Are the Days of Walking a DVC Reservation Numbered?

[Sandisw]

was that the site that would txt you when availability popped up? I miss that site it let me not stalk the reservation tool for reservations.

I don’t really remember exaclty I just know it was an issue.

One reason we don’t allow it posted here is that it changes so often…until you can book, it doesn’t matter.

 

[Brian Noble]

If you open them at some random time that changes every day between 08:00:00 and 08:10:00, humans can adapt to the unknown much easier than the machines. I'm fine sitting clicking "refresh" for up to 10 minutes if it means the bots are effectively rendered useless.

Bots can click refresh too.

Faster than you can.

 

[BlueGreen5]

Bots can click refresh too.

Faster than you can.

Ok, so in the past 24 hours we've established that I'm neither a lawyer nor an IT person lol.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Ok, so in the past 24 hours we've established that I'm neither a lawyer nor an IT person lol.

Congrats! A badge of honor most would wear with pride!

 

[BeachClub2014]

Ok, so in the past 24 hours we've established that I'm neither a lawyer nor an IT person lol.

The beauty is that we don't need to be lawyers or IT professionals. Lawyers and IT professionals are needed to fix these problems; thankfully, DVC/Disney has them. Now get to fixin'!

 

[D-Trick]

What if there was a limited date range on which you could modify a reservation from the original check in date?

So if you booked a room for Feb 1, you could modify your check in date to anything like... +- 7 days. You could modify your check in date to be Feb 8 no problem, but if you wanted to further modify it again later to Feb 9 you would be bound by the original Feb 1 date window. Anything outside would require a cancel and rebook.

Idea taken from airlines when they change your scheduled flight and as a courtesy they allow you a free change within a certain window.

 

[AstroBlasters]

What if there was a limited date range on which you could modify a reservation from the original check in date?

So if you booked a room for Feb 1, you could modify your check in date to anything like... +- 7 days. You could modify your check in date to be Feb 8 no problem, but if you wanted to further modify it again later to Feb 9 you would be bound by the original Feb 1 date window. Anything outside would require a cancel and rebook.

Idea taken from airlines when they change your scheduled flight and as a courtesy they allow you a free change within a certain window.

Nope. There is a chance that I could lose my reservation because I need to adjust my dates after 7-days?

Not worth owning.

 

[Sandisw]

What if there was a limited date range on which you could modify a reservation from the original check in date?

So if you booked a room for Feb 1, you could modify your check in date to anything like... +- 7 days. You could modify your check in date to be Feb 8 no problem, but if you wanted to further modify it again later to Feb 9 you would be bound by the original Feb 1 date window. Anything outside would require a cancel and rebook.

Idea taken from airlines when they change your scheduled flight and as a courtesy they allow you a free change within a certain window.

Honestly, I will be extremely surprised to see strict changes to modifications that make a complicated and less flexible program.

The change from 11 months from check out to check in was to reduce owners who were calling day by day to book so they didn’t have gaps in their vacation but acknowledged it enabled walking.

So, it definitely seemed like they recognize this but also recognize the impact of any change needs to be carefully considered.

I think it will be an interesting year ahead!

 

[Genie+]

After years of following different threads that debated walking and commercial use, I’m leaning toward these as possible solutions:

Walking - When a reservation is booked at 11 months, the only way dates can be modified is after length of reservation +1 day. Just booked a week and want to flip it to the following week? Fine, but you’ll no longer have priority over others because you held the week(s) prior. DVC is an 11 month first come first come system, not a 13 or 15 month first come first serve system.

Commercial Use - Add a checkbox when transferring to MDE that rentals must click to confirm they have a rental contract in place as required by DVC. Simple. Doesn’t bother anybody except the people using DVC for profit. Renters want legitimate reservations, so commercial renters would have a hard time trying to encourage renters to lie about nature of the reservation. By checking if rentals have a contract in place DVC can clearly see who is running a business. No guessing about which reservations are friends/family or commercial use, and for profit businesses will no longer be able to operate under the radar. If an owner never uses certain contracts for anything but rentals? That is NOT personal use.

 

[AstroBlasters]

After years of following different threads that debated walking and commercial use, I’m leaning toward these as possible solutions:

Walking - When a reservation is booked at 11 months, the only way dates can be modified is after length of reservation +1 day. Just booked a week and want to flip it to the following week? Fine, but you’ll no longer have priority over others because you held the week(s) prior. DVC is an 11 month first come first come system, not a 13 or 15 month first come first serve system.

