What benefits do I get???

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Chuck S
Disneycrazed, if perks are available to members and their guests, and a guest is specifically defined as someone that has paid no compensation to a DVC member, that EXCLUDES renters, as renters pay compensation to the DVC member for their stay.

ITA, heck I even understood those rules.

 

[disneycrazed139]

I would leave the interpertation of the benefits to the people that 1. wrote them and 2. to the members that joined.

Being a member myself and in using Mary's site, I am trying to point out that this "interpretation" is not uncommon. I think in discussing the issue anyway, the whole point is to get away from personal interpretation and discover what the policy really is.

 

[disneyberry]

<i>Originally posted by disneycrazed139</i>
I am also curious where it is written that member discounts are not available to renters. I haven't come across it.

<font face="times" size="+0">the Guidebook is only a summary of rules, and thus not necessarily official or final. if you want to find the real rules, you must reference the actual legal rules that are written in our POS.

from the HOME RESORT RULES AND REGULATIONS. Section IV. Member Benefits and Privileges. Clause# 3 titled "Making Reservations for Non-Club Members":
1) Club Members may use their Home Resort Vacation Points to reserve Vacation Homes that will be occupied by non-Club Members.
2) When a Club Member uses his or her Home Resort Vacation Points to reserve Vacation Homes on behalf of a non-Club Member, and the Club Member does not charge any rental or other fees to the non-Club Member for the reservation, the non-Club Member is eligible for all or some of the Club Member privileges and benefits that a Club Member would normally receive during his or her stay in the reserved Vacation Home. If the non-Club Member is renting, it is the responsibility of the Member to notify Member Services when making the reservation. <u>Member privileges and benefits cannot be extended to non-Club Members who rent Vacation Homes from Club Members.</u>

(btw, this paragraph is found on page 50 of the July 2003 Multi-Site POS. i don't know if DVC has come out with a newer version of the POS yet.)</font>

<i>Originally posted by disneycrazed139</i>
Incidentally, here is one view taken from the mousesavers Web site concerning DVC perks to non-members:

"When you rent points, you are treated like a DVC owner during your stay. Your room key will say "DVC Member" on it. This is nice because it gives you access to the perks DVC members enjoy, which include free valet parking at the resort, certain discounts on restaurants, etc. There is one negative to being considered an "honorary" DVC member: less-frequent maid service..."

<font face="times" size="+0">Mousesavers is by no means an authority on DVC. i have noticed for quite some time that paragraph on Mousesavers' site, and it has bothered me that Mary is misinforming people. i never got around to contacting her to ask her to change that info, but i do believe it is wrong for her to misinform people in a way that makes renters believe they are <u>entitled</u> to the same discounts that a Member would be entitled to. the thing is, she herself was probably misinformed by whoever she rented from, so i can't blame her.

the point of this is that renters are not entitled to any Member discounts. for them to receive any discounts is a failure of DVC to enforce the rules. IMO, it's the responsibility of Members who rent out to tell their renters that they are not supposed to receive any discounts. to tell renters otherwise would be encouraging people to get around the system, so to speak. (not that there aren't plenty of people out there who just love finding ways around the system)</font>

 

[disneycrazed139]

Disneyberry--Thanks very much for providing this. All interpretation aside, it is good to know what the policy is and where it is stated. That's what I was looking for!

 

[PamOKW]

Disneyberry -- Thanks for finding that. I knew it was somewhere but couldn't lay my hands on it.

It has always been that if you accepted no compensation for the rental, the guests were entitled to benefits (with the exception of a member cash discount or LOS discount which require the member to be staying in the unit.) The reality is that DVC often doesn't know who is who and issue DVC Member keys to anyone staying on points.

In trying to track down that info, I came upon two other interesting statements.

"Commercial purpose" shall include, but not be limited to, a pattern of rental activity by a Cotenant that the Association, in its reasonable discretion, could conclude constitutes a commercial enterprise or practice."

Also, someone recently asked if they could rent the studio portion of a two-bedroom. I guess the answer to that is no, too since this is under the "Personal Use" description:

"No Vacation Home in any Unit may be divided or subdivided into a smaller Vacation Home."

Basically, DVC has rules in place to try and prevent abuse. My feeling is that DVC is very aware of all activity that goes on and will step in if/when they see a problem.

 

[disneyberry]

<font face="times" size="+0">you're welcome, disneycrazed139.
there is <i>a lot</i> of info buried in the POS's, and it's really worthwhile to take some time and study them carefully. i find the legalese a bit difficult, so i'm not sure i understand <i>everything</i> in them yet... i think maybe every time i've referenced them, i learn something new. heh. anyway, it seems like DVC is constantly tweaking the rules in the POS. they don't seem to be that well written, so they keep having to go back and reword things to be more clear. </font>

 

[PamOKW]

Back in the Stone Age when they used to issue updated pages to the Member Guidebook......they would also use literal examples to explain some of these rules. I recall one where they clarified this rental question but I couldn't find it without a lot of digging! I do think those examples were a good idea. I know it helped keep these things in my "back of mind".

 

[Beca]

While I TOTALLY appreicate the advice on this board, and think you are the most knowledgeable bunch of people I have EVER seen on a message board (as evidenced by the grammatical structure of sentences, and lack of misspelled words), I am truly feeling a little sorry for Tigger2005. I bet he/she had NO idea this was a "hot" button, and may really have just been asking a question for reference.

Likewise, I think that if DVC put as much effort into understanding and enforcing their own policies as members of this board did, this could've been a very short thread. Kudos to all who take such good care of all of our investments...even to the point of questioning Disney!!

Tigger2005...I extend congrats on whatever discounts you get...and trust that you will not be upset at those who do not extend that priveledge to you!!

Have a wonderful time at your visit!!!

