Potential DVC owner issue? 11 month window

[Dean Marino]

Other owners... I saw a comment on another site regarding 11 month home resort booking.
The claim was made that Speculators (who would have to be OWNERS), were grabbing up 11 month bookings - then RENTING THEM OUT.

So I have to ask - as we book at 11 months - does DVC have a "hole" that allows one to change the NAMES on an 11 month home resort booking?

I have no idea. But I could see how this might result in a problem for all of us . Looking for feedback on this issue. It MAY or MAY NOT account for 11 month home resort booking issues.

 

[CarolMN]

Yes, it happens.

Yes, DVC allows name changes.

AFAIK, it's always been allowed. Like it or not, it's not a violation of DVC rules

Spec rentals don't appear very often on the DIS R/T Board because they require the purchase of a Premium Rental Plan. With that plan, which requires the purchaser to have had his/her screen name at least 6 months, there is a limit of 3 reservations that have arrival dates more than 30 days away.

 

[CarolMN]

P.S. Many DIS DVC posters have strong opinions on spec renting and it has been discussed/debated here many times. Those who want to discuss are reminded to please do so respectfully. Thank you.

 

[Dean Marino]

Thank you - we will likely contact Member Services over the "11 month name change" issue.
I see no problem with Family Members bearing the same Last Name as any owner.

 

[disneynutz]

In reality, they own the points and they can book at 11 months for themselves or guests. Always been that way and I don't see it changing. 11 or 7 month booking, you need to fight for your reservation if you want something with limited availability.

Bill

 

[CMNJ]

Not all people who book at 11 months (or during the home resort period) and change names are necessarily speculative reservations either. We had a reservation for Easter week that we weren’t able to use due to an injury that occurred less than 31 days out. Since the points would become holding points (and ALOT of them) we tried to rent the reservation out via David’s 2 weeks prior. We didn’t get any takers So we cancelled and made other arrangements to use the points but had we changed the names it would have been a legitimate reason not a speculative reservation

 

[Dean]

Thank you - we will likely contact Member Services over the "11 month name change" issue.

They can't really limit it, it's the nature of the beast and what we all bought into.

 

[maburke]

I don't like the idea of spec reservation renting, but I also don't think it works very well.

I have a friend who tries to do spec rentals for holidays, but he never does as well as I do just renting points.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I don't like the idea of spec reservation renting, but I also don't think it works very well.

I have a friend who tries to do spec rentals for holidays, but he never does as well as I do just renting points.

I am glad to read this.

 

[Marionnette]

I could never wrap my head around the concept of doing spec reservations. I read a lot on another board that allows members to post reservations for rent. Renters, for the most part, are looking to save money by "staying deluxe for the price of a moderate". They don't want to pay a premium price for those reservations (i.e. the same amount that they would pay a broker, or even more) and they often want to modify the dates. I wonder how many of those who do spec reservations end up canceling before their points end up in jeopardy (banking deadline or 30-day cancellation date approaching). It just seems like too much trouble for very little gain.

 

[gillep]

I for one am glad that DVC offers the option to change the names on a reservation, it gives us owners more options in case we cannot make a vacation for whatever reason. I had to cancel a vacation two weeks out, thankfully it was a CRO reservation and not a DVC one, but if it had been a DVC one I would have liked the option to see if we could have rented via Davids or at least allowed a friend or family member take it over if necessary. I for one would never do a spec rental and really don't think that they have all that much impact on 11 month availability.

 

[drusba]

Years ago predatory reservations were actually a serious issue. That was because there were a lot of people who were mainly in the business of renting DVC rooms. At the time, a single owner was limited to 5,000 points but joined with anyone else, the number could double, and if you formed a little businmess gang with four of five owners, you could have 25,000 points. Added to that was the abscence of any transfer limit. An owner could have transfered in as many points via as many transactions as he could find. In addition, a person in the business of renting could arrange with as many owners as he could find to be an associate member, who could thus make reservations using that other member's points.

The result is that the professional renters began using all the points they could muster (far more than they owned) to engage in predatory reservations by reserving right at 11 months out a high number of high in demand rooms for key, high demand times of the year (such as Christmas), and then advertised for fairly high prices the rental of those rooms in those high demand times. The result is that many owners found it impossible to book rooms they wanted for those times of year. The final result was that Disney did take action to greatly limit the power of professional renters. It changed the transfer rule to allowing only one transfer per year and then limited the ability of any member to be an associate member to a maximum of four accounts. It also adopted a rule stating that any member who tried to make more than 20 reservations in any 12-month period could not make the 21st reservation unless he established that all the reservations he had made were not rentals.

Those restrictions put a lot of the professional renters out of business. They did not do away with professional renting entirely but greatly contained the activity. There are likely some predatory reservations still being made at 11 months by those who are doing nothing but renting rooms. However, the problem is nothing like it ever was before, and the remedy suggested is something that would preclude not just the small amount of professional renters from renting, but preclude all owners from being able to change the names on their reservation after they have reserved a room, which can happen for a lot of reasons, including that the member becomes ill or the member later discovers he cannot go, and sends his children or friends instead. Personally, I think enough was done before to contain the problem that existed and it would not be advisable to create a rule that prohibits changing the names on a reservation, which would do far more harm than good.

 

[nkosiek]

I can see how this is a problem, but I also know that earlier this year I needed to book 2 rooms (one for us, one for friend) and it was quicker to just use my name for one and my wife's for the other since you have to provide mailing details, etc. Afterwards, I sent an email to MS about changing names, etc. Since I wanted to get both rooms before they were gone, I needed to do it that way or else we may not have been able to get the 2nd room.

 

[cruisin5]

I always make the reservation for one person then email with the rest of the names. I've experienced website issues when inputting the names and addresses my seven guests and losing the reservation as a result.

 

[icc2515]

According to Davids, renters prefer to choose their own dates rather than have them dictated to them by the owner. Maybe at Christmas time this is an issue, but I did not have any problems securing 2 standard view studios at BWV for this year over New Years. My friend got a week at BLT theme park view over spring break, last week, at the 6 month mark. With the exception of a studio Kilimanjaro Club, it looks like all the studios are available at the 11 month mark. So when did it say there were times that owners could not get a room at 11 months?