Direct Owners Care

[cm8]

You’re still a member, you just don’t reap the benefits of being able to get some
extras because you didn’t purchase enough to be given them. This should be of no surprise. This is something you were aware of when purchasing your contract. If you want to reap all the bennies, you’re going to have to pay for them!

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm wondering how I can be a DVC direct member and still not see DVD representing the amount I contributed to the pot

What does representation look like to you? I don’t understand even with marionette’s help. I don’t know what you feel you’re missing.

If I’m an early Tesla adopter, I get the tac benefits. If you get a Tesla later, even if it costs more, you don’t. Want the bennies? Buy when they were offered.

But if I were a direct purchaser without enough points to qualify for a blue card, I would be upset to know that members like me exist.

Would you? I don’t. Could not care less.

But wouldn't you know what the threshold was at the time you bought?

Yep.

And yet dvd money goes out to pay for future perks of all of my direct brothers and sisters who are older than me.

What are you actually talking about?

Where is my representation from DVD? I am inivisible until the yeary points are deemed "enough".

Again, what does “representation” look like?

They feel that there should be some level of benefits that acknowledges this.

Getting a timeshare stay isn’t enough?

 

[808blessing]

DVD DVC member for life! Until further notice. Direct club + Resale club= all I need. The rest is gravy!

 

[DonMacGregor]

The OP's posts kinda remind me of when I wake up on Sunday morning and re-read texts I sent from 3am the night before...after going to a noon Cubs game Not a whole lot of coherent thoughts.

“Got on Red Line headed home to Evanston, currently in station at 95th and Dan Ryan…”

 

[Brian Noble]

What says you?

I say that my opinion on the subject doesn’t matter. It is what it is.

 

[DVCsloth]

If you already own some direct points, you can still use them at any of the resorts. You can always add small direct points until you are eligible for membership extras.
it's not like you are stuck with being below whatever that number is. To me it matters because I don't want restricted points. I originally bought resale when there were no restrictions and have added direct after that, because of the restrictions and the benefits to buying direct.

 

[Vulnox]

DVCsloth nailed it. You still get benefits, unrestricted points and although not official, it seems borrowing is working better for direct membership. Plus, while there is nothing preventing DVC from removing existing benefits that you still qualify for (and resale do as well), there is a better chance of them being removed from resale contracts than existing direct.

Also, you had your chance to be unhappy with these when you decided to buy. Your guide almost certainly explained the point minimum for membership extras, if this bothered you, you should have gone resale and lost almost nothing (except trade into RIV and likely trade into the reissue of Boardwalk/Beach Club in the nearer future).

Membership extras is an incentive Disney uses to ensure a mix of higher contract buy ins and I suspect to even out the usage of rooms across all resorts. If they build these monster hotels and everything buys 75 points to just stay in studios, then studios will be almost impossible and their 1/2 BRs will be less booked, which means fewer people spending money at Disney because they have rooms they can't use. By making the minimum 150 or 175 or 200, as things will likely go, then someone that is locked out of a Studio may at least have the chance to go 1BR, which is what we did on our Feb stay. It was super short notice and Studios were mostly booked, but I got us 1 BR for our last night.

I guess closing this out, others have also mentioned that if anyone with 25 points or 2500 are given membership extras because it is "unfair" for someone to be in DVC but not have membership extras, then Disney would have to give in to the demands on people with 1000+ points that they should be in the Membership Extras+ tier, and then everyone under 1000 would be upset they aren't seeing these "true" perks. Disney is very up front, in all my DVC experience, with the membership extras and the minimums required. If they kept it a secret just to nab 75 points from someone, and we saw that frequently, because otherwise that person would just walk away, I would be on board that this method of selling is borderline unethical. But if they are consistently up front on the requirement, much like the (extremely good) Costco example, I don't see the problem. I have almost $400 in Costco rebates funny enough that I am leaving in a few minutes to go use at Costco, probably renew our Executive Membership and get groceries. This is thanks to going the extra step of having the Exec membership and the Costco Visa. It would be wild for someone with the "Gold Star" membership and no Visa to get mad at Costco because I get these benefits but they don't. It's not a secret club.

 

[DisBuckMan]

It's not like we're talking about some exclusive, invitation only deal here.

It's simply pay-to-play. Everyone has the opportunity to buy enough points to qualify for membership extras.

Things (rules/incentives) change over time. I have a pal at work who paid Sirius XM $495 back in 2009 when he bought his truck, and he has satellite radio for life. Am I angry at him for getting that deal? No. Am I upset at Sirius for no longer offering that same deal? No. He got lucky a deal was being offered at that time, and he had the good sense to take advantage of it. Good for him.

There are plenty of things I begrudge Disney and DVC over. Them playing by the rules they set is not one of them. If they were making exceptions for some and not for others, then I'd be upset.

 

[CarolMN]

Bottom Line: The Membership Extras Program is a Marketing Program designed to increase sales. It is paid for by DVD's marketing budget. As such, DVD can target it to anyone they choose. "Fair" or "Not Fair" has nothing to do with it.

 

[Kjdisney]

Bottom Line: The Membership Extras Program is a Marketing Program designed to increase sales. It is paid for by DVD's marketing budget. As such, DVD can target it to anyone they choose. "Fair" or "Not Fair" has nothing to do with it.

