DVC Reward Tier - Ideas

[NVDISFamily]

Hi DVC Family. I've been brainstorming on this idea for a few months and also reading/watching YouTube videos about this idea for too long. I'm sure I'm going to get both love and some concern for posting this idea that could rival the great "war" of Riviera vs. Grand Floridian waged across many threads in the past months.

My main goals were as follows:

1) Not taking anything away that existing DVC-Y (Blue Card) members have regardless of how they obtained that status. Some may say that giving those with more direct points a few day priority on booking a membership cruise may violate this goal so I'm open to feedback. I want all DVC-Y members to keep their discounts, access to events, etc. All "new" benefits should be adding on to what DVC-Y has now.
2) Propose something that sort of makes sense that DVC might give us these perks given that it could help them sell more direct points.
3) Give meaningful rewards to those who are insane and buy quite a few direct points
4) Find a solution to the traps Disney/DVC has created with the splitting of the community with the resale restrictions that are at Riviera and likely to come on future resorts.

I don't think this is a great solution to the restrictions and I would rather DVC just drop the practice... But if they won't do that, this could be a way to help. And with that wall of text explanation here is my recommendations for new DVC rewards tiers:

Card Tier	How to Qualify	New Benefit	Cost of Exchange for "Dirty" Points	Free Exchange Credits for "Dirty" Points	Other Perks
White	There are no qualifications to this tier. However, this tier does have a new benefit related to use of restricted points.	*	5 Dollars	N/A	N/A
Blue	Any DVC member that is DVC – Y regardless of if they purchased any points direct or not (grandfathered resale members are included). New members must purchase at least 150 points direct from DVC.	*	4 Dollars	N/A	All current DVC-Y benefits.
Silver	Member must have purchased at least 250 points directly from DVC.	*	3 Dollars	N/A	1 day booking priority for all DVC events
Gold	Member must have purchased at least 500 points directly from DVC.	*	2 Dollars	N/A	3 day booking priority for all DVC events
Platinum	Member must have purchased at least 1000 points directly from DVC.	*	2 Dollars	First 500 points free.	7 day booking priority for all DVC events Concierge Services Resorting Hop Shuttle in DVC vans "Free" physical DVC Platinum membership card that can serve as a room/resort card and to show how "special" you are.

* Every tier is eligible to wash their "dirty" resale points for a fee (or free for the first 500 washed points for Platinum). This washing fee can be used for booking at an restricted resort using resale points or for using restricted resale points at other resorts. A member can use this up to the number of points they have purchased direct. For example a silver member who owns 325 direct points can use this for up to 325 resale points by paying the fee.

 

[Chuck S]

And how, pray tell do you intend to cover the costs of this program? DVC dues can not cover it, legally. Do you think the Walt Disney Company or Disney Marketing would cover it in their current financial situation? Implementing booking priority windows based on number of points may be legal, but would require upgrades to the current computer systems, and would be very confusing to many owners. Keeping things as simple as is practical is generally the best option for any business plan.

 

[keishashadow]

I don't think this is a great solution to the restrictions and I would rather DVC just drop the practice... But if they won't do that, this could be a way to help. And with that wall of text explanation here is my recommendations for new DVC rewards tiers:

Nope, don’t see it happening.

If it would be profitable; wouldn’t be surprised if they morph to current after-hours DVC events not being ‘gratis’, as so many clamoring for them on these boards. could start out slow with one to see if it could be used to churn some $

majority of my points are direct, rest are admittedly grandfathered. For those who bought resale to save $$$ after the change differentiating perks for resale & direct, it is what it is.

perks are not guaranteed to direct. If DVC has to re -negotiate the cost of them with parks each year, no way will they lock themselves in to providing anything as you so thoroughly detailed

Don’t anticipate any change as to mega point holders being entitled to a booking advantage.

who is the “better” customer, the one who deserves another perk…

those who bought into DVC via Key West for 150 points way back in the day & has patronized WDW for decades or the person who buys a big contract of banked resale points, strips it, then sells the next year?

 

[Chuck S]

those who bought into DVC via Key West for 150 points way back in the day & has patronized WDW for decades or the person who buys a big contract of banked resale points, strips it, then sells the next year?

"Back in the Day," the minimum buy in at OKW was 230 points . And we got park passes until the end of 1999.

 

[NVDISFamily]

And how, pray tell do you intend to cover the costs of this program?

I believe the fees from the washing of points would likely greatly outpace any costs plus the potential increased income from selling more direct points to get your gold or next tier card.

Do agree on the IT side of things. A bit crazy how bad the IT systems are. Seems like I have to hit refresh multiple times just to see my reservations on my dashboard. My guess is that the databases that make up the data on the systems is not very optimized.

