DVC Survey

[Hubalorian]

I wonder if they could allow this at the cabins for example? They own a TON of points and could get some money. Or when they declare a new resort, like Lakeshore, could they have people pay a fee to be able to book there with their direct points?

 

[Tatebeck]

I would definitely need more information to be 100% for or against it. But I can see some possible ways in which it could work fairly well.

1. If they included an early 12 month booking availability as part of MMB (or whatever program they choose) to let members make a SINGLE reservation per membership AND per owner per year for up to a 7 day stay. If limited to once per year, it would actually help out the average owner more than the commercial owners as there are more individual owners than large point renters. I would hope that they would also limit the number of rooms that can be booked this way (similar to fixed weeks) so that every room type still has availability at 11 months.

There are other things in MMB that already are skewed towards members who go more often like preferred lounge access, so this will be something that proportionally could help members who go less often.

2. They specifically say that they are looking at HHI, but I would hope that they could use something like this to help support current (and maybe more future? ) off-site resorts. If a WDW/DL owner can get good rooms at other nice resorts during off years when they don't want to go to the parks, they would be less likely to need to rent out their points. And any openings at WDW and DL resorts made by using points in this way would make booking easier for the remaining owners, and would eventually be easier for Disney to rent for cash as breakage if needed. DVC would hopefully retain a certain percentage of a resort like Aulani, or ROFR more points for VERO/HHI to help this. In a way it would be like DVC washing their off site points into more "valuable" on-site points. I would be fine with this, especially if they added more new DVC offerings in other locations.

3. I would generally be fine with discounts for last second bookings to make sure rooms don't go empty. I think this may result in less wasted points if there are some rooms that are sitting empty.

4. As far as booking period based on number of points owned, I would not really ever feel 100% okay with that for home resort booking in general (even though I personally have a good amount of points). It just seems unfair when you have bought a portion of a resort that is supposed to have protections for every owner. This would feel far too much like preferential treatment for some members. Fixed weeks are cutting it close already, and at least those are limited in quantity.

I could however see it as a decent option for all resort booking (maybe 8, 9, 10 month windows depending on points owned. We are not guaranteed anything specific with all-resort booking (currently 7 month booking) with our contracts after all and the swapping can be changed as DVC feels is best (though major changes are unlikely and would cause an uproar). In the end we are only guaranteed our home resort bookings which is why you should buy where you want to stay or at least where you don't mind staying in case the hits the fan.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

What was the specific question on booking based on number of points owned? If they did that, it would pave the way for rewarding those with mega points that do commercial rentals.

I’m not happy about most of the things I’ve seen Disney floating in this thread, but this one feels like the very worst—if there was (near) zero commercial use, I could understand giving priority to the most loyal members, but since we know individuals amass 1000s of points and rent half or more of them, it would be rewarding them at the expense of the middle class family who uses DVC to stretch into regularly Disney trips.

It is possible that they could do this at new resorts where Disney "owns" plenty of rooms that have not yet been declared. Essentially, they will take your point plus some cash (early booking fee) for you to be able to use your non-home resort points at a new resort where Disney has plenty of cash rooms available.

This seems reasonable to me, but doesn’t seem like a great deal for Disney, at least for lower point chart rooms, I think a good chunk of it would be DVC owner-renters undercutting their cash rental business. Why not just offer a material discount to owners who book cash at new rental properties in their own names? Cuts down on rental loopholes and “we’re giving you loyal owners 40% off cash booking rates at hot new resorts” (when you make a non-refundable payment 13mo in advance) would generate way more goodwill than “do you want to pay even more beyond your dues to jump the line (and be jumped if you don’t pay)?

I could however see it as a decent option for all resort booking (maybe 8, 9, 10 month windows depending on points owned. We are not guaranteed anything specific with all-resort booking (currently 7 month booking) with our contracts after all and the swapping can be changed as DVC feels is best (though major changes are unlikely and would cause an uproar). In the end we are only guaranteed our home resort bookings which is why you should buy where you want to stay or at least where you don't mind staying in case the hits the fan.

While giving priority for larger owners during the 7-10m window would be less outrageous than doing it at 11m, I think the functional result would be that you’d see large renters (who buy 1000s of points at SSR) taking even more of the inventory at VGC, BWV, AKV, BCV, and probably VDH. I actually think because they are so small, even a 2 week head start at VGC and BCV could mean that it would be functionally impossible to get studios and 2 bedrooms for more than a night or two for anybody who didn’t own at those resorts. Would make studios hard to come by at any of the very desirable low point rooms.

