No more segmented vacations for ddp

[DebbieB]

If indeed you learned of this new "Function" from the DISboards then I think DVC has been once again hit with the "OH crap those people on the DIS have figured out how to milk the system again and are posting it to the boards". I for one did not know until within the last few weeks that this could be done. I of course learned it here, called MS to ask for my Dsis upcoming trip and used the magic word of "segment".

I went back to last fall and looked at the posts when this first came out. From what was posted, DIS members heard about the option from member services, it wasn't something DIS members "figured out".

For example:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2560650

 

[hakepb]

Yes, last year there was system upgrades outages that DVC communicated with members (the outages)
Before the upgrades were rolled out, DVCnews posted an article (apparently from a MS agent that received official training) that segmenting would be available after a certain date.
Now the article talked about adding/removing guests for a portion or no more than a couple segments...
Eventually posters started talking about EOD DDxP but even the initial couple segmented reservations were having other troubles...

 

[treehugnmama]

What were you told? That you had to get it for the first night or not?

I was told they would allow me to not have the ddp on the first night and have it the rest of the week. they said it was because i was arriving late(6pm) but they didnt suggested as i might need to change rooms the next day. I wanted it on the fisrt night then not for 4 so it didnt help me.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Yes, last year there was system upgrades outages that DVC communicated with members (the outages)
Before the upgrades were rolled out, DVCnews posted an article (apparently from a MS agent that received official training) that segmenting would be available after a certain date.
Now the article talked about adding/removing guests for a portion or no more than a couple segments...
Eventually posters started talking about EOD DDxP but even the initial couple segmented reservations were having other troubles...

DVCnews is not an official DVC organization. It's just tjkraz's website that consolidates news he picks up here and there.

...I understand the frustration. I was one of those who had booked a DREAM cruise on cash and called to convert it to points on the day they decided the Dream couldn't be booked on points for almost a year!! SO I have been affected by the "immediate policy change". It stinks and in that case No where did I see in the materials I bought with DVC did it say they could suspend you using your points for the Disney Collection (or just because Jim Lewis wants to). So really I do sympathize with all of you affected by this

You probably should have read the documentation you got when you bought (and if you bought resale, you should have gotten that information at your purchase from the former owner). The only thing you are guaranteed is booking your home resort. That's it. Everything else is at the whim of DVC.

 

[tjkraz]

DVCnews is not an official DVC organization. It's just tjkraz's website that consolidates news he picks up here and there.

Just to address this briefly, 99% of what I post on DVCNews.com is either vetted through multiple sources, official or unofficial contacts within DVC.

In this particular case, my story began by asking questions of DVC's internal PR staff regarding the computer system upgrades. They put me in touch with a manager a Member Services who freely communicated with me regarding the flexibility that members would have.

This was not a case of me simply calling a random MS rep who happened to know how to manipulate the system--they knew why I was asking and exactly what I was going to do with the information.

I still don't believe that a membership-wide email blast or website notification was required for the recent change, but there certainly was a policy in place for the last 10 1/2 months to allow this segmenting.

 

[Ryansdad0727]

I have a segmented 3/3 tree house villa in December. I have not added dining to the first 3 nights yet but had planned to. I can't really see having to move THV's since it is very likley they will all be full. I will wait a few weeks and see what happens before i call. I might do the TIW card. We will have 9 people with us and are going back 2 more times within a year. It might really save us more money that the DDP.

:UPDATE:

I called MS yesterday and told them i want to add dining to my stay from 12-17 to 12-20. At first he said i would have to add it to all six nights. I asked what had happened and acted like i knew nothing about the change. I was real nice about it and asked him for suggestions on what might be some alternatives. It turned into one of those uncomfortable you're not getting rid of me that easy phone calls. But because i was very nice to him about it he put me on hold and came back after a few minutes and said he could do the dining for the first 3 nights. He rebooked my first 3 nights under a different reservation number. He did state emphatically that i might be forced to change THV's in the middle of my stay. I said that it was worth the risk and went ahead and paid for the dining. I have never had a bad experience calling MS and i believe that if you are reasonable with your expectations then they will work with you if you had a prexisting segmented reservation. If you want to switch dining plans 5 times during a 7 night stay they will probably just tell you no. Make things easy on them and they will return the favor.

I put my chances of having to switch THV's at about 0% but who knows.

 

[Cmbar]

DVCnews is not an official DVC organization. It's just tjkraz's website that consolidates news he picks up here and there.



You probably should have read the documentation you got when you bought (and if you bought resale, you should have gotten that information at your purchase from the former owner). The only thing you are guaranteed is booking your home resort. That's it. Everything else is at the whim of DVC.

We know that. It doesn't mean that people aren't frustrated and weren't told that you could use your points for Disney Collection or that point charts wouldn't change and all the other multitude of BS they tell you at the no less than five DVC presentations I attended before I bought Directly from them. People don't like to trust people and then find out they have been mislead, lied or some other thing. I am glad there are people such as yourself who expect so little of a company and sat through all those sales pitches or Cruise presentations and said with a smirk on your face... "You silly people they only promise you a very small percentage of a building located at a specific location."

