Starting 1/08 any non DVC reservation will require a $95 transfer fee

[jekjones1558]

Jim,
Ironically I am a retired school teacher. We formerly used our points mostly during spring break, but now we love going fall and winter!

 

[Enna]

I thought that the $75 fee applied to DCL, concierge collection and II. Assumed that DL and WDW point reservations did not require the $75 fee. Did I misunderstand?

Spoke with our guide today and confirmed that utilizing non-DVC hotels is going from a no charge option to $95 per use starting in January 2008. There is currently no fee associated with using points at a non-DVC Disney hotel.

 

[zulaya]

I wonder if there were a lot of people using their points at non-DVC disney resorts.

Maybe DVC wants a little moolah from all those changes from DVC to Reservation Points if a lot of people are trading out.

I do think that's crummy that Disneyland is still available free but the WDW resorts have a fee.

 

[Teyedoubleguhrrrr]

I thought that the $75 fee applied to DCL, concierge collection and II. Assumed that DL and WDW point reservations did not require the $75 fee. Did I misunderstand?

Maybe I glanced too quickly. I saw it on page 35, which is in the section about the Disney Collection Guidelines. However, that page only has DCL on it - so it may only apply currently to that portion of the Disney Collection.

In any case, I understand the uniform fee, but in this case, it is a new fee. Perhaps we as owners need to express our displeasure? I know we have a non-DVC stay "in the pipeline", but we won't be able to book it before the 1/1/08 cut-off as it is for August '09. Considering that when we use our points at non-DVC, there is a switchout of inventory with CRO (am I correct?), this fee seems a bit steep considering that Disney makes a fair amount of money off a cash reservation at a DVC unit. JMO.

 

[diznyfanatic]

Spoke with our guide today and confirmed that utilizing non-DVC hotels is going from a no charge option to $95 per use starting in January 2008. There is currently no fee associated with using points at a non-DVC Disney hotel.

Thanks for the information. For us, it will never make sense to use our points at a non-DVC resort now. This adds nearly $20 per day to the already inflated number of points needed to trade out to a WDW non-DVC resort.

It's particularly stupid when I can get an AP rate at a Value for less than the $95 charge as we typically only want to add a day or two at the beginning or end of the trip.

If there is no DVC availability which is the only reason we would have ever done it in the first place, I guess it will be CASH only (with the likely outcome that we could also end up offsite) or not add the extra days at all.

 

[mjy]

I would think if they waived that for Disneyland hotels, then they would also wave it for WDW hotels. I can see them doing it for anything else but to use them at other Disney resorts and still having to pay a fee is nuts.

I'm willing to bet that will change as well. Once there is a DVC at the Grand Californian, they will probably charge the $95 to stay at their other hotels in order to make the DVC people stay at the GCV.

 

[Dean]

I'm still skeptical it'll apply to WDW non DVC resorts. But even if it does they might reduce the fees to compensate.

 

[donaldsgal]

And we are SO unhappy to have an October UY!

Our account is used by three families -- mine and my two adult daughters, both of whom have school age kids, and one of whom is a schoolteacher. They can pretty much only go during the holidays and during the summer, and I'm not sure our DVC account is going to work for them at all. I'm going to wait and see, but we may have to reconsider some fundamental things about DVC.

I'll tell you one thing, this change will certainly make UY very important. It will no longer be something you just work around.

The fall UYs are just going to be a minefield for anyone with school-aged kids. You make a ressie for the summer and a kid gets sick and you're done -- bye, bye points, cause you can't bank them any more. If I were faced with that, I would not buy DVC.

I think the banking change is worse than DVC realizes, and I hope they'll take another look at it.

I guess I must just be dense. I don't get why UY is so important. I never have.

I'm not a teacher, but I work in schools as a counselor on a contract basis and have to work around a school year calendar. UY has never been an issue for us. We have April. We bank our points when we know we want/need to and never have lost them. I understand that having an April UY makes spring trips ideal as we can book 11 months out from a spring trip. Even so, I don't feel like having an April UY makes a fall trip hard to obtain. If we want to go in October, we can still book in November if we've planned for that. We get 150 points in April. Hypothetically speaking, let's say we need 200 for a trip in October 2008. We make the reservation in November 2007 with those 150, and we borrow the last 50 from April 2008 use year. How does my UY really impact that? If there's a way it does, please explain it to me. I honestly WANT to know if I'm missing part of the equation. It just seems to me that all the posts I read on here about UY, the stress of having to cancel reservations, not getting reservations at your chosen resort when you call to make them, etc. must be a function of people who make last minute trips. So maybe that's the reason why I've never gotten the fuss about UY. We plan our trips and don't really have the luxury (or the personalities) for last minute trips.

