Official Thread - New commercial use policy published 03/31

[Brian rhymes with dyin]

The check a box for personal use at the end of the reservation process was introduced.

Oh duh, I thought it was related to the Poly tower.

 

[JackosinDIS]

Here’s #3 and #4, which is the most detailed thing I’ve ever come across from DVC about Commercial Renting:

3. Policy Regarding Use of Vacation Homes for Commercial Purposes: "Commercial purposes" includes a pattern of rental activity or other occupancy by an Owner (other than DVD and its affiliates) that the Board and/or Disney Vacation Club Management, LLC (the "Management Company"), in its reasonable discretion, could conclude constitutes a commercial enterprise or practice.

Without limiting the discretion of the Board and Management Company, the Board and/or Management Company may reasonably conclude that an Owner is using or occupying Vacation Ownership Interests and/or Vacation Homes for commercial purposes based on any one or more of the following activities (which are a non-exhaustive list of examples and without limiting any other possible factors):

• A majority of reservations made by an Owner or individuals identified in the Management Company's system of record as an "associate" or an "affiliate" ("Associate"), or a majority of the aggregate Vacation Points or Ownership Points (as applicable; "Points") owned or controlled by an Owner (which may take into account all Points owned or controlled by an Owner across all Resorts at any given time), in either case, are used by individuals or entities other than the named Owner or Associate, regardless of whether the Owner or Associate is listed as a named guest on the reservation. As used herein "controlled by an Owner" shall include all Points that an Owner possesses discretion and authority to utilize, which authority may be proxy, power of attorney, or other permission from another Owner; or
• A majority of reservations or Points owned or controlled by an Owner (which may take into account all Points owned or controlled by an Owner across all Resorts at any given time) are made or used respectively at Resorts with overlapping room types and/or dates, regardless of whether the Owner or Associate is named as a guest on said reservations; or
• Regular advertising by an Owner, Associate, or someone else at the direction of an Owner (such as an employee, principal, officer, director, contractor, or agent acting on behalf of an Owner; collectively
  "Owner Agent") of the availability of Vacation Ownership Interests and/or Vacation Homes for rental, including but not limited to use of a dedicated website, social media account, page, post, third-party service provider, or on any other media or platform now known or hereafter devised; or
• In any 12-month period more than 20 reservations are made by an Owner and/or its Associate (which may take into account all Points owned or controlled by an Owner across all Resorts at any given time) and a majority of such reservations are not used by the named Owner or Associate; or
• An Owner, Associate, or Owner Agent conducts photography, videotaping, or recording on Resort property that is used to market the availability of Vacation Ownership Interests and/or Vacation Homes for rental activity.

4. Enforcement: Enforcement of this policy will be the responsibility of the Management Company.

If the Board or Management Company determines that an Owner is engaged in commercial use of their Points in violation of the Governing Documents, the Owner must cease such activity at the demand of the Board or Management Company, and if the Owner does not cease such activity to the satisfaction of the Board or Management Company, the Management Company may elect to take any one or more of the following actions, without limitation, for a period of up to 24 months (as determined in the judgment of the Management Company taking into account the degree or number of violations). The Management Company in its discretion may elect to prioritize investigations and enforcement to Owners having an exceptional number of points or that make an exceptional number of reservations associated with a Club membership (in each case as compared to the ownership interest and/or reservation activity of the average Owner):

• Cancel future reservations; or
• Restrict Owner(s) and Associate(s) access to online booking; or
• Restrict Owner(s) reservations to be made only in the name of the Owners) and Associate(s); or
• Restrict reservations to be made only at the Owners) home Resort; or
• Restrict Owner(s) and Associate(s) ability to modify reservations including any name or date-based modifications; or
• Restrict banking, borrowing, and transferring of Points; or
• Limit or remove Owner(s) access to incidental benefits (including, by way of example only and without limitation, suspension of exchange privileges with Disney affiliates and third-party exchange companies); or
• Restrict adding Associate(s) names; or
• Remove existing Associate(s) names; or
• Restrict check-in activities such as use of online check-in, direct-to-room, or other mobile check-in activities now known or hereafter devised

Clearly designed to address all the ‘work-arounds’ that commercial renters have been coming up with. I think they have done quite a good job here.

