I mean at this point, why is anyone buying direct?

[808blessing]

I am all about getting double Aulani points, meaning nearly double the stays when I buy resale to direct.

Conversely, I am all about getting the privilege of staying at VDH and Riv, just to check it out, so I did pocket a few direct, weeks after I bought my first contract, which was resale to stay in the newer developments. <Attention: Disney Marketing> Pour into those properties with special specials so people MUST want to stay there.

 

[tom1944]

I realize you had good luck this past trip but that is not the norm and many people are not given them.

And, we know that mobile check out does it automatically but I when I did have a white card, and experimented, i was indeed denied until I pulled up my blue card.

My family member who is DVC N was also denied when visiting in the spring.

It was not only me.

I know several people I worked with who told me they also received discounts for several years.

My wife got mad at me when I told her we do not qualify since the CMs basically insisted she get the discount. Some she never even presented her membership information because she had no idea how to find it. She just told them we owned DVC.

 

[Bearval]

That is my guess as well. Any point washing down the line will be a per reservation basis vs complete conversion to unrestricted.

That makes more sense to me because it still keeps the goals of restrictions in place…but gives owners with them an opportunity to exchange for that occasional trip.

I couldn’t agree more. This will be a win win for Disney in achieving 2 goals. How to make more money at minimum expense and drive people to buy direct. If someone washes points per reservation a few times they may wind up spending more than if they bought direct in the first place.

 

[Sandisw]

It was not only me.

I know several people I worked with who told me they also received discounts for several years.

My wife got mad at me when I told her we do not qualify since the CMs basically insisted she get the discount. Some she never even presented her membership information because she had no idea how to find it. She just told them we owned DVC.

Just want others to know it’s not the vast majority of peoples experiences. I have always been asked to show proof.

I just would not expect it to always happen because I have been there and had CMs deny people. I have even had to help a few set up their digital card on the spot in order for the CM to give the discount.

Obviously, if a CM decides to give it without the membership card, that is on them.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Disney says the have been working on curtailing the unauthorized discounts.

For whatever that means

 

[hilltopper152]

Well I mean that's kind of the point. Disney is trying to separate the two and effectively kill the resale market over the long term because right now we have the legacy resorts. The O14. But as more time goes on resale will become less relevant because a lot of new owners are going to say I want to be able to try all of the resorts and not just my home resort unless that person absolutely loves their home resort. Remember, it's only been 4 years since they implemented the resale restrictions, they knew going into this this is a 20 year game at least until that first set of 2042 resorts expire. DVC can always step in and ROFR whatever they want once the price point gets too low on the resale market. But do you think Disney is trying to reward people who bought through the resale market like "Hey congrats on finding a great deal, here's a cheap upgrade to make your points just as valuable as the people who paid us significantly more". LOL. If you allow this conversion people will be like why did I buy direct in the first place then? And then people will say I'm just going to buy resale and then once Disney offers a cheap upgrade I'll do it. 20 dollars per point to upgrade is dirt cheap. I mean trust me I own 2 resale contracts and I hope you're right because I'd upgrade them so fast LOL.

20 isn't dirt cheap to me but enticing. The number is not 100. I mean they shouldn't kill the resale market completely because that props up the asking price they have I believe at this point. Not a factor for everyone but there is value in resale having value or it's just another timeshare in many ways. Either way the times aren't always good and think DVC will make short term decision to survive. Disney shows lack of long term planning for the past decade and don't think DVC looks much farther than 6-10 years on anything.

 

[hilltopper152]

Discounts on purchases

Technically not unless the person makes a mistake or a non Disney owned store. Either way that's a massive shortfall of all the benefits. Resale gets nothing special except the same bill at the end of the year.

 

[tom1944]

Disney says the have been working on curtailing the unauthorized discounts.

For whatever that means

That might be difficult. The CMs went out of their way to give it to my wife. So much so that she still thinks I am wrong when I tell her we do not qualify. One CM even took her phone and went into her profile to show her where to find the membership number.

At restaurants I added the discounted amount onto the tip so karma did not get me for accepting an undeserved lower cost.

