Major Policy Change in DVC/DCL Trade Policy UPDATE ON POST #193

[Dean]

Thanks LisaS, that is my guess too! My points simply shifted from one date that I had booked on points almost a year ago, to another date. So nothing really changed the total already committed to DCL.

Cmbar - have you emailed the Member Satisfaction team yet? That is a venue that may help overall when they see the member response...

I'm guessing the root of the issue is the handling of the points converted to reservation status the the system in place to convert those points to dollars by DVC through CRO which siphons off half the rental price and only provides payment if the reservation is rented.I suspect the other side of the equation is that the agreement between DVD & DCL restricts the volume per cruise, the number 10% has been thrown around in the past. While I'm sure DCL would love to get a discounted rack rate across the board, I'm sure they want to limit the amount of control that any one entity has over them. If you get in bed with one group too heavily, that 10% discount today may be 50% next year at the demand of the major player.

In this case the points are already in reservation status so the first half of the equation does not apply and the second half only does to a degree.

 

[Mickey4me!]

Dear DVC Board of Directors -

I have a great suggestion for your next new DVC resort - Disney Cruise Line! I would love to make one of the ships my home resort!

A girl can dream, can't she?.......

 

[Petraman]

Yesterday you were fine. I would have been fine mid week when I last called. But as of today, this is no longer an option for DVC members. That is what I was told. This is a "new policy" and they are booking cruises differently..according to the CM's.



Yes but I dont think it is a "new policy" in all the years that I have been a DVC member and booked cruises I have always been told that DVC is only given so many rooms that they are able to book on ALL cruises except the SS Members cruise. Maybe the CM worded the explanation wrong.......either way happy to know that all remains the same and all we really have to worry about is availability........happy sailing!

It IS a new policy because of how it was handled. You are correct in what has been the policy... so many rooms per cruise. The problem is they want us to believe that every cruise happening for the 13+ months suddenly got booked out. We are all used to having to make adjustment to our plans based on availability.... call 9 months out instead of 11 and you have less inventory to pick from. Imagine if you called 10 months out to book a room and saw you could book just about any resort you wanted. Then the next day you called and they said, "every single room in every resort is now booked".

The old poilicy= no guarantee you will get what you want, so make sure you book well in advance and be flexible.

New policy= oops.... sorry, no room at the inn my friends

 

[Petraman]

Dear DVC Board of Directors -

I have a great suggestion for your next new DVC resort - Disney Cruise Line! I would love to make one of the ships my home resort!

A girl can dream, can't she?.......

hehehe....

I LOVE It! Signe me up too!

 

[Petraman]

I think this whole situation needs to be a forewarning to all those members who don't plan to buy at Aulani, but plan to book at 7 months out. I don't think the availability is going to be there.

So true...
My daughter is graduating in 2013, so we told her we would try and book a stay at Aulani. But hey we have a backup plan if that doesn't work out.... she wants to go on a 7 day cruise!

So much for that plan

 

[Sammie]

Dear DVC Board of Directors -

I have a great suggestion for your next new DVC resort - Disney Cruise Line! I would love to make one of the ships my home resort!

A girl can dream, can't she?.......

Do we have a board of directors,

 

[Petraman]

If you want flexibility with your DVC points - rent out your points and use the cash to book a cruise or whatever.

Hmmmm.... Strange, but I don't remember that info in the DVC sales pitch when they wanted me to buy in. I remember "DVC overall points usage will never change, so buy xx points and you can vacation like you do each year" (that went away after 2 years of weekend/weekday points reallocation), and then I remember "One of the most exciting ways to use your points other than your home resort at WDW is to book an amazing Disney Cruise!"

Maybe they should add the whole rental approach to their sales pitch, it would be a more honest way to try and sell

Oops!!! I forgot to add... if they did start including this in the sales pitch,then they would have to say we are no longer allowed to do it a year later, so maybe they should just leave it out..

 

[Dean]

Do we have a board of directors,

A BOD and a voting rep for each resort though last I heard they all overlapped 100%.

 

[Sammie]

A BOD and a voting rep for each resort though last I heard they all overlapped 100%.

Thanks

 

[Dean]

Hmmmm.... Strange, but I don't remember that info in the DVC sales pitch when they wanted me to buy in. I remember "DVC overall points usage will never change, so buy xx points and you can vacation like you do each year" (that went away after 2 years of weekend/weekday points reallocation), and then I remember "One of the most exciting ways to use your points other than your home resort at WDW is to book an amazing Disney Cruise!"

Maybe they should add the whole rental approach to their sales pitch, it would be a more honest way to try and sell

Oops!!! I forgot to add... if they did start including this in the sales pitch,then they would have to say we are no longer allowed to do it a year later, so maybe they should just leave it out..

Don't confuse sales hype with reality or reasonable choices. Just go to a car dealership for a reminder of the applicable sales pitch.

 

[Dean]

Thanks

You can get the current list from the DVC admin department if you want.

 

[Mineu]

Well, I think we all owe CarolAnne a huge THANK YOU for making us all aware of the situation so quickly! At least I know what is going on and can make decisions about my trips accordingly. I have a little flexibility with Alaska as I haven't booked flights yet. My 3 day may not fare so well-but at least we know. I just feel sorry for all of those with plans and points who are, as yet, unaware of the problem...