Please understand: I'm not trying to be sarcastic or defensive. I honestly just don't get it.

Why would fall UYs be a minefield more so than any other UY for a change in the banking windows?

Furthermore, why would having the banking window move to four months be a bad thing? It's 6 months now for banking 100% of points, correct? We always have our trips planned out in advance, usually booking at the 11 month window. We have only had to cancel during one use year (a few times) due to new jobs and a vacation catastrophe (broken limbs) that prevented us from getting to WDW. The points were being used as reservation points, so when we canceled, we made plans to return in that use year to a non-DVC WDW hotel so as not to lose the reservation points. Again, I guess we're blessed that we were able to do that. It just seems to me, again, that with planning, the banking window isn't an issue as long as you keep track of your points and when they need to be banked by.

The last thing I want to do is come off as defensive or irritated or holier-than-thou. I honestly just don't get some of the stress people have about these issues, and in my mind that equates to, "Jenny, these people wouldn't be stressed for no reason. You must not fully get it." Hence, my question-asking and head-scratching in my attempts to make sure I'm not going to come up short when I try to make reservations in the future.

 

[Dean]

The last thing I want to do is come off as defensive or irritated or holier-than-thou. I honestly just don't get some of the stress people have about these issues, and in my mind that equates to, "Jenny, these people wouldn't be stressed for no reason. You must not fully get it." Hence, my question-asking and head-scratching in my attempts to make sure I'm not going to come up short when I try to make reservations in the future.

It's a fair question and I can't answer for Jim. But IMO, use year has always been important but more to some than others. It's simply about giving yourself a little extra protection and a few options if something were to happen to prevent your trip. Look at it this way, if you were reserving a hotel room and were looking at two similar hotels. One allowed you to cancel until 5 days before and the other required cancellation 30 days out, which one would you feel more comfortable with. I know that's an extreme example but I think it conveys the basic idea. I look at use year as a form of travel insurance.

 

[CarolMN]

I guess I must just be dense. I don't get why UY is so important. I never have.

I'm not a teacher, but I work in schools as a counselor on a contract basis and have to work around a school year calendar. UY has never been an issue for us. We have April. We bank our points when we know we want/need to and never have lost them. I understand that having an April UY makes spring trips ideal as we can book 11 months out from a spring trip. Even so, I don't feel like having an April UY makes a fall trip hard to obtain. If we want to go in October, we can still book in November if we've planned for that. We get 150 points in April. Hypothetically speaking, let's say we need 200 for a trip in October 2008. We make the reservation in November 2007 with those 150, and we borrow the last 50 from April 2008 use year. How does my UY really impact that? If there's a way it does, please explain it to me. I honestly WANT to know if I'm missing part of the equation. It just seems to me that all the posts I read on here about UY, the stress of having to cancel reservations, not getting reservations at your chosen resort when you call to make them, etc. must be a function of people who make last minute trips. So maybe that's the reason why I've never gotten the fuss about UY. We plan our trips and don't really have the luxury (or the personalities) for last minute trips.

Please understand: I'm not trying to be sarcastic or defensive. I honestly just don't get it.

Why would fall UYs be a minefield more so than any other UY for a change in the banking windows?

Furthermore, why would having the banking window move to four months be a bad thing? It's 6 months now for banking 100% of points, correct? We always have our trips planned out in advance, usually booking at the 11 month window. We have only had to cancel during one use year (a few times) due to new jobs and a vacation catastrophe (broken limbs) that prevented us from getting to WDW. The points were being used as reservation points, so when we canceled, we made plans to return in that use year to a non-DVC WDW hotel so as not to lose the reservation points. Again, I guess we're blessed that we were able to do that. It just seems to me, again, that with planning, the banking window isn't an issue as long as you keep track of your points and when they need to be banked by.

The last thing I want to do is come off as defensive or irritated or holier-than-thou. I honestly just don't get some of the stress people have about these issues, and in my mind that equates to, "Jenny, these people wouldn't be stressed for no reason. You must not fully get it." Hence, my question-asking and head-scratching in my attempts to make sure I'm not going to come up short when I try to make reservations in the future.

The people that are stressing out must have had to cancel a vacation in the past or anticipate that happening in the future. The change in the banking deadlines will be detrimental for those who have to cancel a vacation that is scheduled to occur during the last three months of their use year. If that happens, they would be past the banking deadline and would have to use the points by the end of the use year. If they can't use the points by the end of the use year, they would be forfeited.

If you frequently travel during the last three months of your use year, the chances of getting caught by a cancellation past the banking deadlines are greater than if the banking deadlines remained the same.

