DUES Info! - All resorts dues have been released

[VGCgroupie]

I still have no idea what you mean here. The number of smiles checking in? Vibes? Responsiveness of bell services?

I can’t distinguish my cash stays from those on points. That’s not to say the service level is great. It’s not. Disney is a very mid-tier hotelier, generally a notch below a better business brand e.g. Westin. They are not good at solving problems whether you are on cash or points but at least they are consistent.

Not going to get into specifics. But I have seen many many complaints of problems in rooms and it almost ruining vacations, causing stress and being a huge inconvenience and management doesn’t respond in the same manner as they do for cash guests when things happen. If it’s never happened to you that is great.

On a personal note have also had MS mess up a reservation for me and since it’s point based reservation they say they can do nothing for you. Just sorry not sorry basically. This doesn’t happen to cash paying guests.

My point is Disney level service I experienced as a cash guest at Disney isn’t quite what I or others always experience as a DVC owner. Again YMMV and yes maybe there are too many entitled people.

 

[SkampyOne]

Just raise the minimum number of nights you can book. Instead of 1 night make it 3 nights.

Hard pass. As a "local" I almost always book just a single night at a time. Just enough to charge my batteries. It would also make it near impossible for me to grab my home resort & I struggle enough as it is at 11 months.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Hard pass. As a "local" I almost always book just a single night at a time. Just enough to charge my batteries. It would also make it near impossible for me to grab my home resort & I struggle enough as it is at 11 months.

That’s also fair enough. That’s why i suggested a housekeeping fee of $85 for 3 nights or less.

 

[SkampyOne]

That’s also fair enough. That’s why i suggested a housekeeping fee of $85 for 3 nights or less.

At that point it 100% becomes cheaper to book offsite. Would make zero sense for me to keep my points unless I can get family or friends to commit to an annual longer trip.

 

[Cyberc1978]

At that point it 100% becomes cheaper to book offsite. Would make zero sense for me to keep my points unless I can get family or friends to commit to an annual longer trip.

If the problem with increasing dues is partly caused by increasing housekeeping costs, then it would be more than fair that those who require more cleaning, in this case single night stays, pay a larger part of that increase.

 

[airjay75]

So, maybe, no minimum or charge, but what about this.
1 or 2 nights stay: 0 points
3 night stay: 1 point
4 night stay: 2 points
5 night stay: 5 points
6 night stay: 7 points
7 night stay: 10 points
(Or something like that - maybe we could figure out some other actions that would warrant points)

Then, once you accumulate so many points, you can cash them in. Could be for DGCs, credit on your annual dues, free or discounted MMB. That way, no one feels like they’re getting penalized from the current system, and are simply encouraged to do things that reduce costs for everyone else.

 

[Cyberc1978]

So, maybe, no minimum or charge, but what about this.
1 or 2 nights stay: 0 points
3 night stay: 1 point
4 night stay: 2 points
5 night stay: 5 points
6 night stay: 7 points
7 night stay: 10 points
(Or something like that - maybe we could figure out some other actions that would warrant points)

Then, once you accumulate so many points, you can cash them in. Could be for DGCs, credit on your annual dues, free or discounted MMB. That way, no one feels like they’re getting penalized from the current system, and are simply encouraged to do things that reduce costs for everyone else.

The problem with that solution is that who is gonna pay the DGC’ or credits towards your annual dues? Disney certainly won’t and if owners should, wouldn’t it go against our annual dues?

 

[airjay75]

The problem with that solution is that who is gonna pay the DGC’ or credits towards your annual dues? Disney certainly won’t and if owners should, wouldn’t it go against our annual dues?

I would think of it as being rebated that part of housekeeping dues because you caused less expense than other owners. So, yeah, they’d had to over collect for that line item. It’s really just the reverse of imposing a charge for shorter stays. Maybe it wouldn’t work under the POS - not well versed enough in that - but seems to me it could, in theory, work.

Of course, the point redemption values would have to be closely tied to the actual savings for the association.

 

[Cyberc1978]

I would think of it as being rebated that part of housekeeping dues because you caused less expense than other owners. So, yeah, they’d had to over collect for that line item. It’s really just the reverse of imposing a charge for shorter stays. Maybe it wouldn’t work under the POS - not well versed enough in that - but seems to me it could, in theory, work.

I’m certainly open for a change in that regards.

Problem with DVC changes is that we need to be careful what we ask for, DVC most likely won’t implement a change we like but more likely a change we don’t like.

 

[Sandisw]

That’s also fair enough. That’s why i suggested a housekeeping fee of $85 for 3 nights or less.

Either the dues cover all the housekeeping that is requested or they don't....I don't think owners who choose to use their membership for shorter trips should have to pay outside of the dues.

Now, if owners want to see all cleaning of rooms be a charge that has to be paid at check in, then while I wouldn't be a fan, that might be possible as long as they can legally take it completely outside of the dues....

Technically, those that stay short trips, and don't split stay, are also subsidizing those who stay longer and get a housekeeping. For example, I am doing three nights at RIV in January...thats it....so, I am getting a clean room and no extra service...not sure why I should have to pay in additional to dues, when the owner who does a 5 night stay does not?