Commercial Use - Add a checkbox when transferring to MDE that rentals must click to confirm they have a rental contract in place as required by DVC. Simple. Doesn’t bother anybody except the people using DVC for profit. Renters want legitimate reservations, so commercial renters would have a hard time trying to encourage renters to lie about nature of the reservation. By checking if rentals have a contract in place DVC can clearly see who is running a business. No guessing about which reservations are friends/family or commercial use, and for profit businesses will no longer be able to operate under the radar. If an owner never uses certain contracts for anything but rentals? That is NOT personal use.

So if my co-worker tells me he wants to go to Aulani I have to get him to sign a rental agreement? Nope.

 

[Sandisw]

So if my co-worker tells me he wants to go to Aulani I have to get him to sign a rental agreement? Nope.

If you accept money for a reservation, the contract actually requires a written contract.

DVC could add a policy that requires owners to submit them or confirm an agreement is in place.

The POS says we don’t need their approval to rent and that the terms of the rental can be what the owner wants, with the expectation it is supposed to include specific language about following the rules of the resort.

But nothing that they can’t require owners to provide DVC with a copy of one..I don’t see that but who knows.

 

[Genie+]

So if my co-worker tells me he wants to go to Aulani I have to get him to sign a rental agreement? Nope.

No. That would fall under friends/family, right? Unless you are selling it… then THAT would be a rental, and by our DVC contract you are supposed to have ar ental aggreement in place anyway. All this would do is remind renters they need a contract and confirm they’ve done so.

 

[pzw90]

After years of following different threads that debated walking and commercial use, I’m leaning toward these as possible solutions:

Walking - When a reservation is booked at 11 months, the only way dates can be modified is after length of reservation +1 day. Just booked a week and want to flip it to the following week? Fine, but you’ll no longer have priority over others because you held the week(s) prior. DVC is an 11 month first come first come system, not a 13 or 15 month first come first serve system.

Commercial Use - Add a checkbox when transferring to MDE that rentals must click to confirm they have a rental contract in place as required by DVC. Simple. Doesn’t bother anybody except the people using DVC for profit. Renters want legitimate reservations, so commercial renters would have a hard time trying to encourage renters to lie about nature of the reservation. By checking if rentals have a contract in place DVC can clearly see who is running a business. No guessing about which reservations are friends/family or commercial use, and for profit businesses will no longer be able to operate under the radar. If an owner never uses certain contracts for anything but rentals? That is NOT personal use.

On the commercial use one. Would it only pop up when the lead guest is no longer on the contract? Could an owner just add people and never show up themselves (wouldn’t work when need capacity/slots for rooms like studios and max is four)

 

[Genie+]

On the commercial use one. Would it only pop up when the lead guest is no longer on the contract? Could an owner just add people and never show up themselves (wouldn’t work when need capacity/slots for rooms like studios and max is four)

It would pop up for everybody. and honestly would be meaningless because nobody really even has to check it. BUT - what renter wouldn’t want to check it since they all want and think they’re getting a legitimate reservation?

It would just be checkbox asking if this a rental, please confirm you have a contract in place as is DVC rules. Renters don’t want illegitimate reservations…

So they’d just be raising their hand saying yes I am a rental and I am aware I need and have a rental contract in place.

The result is people running rental businesses would either have to convince their renters not to check the box (not a good look lol as it then brings legitimacy into question), or let DVC see just how many of their points are never for personal use.

Eta - this relies on the fact our contracts say rentals MUST have a rental agreement

 

[DL1WDW2]

I am surprised DVC is not more aggressive for legal reasons .
Isn’t this creating a lot of risk for so many reasons .
If they are knocking on your door for something that could be a problem such as trafficking …why are they ignoring this and other things occurring on property.

 

[VGCgroupie]

People who are making high-demand reservations to flip for profit are the real problems IMO. Not walkers.

^ this right here. Like I said in another thread. Taking care of the commercial renting problem will in turn solve this problem imo.

 

[zavandor]

It would pop up for everybody. and honestly would be meaningless because nobody really even has to check it. BUT - what renter wouldn’t want to check it since they all want and think they’re getting a legitimate reservation?