We've been fortunate in that we've never had to cancel a vacation, and since we do not anticipate ever traveling to WDW during the last 3 months of our use year, this particular change will not impact us.

 

[donaldsgal]

Carol and Dean, thanks for those replies. Both posts do help clear things up. I appreciate you taking my questions at face-value - I was just a wee bit insecure someone would think I was rude or an idiot.

Carol, we're like you in our traveling style. We don't foresee needing to cancel, we don't make last-minute trips, and when/if we do go in the last three months of our UY (like we will be doing next year - an uncommon thing due to my schedule as I mentioned earlier), we just do everything we can to avoid canceling. Things come up, of course, but we do all that we can in advance to ensure we'll get to go.

Thanks again DISers.

 

[Pooh&Minnie]

Jenny, I'm glad you asked about this...I too was wondering the same thing about the importance of UY (we have a March UY), and what the new banking guidelines will entail. We just became DVC members about 3 weeks ago, and since then I've been studying these boards like a madwoman trying to learn all the nuances of DVC. My husband thinks this is my new hobby...I just tell him I never do anything halfway!

Seriously though, I'm grateful for the wealth of knowledge here!

 

[jagson]

we've been dvc members for less than a year, and never thought much about the uy; just accepted what we were given. now, i'm wondering also the importance of it. it seems we should've considered a few things, such as our vacation trends; what time of year we like to go to wdw; the 7 vs 11 month reservation windows; peak vs low seasons? we're pretty much locked out of dvc resorts, o/t our home resort, during spring and summer breaks, since our uy is feb. the importance of the uy was not discussed at our preview or closing, which was done the same day. has anyone challenged this and had their uy changed? if we make last minute dvc reservation requests, and there is no availability, do we lose our points for that uy? does dvd release rooms from their inventory to fill last minute reservations, if made at the end of a uy? we tend to procrastinate, and make last .minute plans. feedback please on this and any other issues i should know about uy. obviously, i never got the worm (early bird ref)

 

[CarolMN]

we've been dvc members for less than a year, and never thought much about the uy; just accepted what we were given. now, i'm wondering also the importance of it. it seems we should've considered a few things, such as our vacation trends; what time of year we like to go to wdw; the 7 vs 11 month reservation windows; peak vs low seasons? we're pretty much locked out of dvc resorts, o/t our home resort, during spring and summer breaks, since our uy is feb. the importance of the uy was not discussed at our preview or closing, which was done the same day. has anyone challenged this and had their uy changed? if we make last minute dvc reservation requests, and there is no availability, do we lose our points for that uy? does dvd release rooms from their inventory to fill last minute reservations, if made at the end of a uy? we tend to procrastinate, and make last .minute plans. feedback please on this and any other issues i should know about uy. obviously, i never got the worm (early bird ref)

Lots of questions - let's start with a general explanation of use year. Please take a look at these threads:

UseYear?

Use Year?

Not sure why you think you are locked out of DVC resorts because your use year is February. If you still believe that after reading the above threads, please post again with more info. Use year has nothing to do with when you can make your reservations.

IIf/When the new rules take effect, you will need to pay close attention to the banking deadline to avoid losing points (you have to do that even under the current rules, too). The old rules have three dates to keep in mind, the new rules, just one.

Since you have a February use year, under the new rules, your banking deadline is the end of the following September (8 months after the beginning of your use year). At that point if you haven't used that year's points, you need to decide if you will travel between October 1 and January 31. If the answer is no, then bank. If the answer is yes, then make the reservation and bank the rest. The banked points will expire if not used by the end of the following use year.

If there is no availability,your decision becomes more difficult. If the waitlist doesn't come through and you can't use the points in another way, then the points will be lost to you. You could bank and if the waitlist comes through, you could borrow the points for the reservation from the following use year's allotment. That does meant that the points you banked must be used before the end of the next use year. You cannot bank the same points more than once.

To minimize the problem, you can plan further ahead (minimize the availability issue), save the short notice trips for earlier in your use year (so you can bank if you have to cancel or can't get a reservation), and/or hope you never have to cancel a vacation scheduled for November - January dates.

AFAIK, DVC won't give you a different use year after closing.

DVC doesn't release additional rooms into the inventory to fill last minute reservations. The exception to that occurs at new resorts - the developer will release more rooms into inventory as the resort's sales warrant.


HTH.