 

[Genie+]

These are fighting words:

• Limit or remove Owner(s) access to incidental benefits (including, by way of example only and without limitation, suspension of exchange privileges with Disney affiliates and third-party exchange companies)

OH NOOOO! Not my Blue card!

 

[cheryl.UK]

Let me find my wallet.

Exactly my thought. A nice, loaded, BWV contract at a decent price has my name all all over it.

 

[juliebee]

Exactly my thought. A nice, loaded, BWV contract at a decent price has my name all all over it.

If they've been renting the points out, it will probably be stripped with a delayed close. But those could be ripe for the picking

 

[Cyberc1978]

I appreciate they may prioritize investigations to larger point-owners and larger number of overall reservations. Going after the big dogs is smart.
View attachment 1060893

I wonder what “an exceptional number of points” means.
Is that 500, 1,000, 2,000 or 5,000 points.

 

[juliebee]

I wonder what “an exceptional number of points” means.
Is that 500, 1,000, 2,000 or 5,000 points.

They could start with 5000 and if the impact and ripple through the community isn't great enough, then do another sweep targeting those with over 3000... and on and on.

 

[cheryl.UK]

Not it they 'Cancel future reservations; '

If they've been renting the points out, it will probably be stripped with a delayed close. But those could be ripe for the picking

 

[VGCgroupie]

I've heard the 20 reservations part mentioned widely before. But this seems to say that if you have 20 or more reservations and the majority are not for your own use, that is commercial renting. The majority of 20 is 11. So 11 rentals max in a rolling 12-month period.

View attachment 1060888

So this I believe is different verbiage than what is currently in the POS.

Previously it did not say majority it said ALL

This is what it said.
Policy: DVC Members may make as many reservations as they desire. However, if, in
any 12-month period, a DVC Member desires to make more than 20 reservations, the DVC Member shall
be required to establish, to the satisfaction of the Board, that all of the reservations made by the DVC
Member in such 12-month period are for the use of accommodations by the DVC Member, the DVC
Member's family and/or the DVC Member's friends (collectively, "Personal Use"), and not for
commercial purposes. If, in any 12-month period in which a DVC Member attempts to make more than
20 reservations but is unable to establish, to the satisfaction of the Board, that all such reservations are for
Personal Use and not for commercial purposes, all reservations in excess of the first 20 reservations shall
be presumed to be the use of Vacation Accommodations for commercial purposes in violation of the
Declaration and the Membership Agreement (the "Multiple Reservation Rule").

 

[VGCgroupie]

I am currently in WDW but we are going to make this the official thread.

If others are started, we will close them and continue here.

A few reminders:

Keep comments polite and respectful and related to the new policies.

The good news is that DVC had said that if they were to update the 2011 policy they would alert owners and I am happy we have it!!

So does this mean the previous is null and void? Or is it still applicable?

 

[airjay75]

So does this mean the previous is null and void? Or is it still applicable?

The new policy uses the “amend, restate, and replace” language which would mean the older policy has been completely replaced by the new one. So, I don’t think the old one could legally be relied upon going forward.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Clearly designed to address all the ‘work-arounds’ that commercial renters have been coming up with. I think they have done quite a good job here.

So do I, Im not sure why people were saying this is the same as always. This much more clear cut than anything we had in the past. I LOVE they are listing consequences. I know many of these will directly affect the commercial FB renters. They also like to visit the parks, they could be turned away at the lounge.

 

[Genie+]

I wonder what “an exceptional number of points” means.
Is that 500, 1,000, 2,000 or 5,000 points.

I wondered that too. It also says:

“The Management Company in its discretion may elect to prioritize investigations and enforcement to Owners having an exceptional number of points

Or that make an exceptional number of reservations associated with a Club membership

(in each case as compared to the ownership interest and/or reservation activity of the average Owner)”

So maybe it’s not just number of points? It can also be the amount reservations than typical… like the ratio? Say a person owns 250 points but they use them to make 8 AKV value studio reservations and 5 BWV resort studios. This could be considered an exceptional number of reservations when compared to the way average owners use their memberships.

