New "120" Day Rule and AKV Concierge

[drusba]

Now that I have the Vacation Magic:

1. The new banking rule is actually that you can bank all of your points up to 120 days before the end of your use year. That means you can have slightly past your eigth month to bank. It states this was done to simplify because members told them remembering the varying dates was a "bit confusing." Of course with the 120 day rule, when you are trying to figure out exactly when your last date to bank is, there will obviously be no confusion (Is that the second or third of a month by which you must bank? Does 120 days before the end of the use year count or not count that last day of the use year?)

2. Buried on page 28 is the answer to a question that has been asked about AKV concierge. Those who stay concierge on points will receive full daily maid service and nightly turn down service.

 

[DebbieB]

I was just reading the Vacation Magic. Another change is you cannot book a member getaway in the last 120 days instead of 60 days. So if you have to cancel a vacation in the last 120 days, your options will be severely limited. Makes use year more important. I consider this, along with the $95 fee for WDW resorts, a big downgrade in our memberships.

 

[LisaS]

1. The new banking rule is actually that you can bank all of your points up to 120 days before the end of your use year. That means you can have slightly past your eighth month to bank. It states this was done to simplify because members told them remembering the varying dates was a "bit confusing." Of course with the 120 day rule, when you are trying to figure out exactly when your last date to bank is, there will obviously be no confusion (Is that the second or third of a month by which you must bank? Does 120 days before the end of the use year count or not count that last day of the use year?)

Thanks for posting this. This is actually good news in that if I forget to bank by the end of the 8th month, I will have a couple of days grace period to call MS or bank online.

 

[global_mom]

I was just reading the Vacation Magic. Another change is you cannot book a member getaway in the last 120 days instead of 60 days. So if you have to cancel a vacation in the last 120 days, your options will be severely limited. Makes use year more important. I consider this, along with the $95 fee for WDW resorts, a big downgrade in our memberships.

Book AND travel in the last 120 days of UY, correct??

I am in my last 120 days of Dec UY but can book a trip at DL that will not actually take place until March of 08? Am I confused or do I have that right?

 

[PamOKW]

Yes, you can travel during the 120 days but have to make the reservations in advance.

I agree that I'm not "getting" how paying additional fees and losing use options is making my membership "easier".

Also, interesting about the concierge points getting daily maid service. I've got kind of an issue with that. When Vero opened the Inn was offered as an "option for hotel style vacation" and included the daily maid service. After a year or two they decided it was "unfair" to other members to provide that service. I'm not really seeing the difference between the Vero Inn and AKL Concierge.

 

[JimC]

...Also, interesting about the concierge points getting daily maid service. I've got kind of an issue with that. When Vero opened the Inn was offered as an "option for hotel style vacation" and included the daily maid service. After a year or two they decided it was "unfair" to other members to provide that service. I'm not really seeing the difference between the Vero Inn and AKL Concierge.

Those extra housekeeping staff, supplies and laundry charges are going to raise all AKV owners' dues. Instead of that why don't they find a way to turn villas as fast as the resort can turn rooms and get us checked-in by 3:00 pm?

 

[JimMIA]

This is actually good news in that if I forget to bank by the end of the 8th month, I will have a couple of days grace period to call MS or bank online.

Unless, of course, four months really means four months in the same sense that the current system uses six months, nine months, and ten months.

I suspect that somewhere, in a deep, dark dungeon under Cindy's castle, there is a poor, sad proofreader who messed up -- a pathetic soul who we will never see again. I'd bet when they say "Bank or book by four before" they mean four before, and nobody thought the math through as carefully as drusba did.

I'm also having a recurring nightmare of poor Caskbill sitting at his computer, mumbling, "Thirty days hath September..." Poor Bill...for his sake, I hope the 120 was a mistake!

 

[dcfromva]

In regards to the banking windows, I am shocked at how easy they could change such a fundamental part of the program.

I do not see this as an improvement, either. This change reduces our flexibility. Typically, we book the majority of our points early on in the UY so we would not normally have 100% of the points to bank at the 8 month point anyway. (I wonder how many would?)
It was nice to have a few odd left over points to be able to book a trip if the opportunity came up--or bank them at the 10month mark, if it didn't.

