How often do your guests plans change?

[rsschneck]

We are very new members. Went to HHI in July and made those ressies at the 7 month window. We are going home to OKW in October and made those ressies at the 11 month window.

So far with both trips the friends and/or family that have been invited to join us have had changes in their plans. The changes mostly have been how many days they are actually going to stay with us in the villa. Is it THAT hard to completely commit to a vacation 7 or 11 months in advance?

For those of you who like to share with friends and family what have your experiences been?

We have two more vacations planned for 2004 that we will share with both of our families. We have sort of decided that if people cannot commit to how many days they will stay with us then we might not invite guests at all. We might become point piggies!

What are your experiences when you invite others to join you? How much advance notice do you give your guests if you ask them to join you?

I hate wasting points on a 2 bedroom when we only need a 1 bedroom. I do not like changing rooms in the middle of a vacation either. Oh, what to do!

 

[Richyams]

We invote people every time. We have never had an issue. I don't know why you would have a problem. We used to even offer free passes, I guess that helped, but we haven't had a problem since either.

We have invoted a whole bevy of people, not just one family all the time, not the same family twice very often.

I think you need new family.

 

[disneycrazed139]

I sympathize with your plight. It was actually one of my hestitations with DVC--the need to book farther out just because of this. It is difficult to commit to times very far in advance, especially if you have a very hectic work schedule and you just don't know what that week will bring.

My sister has babies, and she can never commit to anything--kids are always getting sick, etc. Additionally, a police officer's schedule rotates in a somewhat strange way so it is difficult to plan around that. (My brother-in-law's occupation)

I myself work two jobs and the workload varies week to week. What I have done in the past is tell my employers months in advance when I am going.

I don't think this is easy for everyone to do--especially with cutbacks at large corporations nowadays.

In any case, I am going to be a "point piggie" too. I will make the offer, and they can either commit or not. If they say they are coming and they don't, I'll make them pay my dues!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have never actually had anyone back out except for once. It never was a problem getting someone else to take their place! I still don't have anyone coming with us in January, but if no-one wants to come, I will just change our ressie from a 2 bedroom to a 1 bedroom.

 

[InstImpres]

It has happened to us more than once. I now try to explain upfront that this is different than changing a hotel reservation. Sometimes I book "backups" if I have enough points so I don't lose out. This upcoming trip I bookd a studio and 1 Bedroom as lockoffs so I could cancel part if anyone backed out. I was told by MS I can call and change it to a 2 BR (since it is lockoff's) when I am certain and save a few points.

Good luck

 

[mikesmom]

We've had it happen twice. And right now family members are waffling about next year. (SEVERE waffling, they've talked about May, then January, then mid-June, then end of May...). While I haven't quite banned family from the trips I have learned not to get us in anything that is going to be a problem to get out of like borrowing points that can't be put back, or putting off ressies until everyone makes up their mind (and then no one can go because of availability).

 

[Granny]

I think some of this goes back to people's misunderstanding of DVC. They think it's just another timeshare.

"So...you've got that accommodation for your week anyway, right? So what difference does it make if we stay 4 days or 6 days, or cancel altogether?"

 

[gracelrm]

We're planning a big family vacation for DH extended family in June 2004. We pretty much told everyone we needed a firm commitment on July 4th 03 and there was no turning back. I'm fully expecting one family to back out at the last minute, but I have already decided - we'll just keep their room and spread out a little more and everyone will still be happy! Now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that there are no "surprise" babies or weddings between now and then. Don't know what we'll do if everyone goes and there are "extras" we didn't know about at the 11 month window. But don't worry - we won't abuse any occupancy laws!!!!!

 

[CK1]

We have the opposite issue -- family always wants to come with us, for as many days as we can afford!

I agree w/ Granny -- it's a misunderstanding of how DVC works. THey think you have the room anyway, and they DON'T get the whole "pts" thing, that borrowing today means less vacation tomorrow, that changing their plans affects your plans. And while you could try to explain this to them, it's been my experience that until they are paying for the pts, they will never get it.

Or at least I know I didn't! My sister was DVC for yrs before we joined and only once we bought did I truly "get it"! (Something about loan payments will do that to a person!)

