Year to year point shift

[pozerski]

I am looking to buying into DVC. I was going over the numbers, trying to decide how many points to buy. For a few years now we have stayed at the Cabins at FT Wilderness campground. This was always preferable, because each kid could have their own bed, bunk beds. And we would have a separate area to relax after the kids had gone to bed. Wanting to keep that dynamic we were looking at the one and two bedroom villas. I pulled up this years points charts and it looks like 300 points would get us a 2 bedroom villa at a number of properties for a good chunk of the year. Then I pulled up next years chart and it looks like a number of weeks were shifted into higher point rows. Is this normal? What I am trying to figure out, is if I need 300 points now, is that going to not be enough in a year or two? Will I have to buy more points later? Or is some of this shift of weeks because of the backlog of points people banked last year due to covid? Of do weeks just shift around year to year.

 

[RoseGold]

DVC has always changed the charts all the time. They can shuffle around dates, and seasons, and points. The number of total points stays the same (well -ish, that's a whole different discussion). So if one season gets more expensive, something else gets cheaper.

Recently, the charts have gotten much more expensive at peak times, just like the cash prices.

 

[Lorana]

Until fairly recently, Disney largely left the point charts alone, so it used to be that you could generally rely on the charts not changing much year to year. That hasn’t been the case for the last 5 years or so.

They are required by the contract to lower points in another season if they increase them in one such that the total points necessary to book the resort for the year does not change (beyond fluctuations of leap year, number of weekends in a year, holiday shifts). Disney can increase points in one season but MUST offset it in another. So you could find the time of year you prefer to travel increasing over time, but another period should then be lowering.

Past changes:

• 1996 – Reallocation of seasons at OKW
• 2010 – Shift in points from weekday to weekend
• 2011 – Shift in points from weekday to weekend (Part II)
• 2012 – AKV
• 2013 – BLT and SSR
• 2016 – Aulani
• 2017 – SSR (Standard and Preferred categories) and BWV (a few rooms moved from preferred view to standard view)

In 2019, Disney tried to introduce changes to the points charts that inflated lock-off points costs. This was contested by members as it violated the POS and Disney reverted those changes. (I don’t know all the details and am summarizing).

In 2020, Disney reallocated points between seasons but those changes seem to have followed the raise/lower requirement.

In 2021, Disney made a change again by moving to a 7-season system. This is important in light of the conversations around the 2022 allocation due to the POS and how points are calculated, and there is a question as to whether or not changes in seasons are allowed. Regardless, points are again required by the POS to balance out.

For 2022 charts, there is a discrepancy on the total number of points required for the year, as not all increases were met with corresponding decreases. You can read about it in this thread:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/dvc-point-balancing-2022-vs-2021.3820183/

 

[pozerski]

Thank you for posting the thread. It was a helpful read.

 

[Great3]

Until fairly recently, Disney largely left the point charts alone, so it used to be that you could generally rely on the charts not changing much year to year. That hasn’t been the case for the last 5 years or so.

They are required by the contract to lower points in another season if they increase them in one such that the total points necessary to book the resort for the year does not change (beyond fluctuations of leap year, number of weekends in a year, holiday shifts). Disney can increase points in one season but MUST offset it in another. So you could find the time of year you prefer to travel increasing over time, but another period should then be lowering.

Past changes:

• 1996 – Reallocation of seasons at OKW
• 2010 – Shift in points from weekday to weekend
• 2011 – Shift in points from weekday to weekend (Part II)
• 2012 – AKV
• 2013 – BLT and SSR
• 2016 – Aulani
• 2017 – SSR (Standard and Preferred categories) and BWV (a few rooms moved from preferred view to standard view)

In 2019, Disney tried to introduce changes to the points charts that inflated lock-off points costs. This was contested by members as it violated the POS and Disney reverted those changes. (I don’t know all the details and am summarizing).

In 2020, Disney reallocated points between seasons but those changes seem to have followed the raise/lower requirement.

In 2021, Disney made a change again by moving to a 7-season system. This is important in light of the conversations around the 2022 allocation due to the POS and how points are calculated, and there is a question as to whether or not changes in seasons are allowed. Regardless, points are again required by the POS to balance out.

For 2022 charts, there is a discrepancy on the total number of points required for the year, as not all increases were met with corresponding decreases. You can read about it in this thread:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/dvc-point-balancing-2022-vs-2021.3820183/

Thanks for the summary, now you make me wonder what the 2016 Aulani changed was, need to look that up. I always thought they left Aulani alone in all the changes, but I guess it wasn't so.

Great3