 

[DVC Mike]

Hmmmm.... Strange, but I don't remember that info in the DVC sales pitch when they wanted me to buy in. I remember "DVC overall points usage will never change, so buy xx points and you can vacation like you do each year" (that went away after 2 years of weekend/weekday points reallocation), and then I remember "One of the most exciting ways to use your points other than your home resort at WDW is to book an amazing Disney Cruise!"

Maybe they should add the whole rental approach to their sales pitch, it would be a more honest way to try and sell

Oops!!! I forgot to add... if they did start including this in the sales pitch,then they would have to say we are no longer allowed to do it a year later, so maybe they should just leave it out..

Whatever your guide said was their sales spiel. All that matters is the POS. The only thing we're guaranteed is the right to try to make a reservation at our home resort(s). The ability to use our points to book Disney Cruise Line isn't guaranteed and can be discontinued at any time.

 

[Petraman]

Well, I think we all owe CarolAnne a huge THANK YOU for making us all aware of the situation so quickly! At least I know what is going on and can make decisions about my trips accordingly. I have a little flexibility with Alaska as I haven't booked flights yet. My 3 day may not fare so well-but at least we know. I just feel sorry for all of those with plans and points who are, as yet, unaware of the problem...

ABsolutely! Well said!

Thank you CarolAnn for giving us the heads up. I know for us personally it got me on the ball to get my upgrade locked in for our Nov 2011 cruise. Who knows what might have happened had I waited.

Thank you CarolAnn.... here's a little something just for you

 

[Petraman]

I think this whole situation needs to be a forewarning to all those members who don't plan to buy at Aulani, but plan to book at 7 months out. I don't think the availability is going to be there.

There may or may not be routine successes 7 months out for HI, Personally I suspect there will be for times other than mid summer, Easter, President's week and Xmas/NY. However, I see no correlation with this issue and DVC resort availability. I realize that some had speculated DVC cruises as a combined trip but that still doesn't lead me to any correlation. Am I missing something?

I think what the PP was trying to point out is that just like DCL being a "perk" which may or may not be available, the HI resort being booked at 7 months by a non-resort owner is just a "perk" and not guaranteed. The word I got from Disney on the DCL moratorium was simply alot more people are booking cruises and they have reached their max allotted rooms. So it would seem to make sense that a HI resort might be viewed by people as a real great new place to try and there will be a rush of people trying to book it, which in turn means people who want to go who don't own there may find themselves out of luck when they run out of rooms... just like DCL. I am only assuming that Deb & Bill meant this, but it would seem to make sense.

That said, I think I lean towards agreeing with your observation. I would imagine there will be availability at Aulani, as long as you book as early as you can and avoid high seasons. The first year may be tough, but I guess we will just have to wait and see. I hope there is availability, we want to go!

We would buy into Aulani, but not really looking to go to Hawaii that often, so we would be back in the boat of owning points where we don't intend to go... which is clearly not the smartest thing to do

 

[Dean]

We would buy into Aulani, but not really looking to go to Hawaii that often, so we would be back in the boat of not owning points where we intend to go... which is clearly not the smartest thing to do

Unless you buy with the guarantee of a given high demand week and rent that time when you don't use it.

 

[Sammie]

You can get the current list from the DVC admin department if you want.

Thanks Dean, learn something new everyday.

 

[Petraman]

Unless you buy with the guarantee of a given high demand week and rent that time when you don't use it.

I hear you. Maybe I am just to much of a purist, but I really don't want my DVC dream family vacations to turn into a business. I know it's easy to rent, and it makes sense to rent points then pay cash for my cruise, but to me that all just sounds way too much like work

When I owned timeshares before, the single most frustrating part of the experience was the whole "bank this year, sign up for Australia, wait 4 years and then get to go" kind of experience. My mom absolutely loved doing this with her timeshare... me, I like to pick up my phone, call my 800 number, ask "pretty please" can I come see the magic on these days, then one more call to get my airlines tickets, then all that's left is that horrible time of anticipation. hehehe...

I think the worst part of Disney trips is that season you have to go through when yo are all booked but now you have to wait for "Christmas" to come

 

[Dean]

I hear you. Maybe I am just to much of a purist, but I really don't want my DVC dream family vacations to turn into a business. I know it's easy to rent, and it makes sense to rent points then pay cash for my cruise, but to me that all just sounds way too much like work

When I owned timeshares before, the single most frustrating part of the experience was the whole "bank this year, sign up for Australia, wait 4 years and then get to go" kind of experience. My mom absolutely loved doing this with her timeshare... me, I like to pick up my phone, call my 800 number, ask "pretty please" can I come see the magic on these days, then one more call to get my airlines tickets, then all that's left is that horrible time of anticipation. hehehe...

I think the worst part of Disney trips is that season you have to go through when yo are all booked but now you have to wait for "Christmas" to come

I think that DVC is more of an illusion than improvement over the system you quote. The truth is that there is NO standard timeshare system any more. There are many different options, each unique. There are some generalizations one can list but there are many exceptions. I'd also quibble with the definition of owning and renting out on a limited basis as being a business.

 

[tinman]

We came back from Disney last night,and on the DVC tour they told us that we could go on a 5 day cruise inJuly family of 4 in2011 for 260 points total.Now reading the threads the whole sales pitch sounds wrong.We are debating wether are not to join. They also stated that the point values for the resorts and cruises havent changed in 15years and will be the same for ever is this true