Davids DVC: Rental reimbursement or rescheduling?

[Dracula]

Yeah, for the cost of the insurance for renting DVC points would probably make it the same as a cash reservation.

It is possible albeit unlikely, but a cash reservation would still not cover you against sickness in the family, lost flights etc. That is what a comprehensive travel insurance is for, and I think Disney also advises purchasing travel insurance for cash reservations.

 

[Matty B13]

It is possible albeit unlikely, but a cash reservation would still not cover you against sickness in the family, lost flights etc. That is what a comprehensive travel insurance is for, and I think Disney also advises purchasing travel insurance for cash reservations.

A cash reservation has a much more generous cancellation policy than a DVC point rental, most times.

 

[Dracula]

A cash reservation has a much more generous cancellation policy than a DVC point rental, most times.

Without a doubt, David's contracts are certainly non-cancelable, non-refundable - so the cash reservations are better as far as canceling goes. However, most owners would try to accommodate a renter in a difficult situation, based on point expiration and holding rules. By the way, many hotels offer non-refundable rates at just 5-10% discount vs. a refundable ones, being able to score a 30-50% discount with David's is quite a steal. And if renters get to do a credit card chargeback with David's, or accept a credit voucher, they should be able to mitigate the loss due to coronavirus.

 

[Sandisw]

Without a doubt, David's contracts are certainly non-cancelable, non-refundable - so the cash reservations are better as far as canceling goes. However, most owners would try to accommodate a renter in a difficult situation, based on point expiration and holding rules. By the way, many hotels offer non-refundable rates at just 5-10% discount vs. a refundable ones, being able to score a 30-50% discount with David's is quite a steal. And if renters get to do a credit card chargeback with David's, or accept a credit voucher, they should be able to mitigate the loss due to coronavirus.

I believe room only with Disney is a 5 day cancelation for full refund, or if less than 5 it’s one night,

A package looses only $200 up to 2 days before. So, adding Insurance to a rental may not be enough of a substantial savings in some cases to assume the risk, especially now.

Like I said, my renter is saving about $600 on his Poly reservation. And that is before any insurance.

 

[LAX]

Without a doubt, David's contracts are certainly non-cancelable, non-refundable - so the cash reservations are better as far as canceling goes. However, most owners would try to accommodate a renter in a difficult situation, based on point expiration and holding rules. By the way, many hotels offer non-refundable rates at just 5-10% discount vs. a refundable ones, being able to score a 30-50% discount with David's is quite a steal. And if renters get to do a credit card chargeback with David's, or accept a credit voucher, they should be able to mitigate the loss due to coronavirus.

Regardless of what happens to David's, the DVC rental market is going to take a big hit in the near term. Not only will the stories of people losing thousands of dollars still be fresh in their minds, significant discounts will be offered by many travel providers (Disney included) to lure back vacationers. That's not even factoring the negative impact on travel by a recession.

However, I am not entirely convinced that the commercial DVC rental market will be entirely gone a couple of years from now. If there is significant discount to be had on DVC villas, some people would still be willing to take a chance despite of the risks. Is it going to be as hot as it was before this pandemic? Who knows? But probably not.

LAX

 

[Sandisw]

Regardless of what happens to David's, the DVC rental market is going to take a big hit in the near term. Not only will the stories of people losing thousands of dollars still be fresh in their minds, significant discounts will be offered by many travel providers (Disney included) to lure back vacationers. That's not even factoring the negative impact on travel by a recession.

However, I am not entirely convinced that the commercial DVC rental market will be entirely gone a couple of years from now. If there is significant discount to be had on DVC villas, some people would still be willing to take a chance despite of the risks. Is it going to be as hot as it was before this pandemic? Who knows? But probably not.

LAX

I agree and I do think that if contracts do include this, renters and owners will be able to go in with solid understanding of what would happen, so at least, everyone will feel informed.

 

[CastAStone]

You will be surprised what risks some people will accept for a discount.

They’re not accepting the risk for a discount, they’re accepting it for an upgrade; most people spend what they can on vacation, so it’s safe to assume that the couldn’t afford full price.

Why is this distinction important?

If I get a 50% discount off of what I can afford to pay but 1% of the time I lose my money entirely I obviously should accept that risk; I can reschedule if needed with the other 50% of my money.

If I can spend the only $3000 I have for vacation hotels for the next 24 months on a refundable hotel room or on an upgraded villa with a 1% chance I’ll lose all my money and can’t go on vacation at all, that’s a tougher risk to accept.

 

[tubtruck]

I booked a night at the Miami airport Sheraton today for August.
The rate to cancel up to 24 hours before was $151. The pay upfront none cancelable rate was $150. With regard to EU airlines they have been given permission to offer vouchers instead of refunds. They are offering up to 1 year vouchers with the option of a refund if not used within that time. In other words to smooth out their cash flow. The EU is soon expected to allow theee vouchers to be extended to 2 years.
The initial airline contracts were to refund in cash. The change had been made to prevent masses of companies going bankrupt over this. It seems fairly sensible to me and the best way out of this mess overall for everyone rather than solicitors and liquidation companies making a Fortune at everyone else’s loss.

 

[Matty B13]

Like I said, my renter is saving about $600 on his Poly reservation. And that is before any insurance.

And also getting a much nicer room, at least I think so, compared to a standard Poly hotel room.

 

[Sandisw]

And also getting a much nicer room, at least I think so, compared to a standard Poly hotel room.