Its called FRUSTRATION. We KNOW they have the right to do it. They have a right to let the whole DVC fall to pieces if it is not profitable

My point is that I would bet that 90% of the people who have segemented their reservation to use the DDP did so by getting this information from DISboards or DVCnews or some other posting board. It was not sent out as an official policy. Therefore it is something the people in the know were using to their advantage (yes with the approval of the MS team). I personally get more upset with the stuff they flat out say is available and then change on a whim (like valet parking)- because they can.

But for those who are frustrated I understand completely. I have to go break the news to my DSis who had indeed booked all her dining reservations based on the assumption that we were going to split up her Reservation.

 

[DHar]

:UPDATE:

I called MS yesterday and told them i want to add dining to my stay from 12-17 to 12-20. At first he said i would have to add it to all six nights. I asked what had happened and acted like i knew nothing about the change. I was real nice about it and asked him for suggestions on what might be some alternatives. It turned into one of those uncomfortable you're not getting rid of me that easy phone calls. But because i was very nice to him about it he put me on hold and came back after a few minutes and said he could do the dining for the first 3 nights. He rebooked my first 3 nights under a different reservation number. He did state emphatically that i might be forced to change THV's in the middle of my stay. I said that it was worth the risk and went ahead and paid for the dining. I have never had a bad experience calling MS and i believe that if you are reasonable with your expectations then they will work with you if you had a prexisting segmented reservation. If you want to switch dining plans 5 times during a 7 night stay they will probably just tell you no. Make things easy on them and they will return the favor.

I put my chances of having to switch THV's at about 0% but who knows.

atleast now we know that apparently the rules are different for everyone...thanks for the update

 

[ftballfan7]

Just to address this briefly, 99% of what I post on DVCNews.com is either vetted through multiple sources, official or unofficial contacts within DVC.

In this particular case, my story began by asking questions of DVC's internal PR staff regarding the computer system upgrades. They put me in touch with a manager a Member Services who freely communicated with me regarding the flexibility that members would have.

This was not a case of me simply calling a random MS rep who happened to know how to manipulate the system--they knew why I was asking and exactly what I was going to do with the information.

I still don't believe that a membership-wide email blast or website notification was required for the recent change, but there certainly was a policy in place for the last 10 1/2 months to allow this segmenting.

This tends to show that the term "loophole" is not really appropriate.

 

[tjkraz]

This tends to show that the term "loophole" is not really appropriate.

Depends upon the perspective.

From the perspective of Disney Vacation Club Member Services, it was a function available in the new system which they decided to fully utilize.

But from the perspective of those who manage the Dining Plans and must answer for their profitability, I sincerely doubt that they ever intended for DVC to offer the sort of flexibility that was given to members.

Walt Disney World is collectively an enormous organization which employs over 60,000 people in hundreds of different departments. And no, the head doesn't always know what the hands are doing.

No we don't know exactly what happened but taking all of the factors involved (abruptness of the change, questionable wisdom of even offering partial stay DDPs, technical glitches that have resulted), I'd say the only reasons that DVC was allowing the segmenting are 1) the software permitted it, and 2) nobody higher up ever told them not to do it.

As of September 6 someone with greater authority DID put a stop to it. To DVC it was a process. To the execs who oversee the dining plans, it was a loophole which DVC exploited.

 

[kristenrice]

From the information I have gleaned from this thread, it would appear that you CAN still add a dining plan to certain segments of your stay...

...IF....

1) You reservation involves multiple resorts or room types which will necessitate checking out/checking in....

...OR...

2) If you want to stay in the same resort/room type for your length-of-stay, you MUST book your segments separately and each must be under a different confirmation number. Under this option, you will probably have to check out and check in again, possibly even switch rooms.

Correct?

 

[tjkraz]

From the information I have gleaned from this thread, it would appear that you CAN still add a dining plan to certain segments of your stay...

...IF....

1) You reservation involves multiple resorts or room types which will necessitate checking out/checking in....

...OR...

2) If you want to stay in the same resort/room type for your length-of-stay, you MUST book your segments separately and each must be under a different confirmation number. Under this option, you will probably have to check out and check in again, possibly even switch rooms.

Correct?

That is looking to be correct. One correction I would make is that you will almost certainly have to check in again between the DDP/non-DDP reservations and you run the risk of having to switch rooms even if you are staying in the same resort/villa type.

Really that's the way things were before all of this "segmenting" started last year.

 

[DHar]

From the information I have gleaned from this thread, it would appear that you CAN still add a dining plan to certain segments of your stay...

...IF....

1) You reservation involves multiple resorts or room types which will necessitate checking out/checking in....

...OR...

2) If you want to stay in the same resort/room type for your length-of-stay, you MUST book your segments separately and each must be under a different confirmation number. Under this option, you will probably have to check out and check in again, possibly even switch rooms.

