Donated points for 4 night studio stay

[schoen]

My best friends have a large family, 4 kids. They know that when they book a hotel room or rent a car that a "standard" size won't work for them, I am guessing that this family also understands that winning one hotel room at an auction would not accommodate their whole group. I would wait until you speak with them to freak out. I really doubt this family expects more than what you offered.

With that being said, i would not be flexible with the reservation. Your terms were exceptionally clear. Period. The End.

 

[CraigInPA]

Sounds pretty simple to me. The "winner" will just have to arrange accommodations elsewhere for that fifth person, on their own dime, or leave him/her at home.

 

[luckyman_apd]

This is not a typical donation, and I applaud you for your generosity. HOWEVER, with that said, you HAVE to stick with DVC rules......and you were clear with your donation.....they were not clear with the prize. It sucks that someone gets disappointed, but it's not like you donated money for the vacation....you donated a specific set of details...because that's what DVC is. If it were a contest elsewhere and the winner doesn't meet the eligibility requirements.....they forfeit the prize.

I do know that after reading this, I'll never donate dvc points for an organizations raffle!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Sounds pretty simple to me. The "winner" will just have to arrange accommodations elsewhere for that fifth person, on their own dime, or leave him/her at home.

No, they had five kids. A family of seven.

 

[Judique]

And a family with 5 kids won the raffle. So, what would you do. This was at our Catholic school dinner auction. I really only have enough points for the studio, and the reservation I was willing to make was for Dec 19-23 at Kidani villas, savanna view room, for a total of 66 points. I told the woman who was organizing the raffles that I wanted it clear to those purchasing tickets that the reservation was for a party of four, and for a particular period of time. My use year is February, so, another contingency was that if they made the reservation, and then cancelled, they would forfeit the prize, since, I would have to borrow the points for the stay, and then, they would need to be used by February, 2016, which I can't do. I specified a specific time for the reservation, because, in the past, the winners wanted trips during spring break, which are about twice as many points as I was willing to donate, but, I caved in a made the reservation, because these are my fellow church members and school parents, and I want to keep the relationship. The people who won are friends of one of the teachers, the third grade teacher. My son is a senior in high school, so I have relatively little to lose by p-ing off the third grade teacher.

I don't see that you have to do anything. They won a studio and that's it.

It's up to them whether they use it.

'Nothing' was not a choice in your poll.

 

[CMOORE185]

Maybe the winner is fully aware they won a room for four only. Who knows how they plan on using it?

 

[gdrj]

Maybe the winner is fully aware they won a room for four only. Who knows how they plan on using it?

Maybe work on #6

 

[suebeelin]

I'm never donating my points !! 66 AKL points is $775 in my book!!

I'll donate $500 instead

 

[jmkjr72]

they get just what you donated no adjustments or changes
if the organizer won't do it then you need to tell the people who won the prize and the elders at the church that this is what you donated

I donate stuff to scouting all the time and when they say hey can we do or get this instead I stand firm n this is what I offered this is what you get take it or leave it

In the future make the reservation for those dates print the reservation and give a copy to the organizer that way it's in black and white what is donated

 

[delilah]

they get just what you donated no adjustments or changes
if the organizer won't do it then you need to tell the people who won the prize and the elders at the church that this is what you donated

I donate stuff to scouting all the time and when they say hey can we do or get this instead I stand firm n this is what I offered this is what you get take it or leave it

In the future make the reservation for those dates print the reservation and give a copy to the organizer that way it's in black and white what is donated

That's what I did. I printed a bunch of information for her, but, she neglected to pick it up at my office. My office is in the hospital building across the street from the church and school. In the Catholic church, there aren't "elders". There is a priest, who is the pastor, and a parish council, of which I am a member. I emailed her about the information several times, frequently enough to be annoying. At the dinner auction, the information I provided by email was printed on the description of the item, but the person who won the item didn't attend the dinner auction. Fortunately, however, I have already made the reservation for the winner, because, she intended to have a party of four for the reservation.

 

[bumbershoot]

Fortunately, however, I have already made the reservation for the winner, because, she intended to have a party of four for the reservation.

Excellent!

 

[FrostMommy]

My best friends have a large family, 4 kids. They know that when they book a hotel room or rent a car that a "standard" size won't work for them, I am guessing that this family also understands that winning one hotel room at an auction would not accommodate their whole group. I would wait until you speak with them to freak out. I really doubt this family expects more than what you offered.