 

[Dean]

we've been dvc members for less than a year, and never thought much about the uy; just accepted what we were given. now, i'm wondering also the importance of it. it seems we should've considered a few things, such as our vacation trends; what time of year we like to go to wdw; the 7 vs 11 month reservation windows; peak vs low seasons? we're pretty much locked out of dvc resorts, o/t our home resort, during spring and summer breaks, since our uy is feb. the importance of the uy was not discussed at our preview or closing, which was done the same day. has anyone challenged this and had their uy changed? if we make last minute dvc reservation requests, and there is no availability, do we lose our points for that uy? does dvd release rooms from their inventory to fill last minute reservations, if made at the end of a uy? we tend to procrastinate, and make last .minute plans. feedback please on this and any other issues i should know about uy. obviously, i never got the worm (early bird ref)

Although a little less so with DVC than most, timeshares take advanced planning on many fronts and those that won't or can't do so are often the ones that lose out. As for your question about whether DVC will let you lose your points, the answer is yes, but they will help you when they can WITHIN THE RULES. They may give you ONE mulligan to bank if you get stuck, they have in the past for some. I've never heard of anyone past their recision period that was able to make any change in use year or any other similar change. The only thing I've ever seen along these lines was ONCE I know they offered to buy back a contract and make the member whole to correct misinformation that they guide gave out prior to that member buying. It could have happened with other issues but I haven't heard of anything else. You could sell and buy again but the expense doesn't seem reasonable for this issue alone. DVC won't release non DVC inventory to members but in some cases they can recapture DVC inventory that has been turned over as part of the "breakage inventory", essentially rooms not reserved that were given to CRO to rent.

 

[lisareniff]

We are planners and don't forsee the reason to cancel a reservation ...although you never know.

The reason that UY plays a part of our vacation plans is in the adjusting of a reservation. There are reasons besides straight out cancelling that would give you extra points; triming off a day because of flights, the waitlist came through for a lower point resort, or waitlist came through so you could cancel the overlaping reservation. It's nice having the ability to bank as late in your UY as possible and good to vacation in the first half (or so) of you UY.

I actually like the new policy. This gives me 2 more months of 100% banking which is the date I mostly use. This is partly because I am worried I'll mess things up with having two resorts in our contract, one of which I bank 100% every other year so it would change the percentage I could bank of the other at the contract at the 9 and 10 month deadlines since they are combined.

Banking Deadlines

Old Policy
6 months 100%
9 months 50%
10 months 25%

New Policy
8 month 100%

* The percentages are based on a combined amount of points in all subcontracts in a master account.

 

[Eeyore77]

After reading this thread I must agree that I am a tad upset. We bought into DVC in 2004 because we were both excited about all the flexibility that you have with your points. I was excited that I could stay at Hotels that I generally could not afford to stay at and use my points. Why the 95$ charge on properties that Disney Owns? I can understand the cruiselines and properties that are not part of the Disney Company, but properties they own!!!

 

[donaldsgal]

I actually like the new policy. This gives me 2 more months of 100% banking which is the date I mostly use. This is partly because I am worried I'll mess things up with having two resorts in our contract, one of which I bank 100% every other year so it would change the percentage I could bank of the other at the contract at the 9 and 10 month deadlines since they are combined.

Can you please explain what you mean about the portion I bolded? I don't quite follow what you're saying.

 

[JimMIA]

After reading this thread I must agree that I am a tad upset. We bought into DVC in 2004 because we were both excited about all the flexibility that you have with your points. I was excited that I could stay at Hotels that I generally could not afford to stay at and use my points. Why the 95$ charge on properties that Disney Owns? I can understand the cruiselines and properties that are not part of the Disney Company, but properties they own!!!

In one sense I agree with you -- it makes no sense to charge an exchange fee for me to use my points at a Disney-owned, non-DVC property.

OTOH...how many times have we all counseled prospective buyers NOT to buy DVC for the frills, bells, whistles, and perks -- because they can change at any time? Remember all those threads?

Disney has just found a way to tap some pocketbooks for an extra $95...and some happy genius probably just made VP for coming up with the bright idea!

 

[jodifla]

In one sense I agree with you -- it makes no sense to charge an exchange fee for me to use my points at a Disney-owned, non-DVC property.

OTOH...how many times have we all counseled prospective buyers NOT to buy DVC for the frills, bells, whistles, and perks -- because they can change at any time? Remember all those threads?

Disney has just found a way to tap some pocketbooks for an extra $95...and some happy genius probably just made VP for coming up with the bright idea!

Frankly, I think it's going to make selling DVC a lot harder. A lot of the flexibility of the program goes by the wayside if they start charging $95 to stay in the Wilderness Cabins. It's going to put more pressure on the DVC rooms....and make ALL of us pretty danged unhappy.

I think the "genius" that thought of this needs a good whomp upside the head!