When one reviews the key POS documents -- the exhibit to the Master Co-Tenancy Agreement, the
DVC Membership Agreement and Product Understanding Checklist, one should conclude: (a) DVD, at the time the resort first goes on sale, creates a seasonal
point chart with the seasons and days of the year within each season in that point chart and that is used to create the total ownership interests and total points applicable to the entire resort; (b) DVCM, the management company, then finishes that process by spreading total points among the rooms and days of the year to create a base-year point chart in which total points needed to reserve every room in the resort for every night of the resort in the 365-day base year equal the total points applicable to all ownership interests; (c) thereafter the total points to reserve all rooms in any calendar year may be higher than those in the base year only to the extent that such results from the natural changes in the calendar from year to year; (d) neither DVD nor DVCM are given any power at all to change the seasons or days within a season, to create a new base year after one is already in place, or do any acts which would raise total points to reserve all rooms in any calendar year above those in the base year; (e) once the base year is created when the resort goes on sale, only DVCM thereafter has any power to change the points needed to reserve any room in any given night to a higher or lower number, but that power is expressly limited by the requirement that any increase (or decrease) for any modified nights must be offset by an equal decrease (or increase) in other nights, i.e., DVCM's sole power to change points is limited to doing an act which cannot itself result in an increase or decrease in total points for the year.
In other words, DVC, DVCM, and DVD lack any power to create new
point charts with new seasons, and any increase in total points in a calendar year above the base year can occur only as a result of the natural changes in the annual calendars, not as a result of any specific act committed by a DVC entity. Those rules were followed until the 7-season point charts were created (although one attempt was made to possibly violate the rules when DVC tried to create new point charts, later withdrawn after members objected, for 2020 that raised points for studios and 1BRs almost year-round). Before the existence of the 7-season point charts, total points in a calendar year were at times somewhat greater than those in the base year because either (a) it was leap year which added points for Feb 29 since the base year was a 365-day year, or (b) some years have one more weekend day than other years, and some years have more weekend days than other years in the higher point seasons, which resulted in points for the calendar year to be higher than the base year.
Mentioned above is that the change in the Easter dates in the 5-season chart resulted in raising points in many years in the past. That is untrue. The two Easter weeks moved annually as Easter moved in March and April but those two weeks were always in the highest point (premier) season and thus, as far as those two weeks go, the movement of the Easter date did not change the annual total. Moreover, all days in March and April that came before or after those two Easter weeks were always in "magic" season, having the same point per night point totals regardless of when Easter occurred. The result was that the annual change in the Easter date never actually changed total points per year.
With the 7-season point charts, DVCM got clever in trying to find a way to have total points in most calendar years be higher than those in a base year, which would then create the opportunity to have more open rooms in the year available to rent for profit. It created (or relied on) a new base year, 2035, when Easter is March 25. March 25 is the earliest Easter can possibly be at any time during at least the next 50 years, and for 48 of those next 50 years Easter is always later than March 25, and, in most of those years, Easter is in April. DVCM put all days in March or April that are before the two Easter weeks (which run from the Sunday, a week before Easter, to the Saturday after Easter), in higher point season 6, and put all days in April after the two Easter weeks in lower point season 5. The result is as follows:
1. The 2035 base year has 16 days in March before the two Easter weeks that are in higher-point season 6 and all 30 days in April in lower-point season 5. For every year that Easter is later than March 25, which is 48 of the next 50 years, the number of days in the two months that will be in higher point season 6 before the two Easter weeks is higher than 16 and the number of days in lower point season 5 will be lower than 30. Thus, for 48 of the next 50 years, total points to reserve all rooms in March and April will be greater than those found in the base year for March and April, and thus total points to reserve all rooms for the calendar year will be greater than those found in the base year.
2. The shift of points changes from year to year and, in 2038, when Easter is at its latest, April 25, there will be 46 days in March and April before the two Easter weeks that will be in higher point season 6 and no days at all in lower point season 5.
3. This increase in total points, resulting from DVCM's decision to create new 7-season point charts that purposefully use the change in the Easter date to change total points per year, was first noticed by many when the 2022 point charts were released. Easter was April 4 in 2021 and will be April 17 in 2022, and thus there will be 11 more days in March and April in higher-point season 6 in 2022 than in 2021, and 11 fewer days in lower point season 5 that are after the two Easter weeks.
4. When total points to reserve the calendar year are greater than the base year total, the opportunity is created for DVCM to potentially have more rooms to rent for profit.
Some believe the change made was allowed. DVC has even mentioned the "excuse" that the variance in total points is simply due to the natural changes in the calendar annually, i.e., the annual change in the date for Easter. The problem with that excuse is that the "act" that actually caused the annual increase in points was DVC's decision to create new 7-season point charts that heavily rely on the change in the Easter date to annually increase points above those in any base year. If DVC's new interpretation of the POS and rules is correct, then nothing can stop it from creating new point charts in the future that add total points in calendar years above those in any base year by: (a) raising points in January that are before MLK day while lowering them for days in Jan after MLK day, and thus as MLK day (always the third Monday of January) moves from its earliest possible date, January 15, to its latest, January 21, total points needed to reserve all of Jan will increase; (b) make the same kind of change in May for the movement of Memorial Day; (c) make the same kind of change in October for the movement of Columbus Day; (d) make the same kind of change for days in November due to the movement of the date for Thanksgiving. In essence, DVC's new claim of right to create new point charts with new seasons could lead to even much greater increases in total points than those that exist now with only the change in the Easter date.
The 5-season charts never relied on the annual change of holiday dates, such as Easter, to raise total points needed to reserve all rooms for the year. A probable reason for that is that DVC, for almost 30 years, likely thought that would be improper and would violate DVC's obligation not to purposefully do acts that would require total points to reserve all rooms in a calendar year to be greater than those in a base year, The modern DVC, which has previously demonstrated in the last decade that is it is willing to do harm to members to aid in the increase of profits (e.g., various acts committed in the last decade to take away rights and privileges of resale purchasers), has apparently decided otherwise.
