SURVEY: Do you know you could swap reservations to any resort with another DVC member

[Mini Sorcerer's Mom]

I would LOVE to have the opportunity to 'swap' my home resort. My home, and first love, is AKV but I really want to stay at VWL next President's week and I know my chances are slim at the seven month window. I posted a 'trade wanted' post and did not receive one response. I think a seperate board might gain more attention.

Correct me if I am wrong but this is how it would work:
I post "AKV owner looking for 2 brm at VWL 2/15-2/20 for a total of 200 pts."
Then if an VWL owner is interested in staying at the AKV and willing to make a swap-VWL will book my reservation, I will book an AKV ressie for them and if there is a difference in points only one of us will need to transfer points.

This will be helpful since so many of us would like the opportunity to stay at other places but do not want to take a chance at the seven month and do not want to pay to 'rent' points when they already own a handful.

I hope this goes through!!!!!

 

[WelcomeHome]

Yes, Mini-Sorcerer's Mom, that's exactly how it would work. If there's any difference in points, a single one time transfer could be done for the difference OR one of the "swap" members would simply rent the additional points needed at a very reasonable pre-established price. I know I would feel MUCH safer renting points to or from a DVC member I'm exchanging reservations with rather than renting to a total stranger!

Best wishes,
Dave

 

[Chuck S]

I would LOVE to have the opportunity to 'swap' my home resort. My home, and first love, is AKV but I really want to stay at VWL next President's week and I know my chances are slim at the seven month window. I posted a 'trade wanted' post and did not receive one response. I think a seperate board might gain more attention.

Correct me if I am wrong but this is how it would work:
I post "AKV owner looking for 2 brm at VWL 2/15-2/20 for a total of 200 pts."
Then if an VWL owner is interested in staying at the AKV and willing to make a swap-VWL will book my reservation, I will book an AKV ressie for them and if there is a difference in points only one of us will need to transfer points.

This will be helpful since so many of us would like the opportunity to stay at other places but do not want to take a chance at the seven month and do not want to pay to 'rent' points when they already own a handful.

I hope this goes through!!!!!

That is one possibility. You could also decide upon a price for any point difference. Again, in essence, you ARE both renters, you are simply renting from each other. There is no "point swap."

 

[WelcomeHome]

Dear Chuck S,

I sincerely do understand your point of view, but I don't look at it as both DVC members being renters at all. It's simply a fantastic perk for 2 DVC mebers to make reservations for each other's home resort with the 11-month window advantage!

IF there is a difference in the number of points for the reservations, then only ONE member would rent or transfer the difference in points to the other member. I bet in most cases the difference in points would be very small and A SMALL PRICE TO PAY in exchange to visit any resort you choose at any time of the year! If there is a huge difference in points, than the DVC members should simply look for a closer match - that's why I believe a healthy selection of DVC members seeking reservation exchanges would result in some very successful results and some very happy DVC DISboard members!

Based on the poll results so far, it seems like the majority of DVC members would love to have this ability if more people were aware of it. I hope you can see my point of view as clearly as I can see yours. "Direct DVC member Exchanges" or "DVC Member Reservation Swaps" are not going to interest everyone, but it seems like lot of us would love to have the freedom to exercise that ability from time to time!

Best wishes,
Dave

 

[Caskbill]

Thanks for the replies.

Regarding the 30 day rule, we will not change that. If we allow one group to post existing reservations more than 30 days ahead, other groups would feel entitled to the same thing. For example the owner who has a Christmas DVC reservation and wants to trade it to someone who has a non-DVC Hawaii reservation.

This would also be a way for those who make speculative reservations to bypass the rules for posting reservations. It would be easy to post those hard to get Christmas reservations saying they wanted to trade, but they would inevitably receive inquiries from others wanting to know if they'd just rent the reservation directly.

