WebmasterDoc said:
I don't believe it has anything to do with SSR owners at 7 months. As for the guides using that as a sales tool- it is one of the features of the DVC program and IMO they would be remiss NOT to use that fact in the presentations.
I think the concern is coming more from owners at BCV/VWL/BWV who have started to find difficulty making reservations at their home resorts during popular times MORE THAN 7 months in advance (thus created by other owners at thos resorts) and DVC's assessment of the situation is that renting and transferring has played a role in that issue. In this case, DVC's inability or unwillingness to close the "transfer loophole" that morphs VB, SSR, HH and OKW points into BCV or VWL points merely by transferring large numbers of points into a 50 point BCV or VWL contract has effectively "oversold" those resorts by creating more points than should actually be in the inventory. When this is coupled by the time extension gained when the transferred points gain a new Use Year the situation is aggravated even more.
The original policies (one transfer per UY, no banked or borrowed points may be transferred, transferred points cannot be banked or borrowed) were established to minimize and control the issues at play at this time. For the first few years, I expect that there were few transfers and MS was therefore able to make situational decisions in favor of those few members who had a unique need regarding a transfer. This expanded to a relaxation of the policies until the current state evolved and a few have taken tremendous advantage of that relaxed position. Until 2003 it seems that everyone's POS stated "one transfer per Use Year" and then in 2003 the limit of one was not in the statement (but, it still does NOT state that unlimited- or any finite number of transfers may be made). For those that suggest that this affects "EVERYONE'S flexibility" - the policies published yesterday are merely a restatement of every POS prior to 2003- the vast majority of members weren't even aware of the removal of the "limit of one" phrase from the language in the POS.
By accepting the POS thru ownership of DVC we have already accepted the fact that DVC is allowed to make certain changes in the documents "from time-to-time" without prior knowledge of the members. Mostly these issues are designed to make the DVC programs more accessible to the membership in general - like limiting banking, borrowing, transfers, reallocation of
point charts, etc. . The few issues that do require approval by the owners are also spelled out in the documents.
The email notice sent yesterday will have little affect on 98% of the owners IMO and I believe the changes will ultimately have more positive effects in the future than we may recognize at this time.
Stay tuned!
I agree with this. I just called for a ressie at the end of August - I didn't care where we stayed (usually, I don't care - we like to mix it up - variety is the spice of life) and was able to get WLV 1bedroom 3 weeks out.
So - honestly, as a SSR owner - I have never, other than for Thanksgiving, had difficulty getting a reservation at any of the DVC resorts. I usually book 1-2 months out, due to owning our own business and not knowing for sure how things will be that far down the road with employees, etc. I'm flexible and will stay anywhere - home resort or not.
I have 3 separate 170 point contracts (one for each of my children) and have decided that if an AKV or CRV were to open, we'd invest in about 210 points (again split three ways).
To me - you're buying your home resort, but you're also investing in having the flexibility to stay elsewhere (knowing you may not always have that opportunity). For the money we spent on our contracts, we easily could have bought multiple resale contracts at BWV - but we liked the idea of our contracts lasting much longer (especially because our intention is to give them to our kids as wedding gifts).
I think the biggest problem now are people (a mix of for-profit multiple ressies and some members doing it only once a year to pay their dues or what have you) hogging up holidays/peak times then offering them for rent. But, how do you eliminate that? It's exactly like ticket scalping - some people do it as a living and some people do it once a year to make a couple of bucks - where do you draw the line?
I think that now, Disney is trying to figure out where to draw the line in the sand. How do they stop the abusers without greatly impacting the innocent? I think we'll see more tweaking as time goes by until there's a happy medium for all.
As an owner, I want to be able to book a holiday for a relative or friend if they need it - and how would MS be able to differentiate between that use and some other member booking a week then auctioning it off to the highest bidder (unless they happened to see it)?
I have never had a problem getting a ressie at any of the DVC resorts, even last minute, for 1 and 2 bedroom villas (I stayed at BWV 4 times last year in 1 and 2 bedroom - all ressies made within 3 months of my arrival). Granted, I rarely travel during peak times (due to owning a retails store), but my experience thus far has been extremely positive when booking at all the DVC resorts (although, I've never attempted BCV).
Thanksgiving was another story - I dealt with someone here who rather than just cancel an unwanted reservation for Thanksgiving - put it on the boards to rent (for disney's rack rate). It drove me crazy that I might have to pay for something I had already paid for, kwim? I decided not to go through with the rental and luckily for me - my wait list came through - but the whole experience left me feeling annoyed.
I think, for now, I'm glad that disney is doing something - it's interesting that it happened to coincide with my own personal experience with this - had this happened a month ago, I wonder if I would have taken such an interest, being I wasnt' being directly impacted then.
