. If the demand for our traded out rooms yields a certain amount of cash, then that should determine the "value" of our points. The better and more desirable our club is, the higher the value. Why should the concierge collection, for example, yield one value for each point and DCL another and WDW yet another? It also seems to me the Disney collector the lowest value. This tells me it is being determined internally by Disney. Why is it not sufficient for Disney to just get their higher pricing divided by a constant value for points. It seems like double dipping to me. Thoughts?

 

[Sammie]

Having rooms available! Dont book them for cash if a member would like to book it.

We bought at BLT, on the 11 mo mark we struggled to get what we wanted during the timeframe we can go, we managed by doing a split stay and on a ground floor room during record low temps, that was absolutely freezing.

Called at 7mo mark to get Grand CA, gave them 2mos of time we could go, nothing!

We realized that BLT is not for us but we are stuck now, so at the 7mo mark we once again tried to get BCV, had to take BWV with a split stay.

We have called when we are suppose to, we dont have that much flex time as to when we can go, or want to go, like I have no desire to go in the summer. Why was I assured there would be no problems booking at those windows, I am not trying to get at the last minute.

They lost our business in CA, we booked elsewhere and therefore wound up eating offsite too.

I am really sorry you did not understand how DVC works in reality versus what the agent told you.

Because based on your description of what has happened to you so far and when you can go, I would say DVC is not a good fit for your type of vacationing.

Prime locations, especially small resorts such as CA and BCV, really need to booked at 11 months.

If you don't mind where you stay you can usually get something at 7 months if you call first thing that morning, but even some locations, some type of rooms and some dates are not available at 7 months.

As to making more rooms available, that is simply not possible. A certain percentage of each resort will never be available to point rentals, its about 3%.

At 60 days any rooms not booked on points go to cash.

And any time a member uses their points to book outside of DVC for a cruise or ABD, they have to put those rooms up for cash to pay for that cruise or room. You can't book a room twice with points. If someone trades out to RCI, they have to allow that room to be used by RCI to trade in.

Hopefully your use of DVC will get easier as you use it.

Originally Posted by chalee94
a lot of the requests are silly, but quality bedding (with appropriate thread counts) at a "deluxe resort" doesn't seem that out of line...

I agree with this completely we stayed at the Yacht Club recently and the bedding was so nice.

 

[Shamus]

And any time a member uses their points to book outside of DVC for a cruise or RCI or ABD, they have to put those rooms up for cash to pay for that cruise or room.

Rooms booked for RCI trade outs are not put up for cash reservations but rather turned over to RCI for TRADE INS from other RCI members.

 

[Sammie]

Rooms booked for RCI trade outs are not put up for cash reservations but rather turned over to RCI for TRADE INS from other RCI members.

Yes thanks Shamus for the correction. Trade for trade.

 

[Mkrop]

I am really sorry you did not understand how DVC works in reality versus what the agent told you.

Because based on your description of what has happened to you so far and when you can go, I would say DVC is not a good fit for your type of vacationing.

Prime locations, especially small resorts such as CA and BCV, really need to booked at 11 months.

If you don't mind where you stay you can usually get something at 7 months if you call first thing that morning, but even some locations, some type of rooms and some dates are not available at 7 months.

As to making more rooms available, that is simply not possible. A certain percentage of each resort will never be available to point rentals, its about 3%.

At 60 days any rooms not booked on points go to cash.

And any time a member uses their points to book outside of DVC for a cruise or ABD, they have to put those rooms up for cash to pay for that cruise or room. You can't book a room twice with points. If someone trades out to RCI, they have to allow that room to be used by RCI to trade in.

Hopefully your use of DVC will get easier as you use it.



I agree with this completely we stayed at the Yacht Club recently and the bedding was so nice.

I appreciate the further explanations BUT...

Then on my list to Claire is do not tell your future customers that they will have ease of booking other places if that is simply not the case! We were told that going to CA or booking at other resort would be no issue, so go ahead and buy BLT, you dont have to stay here. If he only meant at SSR, then that should have been stated. We explained when we could travel and were told there was plenty of inventory. (no offense to SSR owners, we just told them we wanted somewhere that had parks we could walk to)

If I didnt mind where I would stay....I wouldnt have bought DVC

 

[chalee94]

Then on my list to Claire is do not tell your future customers that they will have ease of booking other places if that is simply not the case!

you want her to tell the salespeople to give people a balanced, neutral understanding of DVC rather than emphasizing the positives and sweeping the negatives under the rug?

that might be optimistic.

i try to encourage potential buyers to do their homework on the DIS to get real positives and negatives as the DVC guides/salespeople get compensated to make it sound perfect...

 

[psac]

I agree that the promotional DVC materials do, in spirit, make it sound like you can ALWAYS get what you want, when you want. We had already done our research when we watched the DVD, so we were like "come on..." when they pitched some of the things they did. Of course it did also describe the 11/7 month thing, but really played it down.

Overall that's why everone here will tell you "own where you want to stay most."

Maybe it falls into the same category as pitching that drinking Bud Light will make supermodels attracted to you.

I can understand in your situation why you would be annoyed/angry/felt lied to...

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

I agree. Guest expectations legitimately change over time.

When OKW opened, the villas had VHS players. Now they have DVD players. Blu-Ray players are probably next. And eventually they'll probably have high-speed "cloud" media connections when streaming replaces any sort of tapes of discs.