My wife was fine with that. She was happy to give the money to an individual employee instead of Disney.

 

[hilltopper152]

Disney says the have been working on curtailing the unauthorized discounts.

For whatever that means

Not saying this is you but never seen a group of people get so worked up and cheer for people not to get discounts. It makes them feel better knowing someone else gets stuck with a bigger bill or costly purchase. The annoyance is directed at the people rather than the billion dollar conglomerate for not enforcing their own rules. Entire perk is based on taking away past privileges and people want to feel better than everyone else now.

 

[tom1944]

Technically not unless the person makes a mistake or a non Disney owned store. Either way that's a massive shortfall of all the benefits. Resale gets nothing special except the same bill at the end of the year.

What are the significant benefits that people get beyond the discounts?

For what it’s worth I have no strong belief in the direct versus resale question because to me it is an individual decision on one or the other.

 

[hilltopper152]

I couldn’t agree more. This will be a win win for Disney in achieving 2 goals. How to make more money at minimum expense and drive people to buy direct. If someone washes points per reservation a few times they may wind up spending more than if they bought direct in the first place.

Yeah this is one of the best ways to implement it and it teases you into a new resort. I think this way works for everyone the best.

 

[intamin]

20 isn't dirt cheap to me but enticing. The number is not 100. I mean they shouldn't kill the resale market completely because that props up the asking price they have I believe at this point. Not a factor for everyone but there is value in resale having value or it's just another timeshare in many ways. Either way the times aren't always good and think DVC will make short term decision to survive. Disney shows lack of long term planning for the past decade and don't think DVC looks much farther than 6-10 years on anything.

The 20 dollars per point is relative to whoever is buying it. You may feel that 20 dollars per point is enticing, to me its cheap, I think it's pretty clear Disney thinks it's worth more than that and in the end that's all that matters. I don't think DVC is the one that's struggling. Disney as a whole is struggling, DVC is their answer to low occupancy of their deluxe properties and is one of the few bright spots of the company at this time.

 

[pianomanzano]

Not saying this is you but never seen a group of people get so worked up and cheer for people not to get discounts. It makes them feel better knowing someone else gets stuck with a bigger bill or costly purchase. The annoyance is directed at the people rather than the billion dollar conglomerate for not enforcing their own rules. Entire perk is based on taking away past privileges and people want to feel better than everyone else now.

I don't think anyone's getting worked up over it and certainly not cheering over people not getting discounts., at least I'm not. Life's too short to get worked up over who's getting 10% table service and 20% merch discounts lol.

If anything the recent posts are just cautioning others not to expect the discount all the time. The situation @tom1944 described sounds like a one-off encounter with a CM.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Not saying this is you but never seen a group of people get so worked up and cheer for people not to get discounts. It makes them feel better knowing someone else gets stuck with a bigger bill or costly purchase. The annoyance is directed at the people rather than the billion dollar conglomerate for not enforcing their own rules. Entire perk is based on taking away past privileges and people want to feel better than everyone else now.

I'm a big fan of FAIR EXCHANGES.

Not saying this is you, "BUT" (btw that but means disregard everything before the BUT, same as it did when you used it)

This has nothing to do with sticking someone with a bigger bill, it has everything to do with a fair exchange between the consumer and Disney and the Disney and it shareholders.

If cast members give out discounts that are unearned, and if Disney doesn't correct the cast member, then sooner or later, everyone get a discount.

In some cases cast members are giving DVC discounts to non DVC members all together. If this were to continue to expand, at soon point Disney would have no choice but to raise prices on everybody to cover the loss... As a Disney shareholder, I would like to see a dividend again sometime SOON, instead of having to cover these losses....

What's more fair, you getting a benefit you didn't pay for, of some grandmother that can't afford to buy both of her grand kids a stuffed Mickey because Disney was forced to raise prices 20 percent... and she is on a budget...

There is no such thing as a victimless crime.....
And make no mistake, a cast member giving away unearned discounts is a crime...

