Commerical Use Policy Update - New Thread!

[Tatebeck]

What action do you expect or want to see?

Two checkboxes

 

[disneylandtour]

So yesterday, I used chat to extend an upcoming vacation. Basically, I found two more nights in August that I booked to add on to an existing reservation (around Destination D). And before the MS rep would combine the two reservations, I was asked again if this reservation was for personal use and if I'd be in the room. I explained that the reservation was for me. But generally, I think we're going to see about a year or so of a system wide crackdown to shake out commercial renters.

 

[Girlstar30]

I have given this some thought and I dont see most people being affected by this at all even going over 30 reservations plus. Disney doesnt like when people make money off of them. If you sell your points even 3 years in a row because you wanted to vacation elsewhere or cover your own dues i think its totally fine.

They dont want people buying up thousands of points to rent the most sought after rooms to cheapen their product that they are still selling to people.

Most people do not know about this 20 reservation policy and will never know. Without these boards i wouldnt. It doesnt benefit them to go after everyone and scare off everyone. It is fine. Rent your points if you dont feel comfortable traveling, sick, are in a bind and need help covering dues, want to go somewhere else etc. There is nothing wrong with that and there was no ill intent to break the rules when purchasing.

There is something wrong with buying it for the intention of getting the best/cheapest rooms to make a killing off of it. If you're doing that always then you should probably stop because I wont be the least bit surprised to see them coming for you. It is obvious to them who is in that category since it is so obvious to us who sees it on here and social media

 

[Cyberc1978]

What action do you expect or want to see?

Id expect to hear about cancelled reservations or about owners being contacted by DVC.

I know the latter might not happen as not all owners are too eager to share if they are contacted. But we could hear on SoMe if reservations are cancelled.

 

[kilik64]

All you need is one, if someone showed up and res was cancelled because the rental was deemed commercial, you'd know really fast thanks to SM.

That it hasn't happened yet might mean DVC wont exercise that option like other TS companies have.

 

[DonMacGregor]

I have given this some thought and I dont see most people being affected by this at all even going over 30 reservations plus. Disney doesnt like when people make money off of them. If you sell your points even 3 years in a row because you wanted to vacation elsewhere or cover your own dues i think its totally fine.

I'm trying to get my head around anyone needing 30 reservations plus, in either a 12-month calendar year, or a 12-month rolling calendar, regardless of how many years in a row they do it, solely because they "don't feel comfortable traveling, sick, are in a bind and need help covering dues, want to go somewhere else."

 

[CarolynFH]

Id expect to hear about cancelled reservations or about owners being contacted by DVC.

I know the latter might not happen as not all owners are too eager to share if they are contacted. But we could hear on SoMe if reservations are cancelled.

I agree about hearing about cancelled reservations. Maybe Disney is being kind to the commercial operations and allowing them to keep reservations rented before a certain date - because it benefits Disney not to have SoMe full of “DISNEY” cancelled our reservation.

 

[Girlstar30]

I'm trying to get my head around anyone needing 30 reservations plus, in either a 12-month calendar year, or a 12-month rolling calendar, regardless of how many years in a row they do it, solely because they "don't feel comfortable traveling, sick, are in a bind and need help covering dues, want to go somewhere else."

Smaller weekend reservations for people like I and many others enjoy doing especially at Disneyland? Its really easy to get to 20 reservations plus with multiple memberships... im already at almost 20 in a 6 month period and own less than 600 points. I know plenty of people i can rent to like this that would be interested if I needed to.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Small weekend reservations for people? Its really easy to get to 20 reservations plus with multiple memberships... im already at almost 20 in a 6 month period and own less than 600 points

Two years ago, I had a glut of points due to COVID travel restrictions, as well as some of the issues you mentioned. I rented out over 1,300 points on just 5 reservations. The price per point was the same, regardless of the reservation length, and there's no reason to make dozens of reservations, if your goal is to simply offload points. My goal wasn't to make the largest number of strangers happy by renting 20 or 30 points at a time, it was to get rid of the points before I lost them.

Could I have made dozens of reservations? Sure, but your point was about renting out points YOU aren't planning on using. not making reservations for yourself. You can do that just as easily (well, far more easily) with 300-400 point reservations, versus a ton of tiny ones.

 

[Tatebeck]

Smaller weekend reservations for people like I and many others enjoy doing especially at Disneyland? Its really easy to get to 20 reservations plus with multiple memberships... im already at almost 20 in a 6 month period and own less than 600 points. I know plenty of people i can rent to like this that would be interested if I needed to.

I have 1000+ points, with multiple memberships, and usually do split stays at 2 different resorts. I have 7 reservations total right now for the next year. And I think I had 9ish last year. 20+ or 30+ really does seem excessive to me unless you have 2000 points or more

 

[Girlstar30]

I have 1000+ points, with multiple memberships, and usually do split stays at 2 different resorts. I have 7 reservations total right now for the next year. And I think I had 9ish last year. 20+ or 30+ really does seem excessive to me unless you have 2000 points or more

As I said it is possible and thats why I posted wow im already at that level and thinking of another contract, maybe I should think twice. Split stays at two resorts isn't a lot we do way more than that on our trips and others we know like split stays as well.

Then I realized how ridiculous that is because im not a commerical renter no matter how many reservations I have.

 

[VGCgroupie]

This is a bit confusing....The letter says...