When OKW opened, the entrance security gate was only manned at night. In the post-9/11 world, it's manned 24 hours.

Most lodging chains, even many low-end chains, have upgraded their bedding over the past decade. Disneyland in California (including DVC Grand Calif. Villas Resort) has participated in this trend. All WDW resorts -- DVC and all categories of regular WDW resorts -- need to participate too. Guests expect it.

These are examples of adapting to changes in reasonable expectations over time. It's part of what it means to stay competitive and to take care of guests.

On the other hand, there are plenty of unreasonable expectations in this thread too. For example, I wouldn't expect any discounts that primarily reduce revenue, rather than driving new business. And I wouldn't expect costly "perks" that raise dues.

Does anyone know how the mechanics of the AP discount actually work - are they simply provided by the parks and resort division assuming the additional park business will make up for the $100; or does DVC actually reimburse the parks and resort for the $100?

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

I agree that the promotional DVC materials do, in spirit, make it sound like you can ALWAYS get what you want, when you want. We had already done our research when we watched the DVD, so we were like "come on..." when they pitched some of the things they did. Of course it did also describe the 11/7 month thing, but really played it down.

Overall that's why everone here will tell you "own where you want to stay most."

Maybe it falls into the same category as pitching that drinking Bud Light will make supermodels attracted to you.

I can understand in your situation why you would be annoyed/angry/felt lied to...

In the "old days" before the DVC membership was overrun with an abundance of points from SSR wanting to trade out of that abysmal labyrinth of unthemed, far-away buildings and grounds, you actually could call up in January for a June vacation and get a room at VWL, or BW or BC...

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Does anyone know how the mechanics of the AP discount actually work - are they simply provided by the parks and resort division assuming the additional park business will make up for the $100; or does DVC actually reimburse the parks and resort for the $100?

Good question.

Annual Passes are at the top end of the food chain for park tickets. They are big ticket items compared to MYW tickets. The theme parks benefit if we buy discounted Annual Passes instead of regularly priced MYW tickets.

However, $100 is a rather substantial discount. It's good business for Disney Vacation Development (DVD), the development side of DVC, if as many DVC members as possible hold Annual Passes. It probably increases the chance that we'll buy add-on points. Also, the big discount is a non-guaranteed benefit of buying DVC points in the first place. So the $100 discount helps DVD in two ways.

That raises the question of whether DVD is subsidizing the discount in some way. DVD undoubtedly pays rent to the parks for the kiosks in the parks, and DVC promotes and sells APs to DVC members. Maybe that's all DVD does. Or maybe DVD does more that that.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. The AP discount is a win-win-win situation that helps DVC members, DVD, and the parks.

In any case, the discount is not subsidized by DVC member dues.

 

[going/again]

This is a prime example of the "we want it all on tihs board"

This poster wants "no cash rooms so I can always stay where I want when I want it"...

Thats not what I read.

 

[going/again]

you want her to tell the salespeople to give people a balanced, neutral understanding of DVC rather than emphasizing the positives and sweeping the negatives under the rug?

that might be optimistic....

No I just think she/he would of liked the truth, is that to much to ask for?

 

[going/again]

In the "old days" before the DVC membership was overrun with an abundance of points from SSR wanting to trade out of that abysmal labyrinth of unthemed, far-away buildings and grounds, you actually could call up in January for a June vacation and get a room at VWL, or BW or BC...

You need to be clearer do you like SSR or not

 

[hakepb]

In the "old days" before the DVC membership was overrun with an abundance of points from SSR wanting to trade out of that abysmal labyrinth of unthemed, far-away buildings and grounds, you actually could call up in January for a June vacation and get a room at VWL, or BW or BC...

I understand there are ways SSR is different, and do think that different does have some impact...But I wonder how much of the difference is information. (Thanks in part to DIS and other Internet sites). The more people learn booking and banking processes, the fewer available rooms at short notice.

 

[Mkrop]

Thats not what I read.

No I just think she/he would of liked the truth, is that to much to ask for?

Thanks!

I get sales pitches, DH is in sales so he definitely gets it. But we asked a few people who have gone and they have not had the issues we have had but one goes in Nov and always gets a 2bdr.

In retrospect we should have bought off the resale market, as BLT is not the place for us and even though we got something this time, the split stays are tiresome.

 

[Sammie]

I appreciate the further explanations BUT...

Then on my list to Claire is do not tell your future customers that they will have ease of booking other places if that is simply not the case! We were told that going to CA or booking at other resort would be no issue, so go ahead and buy BLT, you dont have to stay here. If he only meant at SSR, then that should have been stated. We explained when we could travel and were told there was plenty of inventory. (no offense to SSR owners, we just told them we wanted somewhere that had parks we could walk to)

If I didnt mind where I would stay....I wouldnt have bought DVC

Oh I definitely think Sales Agents should be truthful, and it has changed for the worse lately. They are evasive at best, out right lie at other times, so hopefully that will improve with the new VP.

As to minding where you stay, it is best to always buy where you want and book at 11 months. Anything else is not a definite.

So truthful agents would be a definite and we were lucky when in bought in the 90s to have one.

I think they get away with just giving you half truths, yes owning at BLT will allow you to book elsewhere. Will it always be easy no. Will it be something you can do at less than 7 months, most often not.

But also as Dean has made us all aware of in giving us an reality check about owning a timeshare, it truly is up to the buyer to know what they are getting into.