DVC should not allow people to cancel

[Brian Noble]

But we do know that the budgets more or less max out the Breakage contribution every year at every resort. So, it is not small.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

we were once "snowed in" bc our flight canceled. I had my entire family with me, including parents and siblings with their kids (nieces and nephews). We ended up shuffling from studios to several inefficient one beds on points that I had to borrow from the following year (or pay full rack rate).

It was great to stay an extra day at Disney but was painful to pay for 4 pool/garden 1bds to accommodate what was previously 4 standard studios at Boardwalk. But I guess points were still a better proposition over rack rates! 2013 or 2014.

So basically, these inefficient 1bd pool/garden would presumably have been breakage but if not for the fact that our flights were cancelled that day. So sometimes it all evens out.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I think the OP’s original comment is a little…unsafe. Imagine if someone booked a Grand Villa, but was then forced to make a decision between traveling to WDW in a hurricane or losing all those points. People could get seriously hurt (or worse) traveling during a hurricane, so that wouldn’t be very smart or responsible by DVC.

It’s great that the OP had such a great time at WDW during a hurricane. I’m sure that is a memory they will never forget. However, DVC ABSOLUTELY should allow people to cancel during times of extreme weather that could be dangerous.

 

[Sandisw]

I think the OP’s original comment is a little…unsafe. Imagine if someone booked a Grand Villa, but was then forced to make a decision between traveling to WDW in a hurricane or losing all those points. People could get seriously hurt (or worse) traveling during a hurricane, so that wouldn’t be very smart or responsible by DVC.

It’s great that the OP had such a great time at WDW during a hurricane. I’m sure that is a memory they will never forget. However, DVC ABSOLUTELY should allow people to cancel during times of extreme weather that could be dangerous.

And the key here is that they have the hurricane policy for this specific reason!!

 

[drusba]

But we do know that the budgets more or less max out the Breakage contribution every year at every resort. So, it is not small.

The breakage income that gets used to offset dues is an amount up to a maximum of 2.5% of the annual dues budget for a DVC Resort (exclusive of property taxes and some other items), and, in all the years I have been a member (now 27), that maximum 2.5% has been reached for every DVC resort, with the possible exception for a few resorts, such as Aulani, during the resort shutdown during the pandemic (e.g., Aulani was closed for nine months in 2020).. The actual total annual income DVCM gets from rentals is not a number provided to members, but we can guess it likely usually greatly exceeds that amount used to offset dues.

 

[sethschroeder]

I think the OP’s original comment is a little…unsafe. Imagine if someone booked a Grand Villa, but was then forced to make a decision between traveling to WDW in a hurricane or losing all those points. People could get seriously hurt (or worse) traveling during a hurricane, so that wouldn’t be very smart or responsible by DVC.

It’s great that the OP had such a great time at WDW during a hurricane. I’m sure that is a memory they will never forget. However, DVC ABSOLUTELY should allow people to cancel during times of extreme weather that could be dangerous.

This is completely disingenuous.

1) Disney is closing its resorts if it ever thought there was any potential issue for guests.
2) Orlando is shutting its airport if its going to be a safety risk
3) State of Florida is shutting things down if it would be a safety risk

This is exactly why insurance exists. This is why DVC has its own travel insurance it offers right on the website that you can choose to add on if this is a risk you don't want to take.

I moved on from this topic as a whole but to act like I am being risky with people's lives is a crazy claim. Has anyone across Disney and Universal as a whole ever been seriously injured from a Hurricane ever in their history?

Your view is different than mine that is fine seems I am in the minority. I view DVC as a personal responsibility (similar to a condo or my house) instead of something where issues/risk are pushed back on everyone else with minimal to no impact on yourself (like a apartment).

 

[lmf77]

I work for a power company. When there is a state of emergency, I work, usually guarding a wire so people stay away and don’t get electrocuted. Our storms tend to be snow ones, not hurricanes but it’s the same concept. I work. Emergency personal work. Hospital employees work. We don’t need a bunch of tourists driving around while our community is recovering. I suspect the hurricane policy is more to protect its employees and its community than it is to protect its customers. I would surely risk my safety to take my vacation if I wasn’t going to get a refund. But I’d feel bad risking the safety of the local community.

 

[Brian Noble]

I view DVC as a personal responsibility (similar to a condo or my house) instead of something where issues/risk are pushed back on everyone else with minimal to no impact on yourself (like a apartment).

While we are on that topic, if people really want to throw tomatoes:

I did not think DVC should have made exceptions for the pandemic, for the same reasons. However, they did---and so did many (but not all) of the other timeshares of which I am aware.

 

[sethschroeder]

While we are on that topic, if people really want to throw tomatoes:

I did not think DVC should have made exceptions for the pandemic, for the same reasons. However, they did---and so did many (but not all) of the other timeshares of which I am aware.

I leaned toward your side as well on that one.

The main difference though is giving someone an out during a global pandemic is very different than giving someone an out for traveling during hurricane season without travel insurance if they feel nervous about being at WDW during a possible hurricane.

 

[hockeydad21]

This is completely disingenuous.

1) Disney is closing its resorts if it ever thought there was any potential issue for guests.
2) Orlando is shutting its airport if its going to be a safety risk
3) State of Florida is shutting things down if it would be a safety risk

This is exactly why insurance exists. This is why DVC has its own travel insurance it offers right on the website that you can choose to add on if this is a risk you don't want to take.

