Disney Vacation Club adjusts 2010 Vacation Points charts

[danjulia]

I left a voicemail for my guide about 1/2 hour ago. I have an add-on that has not been finalized yet (calculated for short stays at AKV every couple years). Points don't work any longer.

 

[lovesparkdisney]

No answer or call back yet.

 

[dis-happy]

OOH, LIGHTBULB MOMENT!!!!


You know how people have posted intermittantly that their points totals on the member website were messed up? I was one of those people. A few months ago a stay I had taken (2 b/r, BCV, early June) went from showing as 170 points used to 195 points used. It went back to normal the next day, but I called Member Accouning and asked if they were messing with the website (and was told no). Since the error was corrected, I didn't think too much more about it.

But now it hits me: that 195 points is the NEW points total for the new charts. The IT people must have been testing it (and there must have been a screw up for the testing process to make it on the website).

This change has obviously been in the works for MONTHS!!! Absolutely no excuse whatsoever to spring it like this.

 

[december14disney]

OOH, LIGHTBULB MOMENT!!!!


You know how people have posted intermittantly that their points totals on the member website were messed up? I was one of those people. A few months ago a stay I had taken (2 b/r, BCV, early June) went from showing as 170 points used to 195 points used. It went back to normal the next day, but I called Member Accouning and asked if they were messing with the website (and was told no). Since the error was corrected, I didn't think too much more about it.

But now it hits me: that 195 points is the NEW points total for the new charts. The IT people must have been testing it (and there must have been a screw up for the testing process to make it on the website).

This change has obviously been in the works for MONTHS!!! Absolutely no excuse whatsoever to spring it like this.

I wish that it wasnt going to go live until 2011...so we would have more time to plan...maybe bank, borrow...

 

[kristenrice]

I wish that it wasnt going to go live until 2011...so we would have more time to plan...maybe bank, borrow...

AMEN!!!!!

By doing this now, they've completely messed up banking plans for people who may have needed to bank their 2009 points to take a 2010 trip. If they'd put it into effect in 2011, nobody's banking plans would be effected yet. Nobody has points currently usable for 2011 until Feb 1, 2009.


Since it has been completely removed from the website, I am REALLY hoping that it was some sort of colossal, cosmic joke.

 

[DebbieB]

A growing member interest in weekend stays, eh? I'm not buying that one.

Perhaps the actuality is that there is a growing interest in stays period, and weekends stays are part of that growing interest. So, if that is the case, then they are correct - in a manner of speaking.

I think the problem was with the current chart is that too many people just wanted weekdays and not enough weekends. Many people book just Sunday to Thursday nights and then go elsewhere to avoid the higher weekends. They are trying to steer people into the weekend nights where they have more availability.

 

[tjkraz]

A growing member interest in weekend stays, eh? I'm not buying that one.

I think that's just poor PR spin.

The sad reality is that DVC has an obligation to reallocate the charts if they no longer correspond to member demand. I know Disney likes to soft-sell negative changes but perhaps when the info returns they will use a more up-front manner to communicate the rationale.

 

[Cindaddy]

Here's my question. Obviously, this has been in the works for some time. Why wasn't the point chart for BLT set up like this to begin with? How can you open the resort with a point chart for 4 months and then make significant changes? Frustrating to say the least.

 

[epcotwanderer]

Can they re-neg on the posted changes? I am assuming that they are in the booklets were are about to receive in the mail.

I know a bunch of people are mad because they book Sun-Fri to avoid the weekend. My inlaws do it all the time. I think this is a fairer way for all members. The system is more equitable for any member no matter when you vacation. I go long weekends because I have limited vacation time. It's nice that DVC is thinking about the equality for everyone.

I hope they don't go back. The 2010 values are so much fairer for everyone.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Looking at the big picture, this move may help DVC but is going to hurt WDW itself. Instead of us taking 2-3 trips a year, we will only do 1-2 trips and stay the entire week instead of staying 5 nights (plus usually a night or two at a Value or Moderate before our DVC stay). That is a lot less nights staying at WDW which means less ticket sales (no more AP's), less meals, etc. But I'm sure the powers to be know what they are doing . I just feel like my DVC contracts have lost a lot of value by this one announcement. We were just looking at HHI and it really messes us up there big time. It was taking 110 points to stay in a 1BR the first part of June for 5 nights. Now it takes 125. We're either going to have to augment our HHI points with our other contracts and take a chance of not getting a 7 month ressie or stay in a Studio instead (which is a real disappointment).

I know one thing - I've watched DVC make a lot of changes over the last few years and never really gotten bothered too much by them. But this time they have made a change that really directly effects our DVC experience and I'm very bothered by the change.

 

[KLR-wlv]

The same VB thanksgiving reservation I have for 09 would cost 44 more points in 10. A 20% increase. When people have purchased specific amounts of points for specific accomodations at specific times of years, this is a huge problem. I cancelled the BLT add on since I had purchased enough points to reserve a GV every 3 years at high time. I no longer could do that with the 145 points. Sure if you have 600 points, and could drop 200 points for a Sat night stay in a GV this is great news - but for those of us who are fine with sun-thursday stays - and purchased points with 5 day stays in mind - this is a 20% decrease in our point values. So the solution is to purchase 25 more points at VB so I can have the same accomodations I've reserved for the past 6 years? And that's until they decide to just even out the points and have every day be the same? Then I can add on some more. I can't help but feel swindled. I don't mind maintenance fee increases - but this has made many future plans with family and friends go up in smoke - unless I give DVC more money for more points.