With that being said, i would not be flexible with the reservation. Your terms were exceptionally clear. Period. The End.

We have four kids, which is a big reason we bought DVC, because we thoroughly understand the need and difficulty with getting a large room to accommodate everyone comfortably.

However, I grew up in a family with four kids and things were approached quite a bit differently. I can't remember ever sleeping at a hotel with the occupancy rate we were supposed to have. In fact, I remember traveling with a family we were friends with, and we ALL split one room. Four adults, one of whom which was pregnant, and five kids. Vacations always involved bringing sleeping bags and sneaking extra kids into the room, as well as figuring out just how many freebies we could walk off with.

I am hoping that the family who won understands and is not trying to be sleazy like that, and I don't want to freak the original poster out more, but it is a possibility that they were hoping to be able to "crunch" their whole family into that room.

 

[delilah]

We have four kids, which is a big reason we bought DVC, because we thoroughly understand the need and difficulty with getting a large room to accommodate everyone comfortably.

However, I grew up in a family with four kids and things were approached quite a bit differently. I can't remember ever sleeping at a hotel with the occupancy rate we were supposed to have. In fact, I remember traveling with a family we were friends with, and we ALL split one room. Four adults, one of whom which was pregnant, and five kids. Vacations always involved bringing sleeping bags and sneaking extra kids into the room, as well as figuring out just how many freebies we could walk off with.

I am hoping that the family who won understands and is not trying to be sleazy like that, and I don't want to freak the original poster out more, but it is a possibility that they were hoping to be able to "crunch" their whole family into that room.

Growing up, we were the same way. We had 4 kids, and I remember traveling to Florida, and my parents trying to have people sleep three and three on the beds. My sister was two at the time and shared with my parents. I was the oldest, and 12. Unfortunately, I had a brother who liked to sleep perpendicular, and kicked. So, I ended up sleeping on the floor for most of the trip. Probably, it was due to this experience that I purchased DVC, so my family wouldn't have to do that. Sometimes, though, the kids take it to an extreme. One year, we treated my brother's kids to a week at AKV, staying in a 1BR. There was a 10yo girl, a 7 yo boy, and our 11 yo son. The boys refused to sleep together on the pullout, and so, one slept on the pullout and the other on the cushions on the floor.

Now, normally, when I travel just with our family of 3, we reserve the 1BR at Kidani, for several reasons, including two bathrooms, the washer and dryer, and more privacy. After staying in the 1BR for the first time at Kidani, we were totally ruined for staying in a studio.

But, in this particular case, it turned out that some of the kids that I thought were siblings were actually cousins, so, it was a family of 4 after all, so, no problem to book the room.

 

[Sandisw]

Glad it worked out!!!

 

[Bambi1989]

Wow I read this and am so glad it worked out major kudos for you for donating such a lofty prize! I'm sure you made a family VERY happy!

 

[JimMIA]

Glad this turned out well and I hope the family has a wonderful stay!

This was a very generous donation to a good cause, and I'm sure it happens much more often than we know -- especially here on the DIS.

We have never donated a DVC stay, but we've done a couple of donations for Wyndham Bonnet Creek stays, and I've seen a lot of discussion here on the DIS DVC boards about donating points that weren't going to be used. You can't donate actual points of course, but you can make a reservation and donate it to a charity. You should also be aware that the donation of a stay is NOT tax deductible.

One great WDW-related charity, strongly supported by the DIS, is Give Kids The World, which uses donated reservations for volunteers coming in to assist their kids.

One of the WBC donations we did was for a group of Girl Scouts who spent 3-4 days volunteering at Give Kids The World, and I would encourage anyone considering a donation to consider GKTW.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I am glad it worked out!

We have donated a weekend stay to volunteers at Give the Kids the World in the past.

Not everyone who donates is doing it as a tax deduction....since it is not. However, when we gave the weekend to the volunteer, we did receive suitable receipts from GTKTW as if we could deduct the value.

 

[supersnoop]

I am glad it worked out!

We have donated a weekend stay to volunteers at Give the Kids the World in the past.

Not everyone who donates is doing it as a tax deduction....since it is not. However, when we gave the weekend to the volunteer, we did receive suitable receipts from GTKTW as if we could deduct the value.

The charity might provide you with a receipt for the value of the item you donated, but the IRS specifically prohibits deducting anything (even maintenance fees) related to the donation of the use of a timeshare. You cannot rely on the charity for tax advice.