The budget is based on the actual number of cleaning that are needed and yes, the more often that people check out, the more cleaning that needs to be done, but since every owner can stay as little as one night, or can stay long enough to get a mid trip clearning, then its a fair system...

 

[Sandisw]

I would think of it as being rebated that part of housekeeping dues because you caused less expense than other owners. So, yeah, they’d had to over collect for that line item. It’s really just the reverse of imposing a charge for shorter stays. Maybe it wouldn’t work under the POS - not well versed enough in that - but seems to me it could, in theory, work.

Of course, the point redemption values would have to be closely tied to the actual savings for the association.

It would not....the dues are for operation of the resort and the housekeeping budget is set to cover the schedule the way it is set up.

As long as the minimum number of nights for stays remains at one night, and the cost of housekeeping is part of the dues, then it has to cover whatever plan is in place.

Right now, we all pay based on the points that we own, so in that sense, we pay a proprotiante share of that budget. I just don't get the notion that because you use your points differently, you should pay less, or that someone else should be charged more?

What would be next? The pool? The community room? How about transportation? Should those that drive cars and never use WDW transportation pay less of that too? Or owners who do, be charged?

Nothing is going to always be equal, but IMO, equal is not the same as fair. If people want to see DVC implement a different housekeeping schedule, like build it in for daily cleaning, then they certainly can advocate for that

 

[Judique]

DVC can implement a minimum night stay, but never more than 5 nights.

But, I think many owners value the flexibility of DVC to go for short trips and such.

So, those additional cleanings are still going to a new guest.

Granted those of us who do split stays do get a clean room when we move, but there are drawbacks to split stays which is why they are not popular with everyone.

One of the reasons behind no longer charging for extra towels and stuff was because it made more sense to roll it in.

So; it’s always going to be a balance. I personally would not want to see a minimum implemented.

I routinely use my DVC for the night before I cruise. And sometimes the night after.

Agree! I bought because I could do shorter stays. Now, I'm occasionally doing longer stays, a few of a couple weeks, but most trips run 3 to 7 nights, with some split stays. Sometimes I am forced into splits and it wouldn't be fair to have points for a few nights but not be able to use them because there was a newly implemented 'minimum' stay requirement. Plus add ons of as low as 25 points have been allowed at resorts which certainly couldn't book a 2-3-4-5 night minimum.

 

[Sandisw]

Agree! I bought because I could do shorter stays. Now, I'm occasionally doing longer stays, a few of a couple weeks, but most trips run 3 to 7 nights, with some split stays. Sometimes I am forced into splits and it wouldn't be fair to have points for a few nights but not be able to use them because there was a newly implemented 'minimum' stay requirement. Plus add ons of as low as 25 points have been allowed at resorts which certainly couldn't book a 2-3-4-5 night minimum.

I bought as part of my retirement plan which is 3 to 4 nights every month December to March. My DH doesn't travel all the time and when he does, he prefers shorter trips.

Even when I cruise, I am a fan of 3 to 5 night sailings vs 7 night....that is just too long of a vacation for me.

The good news is that I don't see DVC implementing minimum nights, and more than likely, what I can see them doing is simply asking WDW to provide the same cleaning schedule for DVC that they do for the cash side, and then our dues go up to cover more, not less, cleaning.

 

[Genie+]

With Disney tickets, dining, LLs, etc. all getting more expensive, it wouldn’t surprise me if the average DVC owner is taking shorter trips. Especially with Disney selling smaller contracts direct, so many of us literally can’t stay more than 4 nights at a time because by the time the 7mo window opens, the availability calendar is very patchy.

Yeah, I think the rise of short stays are a factor…and while some of us just like to stay for long weekends, I think very short rentals are often the most profitable— one night for a after hours event or to get extended hours, etc.

We live in SoCal and rarely spend more than one night at VGC/VDH and never more than two.

Yeah, these boards are full of examples of people who would like to extend a trip at 7mo but end up needing to piece together different resorts…and now some of us (at the most popular rental resorts) are having jump around between room types even when booking 10–11 months out.

Agreed! In this way, for-profit use negatively impacts both availability and ownership costs.

Personal use is what the DVC system intends and those expected patterns of use is what DVC was built around to be sustainable. For-profit use patterns are disruptive to that. I’m very curious what DVC has to say about this during the annual meeting in December.

IMHO at the rate things are going this will inevitably need correcting. So why let it continue growing in negative impacts? I’d much rather DVCM address it sooner, not later. Confirmed reservations exploit the system and hold many advantages over person use.

DVC needs to decide if this is a game the membership should play? Or not! I’ve given it alot of thought. Spec reservations (and walking too) are both detrimental to the sustained functionality of the membership. The solution to both might involve the stiffening of one mechanism - reservation changes. Making changes to room size or resort after already making reservation, they need to start back at square one. So I see no real reason 11+ month bookings or confirmed reservations need to be treated better than that. I bet it can even be tweaked where a ‘reasonable’ amount is unbothered. Like the way other timeshares allow a few guest changes before stiffer rules come into play. That can be done with reservations in certain timeframes as well. You can change your 11 month reservation, but it will have a limitation - no longer able to be rolled forever lol.

Both only show upward trends in activity as time goes by, and I can’t see them going down on their own. DVCM needs to intervene.