DVC Changes To Come?

[Dean Marino]

Read the DVC CONTRACT. THIS details what we paid for, and can DEMAND, per THE CONTRACT.
Everything else is pretty much a gift.

 

[AdamsMum]

Read the DVC CONTRACT. THIS details what we paid for, and can DEMAND, per THE CONTRACT.
Everything else is pretty much a gift.

I think most of us on the board know that. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy a few perks, and hope for future pixie dust!

 

[wdrl]

Read the DVC CONTRACT. THIS details what we paid for, and can DEMAND, per THE CONTRACT.
Everything else is pretty much a gift.

Much of what is being discussed on this thread is actually in our DVC contracts as obligations and not as mere gifts. Disney Vacation Club is obligated by the contract to create a booking system for Members to use their points but the contract doesn't specific exactly how that booking system will operate. Therefore, DVC management can make adjustments and modifications, such as making online booking procedures, setting operating hours for Member Services, and for staffing Member Services. Included in this area is addressing the issue of walking reservations and even wait times on calls to MS. Since Members can be affected by changes in these areas, then we have a vested interest in voicing our opinions.

DVC management is also obligated by the contract to make sure that point usage is managed appropriately and in the best interests of the Club as a whole. Thus, it can reallocate points, such as when it increased the point costs of SSR's Treehouse Villas, or when it switched some villas at AKV and BLT from one view category to another. Will the new management team make any changes in this area? Once again, since Members can be affected by changes in these areas, then we have a vested interest in voicing our opinions.

Even though its a bit of a stretch, the topic of free Dole whips is a legitimate topic if you look at our contract. The contract stipulates when we are eligible for "Membership Magic", but it doesn't say what constitutes "Membership Magic." Thus, we have every right to discuss what we would like to have included in this area. If someone wants Dole whips to be included as a perk for Membership Magic, then they have every right to request it.

Basically, what I am saying is that there are many parts in our membership contract from the actual real estate ownership interest to the day-to-day operation of the Club. As such, there are a wide range of things that the DVC management can change. As members, we have every right, as specified in our contracts, to voice our opinions on these matters.

Therefore, although I personally don't care for Dole whips, I support the contractual right of my fellow Members to request Dole whips.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I think most of us on the board know that. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy a few perks, and hope for future pixie dust!

Exactly, perks come and they go, enjoy while they last! Not DVC but personally I'd love to see the 30% discount on restaurants come back around!

 

[DebbieB]

The deal with the treehouse villas seemed a little underhanded. Sell it by advertising same price as a 2 bedroom and then right after it's soldout, change it.

 

[drusba]

The treehouse switch gets my vote for one of the worst DVC reallocations that clearly contradicted the sales pitch that was used to sell the treehouses.

A second one DVC did was probably in violation of the contracts and occurred under Jim Lewis. Starting in 2010, but announced in January 2009, DVC did a major shift of points from weekend to weekday for all the WDW resorts. DVC did a like shift the next year; it took two years because the contracts allow no more than a 20% change for any given night in any given calendar year and the total change made per weekend night over the two year period was more than 20%. The shift was likely a valid move for all existing WDW resorts except BLT. The problem DVC had was the Declarations that state when a change in points per use day can be made. The declarations to each resort provided:

"In order to meet the Club Members' needs and expectations as evidenced by fluctuations in Use Day demand at the Condominium experienced by DVCMC in any given calendar year, DVCMC may, in its sole discretion, increase or decrease the Home Resort Vacation Point requirements for any given Use Day not to exceed twenty percent (20%) of the Home Resort Vacation Points required to reserve that Use Day during the previous calendar year."

The clause goes on to provide that any increase or decrease needs to be offset by a decrease or increase elsewhere. This was the clause DVC had to justify the weekend to weekday shift of points. The problem DVC had is that its "sole discretion" to do so depended first on there actually being evidence of "fluctuations in Use Day demand at the Condominium." Generally at the resorts other than BLT, weekdays were being much more heavily reserved than weekends. The problem DVC had with BLT is that at the time of announcing the point shift in January 2009, it had absolutely no evidence of fluctuations in demand for the BLT "Condominium" use days because BLT did not open until Aug 2009 and was not even taking reservations yet. However, sales started in Sep 2008 and by the time in Jan 2009 of the announcement of the point change there were already a lot of purchasers at BLT who had purchased on reliance on point charts created for 2009. As a result, large numbers of purchasers who had purchased enough points for stays during Sun through Thurs in any given week found themselves short of points needed even before they ever got to use the place. To add insult to injury, in February 2009, a couple weeks after DVC announced the point changes, DVC changed the minimum add-on that could be purchased to 100 points at BLT from the usual 25. Thus, those prior purchasers were essentially screwed two times over because they would be required to lay out a huge sum for 100 points to rectify the problem DVC created by the point changes.

Due to BLT owners' outcry, DVC dropped that 100 point add-on requirement about 2 months later and put it back to 25. However, my understanding is that some lawsuits were threatened and one of the ways DVC managed to avoid that was to allow those prior purchasers to purchase (possibly at a discount) add-ons for less than the usual 25 point minimum, with the result that there are some DVC contracts out there that have less than 25 points.

I guess my greatest wish for any changes at the DVC helm is that the new head not be anything like Jim Lewis, whom I remember fondly as the DVC head who often started any announcement of change with the phrase, "In response to the overwhelming feedback we have received from members on [fill in any issue ever covered by his announcements], we will be making the following changes." Whenever I heard that phrase from him, I had to reach down to my pocket and make sure my wallet was still there.

 

[AdamsMum]

Exactly, perks come and they go, enjoy while they last! Not DVC but personally I'd love to see the 30% discount on restaurants come back around!

Woohoo! When was that?

 

[AdamsMum]

I guess my greatest wish for any changes at the DVC helm is that the new head not be anything like Jim Lewis, whom I remember fondly as the DVC head who often started any announcement of change with the phrase, "In response to the overwhelming feedback we have received from members on [fill in any issue ever covered by his announcements], we will be making the following changes." Whenever I heard that phrase from him, I had to reach down to my pocket and make sure my wallet was still there.

Yes, another enhancement to our membership experience. My favourite was taking away free valet parking and replacing it with free high speed internet, which they then proceeded to give everyone on property.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Woohoo! When was that?

Woohoo! When was t

 

[J and R's mom]

I thought so, in the past if you needed a studio at BWV you waitlisted the studios. Now you can only waitlist two of the three studio categories, standard, preferred, or boardwalk view.

Bill

This still irks me. AKV-Jambo has up to four different booking categories, so I wish they would raise the maximum to at least 4. And for our family, we also waitlist different room sizes since 1br or 2br would work for us. When member services had to make/edit the waitlists, I could understand the change. But we can make them ourselves online now, so PLEASE allow more waitlist requests, DVC.

 

[southerngirl528]

Hard to say, we only see the results that they want us to see. She may have saved Aulani, she did throw a great association meeting.

She may have been a PR fixer after the Lewis incident, I remember her saying that going forward, DVC would be more transparent making me think that much more was going on at DVC.

Bill

Claire was definitely a PR fixer as well as an internal fixer. I hated to see her go.

Didn't he reduce it to two active waitlists or was it waitlist by category?

Bill

I personally doubt the VP has much to do with smaller decisions like this. This would be more of a MS administrative decision that may or may not have been signed off on by Lewis. I can't see him really caring about that kind of thing. JMHO.