NO MORE free valet parking for DVC members.

[Tigger031266]

Help me understand what checking in will look like now. I drive up to the BWV. The vallet guy comes over and I say "get lost". I go find a cart, load it myself, leave my car parked in front of the joint while I haul my stuff inside with me in the check in line. 15-20 min at checkin. 20 min to haul my stuff up the room. Come down 40-45 min latter to move my car to the parking lot???? Got it. Sounds just great

I don't think the front of BWV will look very nice.

 

[DVCBELLE]

Help me understand what checking in will look like now. I drive up to the BWV. The vallet guy comes over and I say "get lost". I go find a cart, load it myself, leave my car parked in front of the joint while I haul my stuff inside with me in the check in line. 15-20 min at checkin. 20 min to haul my stuff up the room. Come down 40-45 min latter to move my car to the parking lot???? Got it. Sounds just great

I don't think the front of BWV will look very nice.

The bell services will still take your luggage for you - and this is free - just make sure you tip. So now, you drive up, give bell services your luggage, park your car and then go check in!

 

[Chuck S]

Help me understand what checking in will look like now. I drive up to the BWV. The vallet guy comes over and I say "get lost". I go find a cart, load it myself, leave my car parked in front of the joint while I haul my stuff inside with me in the check in line. 15-20 min at checkin. 20 min to haul my stuff up the room. Come down 40-45 min latter to move my car to the parking lot???? Got it. Sounds just great

I don't think the front of BWV will look very nice.

Or...you could pull up, drop you luggage with Bell Services (usually individual guests are NOT allowed to use the carts) move the car, then check-in...or pay a valet fee.

 

[Tigger031266]

Originally Posted by Tigger031266
Help me understand what checking in will look like now. I drive up to the BWV. The vallet guy comes over and I say "get lost". I go find a cart, load it myself, leave my car parked in front of the joint while I haul my stuff inside with me in the check in line. 15-20 min at checkin. 20 min to haul my stuff up the room. Come down 40-45 min latter to move my car to the parking lot???? Got it. Sounds just great

I don't think the front of BWV will look very nice.

Or...you could pull up, drop you luggage with Bell Services (usually individual guests are NOT allowed to use the carts) move the car, then check-in...or pay a valet fee.

Got it...I just think that there maybe more cars just siting in front while people check in, find out if their room is ready..... Its not that big of a deal, its more the way they did it and the fact that I really don't think they asked for our input...

 

[suzyqqq27]

We just checked in to BWV on Sunday (October 11) and were informed that valet parking is no longer free for DVC members and that we would be charged $12 a day if we used it. I"m not sure if it's the same at all the resorts but that's what we were told here. Just so you all know. They said it just started that day - Sunday, October 11, 2009.

Stinks eh?
Suzanne

 

[Sha]

I advise you all to start calling and complaining.... seriously. But also, you need to be tipping these people too!! And that may be where it is coming from.

 

[chalee94]

it has come up.

here is the thread where we are allowed to discuss it: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2305423&page=27

 

[dis2cruise]

I advise you all to start calling and complaining.... seriously. But also, you need to be tipping these people too!! And that may be where it is coming from.

my dh always tips when they are taking our car and when we receive too , what a shame that this is happened what else will they take from us

 

[sueg]

I am very sad about this lost perk. We use it & enjoy it. I just hope they don't take away the free internet, another perk we really enjoy. I always found it hard to accept that low level motels offer free internet and we were paying at WDW. Although I just found out that our stay at the Hilton on Marco Island (spending a few days there before Food & Wine) doesn't include free internet & we are paying to park.

 

[twinklebug]

Got it...I just think that there maybe more cars just siting in front while people check in, find out if their room is ready..... Its not that big of a deal, its more the way they did it and the fact that I really don't think they asked for our input...

I hope there aren't any DVC'rs who feel they're entitled to leaving their cars at the front door while they check in. We just need to adhere to the same rules as the hotel side guests now. No biggie.

I agree, the biggest issue I see being brought up here over and over in the thread is HOW DVC notified us of this change, not that they actually made the change. I hope the person who decided to make this change official at the last minute has figuratively speaking, gotten reamed over the coals so they don't make the same error again.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I just spoke with Shelia, from Member Satisfaction. She was extremely polite and apologetic...... I was assured she was taking notes and they would be passed on.

Shelia informed me she was happy I took the time to bring this issue to Disney's attention. I commented that I know I'm not the only member to do so.....according to the forums, she's been quite busy. She was quite surprised to hear she's being discussed and asked me about the feedback.

 

[jade1]

DVC/DVD (as in the corporation) really could care less whether we have this perk, in fact, from a sales perspective, they'd probably love to have more perks.