 

[juliebee]

So this I believe is different verbiage than what is currently in the POS.

Previously it did not say majority it said ALL

This is what it said.
Policy: DVC Members may make as many reservations as they desire. However, if, in
any 12-month period, a DVC Member desires to make more than 20 reservations, the DVC Member shall
be required to establish, to the satisfaction of the Board, that all of the reservations made by the DVC
Member in such 12-month period are for the use of accommodations by the DVC Member, the DVC
Member's family and/or the DVC Member's friends (collectively, "Personal Use"), and not for
commercial purposes. If, in any 12-month period in which a DVC Member attempts to make more than
20 reservations but is unable to establish, to the satisfaction of the Board, that all such reservations are for
Personal Use and not for commercial purposes, all reservations in excess of the first 20 reservations shall
be presumed to be the use of Vacation Accommodations for commercial purposes in violation of the
Declaration and the Membership Agreement (the "Multiple Reservation Rule").

That is very different than it is now. Sounds like they want to give a little (allow small number of rentals be okay) to dive hard on those doing 11 or more rentals. That seems fair to me.

 

[VGCgroupie]

The new policy uses the “amend, restate, and replace” language which would mean the older policy has been completely replaced by the new one. So, I don’t think the old one could legally be relied upon going forward.

Whew! I havent fully read it all, just got home. I am glad since the previous 20 reservations clause really sucked for me personally since I have 25 in my dashboard currently.

 

[Tatebeck]

I'm liking most of what I see!

Majority of both total points and number of reservations being used by the owner over time? Great! It doesn't mention a time period like each year for example, so IMO it should still be safe to rent out all of your points for 1 year if you decide to do something else that year, as long as you have been using the vast majority of points for yourself previously. It also stops people from buying and immediately renting with no personal usage. It would still allow for renting some remaining points after using most of the points for yourself too.

Overlap of dates/room types being mentioned means they want people to book larger rooms instead of multiple studios, which is fine IMO. That is what I usually do anyway. Though some who love separate rooms may not like it.

 

[PolyRob]

- A majority of reservations or Points owned or controlled by an Owner (which may take into account all Points owned or controlled by an Owner across all Resorts at any given time) are made or used respectively at Resorts with overlapping room types and/or dates, regardless of whether the Owner or Associate is named as a guest on said reservations; or

I don't like this if you're traveling with people and book an additional room even if they're on the deed or listed as an associate. I guess it doesn't say the "lead guest" so that should be fine and it's only one of many scenarios, but still.

 

[sndral]

This is my quick take on the new rules - 20 max remains, but there are 4 new things that can trigger enforcement consequences:
1. The majority of reservations made are used by non owners/associates - for example - you make 10 reservations & over half of them are for non owners/associates
2. The majority of reservations made have overlapping room types or dates
3. You advertise rentals
4. The old 20 reservations in 12 months remains
5. Videotaping on resort property to market vacation rentals

It sort of reads like they’re targeting certain business practices…we’ll see.

 

[PolyRob]

Overlap of dates/room types being mentioned means they want people to book larger rooms instead of multiple studios, which is fine IMO. That is what I usually do anyway. Though some who love separate rooms may not like it.

YES! Funny we posted about the same thing at the same time. As a VGF owner I could see booking two connecting resort studios over a one-bedroom or two-bedroom under certain circumstances so I personally didn't like that phrasing.

 

[Tatebeck]

I don't like this if you're traveling with people and book an additional room even if they're on the deed or listed as an associate. I guess it doesn't say the "lead guest" so that should be fine and it's only one of many scenarios, but still.

YES! Funny we posted about the same thing at the same time. As a VGF owner I could see booking two connecting resort studios over a one-bedroom or two-bedroom under certain circumstances so I personally didn't like that phrasing.

You would still be able to do that, just not the majority of the time (counted by reservations and points). So once in the last few years for 1/3 of your points during that time and 1/3 of your total reservations would be allowed.