 

[mbb]

We are so close to being point piggies FOREVER!

Want to hear the story??WARNING: VENTING follows!
Joined DVC 3weeks ago...didn't do MB. Planning trip in Jan. Thought"oh, wouldn't it be nice to invite SIL,DB,DN, and get a 2bdr. Would be first trip for SIL and DN. SIL says yes! My brother says no..can't afford it. Told them to discuss, and let us know by end of this week. SIL wants HER mother and father to come too (her mother invited themselves"well, if they have rooms booked, we could go too!) "the more the merrier" says SIL...uh, no, says we. DB is still saying "can't afford it", but obviously not communicating well to his wife

I'm telling them we'll meet them for lunch...at MacDonald's...on Sand lake Drive..."the traffic...sorry we're late"...

Oink with me now, everybody!

 

[jmminarik]

We had the same concerns about my in-laws backing out of the 'big family trip' last december. We just told them how much money we'd lose if they backed out after we made our room reservations. People tend to understand dollar figures.


Hope this helps,
Joe

 

[reneesam]

I think the dollar figure ($10/pt value)works well too. I also think it is helpful to remind people that you do pay dues ($4/pt), and that this is not just a totally prepaid "free" thing.

"Since we have DVC, this 400 pt rental would cost at least $4000 for anyone else, but we're only paying $1600." That's an eye-opener!

Good luck. We've all been there. I can't wait to see what happens with the GV next summer. I might be oinkin' after that one

Renee

 

[WDWguru]

No point piggies here, although I'd like to be! (In honor of ncligs, who has yet to post on this thread...

) So far DH and I have taken only parts of trips by ourselves. We usually go a little early and switch from a one bedroom to a larger unit with family arrives. Our first whole trip alone since joining DVC will be this December! We used to go all the time by ourselves, but now with 700 DVC points it's just too tempting to get those big rooms and share!


We've had mixed results. When we've taken MIL and two nephews, we consulted on dates and arranged things, no problemo. With my dad, step-mom, neice and nephew it was the same way. We asked if they'd like to come along in May (this was just before our 11 month window), told them we needed to know for sure by a certain date (we set it just before the 7 month window opened) as we'd have to change the room if they backed out. No problem, no issues.

However, with my husband's aunt and her family it's been a little different. They act interested, then back out. We're still not sure at this point, but we've given them a deadline of December to decide on NEXT December. At least it's always been before we've made reservations.

We figure this time we'll just book the GV (!!!) and if they back out, we'll invite another set of family. We've got plenty who would be willing to take their place, no doubt.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

My wife and I book a 2br everytime. If (in the unlikely event) we have no family or friends to join us by three months before the trip, we will try to switch to a 1br.

Currently there is a two year waitlist for our second bedroom!

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by WDWguru
No point piggies here, although I'd like to be! (In honor of ncligs, who has yet to post on this thread...

)

Thanks Kim

We haven't had anybody cancel on us yet. We do have a Beach Cottage for next summer for 6 nignts.It will be 7 total people, including in laws who are 79 and 80.Even if something comes up health wise for one or both of them, we won't cancel or change our reservation..
It will mean more room in the Beach Cottage for the rest of us.

 

[Lesley]

We've only taken guests once....my parents...and they are very good about sticking with the plan. I didn't even really have to spell out too much that once its booked, its booked, no backing out. We had to borrow quite a few points to get a full week in a preferred view 2br at BWV.

Now, we were going to take my sil and her dh next year....but we've had our own change of circumstances in that we now live much closer to WDW and we're expecting another baby. So that just isn't going to happen. We need our points for us right now...perhaps later when we can get more we can share more trips. I'm actually a little relieved because I can almost be assured of some kind of last minute changes being made by anyone in my dh's family. They're just the kind of people who do that sort of thing.

Once we have to stay in a 2br (when the baby is over 3) we'll probably invite people along whenever we go.....but for now we're conserving our points so we can visit more often.

We really only bought enough points for our own use....though we'd love to share. But anyone who backs out and leaves us with more accomodations than we need will not be invited back again.