Help! Can/will Disney impose new restrictions to resales but NOT grandfather current owners?

[Beachgirl0623]

Hi there everyone,
We just purchased DVC direct through Disney and now I'm panicking.
It seems the general consensus on this board is that someone would be crazy to buy direct, but our concern was that Disney will continue to strip the resale memberships in the future (this is what the DVC saleswoman promised us, but not sure if we can trust her or not), whereby existing resale owners would not be grandfathered in but would be subject to the same restrictions.
i.e. is it possible in the future that Disney could step in and restrict all resale owners to reservations at their home resort only? or other such HUGE change?
In reading over the million page contract, it looks like the bottom line is that they can do whatever they please, whenever they please, at anytime...
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks so much.

 

[mel&me]

No one knows what will happen down the road, can it happen possibly, Disney changes things and if it is allowed by the TOS no one can do anything about it

 

[ziravan]

DVC's history has been to grandfather current owners. Given the uproar and sudden reversal by DVC in April when they didn't at first grandfather those already in process of buying, I doubt very seriously DVC wouldn't grandfather in the future.

You have to look at the point of the restrictions: to persuade potential owners to buy direct instead of resale. (Worked with you.)

The point isn't to tick off half its current owners, prompting many to sell, and throwing the entire system into chaos, thereby giving people pause to buy direct.

Disney not grandfathering current owners for any future change does nothing to increase sales and could destabilize the market, decreasing sales. Not likely to happen.

If you bought Poly and you want to stay at Poly, then it's better buying Poly direct. Stop panicking.

Otherwise, if you're at all in doubt, you have 10 days by Florida Law to rescind the contract.

Rescind. Research. Re-buy.

If direct is still a good deal after your research, they'll sell to you again.

 

[ziravan]

If you were to decide to rescind, and decide you want to own at an older resort, you could buy resale, and then add a 25 point direct contract to gain back membership perks.

The question of whether resale is better than direct depends.

I bought a BCV contract resale and it wouldn't have been as good a deal had I bought direct.

I bought Poly direct and it wouldn't have been as good a deal resale.

As a general rule, if you want the current selling resort or a small contract, direct can be a better deal. (I would think Aulani would qualify as better buying resale.)

Where did you buy and if you bought Poly, did you buy it because you wanted Poly, or because Poly is what they were selling?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

is it possible in the future that Disney could step in and restrict all resale owners to reservations at their home resort only?

Realistically, they could never do this. It would destroy the economics of the system, and de facto restrict all direct buyers to only booking their home resort. I believe it also legally impossible unless they dissolved each condo association, which would be legally problematic in a number of ways.

You know how you can tell if a timeshare salesperson is lying? Their lips are moving/they're typing an email.

 

[supersnoop]

i.e. is it possible in the future that Disney could step in and restrict all resale owners to reservations at their home resort only?

No. Not within the legal structure of the associations.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hi there everyone,
We just purchased DVC direct through Disney and now I'm panicking.
It seems the general consensus on this board is that someone would be crazy to buy direct, but our concern was that Disney will continue to strip the resale memberships in the future (this is what the DVC saleswoman promised us, but not sure if we can trust her or not), whereby existing resale owners would not be grandfathered in but would be subject to the same restrictions.
i.e. is it possible in the future that Disney could step in and restrict all resale owners to reservations at their home resort only? or other such HUGE change?
In reading over the million page contract, it looks like the bottom line is that they can do whatever they please, whenever they please, at anytime...
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks so much.

No. If they were to restrict to booking at your home resort they would have to remove the entire resort from the system and then all owners would be stuck. That's a timeshare salesman using scare tactics to get you to sign.

This and your other thread indicate that was a pretty heavy technique used on you. It comes up now and then - not all guides use that but there seem to be a few and you ended up with one of them.

I'm not certain what prompted your interest in DVC or if you've really researched if it is the right thing for you but if there are any questions or if you had an interest in a different resort then I'd suggest you take this one opportunity you have to rescind and take a little more time to investigate or decide between resale and direct. If you decide DVC does make sense and Poly is the resort you have to have then you can always initiate the purchase again. It will be selling for another couple of years anyway.

It's a big purchase so don't be afraid to take more time to think about it. Once the ten days are done and rescission period is past you are out some good money should you decide it wasn't what you were led to believe and you wanted to sell.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Also keep in mind, if they imposed booking restrictions to resale buyers, then the resale buyers would need to book their home resort which would make it almost impossible for anyone else to "get in"

So all direct buyers could only book their home resort also, because all of the others resort had already been booked by resale owners unable to book anything else.

So IMHO DVC wont go that route, that would cause too much chaos and too many angy customers which again would cause negative press which would lead to DVC being unable to sell anything at their resorts.

I do however think that DVC would do whatever they can to make lives "misserable" for resales owners, but without impacting their own sales.

 

[CarolMN]

.........(snip)...........If you bought Poly and you want to stay at Poly, then it's better buying Poly direct. ................................

