NO MORE free valet parking for DVC members.

[Dano1182]

So if I am a meber who will be spending money at BWV for 5 days it is 12 bucks
However if I am eating one meal it is free??

 

[Chuck S]

So if I am a meber who will be spending money at BWV for 5 days it is 12 bucks
However if I am eating one meal it is free??

Not necessarily. Diners do not receive free valet unless they also have the TiW card, a card for which they paid $75 to $100. In a way, they pre-paid for the parking privilege.

 

[FormerValetGuy]

I don't think anyone is pretending anything.

When Mears took over valet I do think they agreed to cover the cost of DVC free valet until the next contract. For one think I seem to remember Mears took over in the middle of fiscal year for Disney. At that time Mears had no reference to use as to the cost to them for this perk. I think they were possibly caught off guard as to how many people really use it and wanted a period of evaluation. As to whether Mears offered it as a good will gesture to secure this deal or Disney required it of them really does not matter.

After this period they realized it was an expense they were not willing to cover and passed it to Disney. Disney was not willing to cover it for DVC and DVC would have passed it the members to pay for out of the dues.

I have no problem with Disney not wanting to cover it, they don't provide it free for their own resorts why pay it for DVC.

As to DVC not wanting to pick up the cost, I was told they simply did not feel this was fair to the members that never used it and especially to those members at SSR and OKW where there is no valet offered.

I know from talking to valet staff at a couple of DVC resorts that some members are horrible about tipping since it was free and the valets said they were glad for it to end.

Even though we used the service, I had no problem with the decision to end the free valet, but did think DVC did a horrible job of communicating the change to members.

For one, as a veteran, you really didnt know much about the valet outsourcing. I used to work as a valet supervisor for the company who took over the Disney Valet. The Company's name is City Nights (parent company), with divisions such as BAGS, CARS, etc. They not only have the valet at the deluxe resorts, but the bell services at All-Star and Pop Century. Mears is the transportation company that controls the outsourced Magical Express and handles all of Disney's cab contracts, not the company that handles the valet duties. Craig Matter, CEO of City Nights arranged for the contract to include free handicapped parking, as well as DDE/TIW (which the contract for that changed also) for all resorts, as well as carrying on free parking for gold football Disney execs. The DVC valet was only good at hotels with DVC lodging, which makes sense so that people who visit timeshares they OWN, will have free parking. We used to get all kinds of cheap, non-tipping guests who were DVC members, to visit our non-dvc hotel. They would complain constantly about not recieving free parking, when in their contracts, it explained that only DVC hotels would offer the free valet. Time after time we would have to offer the free valet to these rude and unruly guests, who would not calm down until given free parking that they didnt deserve.

I am sure Mateer let the DVC parking thing go as a way to secure the contract from Disney, as the contract was a short 3 year contract in order for Disney to feel out City Nights and vice-versa. Mateer just wanted to get his foot in the door, knowing that once Disney invested money into the valet (new equipment, computerized valet input, etc), he would be able to negotiate a better deal later on. There is no way Disney would get rid of his company after investing the time, effort and money they did.

Mateer's company BAGS is also the company that runs the Resort Airline Check services, the little desks that you can check bags at before you board the Magical Express.

You folks think the old $10 charge, then $12 charge is high for valet? My current hotel charges $13 for SELF PARKING, and $20 for valet. At least Disney still has the free self-parking option.

Hope this information might have cleared up some stuff for you guys here on the board and will help in the future.

 

[Deb & Bill]

.... We used to get all kinds of cheap, non-tipping guests who were DVC members, to visit our non-dvc hotel. They would complain constantly about not recieving free parking, when in their contracts, it explained that only DVC hotels would offer the free valet. Time after time we would have to offer the free valet to these rude and unruly guests, who would not calm down until given free parking that they didnt deserve.....

Yep, we all know this type of DVC member. We hear them all the time when they check in, when they check out, when they dine, when they do nearly anything at WDW. I just don't understand why anyone caters to their rudeness. Let them write a letter - and pay for their valet service.