 

[fers31]

I do Software Quality Assurance for a living and I can pretty much tell you what happened. I'm sure somebody accidentally committed the code with the new point charts that everyone is seeing. They made a code release after hours yesterday for something, and accidentally included the point chart. They've now realized the mistake, and backed out the code. This was not a prank or a way to guage people's feelings on this, it was accidental and WILL happen shortly (whenever the planned release was supposed to be.) I'm also surpised that people seem so shocked by this news. There were tons of people who took advantage of the Sun-Fri stay due to the points and never used the weekends. If anything, people won't be able to take as many weekdays and you might even get some better availability now.

 

[dzorn]

I am very disappointed in the way DVC handles major changes like this.

Yes it was explained to us that the points may change over time just not the total points. If it goes up somewhere it will go down somewhere else yadyadayada.... We were also told about OKW change in 1996. It had been open how long ??? and they were just needed to adjust it. It is very disappointing that Kadini is not even open yet and they are already adjusting it. This was not a spur of the moment decision for DVC. BLT and AKV should have been adjusted before they even went on sale. How can they even state low weekend occupancy as an issue when kadini is not even open yet. This is poor management planning even if it is legal. How much of our dues go toward bad decisions that DVC makes.

Given our current habits I do not think this will change much for us (still have to figure it out). But I think members should have been given minimum of 1 year notice. After all the 2010 point were available to borrow for 2009 and I am sure some members will have borrowed and now be short when they thought they were safe and managed their points well.

At the very minimum it should have been in the last Disney news thing they mail in the fall. It should have also been in every members e-mail box before it was posted to the site.

Looking over the chart so far I not to happy.

Denise in MI

 

[erionm]

It is very disappointing that Kadini is not even open yet and they are already adjusting it. This was not a spur of the moment decision for DVC. BLT and AKV should have been adjusted before they even went on sale. How can they even state low weekend occupancy as an issue when kadini is not even open yet. This is poor management planning even if it is legal. How much of our dues go toward bad decisions that DVC makes.

AKV has been open since July 2007 with the converted units in Jambo House.

 

[epcotwanderer]

I do Software Quality Assurance for a living and I can pretty much tell you what happened. I'm sure somebody accidentally committed the code with the new point charts that everyone is seeing. They made a code release after hours yesterday for something, and accidentally included the point chart. They've now realized the mistake, and backed out the code. This was not a prank or a way to guage people's feelings on this, it was accidental and WILL happen shortly (whenever the planned release was supposed to be.)

That makes me feel better. I hope they keep the changes. It's nice to see that the weekenders finally aren't getting porked for our stays.

 

[dis-happy]

Looking at the big picture, this move may help DVC but is going to hurt WDW itself. Instead of us taking 2-3 trips a year, we will only do 1-2 trips and stay the entire week instead of staying 5 nights (plus usually a night or two at a Value or Moderate before our DVC stay). That is a lot less nights staying at WDW which means less ticket sales (no more AP's), less meals, etc. But I'm sure the powers to be know what they are doing . I just feel like my DVC contracts have lost a lot of value by this one announcement. We were just looking at HHI and it really messes us up there big time. It was taking 110 points to stay in a 1BR the first part of June for 5 nights. Now it takes 125. We're either going to have to augment our HHI points with our other contracts and take a chance of not getting a 7 month ressie or stay in a Studio instead (which is a real disappointment).



I know one thing - I've watched DVC make a lot of changes over the last few years and never really gotten bothered too much by them. But this time they have made a change that really directly effects our DVC experience and I'm very bothered by the change.

Our scenario is similar to yours, and may be similar to others who are less than a day's drive to WDW.

The AP's only made sense for us due to taking 3-4 trips a year. And sometimes we would add on an extra fun trip (like a long weekend last Aug. staying at the Marriott on points) simply because we had the AP. The DDE card looks less attractive too.

Like you, I'm not typically one to complain about change, but the more I see how this affects our family's DVC experience, the less happy I become.

 

[chalee94]

The 2010 values are so much fairer for everyone.

eh, the 2010 numbers work better for some and worse for others. it's not a question of "more fair" or "less fair."

on one hand, it was probably overdue and necessary to equalize demand. DVC contracts are now more desirable for locals and weekenders, but they are less desirable for those who bought intending to stay on the cheaper weeknights.

it strikes me as a little risky for DVC to make such a drastic change in the current economic environment. most DVCers (including me, most likely) will just suck it up and adapt, but if there is a significant number of disappointed owners who add their contracts to the resale pile, it'll be interesting to see if it starts to put ROFR under pressure.

 

[Starr W.]

I know Disney likes to soft-sell negative changes but perhaps when the info returns they will use a more up-front manner to communicate the rationale.

.

 

[Doctor P]

My biggest concern is that if they have a new point structure, it really needs to be in place for reservations beginning this Sunday since the booking window for January 1 technically begins on January 25 under the new +7 system. Otherwise, they are really going to have a huge mess on their hands.

 

[dizzneebabe]

It probably won't effect us we bought 270 points to be able to stay a full week and are looking to add on at another resort for home resort booking so I am not worried. and booking those weekends really hurt for our NOvember 09 trip.

I feel bad for those it really hurts though.

I thought the same thing. We are not a Sun-Thurs vacationers and we NOW own 404 points (between 2 resorts) and it puts a small kink in our plans that we have made for the next 4 or 5 years--if the 2010 points stay in place. I will have to borrow every year or drop a night every few years.

You would think that for almost 40K plus MF's, we could vacation without a problem!