I agree.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The original guides, ala sales people, were a lot more ethical and wanted the buyers to really know about everything without making up stuff. I think they are hiring former used car salesmen to sell DVC now. Or former Westgate sales people.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I absolutely agree with @KAT4DISNEY. Poly isn't going anywhere in 3 weeks or a month. It sounds like you got a hard sell from a guide who lied. Rescind, research, and then if you decide Poly IS right for you, demand a new guide and start over.

 

[ziravan]

The original guides, ala sales people, were a lot more ethical and wanted the buyers to really know about everything without making up stuff. I think they are hiring former used car salesmen to sell DVC now. Or former Westgate sales people.

I laughed at this cause almost certainly there's some guide reading this with Westgate on their resume going:

Hey, now.

HEY!

(Yes. You.)

 

[disneynutz]

Disney is all about making money, they will modify the rules and restrictions to cause direct sales. Published legal documents will stay the same, so home resorts won't change.

Bill

 

[bumbershoot]

(this is what the DVC saleswoman promised us, but not sure if we can trust her or not)

I think we can help you there. Don't trust her.

The big questions for you are...have you really researched dvc to make sure it's what you need and you understand what you're buying? And where did you buy?

As a previous poster asked, if you bought at Poly, is that your intended place to stay and book using your 11 home resort booking? If so, then that works. People don't quibble with direct purchase at Poly for those reasons.

If it's because it's what she was selling, then the value isnt there for you. If you're happy to stay elsewhere or if you're never going to book 11 months out*, the value isn't high.

So the question of where you booked and why is important.


*we bought Bay Lake direct in 2009 because it's what they were selling. (AKV too, but I didn't like the looks of it) I finally used the home resort 11 months booking for a stay last February. And it was the first time to stay at Bay Lake! We paid nowhere near current Poly prices but it was still not great value when we are overjoyed at OKW stays.

 

[zavandor]

First of all: you need to buy DVC because what you really are guaranteed has value for you. The only thing that is guaranteed is that you can book your home restort at 11 months and other resorts in the club at 7 months. This is the same for resale and direct.
Everything else can be removed at any moment.

Second: there is a difference between what Disney can do and what they would likely do.
They could remove every perk from every owner, even direct purchasers. They could introduce new perks available only to new purchasers, even older direct purchasers can be excluded. For example they could launch a "Cabin Club" and only who buys 500+ points at the new VWL will qualify.
Is it likely to happen? I don't think.
Also, the decision to grandfather existing owners twice in the past, let us think that they would do the same in the future. Is it 100% certain? No. Is it likely? Yes.
But you need to buy because the core feature is worthy for you, this way, whatever happens, you'll still be happy with your purchase. If you buy for the perks: don't buy, direct or resale.

 

[Dean]

There is no reason they are required to grandfather any current benefits. Given the way they did this last change I think they've made it easy on themselves to manage this issue into 3 groups. RCI and BVTC are about all they could take away and I couldn't see them removing the main exchange company plus that would be questionable from a POS standpoint. BVTC is more iffy but not really something that would help them or encourage retail sales anyway.

 

[PSUDinsey]

Sorry, BVTV?

 

[Dean]

Sorry, BVTV?

Buena Vista Trading Company

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

Sorry, BVTV?

The DVC Reservation Component is the DVC exchange. Basically, if you don't use your points at your home resort, you put your points into the exchange and in return you get a different DVC resort reservation.

Buena Vista Trading company runs the DVC Reservation Component. It's owned by Disney of course.

Changes to the DVC exchange rules would need to be done through BVTC. However based on the condominium declarations I'm not sure how much leeway there is for change. Reservations must be done on a "first come first serve basis", which is in black and white, so prioritizing direct over resale reservations is clearly illegal (IANAL caveats apply). There is a very specific thing they can do called "special seasons", where people have to enter a reservation list, but it's still essentially first come first serve to get on the list. However currently there are no special seasons.

To OP, as others have mentioned, I believe it is not legal to restrict resale owners to home resort only unless they block the entire resort. And also as previously mentioned, even if they could, they probably would not.

 

[Dean]

The DVC Reservation Component is the DVC exchange. Basically, if you don't use your points at your home resort, you put your points into the exchange and in return you get a different DVC resort reservation.

Buena Vista Trading company runs the DVC Reservation Component. It's owned by Disney of course.

Changes to the DVC exchange rules would need to be done through BVTC. However based on the condominium declarations I'm not sure how much leeway there is for change. Reservations must be done on a "first come first serve basis", which is in black and white, so prioritizing direct over resale reservations is clearly illegal (IANAL caveats apply). There is a very specific thing they can do called "special seasons", where people have to enter a reservation list, but it's still essentially first come first serve to get on the list. However currently there are no special seasons.

To OP, as others have mentioned, I believe it is not legal to restrict resale owners to home resort only unless they block the entire resort. And also as previously mentioned, even if they could, they probably would not.

To add, BVTC is a licensed exchange company. IMO that gives DVC some unique opportunities they haven't taken advantage of. How about a consortium between maybe Marriott, Hilton, Starwood and maybe the upper resorts from other systems. It could add significant value to the system and give them a great selling point. Early on Hilton and Shell were part of BVTC.