That was comparing a Poly studio via cash...so same room,

I still dont consider a $600 savings worth the risk of losing $2200.

 

[LAX]

That was comparing a Poly studio via cash...so same room,

I still dont consider a $600 savings worth the risk of losing $2200.

Just curious. Is that $600 off of the best discounted rates Disney had at the time of booking? Perhaps the savings would be greater when compared to other more commonly available, but less discounted rates? I know some companies offer pretty good discounts that are reserved for particular groups.

LAX

 

[Sandisw]

Just curious. Is that $600 off of the best discounted rates Disney had at the time of booking? Perhaps the savings would be greater when compared to other more commonly available, but less discounted rates? I know some companies offer pretty good discounts that are reserved for particular groups.

LAX

That was what was showing as a room only discount when I made the reservation for the renter,

So, it may or may not be as high of a discount one could get, If that was the case then the savings would be even less,

But, at the time, it was a $600 savings based on the quote I got on Disney site,

 

[jimbostacks]

Hey gang. I am sorry I am late to the game here. I am an owner and have rescheduled a reservation and have given back 70% to a different reservation. I have some small rentals on July and September. I tried paging through the posts. But what is the latest is David’s still working, offering vouchers? Am I on my own for the Last 30%? Or all unknown still? Thanks

 

[Brian Noble]

Sounds like a lot of you feel Davids is going out of business and his vouchers will be worthless. If thats the case would you call your credit card for a charge back immediately.
My trip isnt until May 2nd and it has not been cancelled as of yet.

As others upthread have poasted, I think you need to wait for a cancellation and a statement that it won't be refunded (the offer of a voucher would probably be enough for me to call that "won't be refunded.")

Well, as long as you are willing to pay the premium, they will cover anything. The point I am trying to make is whether the cost of insurance would actually be worth the potential risks.

Absolutely! I was an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, and our fraternity house sat one block south of the Hayward Fault. It's built in a way that is almost optimally bad for an earthquake zone, the shape of an "L" with arms of different lengths. Those arms resonate at different frequences, and in a significant earthquake along that fault the house is very likely to collapse. (As you can imagine, this is no longer to code, but sadly it was when it was built.) Our alumni association owned the house, and looked into what earthquake insurance would cost. The premium quoted was roughly 1/3 of the value of the house.

We passed.

That same fault runs directly under California Memorial Stadium, and they spent something north of $300M to retrofit it.

I was in the house when Loma Prieta hit, and there were some very ominous creaks to the point that I was terrified. Luckily, it was a quake along the San Andreas fault, not the Hayward. But it did a *lot* of damage in the Bay Area.

 

[Deb & Bill]

That was comparing a Poly studio via cash...so same room,

I still dont consider a $600 savings worth the risk of losing $2200.

But Disney Reservation Center may not have much inventory if owners use their own points and don't want to trade out for the Disney Collection. People who used points for the Disney Collection are realizing that they cannot use those points for a DVC reservation, just another Disney Collection. Disney Collection stays on points might only be newer owners who haven't lived through these days.

 

[Sandisw]

But Disney Reservation Center may not have much inventory if owners use their own points and don't want to trade out for the Disney Collection. People who used points for the Disney Collection are realizing that they cannot use those points for a DVC reservation, just another Disney Collection. Disney Collection stays on points might only be newer owners who haven't lived through these days.

I wasn’t clear. I was trying to see how much my renter was saving booking a Poly studio with me through David’s Vs. as a cash guest through Disney.

So, i went to Disney to price out his stay as if he were a cash guest using the discount that showed up. It was about $600 more than what he was paying via David’s.

For me, I am not sure that is such a substantial savings to risk losing your money, if the contract included no refunds even if the resort is closed,

 

[Galun]

That was comparing a Poly studio via cash...so same room,

I still dont consider a $600 savings worth the risk of losing $2200.

Why not? Do you think there is a higher than 25% chance that the resort will close? Because you are giving up saving $600 to not risk losing $2200.

The only thing that changed was the newly exposed chance of loss with extended resort shut down due to pandemic. Again, company wide resort shutdown happened three times in the history of Disney prior to this, and each time for one day. Last major pandemic was the Spanish flu in 1918. We are talking about hundred year events here.

 

[Dracula]

Why not? Do you think there is a higher than 25% chance that the resort will close? Because you are giving up saving $600 to not risk losing $2200.

The only thing that changed was the newly exposed chance of loss with extended resort shut down due to pandemic. Again, company wide resort shutdown happened three times in the history of Disney prior to this, and each time for one day. Last major pandemic was the Spanish flu in 1918. We are talking about hundred year events here.

OK, but why should the renter bear all the risk of loss? A formula should be found, either by brokers or by the owners community, in which such risks are shared by owners and renters.

 

[LAX]

OK, but why should the renter bear all the risk of loss? A formula should be found, either by brokers or by the owners community, in which such risks are shared by owners and renters.

Because the savings that get passed onto the renters are associated with those risks. I have mentioned this before. If I have to worry about losing a percentage of the points I am renting should something out of my control occur 10 months from now, what's the point of renting them out? I would rather gift them out to friends and family, which would have given me more peace of mind.

LAX

 

[yankeesfan123]

Because the savings that get passed onto the renters are associated with those risks. I have mentioned this before. If I have to worry about losing a percentage of the points I am renting should something out of my control occur 10 months from now, what's the point of renting them out? I would rather gift them out to friends and family, which would have given me more peace of mind.

LAX

Then gift them out.