DVC Survey

[PolyRob]

And yet, the question in the survey makes very clear that they're investigating a 12 months option for a fee. How can they reconcile that?
It's very clear, I've highlighted in your screenshot the FCFS part.
It's true that the POS doesn't explicitly forbid to have two different booking windows for home resort priority, but if that is the basis, then calling it a stretch is an euphemism.

Also, let's remember, the Management company, who is responsible to make this kind of decisions, is a fiduciary of the membership. They must act for the benefit of the whole membership. Asking for a fee (probably going into Disney's pockets) to have an earlier booking window, would greatly benefit Disney and a minority of owners, for the detriment of everyone else.
If the fee is small enough that a majority of owners will use it, then if everyone has a booking privilege , then no one has a booking privilege, the booking window just becomes 12 months. But then the only net result is that Disney makes a bunch of money.

ETA: the only explanation is that would be for future resorts only and it'll have to written in the POS.

I think what you previously outlined with owners still booking first then paid members booking between owners and regular swaps is the most feasible based on what's written.

Anything outside of that is going to get a lot of pushback. I will gladly join whatever legal fight it takes to keep my home resort booking advantage without an additional fee!

 

[Carouselofplanning]

There would be an absolute mutiny from the membership if different classes of members were established as it relates to the ability to make a reservation at resorts you have access to beyond the well established 11-7 rules. It’s one thing to say new rules apply to new resorts. It’s one thing to say Direct owners get freebies that resale owners don’t get. It’s a whole other thing to say either big point owners or just direct owners can now book earlier than others. A very whole other thing. This will trigger litigation.

 

[Sandisw]

I’m not sure how they can legally make home resort booking window a paid benefit.

 

[Cfabar1]

There would be an absolute mutiny from the membership if different classes of members were established as it relates to the ability to make a reservation at resorts you have access to beyond the well established 11-7 rules. It’s one thing to say new rules apply to new resorts. It’s one thing to say Direct owners get freebies that resale owners don’t get. It’s a whole other thing to say either big point owners or just direct owners can now book earlier than others. A very whole other thing. This will trigger litigation.

There would be a mutiny, but I suspect if they wanted they could get away with it based on the POS...

However, what I do not think would be possible would be to have non-Home Resort owners be allowed to book prior to members.

The gray area is making the window for owners so far in the future that in practicality it renders home availability useless - say owners need to book 24 months out for home resort priority, and then from 23 through 7 months it is premium booking for non owners as well as continued access for owners... I suspect that would cause the membership to mutiny... I also don't know why or how that would help their mission of selling more points practically... It would essentially turn all of DVC into a "trust product" for the majority of owners (apart from those who are uber planners or have fixed weeks).

How much they care... probably depends on what they think they can get away with... That's the biggest disadvantage to any timeshare system, you've already handed them a huge amount of money and a contract that obligates you to whatever sums of money they dictate...

When I put It like that...
Why am I buying another contract?

 

[Cfabar1]

I’m not sure how they can legally make home resort booking window a paid benefit.

Agreed. The POS seems clear enough to me in that regard.

 

[Sandisw]

And yet, the question in the survey makes very clear that they're investigating a 12 months option for a fee. How can they reconcile that?
It's very clear, I've highlighted in your screenshot the FCFS part.
It's true that the POS doesn't explicitly forbid to have two different booking windows for home resort priority, but if that is the basis, then calling it a stretch is an euphemism.

Also, let's remember, the Management company, who is responsible to make this kind of decisions, is a fiduciary of the membership. They must act for the benefit of the whole membership. Asking for a fee (probably going into Disney's pockets) to have an earlier booking window, would greatly benefit Disney and a minority of owners, for the detriment of everyone else.
If the fee is small enough that a majority of owners will use it, then if everyone has a booking privilege , then no one has a booking privilege, the booking window just becomes 12 months. But then the only net result is that Disney makes a bunch of money.

ETA: the only explanation is that would be for future resorts only and it'll have to written in the POS.

I am pretty sure that the way FL timeshare laws and the POS prohibit a different booking windows for home resort outside of the FW, which was built into the contracts already at the start.

Now, it might be something they can adjust moving forward, especially with the trust model.

I’ll see if I can find anything re FL 721

 

[Sandisw]

There would be an absolute mutiny from the membership if different classes of members were established as it relates to the ability to make a reservation at resorts you have access to beyond the well established 11-7 rules. It’s one thing to say new rules apply to new resorts. It’s one thing to say Direct owners get freebies that resale owners don’t get. It’s a whole other thing to say either big point owners or just direct owners can now book earlier than others. A very whole other thing. This will trigger litigation.

They certainly can lengthen or shorten the home resort period as that is built in.

And, the DVC resort agreements already say that trading rules can change, including fee based rules.

 

[Cfabar1]

And, the DVC resort agreements already say that trading rules can change, including fee based rules.

This is why I cannot get over "Buy Where You Want To Stay...." View trading as a plus up, not a guarantee...

 

[Sandisw]

This is why I cannot get over "Buy Where You Want To Stay...." View trading as a plus up, not a guarantee...

Exactly! There is a lot they can do in that regards. They don’t even have to treat each resort the same.

For example, they could decide to give BWV owners a longer home resort period than VGF owners if they wanted to.

And, throw in the options they can do with the trust? I can see them structure it differently.

So, you have your home resort booking window at 12 months, your ability to trade into other trust properties at 11 months and then trade to non trust at 7 months.

It’s the paid part that I do t see applying to home resort for current resorts outside the trust.

 

[lowlight]

I wish I were better with using AI, because there are decades of posts on the Disboards that could be parsed in a very interesting way. People almost always post on the Disboards when they are sent a survey, and I think it would be interesting to see the percentage of questions that are asked on a survey that eventually make it into Disney policy, and the timeframe in which they do it. I do have a feeling that this is going to happen, although maybe only applicable to the trust? The survey questions are too specific to be in the "idea" stage, in my opinion.