Do your points lose value?

[hammer]

If in 2006 it costs 150 points for a one week stay in SSR, can DVC (or does DVC) raise the cost for a one week stay (at the same time of year) to 175 points in 2007 or 2008?

I guess what I'm asking is will my 150 points be devalued over time, as DVC can simply raise the cost (the amount of points necessary) to stay at a resort from year to year.

Thanks for anyone who can help with this answer!!!

 

[castleri]

In order for the ppoints to be changed they have to be rearranged so that the total number stays the same for the week or time frame they are in. It would be possible for Disney to change the number needed for a Sun-Thurs but at the same time they have to change the Fri-Sat numbers. They have only done this once or twice. They cannot suddenly say okay we will raise the total points for that week to 250 without lowering the points somewhere else. The two periods that are different each year are the Easter and Thanksgiving periods. The dates change - not the points. I am sure there are Dis members out there who can give you more detail but this is the basics- The first week in Sept will be the same number of points each year as shown on the points calendar for each resort. If they were to raise the number of points for a week in September they have to lower them somewhere else.

 

[Caskbill]

Casterli was mostly correct. However the total points for a week CAN change sometime in the future.

What is fixed is the total ANNUAL point total. If you were to take every villa for every night of the year and add up all those points, that is the fixed amount that cannot change.

DVC can reallocate the point requirements, raising points in one place and lowering them somewhere else. The only requirement is that the total does not change.

They might raise points in Adventure season (thus increasing the week's total points), and lower points for Premier season, balancing them in such a way that total annual points did not change.

Now, that said, DVC has only reallocated points one time and that was in 1996 at the OKW resort. OKW was the first resort and the original point schedule was a 'best guess' scenario when first developed in 1992. After four years of usage, guest vacation patterns were pretty well developed and the point reallocation in 1996 was made to better 'balance' guest stays, to better keep the resort at 100% occupancy for all dates.

Since then DVC has learned a lot about point charts and has incorporated that learning in all the subsequent resorts as they were built.

At this point it is doubtful there will be a need for any further adjustments, provided there is no great shift in vacation patterns among the overall DVC owners.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Caskbill mentions 100% occupancy, but as one who is there often over a weekend, the DVC's do not seem full on weekends. On our last trip, we never heard anyone on either side of us until Sunday night, then we heard a toilet flush we were at BCV of course!

How does that play into occupancy and point total usage?

Bobbi

 

[Caskbill]

Caskbill mentions 100% occupancy, but as one who is there often over a weekend, the DVC's do not seem full on weekends. On our last trip, we never heard anyone on either side of us until Sunday night, then we heard a toilet flush we were at BCV of course!

How does that play into occupancy and point total usage?

Bobbi

I probably shouldn't have used the term 100%. There is some breakage involved where units remain empty, and units go down for planned maintenance.

It probably better to say that the point charts are designed to equally balance occupancy season to season and day to day, to the designed occupancy level of the resort.

In your example, if the desired usage of weekend days doesn't balance close enough with weekday usage, then DVC might find it necessary to reallocate the point chart to make weekend days more appealing, and possibly weekday points slightly less appealing.

 

[mowog]

Does the point total remain the same for each resort or for the entire DVC "empire". Are each resort autonomous for points so the total points at say BCV could be allocated differently but would total the same? Or if the total DVC points were uesd- for example could DVC raise points at BCV and BWV while lowering points at SSR to make staying there more attractive?

 

[CarolMN]

Does the point total remain the same for each resort or for the entire DVC "empire". Are each resort autonomous for points so the total points at say BCV could be allocated differently but would total the same? Or if the total DVC points were uesd- for example could DVC raise points at BCV and BWV while lowering points at SSR to make staying there more attractive?

It's by individual resort. So DVC cannot lower points at SSR and "balance" the decrease with an increase at another DVC resort(s).

Best wishes -

 

[Dean]

At this point it is doubtful there will be a need for any further adjustments, provided there is no great shift in vacation patterns among the overall DVC owners.

I personally disagree with this point. It is my opinion that DVC is already in need of a rebalancing of the points and that is will come sooner rather than later. The earliest would be for 2008 in all likelihood.

 

[simzac]

I personally disagree with this point. It is my opinion that DVC is already in need of a rebalancing of the points and that is will come sooner rather than later. The earliest would be for 2008 in all likelihood.

Could you please give an example where you feel an adjustment needs to be made. Thanks

 

[RobDoc]

IMO, it would be wrong for any member to assume that the point charts cannot/will not change in the future. The policy is clearly in place in the DVC documents and has been used once. As noted, in 1996 DVC changed the points for OKW. Some nights were raised a few points, some nights were lowered a few points and most saw no changes. Generally, studios were raised, GVs were lowered, weekends were lowered and weekdays were raised.

It has happened in the past and can happen in the future. I personally don't see that happening in the near future, but it certainly can happen. It did affect our point usage plans back in 1996, so we added more points. The points are already set thru 2007, so 2008 would be the next opportunity for another reallocation and that would be announced this fall when the 2008 point charts are released.

At this point, I would expect any changes to possibly lower weekends, raise weeknights and/or modify some of the seasonal periods (ie- extend Adventure Season to possibly include late August thru September and remove early December from that schedule- adding Dec 1-10 to Choice Season). I don't expect any changes for several years though - if ever.

Stay Tuned!

 

[Dean]

Could you please give an example where you feel an adjustment needs to be made. Thanks

Early December would be one but I won't get too specific. As I noted, I think any changes would be minor and would mainly affect only those who had "cut it too close". Lets take the previous adjustment as an example. An OKW studio went from 69 to 80 points. A modest change in my book but if you were from Canada and bought say 220 points with the idea of staying 4 weeks (3 weekends) in a studio (as an example), you just lost a full week. And since the changes were spread out in small increments elsewhere, there was not a similar "winner" for other times.

The morale is simply to realize that it can, and likely will, happen at some point. Just don't cut it too close if you're buying an exact number of points, especially if you're looking at a lower season or smaller unit for those calculations.

 

[keishashadow]

All members don't have 150 points. Currently, we cut it very close.

For our UY @ WL & BW add-on points have always been available the day I called our guide. If they up the point requirements & we're short, guess we'll have to add-on again or borrow points.

We want to keep paying cash for points to avoid finance charges & also wanted to be in a position where we could buy @ future resort (CR , I hope) when announced, so we're holding back.

I love having 11 month res. ability @ 3 different resorts w/the banking & borrowing feature.
It's all good.