The only reason for wanting a resort swap is to have the 11-month window advantage at a non-home resort. With that much lead time it should not be necessary to actually make a reservation at your home resort for a specific date and then try to swap it. By having a specific date you have reduced considerably the number of people who might be able to use it. By having an open date, it becomes available to a larger percentage of members.

In fact it would make sense to post a 'swap' request well ahead of the 11-month window since the purpose of a swap is to get the home-resort advantage. If you are a VWL owner but want to stay at BWV for Christmas 2009, you really want to agree to swap with someone before those 11-month windows open. You may want a BWV villa for the 1st week in December, while a BWV owner may want the 2nd week in December at VWL. If neither of you has made the reservation yet, then the swap is possible. If you've already made the the VWL reservation for the 1st week, then the BWV owner is unable to use it. But undoubtedly you'd get others interested in renting it for cash.

Thus the 30 day rule will remain for all existing reservations, no matter what category is being used.

Hope this helps explain the policy.

 

[Chuck S]

Dear Chuck S,

I sincerely do understand your point of view, but I don't look at it as both DVC members being renters at all. It's simply a fantastic perk for 2 DVC mebers to make reservations for each other's home resort with the 11-month window advantage!

You may not view it that way, but legally, and from DVC's perspective, that is exactly what it is, you are both renting a reservation from each other. One owner, when renting from another, can not change, add DDP, make ME arrangements, or confirm the reservation. Just like renting points to a non-member or making free travel arrangements for extended family members.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

You may not view it that way, but legally, and from DVC's perspective, that is exactly what it is, you are both renting a reservation from each other. One owner, when renting from another, can not change, add DDP, make ME arrangements, or confirm the reservation.

Well, if no money exchanges hands, its not considered a "rental". Same with transfers. If one simply transfers "X" amount of points because the swap was a little uneven, then its not a "rental", just a transfer. No money has to be involved.

 

[Chuck S]

Well, if no money exchanges hands, its not considered a "rental". Same with transfers. If one simply transfers "X" amount of points because the swap was a little uneven, then its not a "rental", just a transfer. No money has to be involved.

That is the very point of a transfer, to give the owner control of the reservation. They become, in essence, the "new" owners points. When giving someone a non-paid reservation, the original point owner is still in control of the reservation, whether that reservation is for another owner, or a non-owner. The points still belong to the original owner.

For instance, if I were to call and give non-owner friends a DVC stay, I would book the reservation, make all other arrangements as necessary. They could not call MS for info on the reservation. They would not have access to my ownership account. You could also say it wasn't a rental, as no $$ changed hands.

The same if reserving for another owner. Those points would still be my points, and no other owner would have access to my ownership account. I could change/cancel that reservaton at any time.

 

[ZekeKelso]

That's right, any 2 DVC members can swap reservations using their 11 month window advantage so that DVC members can exchange reservations to any DVC resort want they request.

Unfortunately, we can't actually swap reservations. The swaps we are talking about in this thead are really two separate point rental transactions.

That's what makes them so hard. It's hard enough to find someone to rent points or rent you points. Now you have to find one person who not only wants what you have, but has what you want. And has been pointed out, swaps really only make sense with long leadtimes.

For the DIS to effectively facilite swaps, I think would need to set up a swap sub-forum. It could easily takes weeks or even months for two people to find each other. There are just too many posts on the current boards for that to work.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

.
For the DIS to effectively facilite swaps, I think would need to set up a swap sub-forum.

That is the point of this whole poll.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I think I am missing something here. Please chime in to educate me! I interpret the word "Rental" as an agreement between two parties that involves "money". Where I understand the criteria for involved as far as making the reservation, cancelling the reservation, etc., if no "money" is involved, why is this "Direct Exchange" being referred to as a "rental"?

 

[crisi]

I think I am missing something here. Please chime in to educate me! I interpret the word "Rental" as an agreement between two parties that involves "money". Where I understand the criteria for involved as far as making the reservation, cancelling the reservation, etc., if no "money" is involved, why is this "Direct Exchange" being referred to as a "rental"?

