Rumor: Is Disney considering a common use year for all contracts?

[MikeyK72]

Last fall, my wife and I were looking to add-on points via DVC resale and we contacted a few agencies about online listings. We were looking specifically for August contracts to match our existing contract's use year. While speaking to one of the resale agents (I can't remember which agency he was from), he mentioned that use year would soon not matter anyway. When I asked what he meant, he said that he had insider information (apparently he is good friends with someone from DVC management) that Disney was considering making all DVC contracts have a common use year of January. He said this was because it's more complex for Disney to manage in the current state so making the annual allotment of points coincide with the calendar year would make things easier...from a general management and accounting perspectives.

He said that Disney wouldn't be doing this immediately but rather within the next 5 years or so. And that they'd find a fair way of pro-rating all current DVC owners to bring them in-line with a January use year.

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't believe him. Even before he said this, I had already formed an impression of him as a salesperson who'd say whatever he needed to say to make a sale.

However, I thought it would be a good idea to see if anyone here has heard a similar rumor and if perhaps anyone can actually confirm or deny?

 

[Tom]

I don't believe this to be true at all. It would be a huge undertaking to re-align the thousands of existing contracts, and Disney isn't in the business of giving money back (i.e. prorating).

There are laws that govern timeshares and how they're sold and managed, so it's not necessarily up to Disney as to how they do certain things.

I think this guy's "insider" was imaginary, or someone working for DVC who's just hoping they do this to "make their job easier".

 

[BigTxEars]

Tom I would guess is right.

It would play havoc on the 7/11 month windows as well it seems to me. I can't see it happening but I am new to DVC so who knows.

 

[Joe]

No havoc on 7/11 window as that only applies to making reservations. The havoc would occur on August 31 with everyone calling in to bank their points on the last day.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I would hope not,for one thing I'm not common.

 

[tjkraz]

The concept of a Use Year does seem to be difficult for many to grasp. I can't speak to the legalities of this change but there would seem to be some benefit to DVC if they could make it happen.

However, the Use Year has a direct bearing on banking dates for owners and many people purchased a specific Use Year to maximize their flexibility. So unless DVC also planned some change to the banking rules, modifying Use Years would wreck havoc with many owners.

The purpose of the Use Year is to ensure that not all members receive their points on exactly the same date. Tens-of-millions of points being eligible to book starting 1/1 every year could cause a dramatic shift in member booking habits. Particularly in the years immediately following such a transition. Imagine a member with a December Use Year who didn't expect to get their points until 12/1/15. Suddenly they are told they can instead start using those points on 1/1/15. That would undeniably have an impact on availability over the coming year.

 

[slappy magoo]

Lying salesmen? What's next lying politicians and faith healers? I CAN'T HAVE ANY HEROES!

 

[jpittore1]

This would have come up at the annual DVC meeting- this was silly salesman talk.

 

[wilkeliza]

We just got back from a tour and our DVC salesman specifically said they have several different use years because they don't want to phones to be too bogged down at the 11 and 7 months. With the different use years they are able to spread out the calls. He told us it is usually by percentages and not when you buy so you could buy in June and have a January use year if they haven't filled their January use years by your purchase time. Made a lot of sense.

 

[DVCOwner]

For one I would like to see this happen, it would make adding additional points from the resale market much easier. As others have stated, it would not effect the 11 and 7 month call volumes because those are based on reservations not use year.

 

[MikeyK72]

For one I would like to see this happen, it would make adding additional points from the resale market much easier. As others have stated, it would not effect the 11 and 7 month call volumes because those are based on reservations not use year.

I would agree, the 7 and 11 month windows are calculated beginning with your planned check-in date...so that should remain just and random as it is now. Their could be an increase however at the end of the banking window as that window is calculated based on your use year.

Also, I don't know this for a fact, but it appears that Disney doesn't offer January, May, July, or November as potential use years (based on their banking window chart from the DVC member site). Does anybody know why?

 

[Bparso87]

This makes no sense at all for Disney but all the sense for resale. I could buy points from Disney in June and they can still make my use year in August but you can't do that with resale since the contract is already made.

 

[BigTxEars]

Clearly Disney is not going to do something that would help the secondary market by making it easier to add points

 

[MikeyK72]

Clearly Disney is not going to do something that would help the secondary market by making it easier to add points

I agree with that. However, if that agent really did have accurate insider info (which I think most of us agree he probably didn't), the motive behind the change would be to benefit Disney by reducing the complexity of management. I think that the effect on resale would be just a side-effect.

If they really are considering moving everyone to a January use year, Disney may accept the potential boost to resale to realize their own cost savings. Also, since Disney was smart enough to include the ROFR clause, they would still ultimately have control over the resale as they do today...meaning that they will still be able to control the amount of resale and dictate the market price.

 

[BigTxEars]

I agree with that. However, if that agent really did have accurate insider info (which I think most of us agree he probably didn't), the motive behind the change would be to benefit Disney by reducing the complexity of management. I think that the effect on resale would be just a side-effect.

If they really are considering moving everyone to a January use year, Disney may accept the potential boost to resale to realize their own cost savings. Also, since Disney was smart enough to include the ROFR clause, they would still ultimately have control over the resale as they do today...meaning that they will still be able to control the amount of resale and dictate the market price.

True enough

I hope they don't change but if they do we will just adapt I guess.

 

[Gomer]

It’s funny. When I purchased 3 years ago, I heard a similar spiel. Only then they were pushing everyone to February. We wanted a September Use Year and it eventually required escalation to “management” and a 3 week review process before we were approved to purchase September. Our rep told us that they were trying to phase out specific months (September being one of them) and it was a big fight for us to get our way. They were “shocked” when we won.

I know DVC tries to balance out the use years to keep things flowing evenly, so maybe this sort of stuff is given to them as talking points to push people towards different usage months? As far as I’m aware, September is still offered as a use year, so either Disney changed their mind over the last three years, or we were just being pushed towards February.