Who says Disney doesn’t get any money from DVC renters? They might not directly get the rental money, but so what? My family just returned from a rented visit at Old Key West. When I checked out, I had north of $1100 on my tab from spending around Disney property. That didn’t include a week’s worth of park tickets for 3 adults and 2 children (plus one infant who got in free). I spent a few bucks on my credit card, too. My family is too large for a regular hotel room, and could not afford the vacation at Disney’s rack rates. In other words, we were only there because DVC renting was available. And on account of that, Disney got another few thousand dollars from my family (I haven’t tallied it all up, but that is ballpark). Technically, we could have stayed off-site, and perhaps some hotels would be large enough, but staying on Disney property is one of the things that we loved and will be bringing us back. And of course, Disney wouldn't have gotten anything directly from me staying offsite either, nor would I have encountered the lovely young lady at the DVC desk in the lobby.
And speaking of that, we were so impressed and delighted with our stay at OKW, that we went to the DVC open house. And we liked that so much, that we are in the process of buying our own piece of the mouse. Yes, it is on resale, so you could say that Disney is not getting any money directly from that purchase. But again, they are building a lifetime revenue stream of family visits that we would never have made if we could not stay at DVC villas. Disney is getting all that money. And even when my DVC contract runs out in 42 years, I have four children who are being indoctrinated in the mouse, who may well in turn continue the legacy with their families (a pretty explicit intention of Disney’s DVC program). And by the way, I would not have bought into DVC if I didn’t have the opportunity to rent out points in cases where my family is unable to take a trip for some reason. I’m not doing this to start a business or as a retirement investment. But I do run the numbers on any purchase as substantial as this, and the ability to recoup some money in years where points would otherwise go unused was an essential part of my decision.
And none of this happens if we weren’t able to rent a DVC villa. I seriously doubt I am alone. So sure, could Disney try to be more heavy-handed and police
DVC rentals? I guess they could. But it would be mighty short-sighted. I think stamping out truly commercial renting entities that have no intention of staying at Disney and are impacting the market makes sense. At a minimum, reserving the right to do so if the need should arise. But to prevent someone from renting out their 250 points
every few years, to someone who can afford to drop a few thousand dollars at Disney gets to go, rather than having empty rooms? Doesn’t make much business sense to me.
Bill
