Upgrade deed from Resale to Direct?

[disneylandtour]

We then opted for SSR. We still have that contract and still use it for SAP.

I do not have SSR. I've been to SSR a few times. It's my least favorite of the resorts for many reasons (though I love the gym and the food court). BUT for a certain type of traveler, SSR is the ideal resale contract. If you book less than seven months because you take vacations (maybe weekend vacations) on short notice, SSR is the best value. Low buy-in for resale, low maintenance fees, long-ish contract (compared to the 2042 contracts). For visitors with those needs, this is absolutely perfect. For others, less so. If all--or nearly all--of your trips were booked after the seven month mark, it would be foolish to buy into a monorail resort. And I know many people who fit this category, unless you were worried about renting points during periods where you didn't go.

 

[DonMacGregor]

I do not have SSR. I've been to SSR a few times. It's my least favorite of the resorts for many reasons (though I love the gym and the food court). BUT for a certain type of traveler, SSR is the ideal resale contract. If you book less than seven months because you take vacations (maybe weekend vacations) on short notice, SSR is the best value. Low buy-in for resale, low maintenance fees, long-ish contract (compared to the 2042 contracts). For visitors with those needs, this is absolutely perfect. For others, less so. If all--or nearly all--of your trips were booked after the seven month mark, it would be foolish to buy into a monorail resort. And I know many people who fit this category, unless you were worried about renting points during periods where you didn't go.

I'm not sure what any of that has to do with the fact that we bought the SSR points direct solely because they offered the most economical way to purchase SAP's (combination of price and MF's per point over life of contract) while also ensuring that we had a fallback reservation available to us just about any time of year (which, ironically, we've never actually needed), plus getting us Blue Card status, but ok. We also never rent points.

 

[RoseGold]

Imagine an exclusive "Rare Character" meet-and-greet every Tuesday in Epcot (or whichever park is hurting the most for attendance) for those who own 500 or more developer points, and are staying on a DVC points vacation.

This kind of stuff, or even stuff that MAKES money, like pins or decent merch, seem like no brainers to me. I mean, it seems like everything has a custom Loungefly. Yet none of it ever seems to happen.

In the past, they had (paid) stuff like wine tastings and classes, but that all got eliminated in Covid. They could totally sell out a $200 lunch with an imagineer or Figment or something. They could totally sell tickets to the DVC VIP firework area or whatever. They've experimented with some of this here and there, but none of it seems to take.

It just shows how little Disney values DVC members, even super special blue ones.

 

[Brian Noble]

It just shows how little Disney values DVC members, even super special blue ones.

Alternatively, it shows that they do not feel the need to further monetize existing ones.

Yet.

Because the idea behind what I have in mind is not "give everyone with a Blue Card more," it is "create different colors of Cards, where not everyone has the same access, and higher point-total owners have more."

 

[Jimsboy]

I think DVC is different. Part of their business model is return customers to fill up the parks and restaurants. Therefore, they are not as interested in getting mega points owners as much as more people owning points, which means more people attending parks and more people in their restaurants.

 

[Brian Noble]

Therefore, they are not as interested in getting mega points owners as much as more people owning points,

Why do they offer better prices to existing owners than new ones?

[That's rhetorical.]

I don't put too much stock in "DVC is not like other timeshares." Over time, they keep acting more and more like all the others.

 

[Genie+]

Why do they offer better prices to existing owners than new ones?

I see that’s rhetorical but could that reflect the difference in average cost it takes to sell newbies over existing members? The learning curve, marketing expenses, incentive differences, etc. Maybe DVD feels they don’t lose much if anything when offering existing members that slight price break. Newbies can get breaks like Welcome Home booking and even reversal of first mistake moving points, where DVD might absorb a small loss. Existing members generally need less hand holding to make the sale.

Interestingly the past round of Summer Incentives did not lower price per point for larger contracts. 200pts cost +$5pp over 150pts. iirc it wasn’t until 400pts where cost per point came back to the $150pt price.

I don’t know. Is DVC involved where daily per capita spending in the parks is concerned?

 

[tidefan]

Not to derail the thread, but we have two original, direct SSR contracts and, other than our BLT contract, those may be our last to go. Yes, they are great as SAPs (which lately, has meant Aulani), but don't discount SSR as a resort. I think that it has definitely benefitted, perhaps more than any of the other properties, from the recent hard goods refurbishment. We don't mind staying at SSR at all (disclaimer: we always drive, so transportation isn't an issue).

The proximity to Gideon's doesn't hurt either...