The billion dollar corporation knows they have a problem and have been addressing it with training, so everyone gets what they are entitled to, and Disney doesn't have to raise prices at all.
The billion dollar corporation, as you correctly pointed out, owes it's shareholders (me as one very, very small one) the duty of enforcing their own rules and policies....

The perk is basically a reward for purchasing DVC directly from Disney. It was never a privilege or an entitlement for just belonging to the club.

 

[tom1944]

I don't think anyone's getting worked up over it and certainly not cheering over people not getting discounts., at least I'm not. Life's too short to get worked up over who's getting 10% table service and 20% merch discounts lol.

If anything the recent posts are just cautioning others not to expect the discount all the time. The situation @tom1944 described sounds like a one-off encounter with a CM.

At almost every restaurant and at every shop.

Not at quick service

But we were not the only ones. Coworkers have told me it was common for them to also generally receive discounts.

 

[tom1944]

I'm a big fan of FAIR EXCHANGES.

Not saying this is you, "BUT" (btw that but means disregard everything before the BUT, same as it did when you used it)

This has nothing to do with sticking someone with a bigger bill, it has everything to do with a fair exchange between the consumer and Disney and the Disney and it shareholders.

If cast members give out discounts that are unearned, and if Disney doesn't correct the cast member, then sooner or later, everyone get a discount.

In some cases cast members are giving DVC discounts to non DVC members all together. If this were to continue to expand, at soon point Disney would have no choice but to raise prices on everybody to cover the loss... As a Disney shareholder, I would like to see a dividend again sometime SOON, instead of having to cover these losses....

What's more fair, you getting a benefit you didn't pay for, of some grandmother that can't afford to buy both of her grand kids a stuffed Mickey because Disney was forced to raise prices 20 percent... and she is on a budget...

There is no such thing as a victimless crime.....
And make no mistake, a cast member giving away unearned discounts is a crime...

The billion dollar corporation knows they have a problem and have been addressing it with training, so everyone gets what they are entitled to, and Disney doesn't have to raise prices at all.
The billion dollar corporation, as you correctly pointed out, owes it's shareholders (me as one very, very small one) the duty of enforcing their own rules and policies....

The perk is basically a reward for purchasing DVC directly from Disney. It was never a privilege or an entitlement for just belonging to the club.

Unless of course if cast members have discretion to give discounts.

My granddaughter was given a doll for free at the park because she yelled hello to a cast member.

I was given a discount because of the credit card I used. My wife did not have that card so that had nothing to do with her discounts.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

That might be difficult. The CMs went out of their way to give it to my wife. So much so that she still thinks I am wrong when I tell her we do not qualify. One CM even took her phone and went into her profile to show her where to find the membership number.

At restaurants I added the discounted amount onto the tip so karma did not get me for accepting an undeserved lower cost.

My wife was fine with that. She was happy to give the money to an individual employee instead of Disney.

Not really difficult, just fire the cast members the fail.....
Or educate then on how to do it right, and enforce company policy....

The second options is probably a little more Disney like.....

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Unless of course if cast members have discretion to give discounts.

My granddaughter was given a doll for free at the park because she yelled hello to a cast member.

I was given a discount because of the credit card I used. My wife did not have that card so that had nothing to do with her discounts.

Yea, you might be one too something.
I'm sure AP and DVC aren't the only discounts Disney honors....
I highly doubt a line employee have any discretion.

 

[tom1944]

Yea, you might be one too something.
I'm sure AP and DVC aren't the only discounts Disney honors....
I highly doubt a line employee have any discretion.

As a previous retail worker it would not surprise me that a line worker could give discounts. Many times it is a quick and easy way to have problems go away. Discounts can also lead to more spending overall and my wife is a perfect example of that.

 

[intamin]

There is no such thing as a victimless crime.....
And make no mistake, a cast member giving away unearned discounts is a crime...

Exactly. It's not about wanting to punish others or whatever. It's about rules being enforced and people getting the discounts they are actually entitled to. These same people who got their discount despite not qualifying for it will complain about ticket and annual pass prices increasing and hotel prices increasing.