It has got to be one of the worst marketing plans if it’s primary goal is to drive direct sales. A point purchased direct should always have more value than a resale purchased point. The system that DVD created does the opposite with some resale points having more value than some direct points such as in the case of the OP’s.
DVD has a problem with the number of resale contracts that qualify for unrestricted points and member benefits. They could reduce this by switching to a tiered benefit system based strictly based on number of direct points held. Make everyone a blue card holder but if you don’t have direct points, you get a few snack vouchers each year. Benefits increase with each tier. Everyone would be eligible for events like MM, but booking windows would be determined by tier.
It would also have the added benefit of being much easier for IT to handle, since eligibility would be determined by a single parameter.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

DVD has a problem with the number of resale contracts that qualify for unrestricted points and member benefits. They could reduce this by switching to a tiered benefit system based strictly based on number of direct points held. Make everyone a blue card holder but if you don’t have direct points, you get a few snack vouchers each year. Benefits increase with each tier. Everyone would be eligible for events like MM, but booking windows would be determined by tier.

Even though the tiered approach would be an interesting way to curb these feelings in the future, there is no way they could just wipe away the past promises made.

I bought a 32 pt contract direct with one goal only- to be eligible to buy discounted DVC AP’s. If DVD came back and said, “Oh, sorry! You are no longer eligible bc you don’t hit the new tier for that, even though we promised that you could as long as you purchased any contract direct from us (and you did exactly what was asked of you!)… so sorry.” Yeah, that would not go over well. Tiers cannot be an afterthought solution. It would have to have been that way from the beginning.

**And yes- the irony is not lost on me that there are currently no DVC AP’s available for sale- and they don’t have to bring them back. The point is that I purchased direct in order to qualify for benefits- those can change, but my qualification status should not. Nor should marionette’s who only bought resale, bc they were promised to be treated equally (in that there was no separation yet!).

 

[tjkraz]

DVD has a problem with the number of resale contracts that qualify for unrestricted points and member benefits.

About 800k - 1M points change ownership via resale each year. So in a sense, there's some gradual correction occurring. However, I suspect the vast majority of owners have enough points to qualify for perks. The resale restriction seems designed to ensure that most owners buy SOME number of points direct from DVC. As long as you buy 150 direct, then next 1000+ could come via resale and the same benefits still apply. Not many owners are being completely excluded from perk eligibility.

They could reduce this by switching to a tiered benefit system based strictly based on number of direct points held. Make everyone a blue card holder but if you don’t have direct points, you get a few snack vouchers each year. Benefits increase with each tier. Everyone would be eligible for events like MM, but booking windows would be determined by tier.

They could, but existence of any tiered system has the potential to backfire. About a decade ago, DVC floated the idea of adding new/better perks for those who owned a certain number of points. The concept was applauded by the small number of high point owners and loudly criticized by the masses.

I'm not sure what DVC could offer at high tiers that would incentivize buyers to spend literally tens of thousands of dollars to buy more. Let's say they gave owners of 500+ points preferred booking access for Moonlight Magic. If you're sitting at 400, is that reason enough to add another 100 points? Are you really spending $20k for MM booking preference? Do you have any confidence that Disney will keep Moonlight Magic around for the next 5 years? 10 years?

Meanwhile, what does it say to someone considering 150 points? Moonlight Magic is a great marketing tool, but it loses its value if you're tiered into a group that has less chance of securing a spot.

That's just one, completely speculative example. DVC could dream up other things, but any perks they could potentially use to incentivize high dollar add-on purchases would have some high cost associated with them.

 

[skreger]

I have direct points. Whatever arbitrary number the eligibility number is at the moment, doesn't change the fact that I am in the direct club.

(This is not to be confused with minimum buy-in or resales. That's a different topic.)

I'm wondering how I can be a DVC direct member and still not see DVD representing the amount I contributed to the pot because it is just "not enough".

I say it matters. What says you?

"Yes! Dreaming up dreams for the future of DVD. Not lamenting on the past."

Ahh, yes! I dream of causing dissension between the members of DVC. I dream of stirring the pot. I dream of being an elitist.

What says me? No thank you.

 

[Sandisw]

Even though the tiered approach would be an interesting way to curb these feelings in the future, there is no way they could just wipe away the past promises made.

I bought a 32 pt contract direct with one goal only- to be eligible to buy discounted DVC AP’s. If DVD came back and said, “Oh, sorry! You are no longer eligible bc you don’t hit the new tier for that, even though we promised that you could as long as you purchased any contract direct from us (and you did exactly what was asked of you!)… so sorry.” Yeah, that would not go over well. Tiers cannot be an afterthought solution. It would have to have been that way from the beginning.

**And yes- the irony is not lost on me that there are currently no DVC AP’s available for sale- and they don’t have to bring them back. The point is that I purchased direct in order to qualify for benefits- those can change, but my qualification status should not. Nor should marionette’s who only bought resale, bc they were promised to be treated equally (in that there was no separation yet!).

All they need to do is change the program, give it a new name, and set new requirements.

So, no one is guaranteed that they get to qualify. Of course, I don’t see it happening as it’s just not worth it for them to create tiers.