NO MORE free valet parking for DVC members.

[DisneyWalker44]

If Mears is parking your car, shouldn't they notify you that the perk is ending the next day, when you park? I would say if Mears parks your car, then yes, they certainly share responsibility. After all, it is Mears who physically has the keys to your car, and will refuse to release it if you don't pay, not DVC. And it is Mears who collects the money and makes the profit from the parking, not DVC.

If somebody pulls up to a Disney hotel, and gives their keys to a valet wearing a Disney uniform, and gets a valet slip that says Disney on it, and pays for the valet by turning their credit card over to Disney and seeing a charge on their bill from Disney, Disney is parking their car, not Mears. The fact that behind the scenes Disney and Mears have some sort of corporate deal is irrelevant. The valet service is representing itself in every possible way as Disney.

Furthermore, I don't care about Mears. Mears doesn't' work for me. DVCMC does. Their job is to run things for us. If they have information that is important for the membership, their job is to inform us. I'm not frustrated with Disney-the-parking-company for not telling us. I'm mad at Disney-the-condo-manager.

 

[DisneyWalker44]

But, expecting it to change is only going to lead to more frustration.

I expect there to be the possibility for change. So I will use - and hope others will use - what little voice we have to let DVCMC know we expect more from them. I won't bet the farm they will change, but I won't give up and do nothing.

 

[Chuck S]

Who knows, we're not going to agree on this. But it's 2 weeks later and there still has not been an official announcement from DVC. You can't say that isn't DVC's responsibility. Or do you think Mears should do that? Should they take the inititive to e-mail all DVC members?

Actually, there has been an announcement that the perk was discontinued...on the Memeber website. Buried, but there.

 

[Chuck S]

If somebody pulls up to a Disney hotel, and gives their keys to a valet wearing a Disney uniform, and gets a valet slip that says Disney on it, and pays for the valet by turning their credit card over to Disney and seeing a charge on their bill from Disney, Disney is parking their car, not Mears. The fact that behind the scenes Disney and Mears have some sort of corporate deal is irrelevant. The valet service is representing itself in every possible way as Disney.

Furthermore, I don't care about Mears. Mears doesn't' work for me. DVCMC does. Their job is to run things for us. If they have information that is important for the membership, their job is to inform us. I'm not frustrated with Disney-the-parking-company for not telling us. I'm mad at Disney-the-condo-manager.

Actually, once you give them the keys, I would think the valet "works for you" just as a food server serves food, and should communicate changes on the menu or pricing, the valets should also communicate such a change when you engage them to park your car. They are the front line. just like a server, and they should have received the info.

 

[Brian Noble]

I won't bet the farm they will change, but I won't give up and do nothing.

And, that's very reasonable. But, given the number of times Disney has been down the "why didn't you tell us" road, I think that windmill you're tilting at is pretty sturdy.

 

[DVCPAT]

If Mears is parking your car, shouldn't they notify you that the perk is ending the next day, when you park? I would say if Mears parks your car, then yes, they certainly share responsibility. After all, it is Mears who physically has the keys to your car, and will refuse to release it if you don't pay, not DVC. And it is Mears who collects the money and makes the profit from the parking, not DVC.

You allow Disney to pass the buck too easily. Maybe they should stop calling the resort Disney World. If they rename the resort, Subcontractor World, then the subcontractors should bare the responsibility. Disney decides who handles specific jobs on site.

 

[needtogomore]

Don't forget that Mears, the parking contractor, also did not let their employees, the valets, know this change was coming. If Mears had let their valets know, they could have informed members a couple of days ahead of time as they parked their cars. The blame for lask of communication isn't all on Disney's/DVC's shoulders, they share it.

Surely if DVC was handing the contract over to mears it was DVCs job to tell us

 

[Chuck S]

You allow Disney to pass the buck too easily. Maybe they should stop calling the resort Disney World. If they rename the resort, Subcontractor World, then the subcontractors should bare the responsibility. Disney decides who handles specific jobs on site.

Yes, and Mears handles the valets. If the valet takes may car keys on 10/10, and I need to pay $12 when I pick my car up in the morning on 10/11, then the valet should inform me of such, no?

