Gained Priority Booking at THV!!!

[DVC Mike]

Again the declaration is only interesting for the sale of points, THV is part of SSR, look at the point charts or any of the "OFFICIAL" releases from DVC. They already stated how many units there would be and when owners of SSR could book them, that cat is out of the bag.

The issue is that THV are part of SSR and subject to the contractual rules we all (except for DVC so it would seem) need to abide by.

The THV are not part of SSR until they are legally declared part of SSR by a filing with the County. DVC members cannot try to book units that have not been declared into the SSR condo association.

 

[DVC Mike]

Once the units are declared, members take precedent and all of the DVC rules apply. But until that time, Disney is not legally bound by any statements made in a press release.

Yep, that's right...

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Not until the points are LEGALLY part of the Condo Association, they aren't.



As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details.

The "OFFICIAL" press releases by Disney are not binding contracts. Witness the Eagle Pines press release from 2002. Prospective members who may have bought into DVC with the intention of using points at Eagle Pines had no recourse when the project was canceled.

While Disney stated how many treehouses it intends to build, it never said that all of them would be accessible to members on Day One. Again there is a parallel with Kidani. We know they are building 320 units and that it will open on May 1st. However, not all of the rooms will be open then and even more will be held back from member inventory until the corresponding points are sold.



They are not legally part of the Saratoga Springs Condominium Association until they are added via amendment. Period.

While your relatives may be lawyers, I would question whether they have a background in Florida timeshare law. Or perhaps they are not well-versed in the circumstances at play here. Most lawyers I know (and I have one in the family, too) tend to avoid rendering legal opinions recklessly.

You could certainly argue that Disney is violating the SPIRIT of the program by giving priority bookings as a sales incentive. But I do not see any evidence of legal transgressions. Once the units are declared, members take precedent and all of the DVC rules apply. But until that time, Disney is not legally bound by any statements made in a press release.

....seems that rumor may have some life yet.....

 

[tjkraz]

....seems that rumor may have some life yet.....

Which rumor is that?

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Which rumor is that?

The RUMOR that only those that have purchased SSR points since the announcement of the treehouses will have 11 mos. booking priority.......

 

[tjkraz]

The RUMOR that only those that have purchased SSR points since the announcement of the treehouses will have 11 mos. booking priority.......

Doubt it.

There are two separate issues at play here.

1. Until the treehouse points are declared into the SSR association, Disney can do with them as they please.

2. Once they are declared into SSR, all of the same rules and guidelines would apply regardless of where one owns.

I'll stop short of saying that Disney couldn't make such a change. LEGALLY they probably could, but I don't see any advantage to doing it. What do they care if the people booking the THV at 11 mos are Phase 1 owners or Phase 5 owners?

If anything they might be able to legally create a third tier of booking. Giving other SSR owners the same 7-month booking as owners at OKW, BWV, etc. does not seem legal to me. It would have to be something like TVH "owners" can book at 11 mos, other SSR at 9, all others at 7.

But I can't imagine Disney actually going that route. Talk about injecting Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt into DVC membership...that's the way to do it! How about different booking rules for Kidani vs. Jambo owners? How about different rules for those who legally own a BoardWalk View room at BWV vs. those who own a Garden/Pool unit?

I don't know where that "rumor" originated, but it sounds like someone just trying to gain attention.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Doubt it.

There are two separate issues at play here.

1. Until the treehouse points are declared into the SSR association, Disney can do with them as they please.

2. Once they are declared into SSR, all of the same rules and guidelines would apply regardless of where one owns.

I'll stop short of saying that Disney couldn't make such a change. LEGALLY they probably could, but I don't see any advantage to doing it. What do they care if the people booking the THV at 11 mos are Phase 1 owners or Phase 5 owners?

If anything they might be able to legally create a third tier of booking. Giving other SSR owners the same 7-month booking as owners at OKW, BWV, etc. does not seem legal to me. It would have to be something like TVH "owners" can book at 11 mos, other SSR at 9, all others at 7.

But I can't imagine Disney actually going that route. Talk about injecting Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt into DVC membership...that's the way to do it! How about different booking rules for Kidani vs. Jambo owners? How about different rules for those who legally own a BoardWalk View room at BWV vs. those who own a Garden/Pool unit?

I don't know where that "rumor" originated, but it sounds like someone just trying to gain attention.

Well, it sounds like the DIS can do whatever it wants, however it wants, logic not withstanding. I really haven't seen any logic lately, have you? Increasing minimum buy in points at BLT, no more under 100 pt. contracts for BLT, ever changing incentives depending if your on a ship, at at a DVC road show, etc. I think nothing is out of the realm of possibility until the deal is "done". Will be watching....

 

[tjkraz]

Well, it sounds like the DIS can do whatever it wants, however it wants, logic not withstanding. I really haven't seen any logic lately, have you? Increasing minimum buy in points at BLT, no more under 100 pt. contracts for BLT, ever changing incentives depending if your on a ship, at at a DVC road show, etc.

I can see benefits to all those moves.

The larger contracts lower administrative overhead...have the potential to prompt people to buy more than they intended...could increase sales in the short term.

The changing incentives help boost sales via the "wow" factor. You can prepare yourself in advance and say "a $15 discount isn't enough for me to buy." But suddenly when Disney whips-out an incentive you didn't expect (free stay, free cruise, etc), you may find that pen in your hand quicker than you had imagined.

