There are things, like being able to modify a reservation online, that would be considered a more valuable change by many members, but undoubtedly being able to see full room availability would be of some value to many. However, none of that is likely to happen, but the real reason it will not happen is different from what many think. The fact is that all the money it would take to make those improvements would not change the amount of your dues one penny; what it would do is cut into Disney's profits and that is the reason we have always had, and likely will always have, mediocre computerized reservation systems.
This has to do with where the money comes from to pay for the computerized reservation systems. Legally there are two Disney entities -- on paper but employees are really the same -- that are responsible for creating and running computerized systems that relate to reservations: The Buena Vista Trading Co. (BVTC) and the Disney Vacation Club Management Corp. (DVCMC). Under contract with the association, DVCMC is contractually responsible for conducting and paying for all systems and for Member Services to the extent they relate to home resort reservations; BVTC is responsible for conducting and paying for anything that has to do with reservations of members at 7 months out for non-home resorts, and trading out to non-
DVC resorts.
So how do those two entities cover the costs of the reservation systems? From the following sources:
1. There is one entry in the dues called the DVC reservation component. That is a set annual $1 per member charge, all of which goes to BVTC to help pay for its portion of the reservation system costs..
2. There is breakage income -- the money gained from renting out unreserved DVC rooms at 60 days or less out -- which is allocated as follows: (a) a portion goes first to offset dues but that amount of offset is restricted to being no more than 2.5% of the the estimated annual dues (calculated by excluding certain items such as taxes and some others); (b) the breakage income over that amount then goes to BVTC to cover any of its costs plus up to 5% more than its costs; (c) whatever breakage income is left over goes to DVCMC (is there a lot of breakage income? Disney does not tell you except that I once got an answer from a member of management that the breakage income was usually a lot more than the 2.5% dues offset)
3. DVCMC is paid a management fee that equals 12.5% of the estimated annual dues (calculated by excluding the management fee, taxes, and some other items). Though the total amount can change annually as other dues items like maintenance, housekeeping, etc., go up, the percentage cannot change.
The amount you pay in dues does not vary if the cost of the reservation systems increase or decrease because the two funding sourses from dues, the DVC reservation component and the management fee, do not change even if nothing were spent on computerized reservation systems or millions were spent on such systems, and the third source of funding, breakage income, is not even dues paid by members. However, what does change if Disney spends more on the computerized systems and MS is the amount of money DVCMC gets to keep as profit from breakage income or the mangement fee. In other words, the less Disney spends on computerized reservation systems and MS, the more it gets to keep from breakage income and the management fee as profit, and thus Disney has always had a strong incentive to keep the costs of running MS and the reservation systems to a minimum, and it is unlikely Disney is going to add features to the existing mediocre reservation systems like those mentioned in this thread unless it can do so very cheaply.
Bill