Surely if DVC was handing the contract over to mears it was DVCs job to tell us

DVC did not "hand the contract over to Mears" Mears has been the valet contractor for at least 2 years. And DVC does not directly pickl the service providers for the resort, Disney Resorts does. DVC has a management contract with Disney Resorts.

Say DVC Marketing had an arrangement with Mears to pay for the service for members. For some reason, either Marketing did not want the continued expense, or Mears wanted more $$, (likely both) the agreement ended. They should both inform members of the change...Mears via the valets when they take your car keys, and DVC via the website and member communications.

 

[CarolAnnC]

I understand folks' frustrations here. People who were not expecting to pay $12 and then got wacked with the fee after picking up their car during the Oct 11 change date surely have something to complain about.

But, like other Member "perks" such as pool hopping, dining discounts, etc., how many times have we read here on the boards where folks successfully took advantage of the perks, such as friends, family and even renters of their DVC membership, knowing full well they were not entitled and that their KTTW card only contained the words "DVC Member" because they were staying on someone elses points. True, valet parking had more often requested to see the DVC Blue Membership card in recent times, but some did occasionally slip through the cracks..

I am going to predict that once there is a resort wide charge for self parking (which I believe will come one day) that DVC members will be paying like everyone else. Free valet was a nice perk, but not one that every single member was using for sure.

Like it or not, Mears is employing and operating the valet service. When other vendors offer DVC members perks such as House of Blues or Fulton's Crab House, for example, we do not expect DVC to notify us of changes in the perks. Why is Mears valet any different? Again, not agreeing with their method of implementation, but pointing out some other points of view.

 

[manning]

It will be easy to implement and when it does it is bye bye Disney for me. They will get parking money from me at the parks but no longer lodging money. Also I stay off site I will eat off site.

 

[jade1]

If somebody pulls up to a Disney hotel, and gives their keys to a valet wearing a Disney uniform, and gets a valet slip that says Disney on it, and pays for the valet by turning their credit card over to Disney and seeing a charge on their bill from Disney, Disney is parking their car, not Mears. The fact that behind the scenes Disney and Mears have some sort of corporate deal is irrelevant. The valet service is representing itself in every possible way as Disney.

Furthermore, I don't care about Mears. Mears doesn't' work for me. DVCMC does. Their job is to run things for us. If they have information that is important for the membership, their job is to inform us. I'm not frustrated with Disney-the-parking-company for not telling us. I'm mad at Disney-the-condo-manager.

You allow Disney to pass the buck too easily. Maybe they should stop calling the resort Disney World. If they rename the resort, Subcontractor World, then the subcontractors should bare the responsibility. Disney decides who handles specific jobs on site.

Sad, but true.

 

[DisneyWalker44]

When other vendors offer DVC members perks such as House of Blues or Fulton's Crab House, for example, we do not expect DVC to notify us of changes in the perks. Why is Mears valet any different? Again, not agreeing with their method of implementation, but pointing out some other points of view.

I don't expect Mears to tell me - I expect our management company to tell me. And, no, burying it somewhere on the member website doesn't count as telling me.

Better communication costs DVCMC nothing. We should expect more from them. As I've said, I'm normally in the give-Disney-the-benefit-of-the-doubt school. But, here, they did wrong. We should do what we can to try and get them to do better. Not try and justify their implementation by bring up Mears.

 

[DisneyDreams4]

sorry to see that valet service gone

 

[manning]

What irritates me are the add-on charges like parking charges at Dolphin, Universal etc.

Just factor the charge into the room rate. What I don't know won't irritate me.

The same for parking charges at the parks. Just about everyone drives and parks there and you need a parking lot. Just factor it into the price of the ticket. Now that would be a way to save money. You eliminate the toll gate CM and the practice of people parking at DTD to avoid the parking charge. Bet we could also reduce the number of buses needed to haul those people to the parks via the resorts.

 

[Chuck S]

What irritates me are the add-on charges like parking charges at Dolphin, Universal etc.

Just factor the charge into the room rate. What I don't know won't irritate me.

