Difference between DVC and Non-DVC Resorts

[Sur]

If your room is switched to non DVC I wonder if they give you a microwave.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Annual member fees pay for all renovations as well as all operating costs.

For example, at OKW for 2014 the fees are thus:
$3.7540 operating costs (salaries, transportation, legal, publications, etc)
$0.8245 reserves
$0.9262 estimated taxes

Total fees per point = $5.54.

The annual report also tells us the remaining life on the various items of the resort. For example, exterior paint at OKW has about one year left before it will need to be painted. Pavement resurfacing life is 3-15 years and currently has 1-6 years left before resurfacing will be required.

 

[crisi]

Its those reserves that will pay for the exterior paint and resurfacing. Disney has the right to do special assessments if they need to (there was almost one at Vero when a hurricane went through), but generally renovations are handled through the capital reserve account and collected as part of your annual dues payments.

 

[crisi]

As to nicer people - I've been behind the member yelling at the front desk that "I paid $20k for this, and I want....." People come in all stripes, and most people are pretty laid back on vacation. But members end up with cranky kids, bad days, kids who run down the hall at top volume, and entitlement mentalities, just like CRO guests.

The persistent rumor is that CMs don't like DVC members - we are over entitled due to high buy in costs AND we've had so many trips that we know how things are supposed to work.

 

[Disney On The Bayou]

I noticed that the toilet paper and towel are a better quality in a DVC room

I totally agree... Every time we stay non-DVC we say the same thing!

 

[tjkraz]

Logistically DVC units are faced with challenges which simply don't exist--or rarely exist--on the hotel side.

Disney's hotels average 80% occupancy. The Grand Floridian has 900 hotel rooms. That means on a typical night there are 180 (!) vacant hotel rooms. If problems are discovered in any given room by maintenance or housekeeping, the room is simply taken out of circulation until the problems are fixed. Could be anything from a leaky faucet to a loose drawer handle to dirty carpet. Dozens of rooms could simultaneously be flagged for repairs without inconveniencing any guests.

Additionally, hotel rooms are serviced by housekeeping every single day. There are Cast Members entering the rooms who can spot problems, run the vacuum, clean the bathroom, etc. Even if a room happens to receive a poor cleaning one day, it will be serviced again the next day and the next day and...

DVC villas--and really every timeshare accommodation--is designed to be near 100% occupancy year-round. If 200 rooms are being vacated in a day, there are 200 new groups incoming. There is very little excess capacity for villas to be removed from service for maintenance. Staff has from 11am to 4pm to clean and prep every single vacated room.

If a carpet needs to be cleaned, it may mean someone receives their room late. Especially if the problem isn't discovered until later in the day (they can't start cleaning every room right at 11am.)

Also the limited housekeeping schedule can negatively impact DVC villas. Guest spills something on the carpet and doesn't clean it up well...the stain sets in the carpet for a week before housekeeping can attempt to clean. And the impact of an overall poor cleaning effort is much more pronounced when rooms go 5-6 days between any servicing.

Granted these are problems which the entire timeshare industry faces...with varying degrees of success. But when you understand the different dynamics at work, it's very easy to see why Disney hotel maintenance / cleanliness may seem superior to DVC. The typical hotel room is serviced 5-6x as often as a DVC villa and managers have the excess capacity to address problems between guests.

 

[emilymad]

We think there is a huge difference in quality between DVC and non DVC rooms. In October we stayed 5 nights at BWI on cash and then one night at BWV on points. The downgrade going to BWV was quite a shock to us. We love the BW but won't stay at BWV ever again. The room was just shabby and dirty. The bedding and mattress was a way lower quality.

We have stayed at SSR, BCV, and BLT. One of our stays at SSR wasn't great. The mattress was awful. In their defense it was prior to the rehab. We saw them throw away the mattress in the building next to us. I am sure after our stay our mattress was thrown away as well. Any of other stays at SSR was fine. Going forward we plan to stick to the newer DVC properties if at all possible.

On our same October trip we stayed one night at POR since we had a late arrival time. We were in a newly renovated room that had no issues but we still couldn't wait to get out of there and back to a deluxe resort.

 

[CarouselOfLands]

Thank you everyone for the replies. Sounds like mixed opinions and luck of the draw type situations. Sounds like something that could happen at DVC or non-DVC resorts. I greatly appreciate all the info and welcome any more replies. Thanks again.

 

[brertoad]

Just wanted to mention (I didn't see it in the thread yet) that when you book with DVC points you do not have to pay extra when you are booking more than 2 people per room.

With regular cash reservations there is an upcharge for the 3rd and 4th guest in your room (so if it's $25 per person extra per night, that could be an extra $50 per night if you have 4 in the room). For families, DVC might make more sense in the long run.