 

[Dean]

I think the info on Mousesavers is simply stating what I did. That the reality is that a renter will get the discounts if they know they exist and decide to use them.

 

[FoodLover]

Disneyberry was kind enough to make me aware of this thread and the mentions of my paragraph on MouseSavers.com. I don't normally read this board because I am not a DVC owner.

I am going to rewrite the paragraph in question to indicate that the member privileges are not guaranteed to renters, but are usually (if not always) available to renters.

It frankly never occurred to me that there was any sort of rule about this at all. The information I provided was based on my personal experience of renting DVC points on three separate occasions, as well as MANY reports from others who have rented points. In every case we were given the same privileges as owners. I concluded that renters were treated as "honorary" members during their stay.

By the way, no one has ever reported to me that they have been denied any of the listed privileges when renting points. And believe me, I get hundreds of responses weekly about every possible detail on the site. I'm sure someone would have complained by now if it was an issue!

So I have to conclude that in fact, there is absolutely no effort made by Disney to determine who is renting and who is a guest of a DVC member. (And do you really want Disney getting into your business, wanting to know if you were paid for your points or if you just gave them to Aunt Sally? I don't think so!)

Mary
MouseSavers.com

 

[disneyberry]

<font face="times" size="+0">thanks, Mary! your response time is amazing... i don't know how you do it... i would've thought it would take you a few days to read through hundreds of emails before you got to mine! thanks again.

anyway, it's completely understandable that it never crossed your mind.

the whole thing with this issue is that there are failures on 3 counts, and none of those 3 put the responsibility on the renter at all:
1. Disney is supposed to enforce the rules
2. Members are supposed to inform their renters of the rules
3. Members are supposed to tell MS which reservations are rentals (in theory maybe that prevents the "DVC Member" from being printed on the room key)</font>

 

[tigger2005]

Thanks Beca,....

Actually I think this has been a wonderful discussion about the DVC. I think that it is great that the members are able to rent points. It seems to be a win-win situation for everyone involved. If I get some of the benifits that the members normally get, great, if I do not Great still.

I always have a great time at Disney World no matter what!!!!!!!!

And as you said, everyone on this board is knowledgeable and very helpful.

 

[chunkygal]

Wow this even suprised me as to the amount of emotion out there.

Keep in mind the ultimate "what you get"-- A DVC experience!! (priceless) -- A great vacation at a great resort with great savings. All the rest is icing on the cake if it happens.

 

[tigger2005]

Aren't we ALL just paying for a small chunk of time?? The members are just pay a WHOLE lot more than me.

 

[crisi]

Members are paying for a "big" chunk of time - which means they are also taking on risk that a renter isn't. You are paying for a room for a week. We invested $10k plus in our vacation future.

One of the discussions that comes up from time to time here is "why should I buy when I can rent" One of the reasons could be that renters are not entitled to our discounts.

Of course, DVC member discounts aren't anything to write home about anyway. Valet parking is nice - if you drive or rent a car and aren't staying at OKW. Restaurant discounts at a few places - if you want to eat there. A few discounts on tours and a shopping discount or two. 10% discount on UPHs, but no other passes.

I, too, wouldn't want anyone to believe they are "entitled" to discounts they aren't - and then make a stink over not getting them or plan their vacation believing they will get dinner discounts and end up spending more because they don't. If you get them, great.....DVC can decide how and if to enforce their own policies.

 

[littlestar]

Whenever we have taken advantage of the meal Member discounts, we were always asked to show our blue member card. We were told resort id's that say member on them aren't good enough. This happened at Rainforest Cafe, Yacht Club Galley, and Yachtsman Steak House. Always had to show the actual blue member card with our name and DVC member number on it. The only perk we didn't have to show our blue member card for was using the health club - on that they just asked for our resort id that said member and we were okay.

Tigger 2005, have a good time. You never know, you might like DVC enough to buy some points. Renting points is a great way to give it a try.

 

[WDWDad]

Very interesting !

So, if you rent your membership interest for money and do not disclose that your are charging you are violating the terms in the POS. Not that I believe any members who are currently engaged in this practice will change the way they are doing business. Still it is an intereseting developement. Thank you to all who dug up the research on this.

We just returned from OKW and I had to provide my blue membership card in order to obtain the DVC golf card. I had to show the card and my blue membership card to reuse it. We also were once asked to provide our membership card to pool hop. I thought it was very strange at the time, but now I am beginning to understand much more. More on our trip later. Including an interesting comment from the DVC member meeting at OKW on Pool hopping.

 

[dts718]

I am renting points in april for VWL and the only benefit I would really expect is the parking pass as I would get this as a resort guest anyways and the early open at the parks. If I am handed a list of discounts when I check in I will certainly try to get them and consider them a bonus if I got them. But I would never present myself as an owner or give a cast member any amount of grief for doing their job whether I agree with the rule or not.

 

[tigger2005]

Great comments DTS718. I have the same feelings about the entire DVC. I will be staying at BCV in Sept. but really can't think of any of the benefits that I would actually use. Just wanted to know if there were any available.

LittleStar, I have toured the DVC once when we were staying at the Beach Club. They are very nice and we are looking forward to staying at the BCV. I have also walked over to the one at Hilton Head Island and looked around, very nice. Maybe I will get one some day, but for now just checking them out.

 

[Dean]

To take advantage of these great discounts, you must present either your Disney Vacation Club Member card or your Walt Disney World® Resort ID card (with your "DVC Member" designation on it) at the location. When paying for purchases with your Disney's Visa® Card from Bank One, you must also present your Member Card at the time of purchase to receive any available Member perks.

From the members site. Any location that is asking for the Blue Card in addition is just showing their ignorance of the situation. Just another case of being consistently inconsistent.