Correct?

i was told that we could not get a different reservation number for the last 2 days of our stay because there were "no dedicated 2 br's available at BLT...even though they could just use the last 2 days of the room we already have booked...just give us a seperate reservation number...but no, they need to book a seperate reservation and there were none available.......

 

[kristenrice]

i was told that we could not get a different reservation number for the last 2 days of our stay because there were "no dedicated 2 br's available at BLT...even though they could just use the last 2 days of the room we already have booked...just give us a seperate reservation number...but no, they need to book a seperate reservation and there were none available.......

I am assuming because once they cancel your last two nights, they would automatically go to someone on the waitlist since there is no availability.

Disney is unraveling our plans for our 2012 trip.... First, they discontinued the Grand Gatherings events that my dad has been wanting to do for years...then, we segmented our reservation so that we could enjoy 1 night/2 days of Deluxe Dining with the group...now that's gone too. I'm worried about what's next....no Magical Express?

 

[twinklebug]

i was told that we could not get a different reservation number for the last 2 days of our stay because there were "no dedicated 2 br's available at BLT...even though they could just use the last 2 days of the room we already have booked...just give us a seperate reservation number...but no, they need to book a seperate reservation and there were none available.......

Makes sense - They don't want to release your room into the open pool of rooms to rebook it with a new number because someone else or the wait-list may grab it. Then you'd really be upset. If you were OK with potentially moving to another type of room available they could give it a try with smaller risk involved.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I am assuming because once they cancel your last two nights, they would automatically go to someone on the waitlist since there is no availability.

Disney is unraveling our plans for our 2012 trip.... First, they discontinued the Grand Gatherings events that my dad has been wanting to do for years...then, we segmented our reservation so that we could enjoy 1 night/2 days of Deluxe Dining with the group...now that's gone too. I'm worried about what's next....no Magical Express?

As Bette Davis says at the end of the Great Movie Ride "It's going to be a bumpy ride."

 

[DHar]

Makes sense - They don't want to release your room into the open pool of rooms to rebook it with a new number because someone else or the wait-list may grab it. Then you'd really be upset. If you were OK with potentially moving to another type of room available they could give it a try with smaller risk involved.

when i spoke to the many supervisiors the last few days we went round and round....i had the original segmented reservation anyway...why couldnt they just keep the last 2 nights in the same room a different reservation number? if we had to move we had to move, still would have saved 208 bucks for the 2 leaving....i was not trying to do the ddp for only a few days, we just dont want to pay for 2 adults for 2 days they wont be there...i'm beginning to think they dont like me.......

 

[twinklebug]

when i spoke to the many supervisiors the last few days we went round and round....i had the original segmented reservation anyway...why couldnt they just keep the last 2 nights in the same room a different reservation number? if we had to move we had to move, still would have saved 208 bucks for the 2 leaving....i was not trying to do the ddp for only a few days, we just dont want to pay for 2 adults for 2 days they wont be there...i'm beginning to think they dont like me.......

It's not you, it's the software. My bet is hedged on that Disney is using the reservation numbers as a compound key (with resort/room type) in the database to our rooms.In order to create a new key reservation number for you the software needs to see the room is available.

My upcoming trip has our split reservation (Kidani/BWV) all under one number. It was a change to the system I noted that right away when I booked the additional 2 nights, but couldn't pinpoint why it bothered me until now.

 

[DHar]

Makes sense - They don't want to release your room into the open pool of rooms to rebook it with a new number because someone else or the wait-list may grab it. Then you'd really be upset. If you were OK with potentially moving to another type of room available they could give it a try with smaller risk involved.

no shot..it's marathon weekend...they just told me blt is all booked...but i did get " have a magical day".........

 

[msylvester01]

I just got home and saw this glaring post... Forgive me for asking this question to those that have a similar stay to mine. MS is closed until tomorrow and before I freak out and start to worry about $$ (we are footing the bill for family) maybe someone can put me at ease for just the moment. I'm a freak and I will still call tomorrow, this is really for my fiance so I can stop being a crack head

Here is our info:
10/12-10/14 - 2br stay at SSR 3 adults
10/15 - 10/19 - 2br stay at AKL - 5 adults (2 of which will leave 1 day early)

Oh - 1 reservation number

I only want the qsdp on the AKL stay. Am I going to have to pay for the dp for both hotels?? I understand I will have to pay for all adults for all days at AKL, I came to terms with that and let that go....just dont want to pay for it at SSR.....




Any help would be great....
Thank you!

So I called and talked to MS today and they told me I had to pay for the dp for the entire stay. At SSR and AKL.

Has anyone else heard this??

I was nice, polite, didn't raise my voice, didn't demand a supervisor. Just asked questions. Used my please and thank you's. The woman I talked to was just rude and told me" You have to pay it for the entire time". I tried to explain I was checking out and then back in at another hotel and she didn't want to hear it.

I was frustrated and let it be for now.

I will call again on Monday.

I'm not paying another $530 for a dining plan. Looks like we will use some of that money and get a rental car and go to the store and get groceries.