 

[NVDISFamily]

"Back in the Day," the minimum buy in at OKW was 230 points . And we got park passes until the end of 1999.

And how much where those points… so jealous. My family didn’t know about DVC until about a year ago. Seems like the program was much more member friendly from what I’ve read. This also explains why I see a few 230+ OKW contracts out there. I keep looking at getting a OKW-e contract and that’s right about how many points I’m looking for

 

[Chuck S]

And how much where those points… so jealous. My family didn’t know about DVC until about a year ago. Seems like the program was much more member friendly from what I’ve read. This also explains why I see a few 230+ OKW contracts out there. I keep looking at getting a OKW-e contract and that’s right about how many points I’m looking for

Well, my initial purchase was 230 points, and between then and 1996, did 3 add-ons, so total points are 345 now. Average price direct was $53.50 per point. And no closing costs.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

And how much where those points… so jealous. My family didn’t know about DVC until about a year ago. Seems like the program was much more member friendly from what I’ve read. This also explains why I see a few 230+ OKW contracts out there. I keep looking at getting a OKW-e contract and that’s right about how many points I’m looking for

We bought in 93 when minimum was 190 points - less than $60 per point. And that contract owes us nothing! So glad we did it.

 

[Genie+]

It’s not legal. They cannot sell a bigger booking window when all contracts state home resort booking is the same for the entire club.

 

[NVDISFamily]

It’s not legal. They cannot sell a bigger booking window when all contracts state home resort booking is the same for the entire club.

First - love the username

Sorry if it wasn’t clear, the booking window priority was only for extras like member cruises and other events not booking rooms. Would never want DVC to do that for direct vs resale or how many points you own. With that said I think other timeshare brands do this.

 

[RoseGold]

Points can be washed in the system, I agree with that. But I don't see how they can be washed for just some of points, like the few dollar surcharge you suggest. Wouldn't the whole membership need to be washed?

I guess DVC could swap your dirty points for developer points? I don't see why they'd do that for $4, when they use the developer points to rent out $800/night rooms at Poly.

The problem with this whole thing is that it costs money, and the point of DVC is to make money.

I don't see why they don't just add on a bunch of upsells. Forget the free stuff, have cool paid stuff. Wine tastings, events, paid stuff. $50 photos with some rare character, $75 ice cream social with French ice cream and Riviera Minnie, $150 light saber training, $50 fireworks reserved seating, $50 special row at Fantasmic, a DVC Loungefly, a $20 balloon at the entrance to RIV. To me, this is low-hanging fruit that meets both DVC and shareholder goals.

 

[Pooh12863]

Hi DVC Family. I've been brainstorming on this idea for a few months and also reading/watching YouTube videos about this idea for too long. I'm sure I'm going to get both love and some concern for posting this idea that could rival the great "war" of Riviera vs. Grand Floridian waged across many threads in the past months.

My main goals were as follows:

1) Not taking anything away that existing DVC-Y (Blue Card) members have regardless of how they obtained that status. Some may say that giving those with more direct points a few day priority on booking a membership cruise may violate this goal so I'm open to feedback. I want all DVC-Y members to keep their discounts, access to events, etc. All "new" benefits should be adding on to what DVC-Y has now.
2) Propose something that sort of makes sense that DVC might give us these perks given that it could help them sell more direct points.
3) Give meaningful rewards to those who are insane and buy quite a few direct points
4) Find a solution to the traps Disney/DVC has created with the splitting of the community with the resale restrictions that are at Riviera and likely to come on future resorts.

I don't think this is a great solution to the restrictions and I would rather DVC just drop the practice... But if they won't do that, this could be a way to help. And with that wall of text explanation here is my recommendations for new DVC rewards tiers:

Card Tier	How to Qualify	New Benefit	Cost of Exchange for "Dirty" Points	Free Exchange Credits for "Dirty" Points	Other Perks
White	There are no qualifications to this tier. However, this tier does have a new benefit related to use of restricted points.	*	5 Dollars	N/A	N/A
Blue	Any DVC member that is DVC – Y regardless of if they purchased any points direct or not (grandfathered resale members are included). New members must purchase at least 150 points direct from DVC.	*	4 Dollars	N/A	All current DVC-Y benefits.
Silver	Member must have purchased at least 250 points directly from DVC.	*	3 Dollars	N/A	1 day booking priority for all DVC events
Gold	Member must have purchased at least 500 points directly from DVC.	*	2 Dollars	N/A	3 day booking priority for all DVC events
Platinum	Member must have purchased at least 1000 points directly from DVC.	*	2 Dollars	First 500 points free.	7 day booking priority for all DVC events Concierge Services Resorting Hop Shuttle in DVC vans "Free" physical DVC Platinum membership card that can serve as a room/resort card and to show how "special" you are.