The same for parking charges at the parks. Just about everyone drives and parks there and you need a parking lot. Just factor it into the price of the ticket. Now that would be a way to save money. You eliminate the toll gate CM and the practice of people parking at DTD to avoid the parking charge. Bet we could also reduce the number of buses needed to haul those people to the parks via the resorts.

I really don't see open parking at the theme parks happening. It is a great marketing tool for "offsite" vs. "onsite." Parking lot require maintenance and upkeep, and it is undoubtedly also a profit center for Disney. If they upped the ticket prices (or resort prices and member dues) enough to offset the amount of profit from the parking lots, I'd be willing to bet there would be a sharp drop in ticket sales, and many more complaints from members than we see in this thread.

 

[Dean]

What irritates me are the add-on charges like parking charges at Dolphin, Universal etc.

Just factor the charge into the room rate. What I don't know won't irritate me.

The same for parking charges at the parks. Just about everyone drives and parks there and you need a parking lot. Just factor it into the price of the ticket. Now that would be a way to save money. You eliminate the toll gate CM and the practice of people parking at DTD to avoid the parking charge. Bet we could also reduce the number of buses needed to haul those people to the parks via the resorts.

There was just a price increase. As Chuck notes it is a great marketing tool for on property resorts and for the AP/PAP options though not that much different than the VIP member status possibilities we've discussed recently. Still at some point if the resorts are consistently fairly full, they may pull the free parking for those staying on property. I don't see this loss as a major issue overall but it likely would affect a larger number of people more than the valet issue. Given that Universal made this change at some point previously, I wonder what their experience was, obviously it was not enough of an issue to cause them to scrap the plan.

 

[CarolAnnC]

I don't expect Mears to tell me - I expect our management company to tell me. And, no, burying it somewhere on the member website doesn't count as telling me.

Better communication costs DVCMC nothing. We should expect more from them. As I've said, I'm normally in the give-Disney-the-benefit-of-the-doubt school. But, here, they did wrong. We should do what we can to try and get them to do better. Not try and justify their implementation by bring up Mears.

You missed my point. The fact that DVC does not notify members of any other perks being reduced or discontinued does not seem to disturb folks. Why don't you expect DVC to notify you of changes to other perks?

 

[TDC Nala]

Just factor the charge into the room rate. What I don't know won't irritate me.

I don't bring a car and I'm glad they only charge parking for those who bring cars. Just like you don't pay the airline's checked luggage fee if you don't check luggage.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Did anyone get a response back from their complaints to MS - DVC - I got one back and they used the infamous, "proprietary" information spiel in regards to why they didn't notify guests. They also stated that previous valet was not in any part of our dues.

I didn't care so much about the not included in the dues, but I sent a really pointed and direct letter back to them in regards to proprietary information, and how using that is a cop out to the members of DVC, its in poor taste, poor judgement and does not make up for poor customer service.

At first I was annoyed at the loss of a perk, but it really isn't about that, it's about the continued poor customer service from Disney, they used to be a leader running miles ahead of the pack, and they just keep slipping up and their distance is shrinking dramatically. In tough times you enhance your customer service not cut it.

 

[Chuck S]

Did anyone get a response back from their complaints to MS - DVC - I got one back and they used the infamous, "proprietary" information spiel in regards to why they didn't notify guests. They also stated that previous valet was not in any part of our dues.

I didn't care so much about the not included in the dues, but I sent a really pointed and direct letter back to them in regards to proprietary information, and how using that is a cop out to the members of DVC, its in poor taste, poor judgement and does not make up for poor customer service.

At first I was annoyed at the loss of a perk, but it really isn't about that, it's about the continued poor customer service from Disney, they used to be a leader running miles ahead of the pack, and they just keep slipping up and their distance is shrinking dramatically. In tough times you enhance your customer service not cut it.

Honestly, I think proprietary info is an excellent reason. We, as owners, are not, nor should we be, privy to all the details of contract negotiations or of the contracts themselves. Honestly, do you know all the inner working of you electric companies contracts with it suppliers for resources or how it may buy pre-generated electricity, even if it is city owned utilityor a co-operative? Or do you just pay the bill every month?