 

[Dean]

For one, as a veteran, you really didnt know much about the valet outsourcing. I used to work as a valet supervisor for the company who took over the Disney Valet. The Company's name is City Nights (parent company), with divisions such as BAGS, CARS, etc. They not only have the valet at the deluxe resorts, but the bell services at All-Star and Pop Century. Mears is the transportation company that controls the outsourced Magical Express and handles all of Disney's cab contracts, not the company that handles the valet duties. Craig Matter, CEO of City Nights arranged for the contract to include free handicapped parking, as well as DDE/TIW (which the contract for that changed also) for all resorts, as well as carrying on free parking for gold football Disney execs. The DVC valet was only good at hotels with DVC lodging, which makes sense so that people who visit timeshares they OWN, will have free parking. We used to get all kinds of cheap, non-tipping guests who were DVC members, to visit our non-dvc hotel. They would complain constantly about not recieving free parking, when in their contracts, it explained that only DVC hotels would offer the free valet. Time after time we would have to offer the free valet to these rude and unruly guests, who would not calm down until given free parking that they didnt deserve.

I am sure Mateer let the DVC parking thing go as a way to secure the contract from Disney, as the contract was a short 3 year contract in order for Disney to feel out City Nights and vice-versa. Mateer just wanted to get his foot in the door, knowing that once Disney invested money into the valet (new equipment, computerized valet input, etc), he would be able to negotiate a better deal later on. There is no way Disney would get rid of his company after investing the time, effort and money they did.

Mateer's company BAGS is also the company that runs the Resort Airline Check services, the little desks that you can check bags at before you board the Magical Express.

You folks think the old $10 charge, then $12 charge is high for valet? My current hotel charges $13 for SELF PARKING, and $20 for valet. At least Disney still has the free self-parking option.

Hope this information might have cleared up some stuff for you guys here on the board and will help in the future.

I would agree overall, nice post. A couple of minor issues though. One that the valet parking was never a contractual issue but merely something added by DVC with the specified ability to remove it at any time. Unfortunately I think DVC has more than it's fair share of those with the entitlement attitude as well as those that have invested a fair amount of money in a product they didn't truly understand.

I have to say that I loved the free valet which I used on most trips in the last 10 plus years.I have never liked the three tip process that they use when pulling up to the front door (1 loads the cart,1 parks the car and 1 delivers the bags).While they keep stripping us of perks and restructuring the wording so they could change point value we should be able to change our part of ownership.Are we owners?
I might be wrong but it looks like we lost more then they gave since taking away the free park passes.The more members we have the less we have and the closer we are to the regular resort guests.I think part of why we all became members was because of the perks that seperated us from regular guests.

tiggerguy

There really isn't a 3 tip process other than in the mind of some members. The industry standard is to tip the valet on pick up of the vehicle and at the final destination of the bags each direction (room on arrival, car on departure). It is then up to the various segments to decide how they "divide" up any tips. For some this is pooling tips, for others it's rotating turns to be in a position to receive tips. Some chose to do more or differently but there is no expectation to do so.

 

[jekjones1558]

There really isn't a 3 tip process other than in the mind of some members. The industry standard is to tip the valet on pick up of the vehicle and at the final destination of the bags each direction (room on arrival, car on departure). It is then up to the various segments to decide how they "divide" up any tips. For some this is pooling tips, for others it's rotating turns to be in a position to receive tips. Some chose to do more or differently but there is no expectation to do so.

I wish that a current valet or bell person at a DVC resort would post regarding how or if tips are pooled. It just doesn't seem likely to me that valets (non-Disney employees) and bell staff (Disney employees) would split tips. Until I hear otherwise from one of the workers, I will assume that tips are not shared and I will tip the valets who unload my luggage from my car and then tip the bell person who delivers my luggage. I would rather that only bell services handled my luggage, but that is not how it works.