There are numerous benefits IMO. We feel like we are getting more for our money now that we use DVC points instead of cash. I love having a kitchenette, we use the microwave every trip, something you don't get in a regular room.

There is a DVD player in the room, and we can rent movies for *free* from Community Hall.

If I had to give any feedback about the cons of DVC vs. non-DVC, I would say, the main factor is the queen bed and pull out in the studios, followed by location, the DVC buildings are more remote in some cases, like BLT, you have to walk back to CRT to get to the monorail. Same with VGF. With WL, you are closer to the busses, but further from the boat dock. Really, it's not a big deal. Perhaps there is a difference in how CMs treat DVC members? I haven't been able to put my finger on it yet, so far they have been very nice to us. I'm sure DVC members with many more years under their belt would have more experience with that.

If there is a difference in room quality, I'm guessing that perhaps DVC rooms have higher rates of occupancy and that is why they may be more "used" feeling. I only notice a little of this at BWV, SSR, OKW, BCV. BLT, AKL, seem fine to me - the rooms seem to be pretty well like new, and now GF (brand new). Even the cash rooms though can be the same way. I believe the room furnishings are fairly similar. At Boardwalk Villas, one of the glass panels in the kitchen cabinet had come off, and was being held on by clear tape.
But, on the flip side, regular rooms don't have a kitchenette... I don't think I want to go back to not having the kitchenette.

We don't like having housekeeping in our room, so DVC works great for us. I'm paranoid about having things stolen from our room, so I prefer everything to be left alone. I imagine this lowers the operating costs, and we all pay less in dues.

I would recommend DVC to anyone, and do frequently.

 

[DenLo]

A DVC studio is smaller than most of the Deluxe standard rooms.

Regular WDW resort rooms

Value resort rooms - 260 square feet
Moderate resort rooms - 314 sq. ft.

Deluxe resort rooms:
AKL and WL - 344 SF
BC & YC - 381 SF
BWI - 371 SF
Contemporary Resort - 394 SF
Polynesian Resort - 415 - 465 SF
Grand Floridian - 440 SF

DVC Viilas (from the Disboards Resource Center)

OKW
Studio: 390 sq. ft.
1 BR: 1005 sq. ft.
2 BR: 1410 sq. ft.
GV: 2375 sq. ft.

VB
Studio: 375 sq.ft.
1BR: 880 sq.ft.
2BR: 1265 sq.ft.
GV: 2125 sq.ft.

HHI
Studio: 455 sq.ft.
1BR: 856 sq.ft.
2BR: 1311 sq.ft.
GV: 2362 sq.ft.

BWV
Studio: 359 sq. ft.
1 BR: 712 sq. ft.
2 BR: 1071 sq. ft.
GV: 2142 sq. ft.

VWL
Studio: 356 sq.ft.
1BR: 727 sq.ft.
2BR: 1083 sq.ft.
GV: None

BCV
Studio: 356 sq.ft.
1BR: 719 sq.ft.
2BR: 1075 sq.ft.
GV: None

SSR
Studio: 355 sq.ft.
1BR: 714 sq.ft.
2BR: 1070 sq.ft.
GV: 2113 sq.ft.

AKV:
Studio: 316- 366 sq.ft.
1BR: 629-802 sq.ft.
2BR: 945 - 1173 sq.ft.
GV: 2201 sq.ft.

BLT:
Studio: 339 sq.ft.
1BR: 803 sq.ft.
2BR: 1152 sq.ft.
GV: 2044 sq.ft.

GCV:
Studio: 379
1BR: 865
2BR: 1257
GV: 2426

AHV:
Studio: 356 sq. ft.
1BR: 756 sq.ft.
2BR: 1125 sq.ft.
GV: 2174 sq.ft.

VGF:
Studio: 374 sq. ft.
1BR: 844 sq. ft.
1BR: 1232 sq. ft.
GV: 2800 sq. ft.

Like others have stated the real difference in a DVC villa is in the 1, 2 or 3BRs. Another big difference is the frequency of remodeling the rooms. DVC remodels rooms and even linens at a slower pace that regular hotel rooms about every 7 years versus every 5 years for a regular Disney hotel room.

I also do not think the linens are of the same quality at a DVC villa as a deluxe hotel (except at Aulani and possibly at VGF). The towels are smaller and thinner and the sheets are regular hotel linens.

We as a couple usually only stay in DVC studios. If we had to do a cash stay at WDW we could not afford more than a moderate and no more than 5 days. But with DVC we stay on average 10 nights in a studio.

 

[disneynutz]

DVD/DVC has a different business model compared to regular hotels.

DVD sells all the points that they can which causes full occupancy.