I am not happy about the $95.00 fee, but that is one of those things that I figured was not set in stone and might change in the future. It makes it even less likely (with point values so high, anyway) that I would ever use points for other than DVC (or DL).

 

[LisaS]

I'm also having a recurring nightmare of poor Caskbill sitting at his computer, mumbling, "Thirty days hath September..." Poor Bill...for his sake, I hope the 120 was a mistake!

Fortunately the programming language he uses has a handy function called "DateAdd" that does this job very nicely. It will calculate the date "120 days prior to date xx/xx/xxxx" or the date "4 months prior to date xx/xx/xxxx" based on the parameters you pass to it. I suspect the bigger issue will be trying to confirm whether the rule that MS will use will be 120 days or 4 months!

 

[3DisneyKids]

Fortunately the programming language he uses has a handy function called "DateAdd" that does this job very nicely. It will calculate the date "120 days prior to date xx/xx/xxxx" or the date "4 months prior to date xx/xx/xxxx" based on the parameters you pass to it. I suspect the bigger issue will be trying to confirm whether the rule that MS will use will be 120 days or 4 months!

Oh, now you're just showing off!

 

[VLee]

Not happy with the new banking window at all, as the present one allows me to bank up 25% until 2 months before my use year, which works out better for me since I travel near the end of my use year.

And I don't like the $95 fee since I also want to stay in my RV at times.

Count me as disappointed.

 

[Sammie]

I suspect the bigger issue will be trying to confirm whether the rule that MS will use will be 120 days or 4 months

Well if it's 120 days, their catchy little phrase won't make things so simple will it.

 

[kimberh]

Well if it's 120 days, their catchy little phrase won't make things so simple will it.

Nope!

 

[mikeandkarla]

I think "keeping it simple" would be "leaving it alone".

I also think "keeping it simple", somehow, in some foriegn, absolete language transfers to "send me more money".

 

[Teyedoubleguhrrrr]

Yes, you can travel during the 120 days but have to make the reservations in advance.

This is interesting for those of us who have a UY near the beginning of the year (Jan, Feb, Mar).

My husband called last night to inquire about booking in the Concierge Collection (he and his brother are planning a surprise ski trip for their dad and are using some points that we need to use or lose) - BUT MS said they "couldn't book for XYZ resort becuase they didn't have the points charts for them yet in 2008". Now, I understand that these things change all the time, BUT we would be within the 120 day window for their trip right now - so my question is - what happens in these situations? Would we be stuck?

 

[drusba]

This is interesting for those of us who have a UY near the beginning of the year (Jan, Feb, Mar).

My husband called last night to inquire about booking in the Concierge Collection (he and his brother are planning a surprise ski trip for their dad and are using some points that we need to use or lose) - BUT MS said they "couldn't book for XYZ resort becuase they didn't have the points charts for them yet in 2008". Now, I understand that these things change all the time, BUT we would be within the 120 day window for their trip right now - so my question is - what happens in these situations? Would we be stuck?

This would mean they need to have all of a following year's points charts in place by sometime in Sep each year (Feb use year is first one effected as there is no Jan use year). Not sure they have always done that and this may be one issue they forgot to think about. Note it has no real impact now because new rule does not go into effect until Jan 2008.

Also, just to clarify because I know someone had once raised this question -- the new booking rule for last four months of use year is inapplcable to booking DVC resorts which you can still book at last minute toward end of use year if space is available.. It will also be inapplicable to Disneyland Cal. resorts at least for next year.

As to the difference between AKV's concierge maid service and Vero's prior procedure, AKV concierge requires more points than like rooms without it and the disclosure documents provided at time of sale expressly state that dues for everyone will apply to any costs associated with concierge service even though you may intend to never use it, i.e., you are given fair warning of the issue and had the choice not to buy as a result.

 

[tacomaranch]

WE didn't get a new vacation magic. When did it come out?

 

[LisaS]

WE didn't get a new vacation magic. When did it come out?

It's coming out now. I haven't received mine yet either.

 

[global_mom]

It's coming out now. I haven't received mine yet either.

Is this an email brochure or an actual paper magazine? We have not received anything yet.

 

[drusba]

It comes as a magazine in an envelope in the mail. It will also be appear on-line at the offical DVC site although that has not occurred yet for this issue. Some get it sooner than others. If you do not have it by end of next, you might want to call MS