 

[FormerValetGuy]

I wish that a current valet or bell person at a DVC resort would post regarding how or if tips are pooled. It just doesn't seem likely to me that valets (non-Disney employees) and bell staff (Disney employees) would split tips. Until I hear otherwise from one of the workers, I will assume that tips are not shared and I will tip the valets who unload my luggage from my car and then tip the bell person who delivers my luggage. I would rather that only bell services handled my luggage, but that is not how it works.

We used to pool tips between the valets only, not the bell services. Bell services at most of the hotels is still run by Disney, and those cast members go in a rotation, and are allowed to keep their own tips. I find it nuts if I unload two carts of luggage, but you wont tip the valet who did all the loading, but tip only the guy who brought it up.

Once someone touches your luggage, it is polite to tip them for the help. Dont ask for the help if you're not going to show some sort of gratuity.

It's a two tip process, since the valets pool thier tips. You're not tipping the guy who parks your car and the guy who unloads your luggage separately, the tip you give is split between them. One tip for bags unloaded/car parked, and one tip for the bellman who delivers your bags. It's not a crazy concept, and if it is for you, maybe you need to stay at a Holiday Inn Express, HAHA LOL sorry I had to add that.

 

[jekjones1558]

We used to pool tips between the valets only, not the bell services. Bell services at most of the hotels is still run by Disney, and those cast members go in a rotation, and are allowed to keep their own tips. I find it nuts if I unload two carts of luggage, but you wont tip the valet who did all the loading, but tip only the guy who brought it up.

Once someone touches your luggage, it is polite to tip them for the help. Dont ask for the help if you're not going to show some sort of gratuity.

It's a two tip process, since the valets pool thier tips. You're not tipping the guy who parks your car and the guy who unloads your luggage separately, the tip you give is split between them. One tip for bags unloaded/car parked, and one tip for the bellman who delivers your bags. It's not a crazy concept, and if it is for you, maybe you need to stay at a Holiday Inn Express, HAHA LOL sorry I had to add that.

I suspected that this is the way it works so I will continue to tip twice to be fair to the workers. I will also continue to wish that one person could unload AND deliver my luggage so that one tip would be enough. Sorry, I had to add that.

 

[Dean]

I wish that a current valet or bell person at a DVC resort would post regarding how or if tips are pooled. It just doesn't seem likely to me that valets (non-Disney employees) and bell staff (Disney employees) would split tips. Until I hear otherwise from one of the workers, I will assume that tips are not shared and I will tip the valets who unload my luggage from my car and then tip the bell person who delivers my luggage. I would rather that only bell services handled my luggage, but that is not how it works.

IMO it's irrelevant. My point was there are standards and there are ways for tips to be pooled. How they do it or whether they do it is really up to the system, it's their responsibility to work it out.

We used to pool tips between the valets only, not the bell services. Bell services at most of the hotels is still run by Disney, and those cast members go in a rotation, and are allowed to keep their own tips. I find it nuts if I unload two carts of luggage, but you wont tip the valet who did all the loading, but tip only the guy who brought it up.

Once someone touches your luggage, it is polite to tip them for the help. Dont ask for the help if you're not going to show some sort of gratuity.

It's a two tip process, since the valets pool thier tips. You're not tipping the guy who parks your car and the guy who unloads your luggage separately, the tip you give is split between them. One tip for bags unloaded/car parked, and one tip for the bellman who delivers your bags. It's not a crazy concept, and if it is for you, maybe you need to stay at a Holiday Inn Express, HAHA LOL sorry I had to add that.

It is a 2 tip process, at the rooms for bags and pick up for the car. As I noted, there are national standards of how to tip for valet and bell services. Do an internet search and you can find a dozen sites all saying essentially the same thing but given your past experiences I'm sure you know what they are without looking and know what I've posted to be those standards. If one feels the valet group deserves more because they are doing more and the bell services less because they are doing less, it's easy to handle within those guidelines. However, I don't really want their help, I don't want others touching my stuff if I have the choice. However, it's sometimes hard to avoid if you pull up to the front and they grab your things before you can say so. Personally I'd prefer DVC take the approach that many timeshare have, provide a few carts and no personnel, which is what VB has.