DVC owners pay for everything to maintain and operate the resort.

The furnishings generally are a lessor quality at the DVC resorts.

Here is a big one IMO, Disney doesn't have to keep DVC owners happy, they have a locked in guest. Cash guests may not book again if they are dissatisfied, not so with DVC owners. They have to use their points or lose them.

If you have limited staff and resources, who are you going to take care of?

Bill

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We think there is a huge difference in quality between DVC and non DVC rooms. In October we stayed 5 nights at BWI on cash and then one night at BWV on points. The downgrade going to BWV was quite a shock to us. We love the BW but won't stay at BWV ever again. The room was just shabby and dirty. The bedding and mattress was a way lower quality.

We have stayed at SSR, BCV, and BLT. One of our stays at SSR wasn't great. The mattress was awful. In their defense it was prior to the rehab. We saw them throw away the mattress in the building next to us. I am sure after our stay our mattress was thrown away as well. Any of other stays at SSR was fine. Going forward we plan to stick to the newer DVC properties if at all possible.

On our same October trip we stayed one night at POR since we had a late arrival time. We were in a newly renovated room that had no issues but we still couldn't wait to get out of there and back to a deluxe resort.

We had the same experience at BWV in November. We own there but we won't stay there again until it's fully rehabbed. It was just nasty. That said, I've stayed in other DVC resorts that were quite nice recently (AKV and SSR), so I don't think it's necessarily indicative of all DVC resorts. BWV is becoming known for the fact that it's hit-or-miss with room quality.

For us, DVC is the difference between having a kitchen/washer/dryer and not having one (in a reg. resort room). Those are big deals to us.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We had the same experience at BWV in November. We own there but we won't stay there again until it's fully rehabbed. It was just nasty. That said, I've stayed in other DVC resorts that were quite nice recently (AKV and SSR), so I don't think it's necessarily indicative of all DVC resorts. BWV is becoming known for the fact that it's hit-or-miss with room quality.

For us, DVC is the difference between having a kitchen/washer/dryer and not having one (in a reg. resort room). Those are big deals to us.

So you won't be staying at BWV for another ten years or more? It just had a total renovation about three years ago and another probably won't happen for another ten years or more. Soft goods will probably be replaced, and the villas painted. But not another complete rehab.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

So you won't be staying at BWV for another ten years or more? It just had a total renovation about three years ago and another probably won't happen for another ten years or more. Soft goods will probably be replaced, and the villas painted. But not another complete rehab.

No we won't. It was that bad. We took pics and sent them to member satisfaction and we received a phonecall very quickly. They were apologetic but honest...we know that no full renovation is forthcoming there For the first time since buying the BWV contract, we do not have an 11 month Thanksgiving reservation right now. If we don't see a renovation slated within a year (and let's be honest...we won't), we are selling that DVC contract. We will keep the 50 point Vero contract for use a few nights a year at other DVC resorts. We don't want to own somewhere where we would not actually stay due to resort condition, and we don't want to buy another DVC for fear that it will get neglected like BWV.

 

[quandrea]

No we won't. It was that bad. We took pics and sent them to member satisfaction and we received a phonecall very quickly. They were apologetic but honest...we know that no full renovation is forthcoming there For the first time since buying the BWV contract, we do not have an 11 month Thanksgiving reservation right now. If we don't see a renovation slated within a year (and let's be honest...we won't), we are selling that DVC contract. We will keep the 50 point Vero contract for use a few nights a year at other DVC resorts. We don't want to own somewhere where we would not actually stay due to resort condition, and we don't want to buy another DVC for fear that it will get neglected like BWV.

That's really terrible. We haven't stayed there as akl is our home resort. I love how new and well kept it is. I hate to think what's in store seven or ten years down the road.

 

[emilymad]

No we won't. It was that bad. We took pics and sent them to member satisfaction and we received a phonecall very quickly. They were apologetic but honest...we know that no full renovation is forthcoming there For the first time since buying the BWV contract, we do not have an 11 month Thanksgiving reservation right now. If we don't see a renovation slated within a year (and let's be honest...we won't), we are selling that DVC contract. We will keep the 50 point Vero contract for use a few nights a year at other DVC resorts. We don't want to own somewhere where we would not actually stay due to resort condition, and we don't want to buy another DVC for fear that it will get neglected like BWV.

This makes me glad we didn't purchase at BWV. We considered it since we got married at the BWI and have an emotional tie. We ultimately went with SSR due to the end date.

We stayed at HHI last summer which is now undergoing a renovation. Our room there was in way better shape then our room at BWV and it was at the end of it's lifecycle. Maybe that resort doesn't get as much use over the course of the year but it was in great shape in comparison.