Wife asked "what if there was a fire or something"

[Franzenel]

she asked what would happen with our points if the hotel was closed for some reason like a fire. I said I really don't know. Do any of you know what would happen?

 

[kenly777]

In interested in the answer to this....

 

[bwvBound]

In stories from other timeshares suffering a serious issue (hurricane, flood, fire), the protocol runs along the lines of: all or parts of the property are shuttered; owners keep paying dues while the property is closed; repairs are performed as quickly as practical. The resort management or board gets the bulk of the repair covered by Insurance. Coverage gaps may be paid using the Association's Reserve Funds or, if needed, through Special Assessment of the Owners. When the resort is approved to re-open, usage is restored.

Edited to add: If I recall correctly, DVC Vero Beach suffered some hurricane damage in 2004 that caused parts of the resort to be closed. I believe DVC handled the situation w/out either restricting the Owner's use of points or invoking a Special Assessment. Anyone have more on this one ??

 

[tjkraz]

Agree with the above. There is also a provision under which the management company could elect to not rebuild. In that event, insurance proceeds would be distributed to owners based upon their percentage of ownership.

 

[mj2vacation]

she asked what would happen with our points if the hotel was closed for some reason like a fire. I said I really don't know. Do any of you know what would happen?

We owned Vero Beach when it was hit twice by hurricanes in 2004. We received a letter stating that we could choose to cancel our reservations with no penalty, or choose another resort to stay at.

Disney is not required to do that, but they typically go above and beyond.

In talking with an imagineer, they were very clear that they build the structures to endure severe storms. Even though the resort and the beach was a mess (all these years later, the beach has never recovered), it sounded like the resort itself was in pretty good shape.

 

[wdrl]

A number of different things can happen if a DVC Residential Unit is damaged or destroyed. As bwvBound stated, Disney may choose to rebuild using insurance proceeds, special assessments, reserves, and/or subsidies from Disney. If I recall correctly, HHI suffered some flood damage years ago and Disney loaned money to the HHI condo association to pay for the renovations. The interest on the loan was added to the yearly maintenance fees paid by each HHI owner. That loan was finally paid off and retired 2-3 years ago.

While the damaged or destroyed Residential Unit is being repaired, DVC has the authority to suspend the points tied to that Residential Unit. For example, if SSR Building #04 in Congress Park burns down and it takes two years for it to be rebuilt and restored to the SSR condo association, then DVC could suspend the point usage of any SSR owner who points belong to that building. This would mean that SSR owners whose points are in the 17 Residential Units that make up Building #04 (SSR Units 18A to 25A) would not be able to use their points anywhere in the DVC system, neither at SSR nor another DVC resort or exchange option. Other SSR owners whose points are from the other 322 Residential Units at SSR would be unaffected.

Furthermore, if Disney decided not to rebuild Building #04, then the SSR owners belonging to those 17 Residential Units would receive prorated shares of the insurance settlement, if any, and would have their deeds terminated. Those points would no longer exist.

 

[DenLo]

I would expect it would depend on availability at other resorts and whether they could absorb a year's worth of points from the resort that was closed for remodel/construction. But DVC is large enough that I would expect it could be done as you have a year or two to use your points.

And DVC can elect to close a resort if it too expensive to rebuild. Then the insurance is shared amongst DVC and the affected owners.

It is actually in writing in the first Declaration for your resort (for BLT it is on pages 19 out of 94 and page 21 out of 94) which you can download for the Florida resorts through the County Comptroller (Orange County Comptroller) And if you purchased direct you might have been given a book, Public Offering Statement(s) which also has these details. I suggest you read it.

 

[drusba]

All of the above are correct. Adding to them, the association's obligation is to reconstruct if possible and it can choose not to do so only if reconstruction is not feasible. Moreover, it is required to reconstruct units substantially similar to what was there before, e.g., if VGF burned down, it would rebuild VGF and not turn it into some long houses. Also, the association can, but is not required to, use business interruption insurance during the time of reconstruction to lease temporary replacements, e.g., if some portion of BWV was destroyed by fire, it could possibly do an arrangement to allow members to use some BWI rooms during reconstruction.

 

[Franzenel]

Good to know. Hope it doesn't happen though.

 

[Dean]

The rule is if the area affected is written off, you lose your ownership. If they plan to rebuild, you can use your points in the interim.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

The rule is if the area affected is written off, you lose your ownership. If they plan to rebuild, you can use your points in the interim.

Lose is a hard word. More like "bought out by insurance"

 

[Dean]

Lose is a hard word. More like "bought out by insurance"

Possibly but it's not like there'd be a big payout. Likely significantly less per point than the resale prices.