Island Tower at Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

[DonMacGregor]

Yes, they loaded within an hour (I was an existing member). My 2024s were pulled for MBs, too, per my contract.

So how do they claw back those points if you switch resorts? What about the MB points? Disney tell you “don’t touch those points we loaded” or did you need to sign anything?

 

[Tatebeck]

That doesn’t sound right. The contract is final after 10 days, regardless of how you have scheduled payment. I believe you’re tied into that Riviera contract at 10 days per the contract and Florida timeshare law. Are you saying DVC told you you could modify the resort and point count up uny that 90-day mark, including switching to Poly points or mixing the two?

I’ve purchased with delayed financing of the down payment (split over 2 billing cycles for CC points), and the contract “closed at 10 days, but DVC didn’t file the deed until after the final payment.

My guide said we would be able to change still if we really wanted to. Seems like supercarrie was told the same. I don't finalize mine until tomorrow and I am definitely going to double check again. If the new incentives are better it could make the difference between cancelling and waiting vs just switching to the new incentives and keeping it while keeping an eye on the Poly Tower

The mixing and matching usually only is allowed if incentives are EXACTLY the same for 2 resorts. Only RIV and Aulani matched this cycle and only at certain incentive levels. There was one person that mixed and matched those two back in April or early May in one of the April incentive threads. I doubt Poly and RIV will match anywhere but who knows!

I assume the for the points already loaded they do the same thing they do if you cancel after 10 days. Take the points back and cancel any bookings that you had booked with them. And they don't do the MB until you close on the contract after 90 days.

 

[supercarrie]

So how do they claw back those points if you switch resorts? What about the MB points? Disney tell you “don’t touch those points we loaded” or did you need to sign anything?

Correct, he told me for the the points being pulled for MBs at least to not touch them or the deal will be off.

 

[supercarrie]

My guide said we would be able to change still if we really wanted to. Seems like supercarrie was told the same. I don't finalize mine until tomorrow and I am definitely going to double check again. If the new incentives are better it could make the difference between cancelling and waiting vs just switching to the new incentives and keeping it while keeping an eye on the Poly Tower

The mixing and matching usually only is allowed if incentives are EXACTLY the same for 2 resorts. Only RIV and Aulani matched this cycle and only at certain incentive levels. There was one person that mixed and matched those two back in April or early May in one of the April incentive threads. I doubt Poly and RIV will match anywhere but who knows!

I assume the for the points already loaded they do the same thing they do if you cancel after 10 days. Take the points back and cancel any bookings that you had booked with them. And they don't do the MB until you close on the contract after 90 days.

Let us know if you get a different answer when you finalize! I am still within my 10 day period so could pull the deal if something changes.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Correct, he told me for the the points being pulled for MBs at least to not touch them or the deal will be off.

Right because those MB points were points you own and part of contract and associated with that specific unit. Now they’re gone (converted for cash units) and can’t be clawed back. Very curious.

 

[mkatsy]

My guide didn’t confirm we can mix and match, but he confirmed in writing via email multiple times that we can switch escrow over to Polynesian as long as we do it before my Riviera contract closes on September 14. It will require a rewrite of the contract. He said the key is making sure we do it before final monies are received. (His words.)

He also said he would automatically apply any better incentives to the Riviera contract which will not require a contract rewrite.

He also said that he “flagged it” and this was approved on my file (verbally) when he took my credit card deposit.

He has been a guide for 12 years (maybe longer) so I am inclined to believe him, but if someone has evidence to the contrary, I am happy to ask again (although I already asked twice, lol).

They’re just moving the escrow to another product that they sell. If you cancel after 10 days they are entitled to keep your deposit but they are telling you that they will waive that right and allow you to cancel Riviera and apply that money to Poly. You’re not walking away, they still make a sale. I did that when I bought a house from a production builder here in Florida. We put the deposit down on the house to be built, the date to cancel came and went, then we found a lot we liked better. They let us cancel the contract (the slab wasn’t poured yet) wrote a new contract, and transferred the escrow

 

[Tatebeck]

Let us know if you get a different answer when you finalize! I am still within my 10 day period so could pull the deal if something changes.

I will! The only thing I can think of that may be a hiccup is our use year. Since it's September I fear we may have to do a 60 day close if we have to have the whole thing closed so they can do MB before the end of August so we get our double points. MB the 2023 points and then get 2024 right after. But I'm hopeful they would be able to put the 2023 points in, essentially bank them, finish the 90 day close after Poly details are announced and then still do MB after? If not I'll settle for 60 days, that should still get us into some sort of Poly details. But we'll see tomorrow morning!

 

[DonMacGregor]

@Sandisw have you seen this before? It seems like everyone would do it and create their own 90-day incentive window. Wagering on new incentives is a much-discussed topic on here, and you’d think such an obvious loophole would be well-known.