DVC could make a new rule: if the owner checks "this is a rental", then they cease to be responsible for incidents and other problems with the rental.
For example: the renter trashes the room or leaves a bill? If the rental checkbook has been marked, then Disney will go after the renter. Otherwise, it's your family, so it's the owner's responsibility.

Even worst: if the checkbox is not marked, then the guest can make changes to the reservations using points in the owner's account (for example, upgrade view at checkin).

This would give me nightmares, I would double and triple check all my rentals for the checkbox.

Those two are a bit extreme. I'm not directly advocating them, just the principle: incentivize the owner to declare if a booking is a rental, so DVC can easily keep track of them.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Haha Do you really think DVC would not hold the owner responsible no matter what happens ?
The owner is always responsible and don’t waste time thinking it can be anything different from all legal possibilities.
Only one of the reasons why I would never rent.
Not worth it.

And I plan to continue walking because we have no other choice currently .
Hope they do not remove that.

 

[crisi]

You already do have to call in to change a lead name so that's not asking for something new. For my part, though I'd work with it, we typically travel with multiple family members and it can change a lot from the time we book until actually stay. I'm allowed per the POS to both allow family and friends to use rooms and also to rent. You cannot place a name change restriction like that without violating the POS IMO.

I doubt it would violate the POS to charge for it (which I wouldn't recommend but is the likely Disney path should they decide names are the issue) and it certainly wouldn't violate the terms to not allow the change until MDE booking +5 or something, which would cut down on renters. Until that date reservations must be held in the name of the member.

I suspect any good solution will have more to do with your ability to drop days from a reservation when adding days. A system change which would not allow you to drop days until after the last date of your reservation has been booked (i.e. the plus seven window has passed and you are now on day eight or ten with some skipped days) would give people the ability to book seven days, book seven days and then add days to get their two or three weeks stay if that is what they wanted, but stop walking. I think the people making changes who are dropping the front days due to eleven month changes in their vacations plans themselves are few and far between - airfare schedules aren't good that far out so it isn't that. People with a lot of points would still be able to walk, but that's fewer people than walk now.

 

[eMoneyBug]

I've read a lot the past 2 days, 2 months, 2 years, etc, but I've never seen this suggested, so here I go Disney if you really do browse all our rants....so a handful of room categories are in HIGH demand and WALKED. DVC very simple solution, you all have suggested on the resy side, but I'm suggesting from the root cause, WHY is said room in such HIGH demand? My conclusion is the delta of dvc points vs cash value vs rental value. We all learned in our Econ, supply and demand. Well DVC can not increase the supply or CAN they? Or is there another lever they can utilize that lowers the demand? Here I go:

**Boardwalk Standard View - 2 fold solution, increase the points per night, while decreasing the points per night on the premium view to close the delta, also some Standard rooms that are decent enough views move them to the premium category. This will most definitely decrease the desire to walk this room and force the casual DVC Member that is sold on the points charts of oh wow I can get such a low point room, etc. Nobody is telling these neubs, its not really possible today because you are not experienced enough to get!

**Jambo Value - now I dont think DVC can add more supply as that section and room size is limited, but they definitely could raise the points required while lowering the slightly the standard/savanna view.

**Kilamanjaro Club - raise the points required per night.

**AUL Hotel Studio - hurry up and refurb Aulani with Murphy Beds and see if that takes care of the insane demand for this room category. If not make this room equal to the Standard View vs slightly less. Can easily offset by lowering Pool or Ocean View, etc.

As far as renting, Disney likes to throw out general phrases, which I'm not a fan of:
*Define large point members
*Define how many reservations rented is too many and/or how many points rented is too many
*Define how often members can rent out? Is it 5 reservations a year or no more than 10 in a rolling 24month window
*Define a rental. You make a reservation for your brother in law's family so its different last name, does that count in the tracking as rental or personal use?

*Will Disney hold themselves to these potential new rules they come up with as they own points and rent them out as well on their cash direct website. They are holding rooms that you could book but they are trying to rent out. Where is the outcry that Disney should only be allowed to rent out Saratoga?

*Is Disney IT really going to track all these rules that they may come up with? What would be the penalty ladder for violators? Is there different rules for LLCs that may own DVC? There's probably 20+ more things I have not thought of or need to be factored in. So at the end of the day, do we really have a problem and is there is viable change that would be welcomed by all what 300K+ members? vs the 20 of us that chat here on Disboards?