In this case you are bartering one reservation for another reservation. However, you are still trading something of value to get something of value. Some people (like the IRS) consider barter transfers to be the equilvent of cash transfers. Some people won't. I would consider a barter transaction for my points - whether that barter is "I'll give you other points" or if that barter is "I'll paint your house for your points" as a rental.

 

[WelcomeHome]

Dear ZekeKelco,

How you you know if finding a match would take weeks unless we try? Ten years ago they said "bottled water" was a short-term gimmicky fad!

As more DVC & DISboard members become aware of this capability, I think it can become on of the hottest boards on the DISboards - especially with over 100,000 DVC members making it harder and harder to get certain reservations without the 11-month window home advantage.

So far the results of this poll show that the vast majority of respondents don't understand what the "Trade Wanted" and "Trade Offered" boards are used for plus most respondants would love the ability to exchange reservations with other DVC members.

That's not a bad start concidering over 800 views on a 1 day old thread - apparently some people are very interested.

Best wishes,
Dave

 

[BWV Dreamin]

In this case you are bartering one reservation for another reservation. However, you are still trading something of value to get something of value. Some people (like the IRS) consider barter transfers to be the equilvent of cash transfers. Some people won't. I would consider a barter transaction for my points - whether that barter is "I'll give you other points" or if that barter is "I'll paint your house for your points" as a rental.

Thanks for your clarification. Well, for our purposes here, it is confusing, and thats why I would like to see a separate category. A direct exchange does not have to involve money, however, advertised "rentals" are requesting "money".

 

[Chuck S]

While I agree that it seems people are interested, I also think many are misunderstanding the premise and mechanics of a "swap."

As Crisi stated, a "rental" is any transaction for which you receive compensation. Compensation does not necessarily mean "cash." A desired reservation in exchange for your reservation is also "compensation."

 

[Chuck S]

Thanks for your clarification. Well, for our purposes here, it is confusing, and thats why I would like to see a separate category. A direct exchange does not have to involve money, however, advertised "rentals" are requesting "money".

There is already a separate way to list these...that is "Trade Wanted." The whole premise of this thread seems to be the terminology of "swap" vs. "trade."

 

[ZekeKelso]

Please chime in to educate me! I interpret the word "Rental" as an agreement between two parties that involves "money".

You don't need money for it to be a rental - you just need for it to be compensation. Money is just the most common form of compensation.

 

[WelcomeHome]

Please let's stay on track here. So far the poll results are indicating that lots of members would like to have this ability and as it stands right now most respondants didn't know this ability exists.

I'd simply like to see if I can help change that and if people agree that it's a good idea - so far the poll results say YES!

Best wishes,
Dave

 

[ZekeKelso]

How you you know if finding a match would take weeks unless we try?

As more DVC & DISboard members become aware of this capability, I think it can become on of the hottest boards on the DISboards - especially with over 100,000 DVC members making it harder and harder to get certain reservations without the 11-month window home advantage.

I don't know - just giving my opinion.

Bu the more I think about direct swaps, the more complicated they become. My guess - just a guess mind you - is that the reason we don't see tons of direct swaps is that swaps are complicated and not because of a failure for DIS board members to be aware that they can ask for such things on the DIS.

My point isn't that folks shouldn't try - just that if you are going to try, I think you have a significantly better change if swaps are in their own forum due to the "speed" of the existing forums.

 

[crisi]

I don't know - just giving my opinion.

Bu the more I think about direct swaps, the more complicated they become. My guess - just a guess mind you - is that the reason we don't see tons of direct swaps is that swaps are complicated and not because of a failure for DIS board members to be aware that they can ask for such things on the DIS.

My point isn't that folks shouldn't try - just that if you are going to try, I think you have a significantly better change if swaps are in their own forum due to the "speed" of the existing forums.

I agree that if you were going to try, you'd want a seperate forum for them. I'm not sure that long term it would be successful enough to keep a forum for them, but it would be the only way to give it a fair shake.