People who don't see benefits in Disney's moves are (IMO) simply hung-up on the economy. With CNN giving us a daily count of how much less our 401Ks are worth, some can't imagine others spending $20k on a timeshare investment. Nevertheless, it's Disney who is looking at the sales numbers...not you and me.

I think nothing is out of the realm of possibility until the deal is "done". Will be watching....

Very true. But I'll also point out it would be a reversal for Disney to change the rules now.

So far they haven't given any indication that the rules will change once the THV are part of SSR. The inference is that all owners will have equal booking rights.

This thread is mostly dealing with what happens BEFORE all of the THV join SSR.

(Incidentally, since my last post I thought of some other negatives to this "rumored" tiered booking system. DVC would have to extend the same rights to all SSR owners. If a THV owner has greater rights to book a treehouse, I would have to get a higher priority at Congress Park where my unit is located. It would also stand to reason that THV owners would be unable to book OTHER rooms at SSR during their priority window. IMO, that's too big a can of worms for DVC to even consider opening.)

 

[bookwormde]

For the long time DVC members, is there a precedent for DVC allowing promotional reservations before opening the resort for point reservations? It is my understanding that the days given on the cruise for BLT could not be booked until the reservations opened up for BLT members, is my understanding incorrect.

It is my understanding that if they use “developer points” for promotions or CRO, that the “contract” can not be sold with points for the current year, so it is either considered stripped or not sold till the next UY.

bookwormde

 

[missy2217]

OK.... Are there any other SSR owners more then a little PO'd about this.

I am happy for the OP, but........ IMHO giving "priority" to folks buying at another resort pretty much UNDERCUTS the advantages of buying at your HOME resort!!!!

I am a SSR owner and am a little "miffed" I wanted to book for Oct, how can someone at another resort take preference from my home resort over me.

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

Well, all of this may be a moot point because I called MS today and while they were happy to write down our three incentive nights, they have no knowleged of the actual way the incentive was explained at the Rochester event by the guides, there. Also, the computer is not even open for THV villa bookings, they are simply writing down, on a form the dates that the member wants and tabulating these dates.

MS apologized very profusely and thought they might have a "training" issue on their hands. They suggested we call our guide, so I left a message for her but she was not at Rochester and did not sell the 100 point add on.

I also told them that this is really bad because we specifically asked 5 times if we could book the rest of our trip at the time that we booked these three nights because we already had DH'S 40th trip booked. They said "ABSOLUTELY" every time. I am now waiting to hear from our guide.

Also, does anyone know where the thread is that lists all of the guides names? The gentleman that we spoke to has been selling DVC since 1997 and I thought that I had written his name down but I didn't and MS can't look up who put our contract into the system... By the way, the points were in our account that night for 2009. I believe it was done while we were sitting at the table. He had complete acccess to our account while we were there, including current vacation bookings.

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

Also, now I have just checked our reservations page and they have messed up the reservations I booked on October first!!!!!!
I am glad that I save the web page views in Html as proof. We had four separate reservations for June due to cash, etc. They have now changed one of the ressies and only gave us back 10 points instead of 36, there are 26 points floating in the atmosphere. Then we had a separate ressie for 6/28-7/1 that was changed to a check in on 6/29. This ressie was not supposed to be touched.

Uh oh, it gets worse....they also did not give us back the 36 pts from the night of 6/28 that they removed from our ressie without my permission. We are now missing 62 points!!!!!!!

 

[dcfromva]

Also, now I have just checked our reservations page and they have messed up the reservations I booked on October first!!!!!!
I am glad that I save the web page views in Html as proof. We had four separate reservations for June due to cash, etc. They have now changed one of the ressies and only gave us back 10 points instead of 36, there are 26 points floating in the atmosphere. Then we had a separate ressie for 6/28-7/1 that was changed to a check in on 6/29. This ressie was not supposed to be touched.

Uh oh, it gets worse....they also did not give us back the 36 pts from the night of 6/28 that they removed from our ressie without my permission. We are now missing 62 points!!!!!!!

Have you been able to reach member services, yet?

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

Yes, they added back the night of 6/28/2009 because I sent them an e-mail but they still didn't act on the other missing 26 points. I just called and they are having a supervisor research it.

I have not spoken to our guide but I think she probably is off until Monday, so I don't expect that call until next week.

2:00pm- Spoke to MS and they figured out the reservation was mixed up and fixed it but we had gotten a points transfer and the other 26 are now showing in a "virtual" account. So our points are fixed!

 

[jjgraff30]

Yes, they added back the night of 6/28/2009 because I sent them an e-mail but they still didn't act on the other missing 26 points. I just called and they are having a supervisor research it.

I have not spoken to our guide but I think she probably is off until Monday, so I don't expect that call until next week.

2:00pm- Spoke to MS and they figured out the reservation was mixed up and fixed it but we had gotten a points transfer and the other 26 are now showing in a "virtual" account. So our points are fixed!

Did you find anything out about your 3 nights in THV and adding on additional nights?

Jerry(jjgraff30)

 

[Hunclemarco]

Hello
Follow my link in my sigature, and that will take you to the list of guide's names.
Hope this helps.