All About Fixed Weeks (RIV/CCV/AUL/VGF/POLY/TOWER/VHD/FWC Charts)

[Brian Noble]

If I remember correctly, the first resort to offer them was Aulani. This makes a certain amount of sense. A good chunk of that market is Japanese customers who happen to have a Disney relationship, and that plan on visiting Hawaii regularly. For that market, the competition is not "cash Disney resort stays". The competition is "other name-brand timeshare developers." And, in that market the week-long stay is quite typical, particularly for specific holiday weeks in Japan. Having FWs allowed DVC to offer a guarantee to that market that they could have the week they wanted, in order to compete with the Marriotts, Westins, and Hiltons on the islands.

Once they had the mechanism in place, it was natural to extend it to the mainland resorts that came after. But it is definitely a niche product in the mainland resorts (and probably is at Aulani too).

 

[J-Dog]

If I remember correctly, the first resort to offer them was Aulani. This makes a certain amount of sense. A good chunk of that market is Japanese customers who happen to have a Disney relationship, and that plan on visiting Hawaii regularly. For that market, the competition is not "cash Disney resort stays". The competition is "other name-brand timeshare developers." And, in that market the week-long stay is quite typical, particularly for specific holiday weeks in Japan. Having FWs allowed DVC to offer a guarantee to that market that they could have the week they wanted, in order to compete with the Marriotts, Westins, and Hiltons on the islands.

Once they had the mechanism in place, it was natural to extend it to the mainland resorts that came after. But it is definitely a niche product in the mainland resorts (and probably is at Aulani too).

Thanks for the history lesson! That absolutely makes sense for Aulani. Still, seems like the downsides of FWs being a hassle for them outweigh any benefits for them. But maybe I'm wrong, or I would guess that they would have stopped selling them by now.

 

[JackosinDIS]

I think the 10% premium work in their favour for the vast majority of weeks, there are only 1 or 2 weeks that work out better for owners. So 95% of the fixed weeks are paying an extra 10% dues every year for the life of the contract. That probably more than makes up for the hassle.

P.s. I was another FW owners whose week was not booked last year, on the basis that they thought I had opted out (I had used a separate contract in the same membership to make a different reservation). They fixed it, by booking a room out of cash inventory I believe, as the dates were sold out in the DVC inventory. I can’t prove that one way or the other though!