But if the valet services are farmed out via a contract to another company who depends upon the fees to make their profits, then someone would need to compensate them, no? And remember that such compensation would likely need to come from increased member dues at those resorts. If those members are willing and eager to pay for the perk via dues, DVC should have no problem providing it. Be careful what you wish for.

Nothing is free in a timeshare, any timeshare.

It is more likely, IMO, that DVC will try to negotiate a non-compensated "volume discount" for members with the valet provider and Disney (as Disney may get a percentage of the parking fees for lot rent, etc.) but I don't think we'll see it return to "free."

Chuck, I know we are beating this to death, and you have explained very well what may have occurred recently, but do you know who covered the costs before it was farmed out? This would have been before ME, so it certainly had more use then, than the last few years right? It must have been part of the dues on 5 million or so (not sure how many at BWV) points back then? Or do you think Disney just had folks on the payroll to do this, finally put a pencil to it-decide it was costing say..$100K and could outsource it for $50K (examples) and not have the other issues that go along with it? Or is it possible it was costing 2 cents a point dues (to get the $100K) and they decided to shave that off the dues?

 

[Chuck S]

Chuck, I know we are beating this to death, and you have explained very well what may have occurred recently, but do you know who covered the costs before it was farmed out? This would have been before ME, so it certainly had more use then, than the last few years right? It must have been part of the dues on 5 million or so (not sure how many at BWV) points back then? Or do you think Disney just had folks on the payroll to do this, finally put a pencil to it-decide it was costing say..$100K and could outsource it for $50K (examples) and not have the other issues that go along with it? Or is it possible it was costing 2 cents a point dues (to get the $100K) and they decided to shave that off the dues?

I would think that prior to the Mears contracts, the valets were Disney employees, and their wages and benefits were shared as part of the common areas for the combined DVC-Cash resorts. Remember that the free standing DVCs (OKW & SSR) have never had valet services.

As minimum wage increased, along with associated employee costs, like health insurance, retirement, etc., Disney decided it was more cost efficient, like many businesses, to contract out he valet services and remove those employees from the Disney payroll system. Likely the first year or so, the previous Disney employees continued to receive some Disney benefits whose costs were shared by the DVC-Cash resorts. Probably with this latest cotract, the benefits have shifted completely to Mears' responsibility.

I do think DVC tries to fund the most used items for members. I would guess that the "free" internet, while quite a bit less to fund than valet employees, is also used by a higher percentage of members than the valet service. Look at all the threads we had over the year prior to receiving the internet from members complaining that even Motel 6 and Super 8 have free internet, plus laptops and other portable devices (ones where you may need to supply your own wifi router) have become much more common place for travelers.

 

[Dean]

This is STUPID. I could use this for any of the benefits.

Community Hall - PAY UP
The Swimming Pool - PAY UP
The work out facility - PAY UP
Pool Towels - PAY UP
Transportation - PAY UP
Parking - PAY UP
That stupid Welcome home Wednesdays - PAY UP (although no one would)

Where is the data that DVC memebers wanted to get rid of this perk instead of any of the others?????? I sent an email with no respose yet.

Not really. Every component must be evaluated as to whether pay to play, spread it out over the entire membership or a combo is appropriate. As I noted previously, one has to consider the percentage of people that use a given option and the cost structure. Something that only a portion of the people use that is not really any more expensive total to do pay for play is best that way and valet likely falls into that group. A good example of the other side is the internet option which is fairly cheap to start and very cheap to continue and that charge is mostly spread to everyone but supplemented pay to play to those who are not staying directly on member points. Pools are not feasible to do pay to play are are a more core perk to resorts in general nationally, valet is not. Some place to charge for spa services and workout areas but unless it's an attended area it's not worth the personnel costs to monitor such charges. I can't think of anyone else that does free valet for a hotel or similar but I can think of many that charge for self parking and some that have mandatory valet often with required fees as well as high as $25 a day. The reality is that some items will be included for everyone and some pay to play and there will always be a somewhat arbitrary line that divides which is which.

That's not really true...if the market becomes saturated with resales then it hurts their sales. If I sell my contract and someone buys from me instead of them, they have one less member.

Not really. And worst case scenario is they eliminate perks from those that buy resale or add them to those that buy retail forcing you to pay higher to be in the in group. Besides many timeshares sell effectively (better than DVC) when there is NO real resale market. Even with no resale market at all, DVC could still sell retail. They might lose one here and there but they do now anyway, it's the big picture they look at in this regard.

I just spoke with Shelia, from Member Satisfaction. She was extremely polite and apologetic...... I was assured she was taking notes and they would be passed on.