We view rentals of Disney Vacation Club accommodations over the Internet as a pattern of rental activity

OK...that's nice....have they LOOKED at the internet??? Clearly they might view rentals on the internet as a pattern of rental activity, and they say that it is prohibited....but at what consequence?? The fact that they have not acted on this in the past two years (and counting) tells me that we are still looking at potentially more idle, empty threats. Until there is concrete ACTIONS taken, this latest development appears to be more empty words put out to appease the disgruntled members. Just my opinion....

Yeah the internet portion is crazy. I sincerely hope that the was in fact wrong info and the internet isnt one of the qualifiers for it being commercial.

@VGCgroupie the subject of personal/commercial use crops up here occasionally & usually generates a lot of discussion. When that post surfaced 2 years ago I wondered then if DVC was finally going to take steps to address the issue of commercial renting, but then… crickets.
In skimming that 2023 thread, however, this caught my attention - & I wonder if DVC’s new attestation of personal use is all they’ll do or if it’s just step one. They did say in Dec. that they hoped to not be having ‘this’ conversation in a year - so that’s sort of a deadline.

On this one the instance was strange for why the OP emailed them so I assume that is why they got the response they did, not necessarily because they were ready to crackdown back then. But I could be wrong and they move like molasses on crackdowns or wont really do anything and like Brian said just putting out threats.

 

[Girlstar30]

Two years ago, I had a glut of points due to COVID travel restrictions, as well as some of the issues you mentioned. I rented out over 1,300 points on just 5 reservations. The price per point was the same, regardless of the reservation length, and there's no reason to make dozens of reservations, if your goal is to simply offload points. My goal wasn't to make the largest number of strangers happy by renting 20 or 30 points at a time, it was to get rid of the points before I lost them.

Could I have made dozens of reservations? Sure, but your point was about renting out points YOU aren't planning on using. not making reservations for yourself. You can do that just as easily (well, far more easily) with 300-400 point reservations, versus a ton of tiny ones.

My point is that it is possible and just because YOU wouldnt rent like that doesnt mean others wont. I would much rather rent to friends and family that would be interested in staying than strangers and they wouldnt be interested in long vacations. Im not going to sit here and argue about this. I had a valid concern on the way I would do things and rent to others and now I dont and thats that.

 

[Mouseforward]

This is a 2008/2011 policy, if you had something to worry about, and they were enforcing it, you would know by now.

 

[VGCgroupie]

So yesterday, I used chat to extend an upcoming vacation. Basically, I found two more nights in August that I booked to add on to an existing reservation (around Destination D). And before the MS rep would combine the two reservations, I was asked again if this reservation was for personal use and if I'd be in the room. I explained that the reservation was for me. But generally, I think we're going to see about a year or so of a system wide crackdown to shake out commercial renters.

So they specifically asked if you would be in the room? I have had 3 interactions with them and they all used the exact same script and said nothing about me being in the room.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Id expect to hear about cancelled reservations or about owners being contacted by DVC.

I know the latter might not happen as not all owners are too eager to share if they are contacted. But we could hear on SoMe if reservations are cancelled.

I agree about hearing about cancelled reservations. Maybe Disney is being kind to the commercial operations and allowing them to keep reservations rented before a certain date - because it benefits Disney not to have SoMe full of “DISNEY” cancelled our reservation.

I had a long night/early morning the last 3 nights having to play the book stuff for Disney at 4am game so I am more tired than usual. I googled what SoMe was As soon as I hit enter it hit me.

 

[Cyberc1978]

But generally, I think we're going to see about a year or so of a system wide crackdown to shake out commercial renters.

IMO a “crackdown” implies this is a huge problem involving many members.

According to the board it’s not a huge problem and the members involved is only a small fraction of the member base.

Generally speaking we know a handful(ish) of brokers are involved in buying, stripping, flipping and renting.

It’s not as if inventory for value or resort view studios would magically appear if those brokers were shut down.

I personally don’t think renting is such a huge problem - why? As long as I can get the reservations I want when I want them I’m good.

I know others feel differently because their experiences are different from mine.

 

[Tatebeck]

As I said it is possible and thats why I posted wow im already at that level and thinking of another contract, maybe I should think twice. Split stays at two resorts isn't a lot we do way more than that on our trips and others we know like split stays as well.

Then I realized how ridiculous that is because im not a commerical renter no matter how many reservations I have.

That is fine, you are allowed to do that with your own personal reservations if that is how you like to stay. IMO 3+ legs on every trip is excessive to me though. 2 is enough for the usual stay.

But the way the current rules are written, just don't expect to be able to make a ton of reservations every year AND rent out points.

 

[lowlight]

The board made the comment 7 months ago. The checkbox has been around over a month. That is adequate time to surveil the perps using either benchmark- 20 reservations per owner or more than the cost of your dues. The big time renters would’ve crossed either threshold in a month or less, so it’s safe to say that zero actual enforcement is happening. There was a small dip on spec rental numbers for a few weeks and that number is back to normal now.

If this were my enforcement action, I would’ve laid my ducks in a row before even mentioning that I was considering enforcement. By the time I let it be known, it would be too late for people to change their ways to escape detection and I’d be sanctioning memberships day 1. The lack of seriousness with which this endeavor was undertaken speaks volumes about their leadership and any action we can expect to see.

 

[Cyberc1978]

There is something wrong with buying it for the intention of getting the best/cheapest rooms to make a killing off of it.

I agree if you only intention for buying is renting.

However if your intention is to use it and then when you can’t go and wants to rent, you book the most profitable rooms, that I have absolutely no problem with - heck that’s what I do myself.