Any Hidden Charges or reservation problems with a DVC?

[fun2bmomof3]

We are seriously debating buy a DVC. We truly love what it has to offer, but someone warned us about hidden charges and reservation problems with other timeshares. Has anyone encountered hidden charges with DVC? Are there charges to use the other hotels/resorts not WDW? Has anyone ever not been able to get a reservation for the time they wanted? Has anyone ever had a reservation canceled on them? What about yearly dues; do they go up often? If they do; by how much?

I will call our DVC representative to ask these as well, but I wanted to hear from DVC members.

Thank You.

 

[rocketriter]

No hidden charges within the DVC system, and reservations are conducted strictly by the rules without anyone playing games. Trading outside the system through Interval International does have a charge, but it's under a hundred dollars. (In any case, your DVC points are best used within the system.)

You have a "home resort" that will take your reservation starting at 11 months out, while people with other home resorts can only reserve at your home resort starting at 7 months out. So if you call for a reservation within your 11-7 month window you'll get it. (If you want a date that's in demand, you should make that call as close to 11 months out as possible.)

Never heard of anybody getting an arbitrary cancellation (although, of course, last fall's hurricanes did lead to some closings).

Yearly dues go up or down pretty much with the economy. They've gone done a couple of times and up more often, but not wildly ahead of inflation.

Bottom line, if you plan to visit WDW, HH or VB at least once every 2 years and stay in "deluxe" accomodations for a week, then your DVC membership will give you even nicer quarters while saving you some money.

 

[sleepydog25]

Nope, no surprises on the fees. Yes, there is a charge outside of WDW proper, but it's something like $75 and mentioned in all the info you get. As for getting the reservation time period you want, it all depends on when you go, where you want to stay, and what your home resort is. As rocketriter said, you get 11 months out booking privileges with your home resort, 7 months out at non-home resorts. If you're flexible with your travel plans, those extra four months may mean nothing to you. On the other hand, if you want to stay at VWL during the Christmas season but your home resort is SSR, then you can just about forget snagging a VWL ressie during that holiday season.

There should be no arbitrary cancelling of reservations, and none I've heard of, although hurricane season did a number on the system last year and poses that potential again this year. I don't believe they cancelled any reservations, but access to the parks was closed a couple of times due to the effects of Ivan, et. al. We haven't been members of DVC a long time, but so far, I can't say as we've been deceived by any wild promises. Good luck on your decision.

 

[Dean]

Your only potential problems are things like missing your banking deadlines and not booking early enough for high demand reservations. The only other problem I see is some people's unreasonable expectations in some situations.

 

[fun2bmomof3]

Thanks, this does help. I do not remember reading about the outside reservation fees. Since I do primarily plan to use this for WDW, I guess that's not a big issue. We usually travel in September. We're not crazy about holiday crowds. We would like to stay at each and every resort at some point so we could be flexible as long as we got rooms big enough to accomodate the six of us.

Everybody seems happy with their membership so that is a good sign to go ahead and buy. Thanks again

 

[dianeschlicht]

You should have no problems on the room size either. A 2 bedroom will be perfect for you.

 

[crisi]

The only other thing people tend to have some shock about - DVC points for DVC resorts are static, they only change from year to year around Easter - and then there is the provision to change them for balance, but its pretty unlikely they will do so. Overall points for the resort will stay the same - but they could make early December more expensive, for instance, while making September less expensive.

HOWEVER, points for non-DVC options (cruising, staying at the Poly, trading to non-Disney locations, whatever - if it isn't a DVC resort) CAN and DO change from year to year.