 

[Tatebeck]

I wouldn't see it as a total loophole. It only works if you are committing to buying in now, as they would be able to keep your deposit after 10 days if you cancel. And I don't think I have ever heard of them doing over 90 days delayed closing so it would still usually only let you see 2 incentive periods as a quarter year is just over 90 days right? Like 91-ish. But I guess the last ones started in April, and I think that actually is less than 90 days from 6/25? You may be able to barely see 3 periods if you time it right. It really would only help for odd times like this when there is a new development on the horizon, and even then one you are not really set on buying into since you would be gambling a deposit that it goes up for sale during that window.

 

[DonMacGregor]

I wouldn't see it as a total loophole. It only works if you are committing to buying in now, as they would be able to keep your deposit after 10 days if you cancel. And I don't think I have ever heard of them doing over 90 days delayed closing so it would still only let you ever see 2 incentive periods as a quarter year is just over 90 days right? Like 91-ish. It really would only help for odd times like this when there is a new development on the horizon, and even then one you are not really set on buying into since you would be gambling a deposit that it goes up for sale during that window.

True, but people who aren’t looking to buy now typically aren’t on the new incentives threads asking if they should wait another 3 days before they buy, just to see if the new incentives are better.

They must be ridiculously desperate to write deals. As recently as 2022, you couldn’t get them to kick out a final payment beyond 60 days.

 

[Tatebeck]

True, but people who aren’t looking to buy now typically aren’t on the new incentives threads asking if they should wait another 3 days before they buy, just to see if the new incentives are better.

That's true, if it does work, it may become a popular thing to do here on the threads at least!

They must be ridiculously desperate to write deals. As recently as 2022, you couldn’t get them to kick out a final payment beyond 60 days.

That is another thing to think about. It may not be reliable as there is no guarantee they will do it (unlike the 10 day cancel which is required for them to offer). It may just be worth a shot and a "your mileage may vary" situation depending on how bad they want to close sales

 

[supercarrie]

True, if it does work, it may become popular here on the threads at least

Bringing this somewhat back on topic, now we just need the Poly on sale date to be sometime after our 10 day cancellation periods but before we close officially on our contracts, lol! Only then will we know for certain.

Knowing my luck, the on sale date will be September 15, 2024.

 

[mkatsy]

True, but people who aren’t looking to buy now typically aren’t on the new incentives threads asking if they should wait another 3 days before they buy, just to see if the new incentives are better.

They must be ridiculously desperate to write deals. As recently as 2022, you couldn’t get them to kick out a final payment beyond 60 days.

But I think in this situation you could easily present them with the argument that it is in fact DVD that is slow walking Poly. The two biggest contender for competition are Poly Direct and Riviera Direct and all of the important information is missing on one of them. How can a consumer be locked into a decision? The decent thing to do would be to give a 90 day window of flexibility between the two.

 

[Tatebeck]

Bringing this somewhat back on topic, now we just need the Poly on sale date to be sometime after our 10 day cancellation periods but before we close officially on our contracts, lol! Only then will we know for certain.

Knowing my luck, the on sale date will be September 15, 2024.

All our work and not even getting to look at Poly? That would be rough! Lets hope for the pie in the sky with a quick announcement, $225 starting price and matching incentives. I may be able to be convinced to add just a few Poly points on as a discount and still keep my original RIV too!

 

[DonMacGregor]

But I think in this situation you could easily present them with the argument that it is in fact DVD that is slow walking Poly. The two biggest contender for competition are Poly Direct and Riviera Direct and all of the important information is missing on one of them. How can a consumer be locked into a decision? The decent thing to do would be to give a 90 day window of flexibility between the two.

None of that makes any sense. They are incentives that DVC is under no obligation to offer to anyone at any resort or for any duration. They didn’t offer any “flexibility” when they started selling VGF2, a situation identical to this one. They are also under no obligation to start direct sales on any specific date. The suggestion that they are deliberately not selling Poly at the earliest possible opportunity also makes no sense. What, do they think they’ll be able to sell more Riviera and Cabins if they hold off on selling Poly for another month? They want to sell points and they want to sell Poly points yesterday.

As to a consumer being locked into a decision, we’re not talking about insulin or baby formula here. No one is being forced to buy any DVC points, and they certainly aren’t being locked into anything. If you want Riviera, buy now. If you want Poly, wait.

Look, I don’t care what they do. I’m just saying I’ve never seen them offering up front to allow contract re-writes at 90 days just because the buyer saw a better deal.

They’re not doing anyone any favors out of the kindness of their hearts, they are just desperate to write paper.

 

[Tatebeck]

Is it easier for them to rewrite a contract and switch than it is to have someone fully cancel a purchase and then write another new contract a month or two later? I know in my case if summer RIV incentives are better I would probably have cancelled, waited for Poly news and then bought closer to my use year anyway to save a bit extra on first year's pro rated dues, whether it was still RIV or my mind had changed to Poly. Maybe with so many people watching for Poly they want to avoid a glut of full on cancellations?