* Every tier is eligible to wash their "dirty" resale points for a fee (or free for the first 500 washed points for Platinum). This washing fee can be used for booking at an restricted resort using resale points or for using restricted resale points at other resorts. A member can use this up to the number of points they have purchased direct. For example a silver member who owns 325 direct points can use this for up to 325 resale points by paying the fee.

More "solutions" to nonexistent problems.

 

[mistysue]

I would love the option to "wash" points, though agree it would need to be an "all or nothing" by contract situation.
As RoseGold said, they really should be doing more sales of special events and items. We stayed at AKL last year and were bummed we couldn't get a night tour as it it only once/week and sold out way in advance. With the number of "one time" families or those who move around that should be nightly or at least a few times/week. Nearly every hotel could have some sort of special thing like that.

 

[kes601]

N/M I did not post this in this thread. I had a second window open and it posted in the wrong thread. Weird.

 

[NVDISFamily]

More "solutions" to nonexistent problems.

I understand likely not that big of a deal for some. I guess the one scenario I would see this helping is it would allow me to consider buying some Riviera resale points in the future if I wanted them and if they were a great deal. Right now the idea of locking in and not being able to trade them out at 7 months just kind of scares me too much as we are in the DVC discovery phase and are going to try and hit all of the resorts in the years to come. As we get closer to retirement and can make the trip to WDW more then buying Riviera resale would not scare me as much as we love the resort and I could see us easily making the trip every other year at least.

 

[NVDISFamily]

Wouldn't the whole membership need to be washed?

I actually prefer this method but I don't see how this helps DVC sell more direct points which is why I came up with this crazy solution instead And if they do this, I would expect it to be either way more money than it's worth or perhaps done in conjunction with a direct purchase plus a still rather pricy fee. The best solution would be for DVC to give up on the restrictions (we'll hopefully know soon enough with VDH).

 

[Pooh12863]

I understand likely not that big of a deal for some. I guess the one scenario I would see this helping is it would allow me to consider buying some Riviera resale points in the future if I wanted them and if they were a great deal. Right now the idea of locking in and not being able to trade them out at 7 months just kind of scares me too much as we are in the DVC discovery phase and are going to try and hit all of the resorts in the years to come. As we get closer to retirement and can make the trip to WDW more then buying Riviera resale would not scare me as much as we love the resort and I could see us easily making the trip every other year at least.

Reading that again I realized it may have come off as rude, sorry that wasn't the intention. The point I so inarticulately was making was Disney gave us the solution at the same time they caused the perceived problem. If we want all the bells and whistles that come from buying Rivera direct, don't buy resale. It's on us as the consumer of the product to determine how this might affect our resale value. If I liked the Riviera that restriction wouldn't prevent me from buying resale.

 

[NVDISFamily]

Reading that again I realized it may have come off as rude, sorry that wasn't the intention. The point I so inarticulately was making was Disney gave us the solution at the same time they caused the perceived problem. If we want all the bells and whistles that come from buying Rivera direct, don't buy resale. It's on us as the consumer of the product to determine how this might affect our resale value. If I liked the Riviera that restriction wouldn't prevent me from buying resale.

Didn't think you were rude at all. Just trying to articulate some of my crazy ideas on how this might help and solve some of the problems DVC has created and also give perks to those crazy enough to buy direct. I didn't post this not expecting some alternative ideas or pushback. That's the way things go with ideas, especially when you post them to the web.

Sadly with how things are going I'm not sure if direct makes any sense given the market. VDH tempts me, but for the delta I'd rather just buy some more CCV points or OKW if there aren't great incentives (also stalking BRV... I have the sickness bad).

 

[RoseGold]

I actually prefer this method but I don't see how this helps DVC sell more direct points which is why I came up with this crazy solution instead And if they do this, I would expect it to be either way more money than it's worth or perhaps done in conjunction with a direct purchase plus a still rather pricy fee. The best solution would be for DVC to give up on the restrictions (we'll hopefully know soon enough with VDH).

That's sort of what I mean?

In the rules, it isn't that points are dirty or clean, it's that whole contracts are dirty or clean. I don't see how they can clean individual points in the rules, even if they wanted to.

The only way I can see to do this is swap for developer points, which is sort of how they do one time points. They have developer points sure, but this hardly seems like how they want to spend them.

 

[Matty B13]

The only way I can see to do this is swap for developer points, which is sort of how they do one time points. They have developer points sure, but this hardly seems like how they want to spend them.

I'm sure the CM's would looooove this solution...... I can only imagine what the wait times to get a DVC CM on the phone will be if they implemented this.