I moved on from this topic as a whole but to act like I am being risky with people's lives is a crazy claim. Has anyone across Disney and Universal as a whole ever been seriously injured from a Hurricane ever in their history?

Your view is different than mine that is fine seems I am in the minority. I view DVC as a personal responsibility (similar to a condo or my house) instead of something where issues/risk are pushed back on everyone else with minimal to no impact on yourself (like a apartment).

The roof did blow off of one of the Poly's longhouses during one of the hurricanes. If that had landed on someone it could have been a very bad situation. So there's that...

 

[DVCSunDevil]

And the key here is that they have the hurricane policy for this specific reason!!

100%! There is a policy for it. It’s not like DVC is bending a rule. Rather, they are abiding by the rule.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I work for a power company. When there is a state of emergency, I work, usually guarding a wire so people stay away and don’t get electrocuted. Our storms tend to be snow ones, not hurricanes but it’s the same concept. I work. Emergency personal work. Hospital employees work. We don’t need a bunch of tourists driving around while our community is recovering. I suspect the hurricane policy is more to protect its employees and its community than it is to protect its customers. I would surely risk my safety to take my vacation if I wasn’t going to get a refund. But I’d feel bad risking the safety of the local community.

This is something I was going to add to my comment. What about the emergency responders that are hustling around during a hurricane? The goal should be to reduce the number of people on roadways during a storm. DVC’s hurricane policy just makes sense.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

This is completely disingenuous.

1) Disney is closing its resorts if it ever thought there was any potential issue for guests.
2) Orlando is shutting its airport if its going to be a safety risk
3) State of Florida is shutting things down if it would be a safety risk

This is exactly why insurance exists. This is why DVC has its own travel insurance it offers right on the website that you can choose to add on if this is a risk you don't want to take.

I moved on from this topic as a whole but to act like I am being risky with people's lives is a crazy claim. Has anyone across Disney and Universal as a whole ever been seriously injured from a Hurricane ever in their history?

Your view is different than mine that is fine seems I am in the minority. I view DVC as a personal responsibility (similar to a condo or my house) instead of something where issues/risk are pushed back on everyone else with minimal to no impact on yourself (like a apartment).

I wasn’t coming at you. I even said you probably made great memories during that hurricane. My family has great memories of times that were spent in unique situations.

But the point is to limit people’s exposure during major storms like that…and to not stress emergency services. There are already enough bad drivers when it’s sunny, imagine all the idiots who would risk maybe crossing a flooded waterway during a hurricane in order to get to their resort so they don’t lose their points. Yes, that is their decision and it is their health they are risking. But if those people have an option to just cancel their reservation without penalty, isn’t that a good option? I mean, it just reduces the risk. It’s not crushing the system, either. Nobody is being required to cancel, so you can still go if you want to.

 

[Chuck S]

I think it also has to do somewhat with publicity, even with the DVC Travel insurance, imagine if people were either hurt, or if a tree fell on their car, and so forth, and Disney/DVC was open and operating normally. The blogosphere would explode with the news. Imagine the blogs, "People cancelled their trip because it was unsafe to travel and DISNEY didn;t refund their money/points/ etc. Even if Universal did the exact same thing, the bloggers would go after the mouse to get clicks.

 

[sethschroeder]

But if those people have an option to just cancel their reservation without penalty, isn’t that a good option? I mean, it just reduces the risk.

Just to play devils advocate though.

Should it then not be allowed at all times for any reason someone may give that is serious?

I call in and say I just had surgery? Auto forgiven. I call in and say I can't get off work now? Auto forgiven. Both of these have either physical or financial impacts to the individual.

I think it also has to do somewhat with publicity, even with the DVC Travel insurance, imagine if people were either hurt, or if a tree fell on their car, and so forth, and Disney/DVC was open and operating normally. The blogosphere would explode with the news. Imagine the blogs, "People cancelled their trip because it was unsafe to travel and DISNEY didn;t refund their money/points/ etc. Even if Universal did the exact same thing, the bloggers would go after the mouse to get clicks.

Which is why personally I think a good option is for DVC as a group to hold insurance (or self insure) and when allowing people to cancel you refund out their dues.

In the end though as people pointed out the breakage is enough that it likely covers the issue although some of the thought process is that DVC doesn't have to wait to actually claim breakage so are rooms possibly gone that would otherwise be rented in a year where a hurricane or two cancels a number of trips.

Only DVC knows all this info though and they are not exactly an open book.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Just to play devils advocate though.

Should it then not be allowed at all times for any reason someone may give that is serious?

I call in and say I just had surgery? Auto forgiven. I call in and say I can't get off work now? Auto forgiven. Both of these have either physical or financial impacts to the individual.

To me, the biggest difference is related to safety to the broader population. Yes, it would stink if you had to cancel a trip last minute due to a surgery or not being able to get off work. You could/would lose your points in those situations. However, those situations are not putting others at risk. Those situations are not shutting down travel, which makes you unable to even make the trip (if you wanted to). Those are personal situations that are only affecting you. That’s why there is an actual Disney policy for hurricanes…they affect a much broader group of people who may not even be able to make the trip.

And as a side note, if an employer gave you the time off and then just before the trip changed their mind…you may want to look for a new employer.