Shelia informed me she was happy I took the time to bring this issue to Disney's attention. I commented that I know I'm not the only member to do so.....according to the forums, she's been quite busy. She was quite surprised to hear she's being discussed and asked me about the feedback.

Disney, including DVC, is very good at making you feel like your concerns are heard and they will definitely pass it on and consider your concerns or complaints. As I noted previously, this has already been factored in already. One is not going to change decisions made from a sound financial position no matter how much complaining. All one is going to get in complaining this route is patronized. Sure they'll make notes and compile the complaints both in numbers and in specifics and pass them on but this decision was made at the top by the appropriate committees and agreed to by a number of high level people. I don't see anyway to think it could be changed unless a new contract were up for bid. I wonder what their length of contract is, I'd assume one year at a time but don't really know.

Lets actually look at where the rubber hits the road. We've got a group of people who are complaining they can't get something for free that was previously free and they want the rest of the membership to pay for it, and pay more now, so they can cont get it for free or nearly so. There will be other pay to play items coming eventually, this won't be the last one.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Disney, including DVC, is very good at making you feel like your concerns are heard and they will definitely pass it on and consider your concerns or complaints. As I noted previously, this has already been factored in already.

There will be other pay to play items coming eventually, this won't be the last one.

I mentioned this in our converstion. I also informed her the most pressing issue was the fact there was NO COMMUNICATION from Member Services. I got the, "oh, this needs to be addressed...they need to post these changes in a more timely manner". So, I got into the almost year old info on the website. I also mentioned I felt like Disney no longer cared once they had my money, but with 3 trips planned in the next 11 months....my spending habits are changing due to my "concerns".

I did think it was funny when she asked what was being said about her on the forums.

 

[jodifla]

I mentioned this in our converstion. I also informed her the most pressing issue was the fact there was NO COMMUNICATION from Member Services. I got the, "oh, this needs to be addressed...they need to post these changes in a more timely manner". So, I got into the almost year old info on the website. I also mentioned I felt like Disney no longer cared once they had my money, but with 3 trips planned in the next 11 months....my spending habits are changing due to my "concerns".

I did think it was funny when she asked what was being said about her on the forums.

Were you able to find out anything about the TIW card and valet?

 

[TLSnell1981]

Were you able to find out anything about the TIW card and valet?

Oh, Shelia joyfully informed me that "for now" free valet was still included for TIW.

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

I would be interested in TIW perks remaining since we also have that...this really stinks and here is the information still on the DVC member website:

Valet Parking at the Walt Disney World Resort
Valet parking is complimentary at Disney's BoardWalk Resort, Disney's Wilderness Lodge, and Disney's Beach Club Resort. Just show your Disney Vacation Club Member ID Card. Complimentary valet parking is not available at other valet parking operations or for Theme Park access.

You'll be charged the daily fee of $10.00 for this service at any other valet parking operation at the Walt Disney World Resort. Once you've paid for the valet service, you'll receive unlimited valet parking for the remainder of the day. Whether or not you are charged to valet park, gratuities are still appropriate. There will be no charge for Guests with disabilities who have the proper permits.


They need to update the website and notify members at large...we have not received any notice and only know because of discussion boards....Very unprofessional of DVC!

 

[Dean]

I mentioned this in our converstion. I also informed her the most pressing issue was the fact there was NO COMMUNICATION from Member Services. I got the, "oh, this needs to be addressed...they need to post these changes in a more timely manner". So, I got into the almost year old info on the website. I also mentioned I felt like Disney no longer cared once they had my money, but with 3 trips planned in the next 11 months....my spending habits are changing due to my "concerns".

I did think it was funny when she asked what was being said about her on the forums.

I absolutely disagree with the idea they don't care once they have your money. However, they certainly have multiple directions they are being pulled in on any given item and they may not care as much as they did at one time. IMO they cared so much once upon a time that it crippled their efforts to make sound and rational business decisions and in some ways (sales) that is likely still the case. The one area where I think the criticism is valid is on the short notice and the lack of appropriate notification of those with trips that were close at hand. There's no need for a 3-6 months notice on such items just like there wasn't on the re-allocation issue. One could certainly take them to task on the way they handled the two different issues at AKL (savannah closing and concierge) but not at BWV IMO. They made a major mistake in delegating the AKV issue to the resort itself without working out an appropriate compensation plan ahead of time. I don't think one can reasonably complain about the re-allocation, full week reservation change or the actual decision to charge for valet.

 

[Paul in CT]

Oh, Shelia joyfully informed me that "for now" free valet was still included for TIW.

I wish that I knew that on Sunday when they told me that DVC members no longer receive free valet parking. I do have the TIW card.