Also, lots of owners cannot actually plan 11mo out and even 8m is a stretch, so expanding the 7mo window earlier makes the product much worse for home resorts usage for those of us with kids with extracurriculars, demanding and unpredictable jobs, etc.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

to 1. I'm so freaking tired of being nickel and dimed to death. Regardless of whether or not other companies have gone this route, I don't like changing something so fundamental to existing owners. I'd rather them fix walking.

to 2. If I was an owner at HH, or whatever other resort they chose, I'd be pretty upset. Our guide told us to buy where we wanted to stay for home resort advantage, changing the rules after that feels slimy.

Not sure about 3. During the Covid reopening, Aulani had an offer to get a free night when using points for 4 or 5 nights, I can't remember. I'd prefer that. The last minute thing is hard for families and people who have to fly in. If I was a local I'd love it, so my opinion is colored by it not being as convenient.

Honestly, whose idea was this??

 

[MyDogTink]

Catching up on your comments. I still feel like this is in connection with the trust, not the properties pre-CFW. Didn’t Sandi say that we are always guaranteed the 11 month home resort priority booking but not 7 month or trading to other resorts? I could see those buying into the trust getting booking priority over our 7 month booking ability at non-home resorts. Not that I agree with it but I could see the Trust being DVC 2.0 with different terms.

I did receive an email survey today…for https://disneystore.com. lol.

 

[Carouselofplanning]

Catching up on your comments. I still feel like this is in connection with the trust, not the properties pre-CFW. Didn’t Sandi say that we are always guaranteed the 11 month home resort priority booking but not 7 month or trading to other resorts? I could see those buying into the trust getting booking priority over our 7 month booking ability at non-home resorts. Not that I agree with it but I could see the Trust being DVC 2.0 with different terms.

I did receive an email survey today…for https://disneystore.com. lol.

I don’t see how they can pull any of these ideas off without violating the contract terms of the original 14. Wow is this coming across incredibly slimy.

 

[Tatebeck]

I don’t see how they can pull any of these ideas off without violating the contract terms of the original 14. Wow is this coming across incredibly slimy.

O14 resort contracts have home resort priority of at least 1 month guaranteed, and then access to BVTC (Buena Vista Trading Company) which is what allows swapping of points at 7 months. That is why resale members can still swap at O14 resorts at 7 months.

Riviera, VDH, CFW, etc have written into the contracts that resale members do NOT get access to BVTC (and that recent resale buyers of the O14 don't qualify to swap in either) which is why you can only use resale points at those resorts as those contracts only have home resort period guaranteed + BVTC for direct only.

So in theory they could either make a second trading company that can swap at 8, 9, 10 months, etc and write that into new contracts or MMB contracts or something. Or they could try to modify BVTC to have different tiers or something, but that would probably be a bit trickier as it could affect the older contracts too.

At the end of the day the only thing guaranteed is 1 month home resort priority, which is why for safety you should buy where you want to stay just in case. If BVTC changes or is dissolved for some reason (as unlikely as that is because it is a huge selling point), you would no longer be able to swap.

 

[CarolynFH]

Didn’t Sandi say that we are always guaranteed the 11 month home resort priority booking but not 7 month or trading to other resorts?

No. Owners are guaranteed at least a ONE MONTH booking advantage over non-owners.

@Tatebeck - Jinx! But you said it a lot better than I did.

 

[Tatebeck]

While giving priority for larger owners during the 7-10m window would be less outrageous than doing it at 11m, I think the functional result would be that you’d see large renters (who buy 1000s of points at SSR) taking even more of the inventory at VGC, BWV, AKV, BCV, and probably VDH. I actually think because they are so small, even a 2 week head start at VGC and BCV could mean that it would be functionally impossible to get studios and 2 bedrooms for more than a night or two for anybody who didn’t own at those resorts. Would make studios hard to come by at any of the very desirable low point rooms.

Also, lots of owners cannot actually plan 11mo out and even 8m is a stretch, so expanding the 7mo window earlier makes the product much worse for home resorts usage for those of us with kids with extracurriculars, demanding and unpredictable jobs, etc.

That's a good point.

They may have to also limit the number of reservations you can make in such a way to make it work, or require that the members on the membership are the ones staying or something.

ETA: They would also likely make it for your number of direct points only, which I don't think a lot of the large point traders will have a ton of.

 

[CarolynFH]

@daisyduck2, thanks for starting this discussion. It's known that DVC follows DISboards, so they'll see all this discussion, in addition to getting the official survey results.

 

[Brian Noble]

...they will, but surely they understand that we are not representative of the average DVC owner.