And thinking about it a bit more I really like the delayed closing idea. Disney could let you sign for a contract, then think about it and decide to "add on" more points during the window at a substantial discount to get to the next promotion level. How many people would add on 50 extra discounted points after the points hit their account and the addonitis kicks back in?

 

[DonMacGregor]

Is it easier for them to rewrite a contract and switch than it is to have someone fully cancel a purchase and then write another new contract a month or two later? I know in my case if summer RIV incentives are better I would probably have cancelled, waited for Poly news and then bought closer to my use year anyway to save a bit extra on first year's pro rated dues, whether it was still RIV or my mind had changed to Poly. Maybe with so many people watching for Poly they want to avoid a glut of full on cancellations?

It's easier for them to write a contract and give the buyer 10 days to cancel, like they have for literally hundreds of thousands of contracts/buyers for nearly 35 years.

Like I keep saying, they have allowed for delayed payment of down payments, but I have never seen them extend an offer to re-write a contract just because another product is coming online some months down the road. Prior to this new development, you wouldn't have been allowed to cancel after the 10-day right of recission period, regardless of how much money you still owed on the down payment. The deal has been either you buy what they have on sale now, or you wait until it comes online. They at best have allowed a Riviera buyer to re-write a Riviera contract if incentives change within that 10-day period, for example, or allowed you to change to a different resort, again still inside that 10-day period, but other than that you buy what they have.

 

[mkatsy]

None of that makes any sense. They are incentives that DVC is under no obligation to offer to anyone at any resort or for any duration. They didn’t offer any “flexibility” when they started selling VGF2, a situation identical to this one. They are also under no obligation to start direct sales on any specific date. The suggestion that they are deliberately not selling Poly at the earliest possible opportunity also makes no sense. What, do they think they’ll be able to sell more Riviera and Cabins if they hold off on selling Poly for another month? They want to sell points and they want to sell Poly points yesterday.

As to a consumer being locked into a decision, we’re not talking about insulin or baby formula here. No one is being forced to buy any DVC points, and they certainly aren’t being locked into anything. If you want Riviera, buy now. If you want Poly, wait.

Look, I don’t care what they do. I’m just saying I’ve never seen them offering up front to allow contract re-writes at 90 days just because the buyer saw a better deal.

They’re not doing anyone any favors out of the kindness of their hearts, they are just desperate to write paper.

It’s just my opinion, but I think they are trying to offer a rebuttal to the “but what if Poly is better” dilemma. How can you know? So you can get stuck buying nothing, so in this instance they’ll let you swap so you don’t walk away. I can’t imagine this being a permanent change in policy.

 

[Sandisw]

@Sandisw have you seen this before? It seems like everyone would do it and create their own 90-day incentive window. Wagering on new incentives is a much-discussed topic on here, and you’d think such an obvious loophole would be well-known.

That is not how it typically has worked in the past. This is the first I have heard of guides explicitly getting approval to allow the rewrite of contracts to a new resort by delaying the closing.

Obviously, if DVD wants to give buyers a chance to take advantage of new incentives before it’s closed, they can, but I am very surprised it’s being allowed to 90 days…that is just crazy…so, my guess is this is brand new.

But a maybe it’s a carrot to lock people in who say they might want PVB tower and guides have an idea that the chances of that being a better deal are not great….once the 10 days is gone, people will lose a deposit if they want out.

I am with you…..defiantly don’t get the move.

 

[DonMacGregor]

It’s just my opinion, but I think they are trying to offer a rebuttal to the “but what if Poly is better” dilemma. How can you know? So you can get stuck buying nothing, so in this instance they’ll let you swap so you don’t walk away. I can’t imagine this being a permanent change in policy.

Maybe, but I'm more inclined to think it's because of the miserable sales so far this year, and the desire to get as many signatures on the line which is dotted, regardless of what kind of exposure they might have or how, many contracts they leave dangling half-closed.

At the end of the day, they have loaded contracts and points on to dashboards so they:

• Have to "hope" you don't use any of the points (either deliberately or by accident)
• Have to unload those points that they loaded onto your dashboard
• Load new points onto your dashboard
• Have basically announced to the world that Poly points will be priced the same as Riviera, after repeatedly saying they don't know yet

Again, I get that they still have you. You signed a contract and whether it's for Riviera or Poly, you can't back out, you can just change, but it's a complete departure from previous protocols even as recently as the VGF2 sale. Plus, as I said above: if you really want Riviera, you can buy it now. If you really rather have Poly, it will be available in a few months and the incentives are going to be just about the same as they have now (they all hover around the same for "new" resorts, and only really vary for sold-out resort fire sales like OKW). The only difference is they get to write paper and move a spreadsheet needle now.

ETA: What do they do on a contract still in its 2023 UY when they offer MB? Do they load both years contracts (2023 and 2024), then remove 2024 for MB when you close the deal? That wouldn't be a "rebate" anymore and it would possibly have tax consequences. They can't just leave the points floating in the ether either. The points either get loaded or converted to cash sales. Again, very curious.