2019 Dues

[skier_pete]

Yes, at this last rate dues will double in 7-8 years.

I'm not sure why everyone seems so worried that the 10% increase is the "new norm". There's a perfectly good explanation for the increase (The minimum wage bases raising from $10 to $13 in 2019.) and it's essentially a one-time thing - at least at that size.

I also don't get the lack of trust that seems to be spinning around. DVC is required by law to provide statements and balances - everyone can go and look at exactly what the expenses are every year - and exactly what the income is. Disney does not make a profit on DVC annual fees - they are legally obligated not to. You can also look at historical increases. Some years they are larger, other years they are smaller.

AKV for instance went up only 2.66% in 2017. Beach Club went up 2.35%. Other went up by 5-7% is true, but it varies from year to year.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I'm not sure why everyone seems so worried that the 10% increase is the "new norm". There's a perfectly good explanation for the increase (The minimum wage bases raising from $10 to $13 in 2019.) and it's essentially a one-time thing - at least at that size.

I also don't get the lack of trust that seems to be spinning around. DVC is required by law to provide statements and balances - everyone can go and look at exactly what the expenses are every year - and exactly what the income is. Disney does not make a profit on DVC annual fees - they are legally obligated not to. You can also look at historical increases. Some years they are larger, other years they are smaller.

AKV for instance went up only 2.66% in 2017. Beach Club went up 2.35%. Other went up by 5-7% is true, but it varies from year to year.

I hope you are right. But the worst case scenario is why it took us forever to buy a timeshare. The conservative historical trend of Disney's member fees was the deciding factor for us. Of course, literally right after we buy in, Disney changes course. We would not have bought in had this rise happened before our purchase. We just would not have. We like stability. And this is not stability. I still maintain that it is bad management. Good management is not simply reactive. Just not good. No matter what reason they give.

 

[DebbieB]

I hope you are right. But the worst case scenario is why it took us forever to buy a timeshare. The conservative historical trend of Disney's member fees was the deciding factor for us. Of course, literally right after we buy in, Disney changes course. We would not have bought in had this rise happened before our purchase. We just would not have. We like stability. And this is not stability. I still maintain that it is bad management. Good management is not simply reactive. Just not good. No matter what reason they give.

Disney negotiated a pay raise for all their employees. It is not DVC specific. Looking at my BWV dues, the main part of the increase was housekeeping, which is the highest category on the dues budget. So do you want them to cut somewhere else to make up the difference? Maybe housekeeping only on checkout and cut the number of employees?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-contract-wage-increase-20180827-story.html

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Disney negotiated a pay raise for all their employees. It is not DVC specific. Looking at my BWV dues, the main part of the increase was housekeeping, which is the highest category on the dues budget. So do you want them to cut somewhere else to make up the difference? Maybe housekeeping only on checkout and cut the number of employees?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-contract-wage-increase-20180827-story.html

I am not involved in resort management. I am communicating that this increase is not in line with historical trends and that is a reflection of poor management one way or another. I am also communicating that had I seen this increase before buying, it would have given us pause and we would not have signed.

 

[DebbieB]

I am not involved in resort management. I am communicating that this increase is not in line with historical trends and that is a reflection of poor management one way or another. I am also communicating that had I seen this increase before buying, it would have given us pause and we would not have signed.

Did you notice in the contract that they can increase dues up to 15% not including Property Taxes? Did you question that?

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Did you notice in the contract that they can increase dues up to 15% not including Property Taxes? Did you question that?

We did. That is why we waited about 15 years to buy in- for a historical trail.

 

[zavandor]

I am not involved in resort management. I am communicating that this increase is not in line with historical trends and that is a reflection of poor management one way or another. I am also communicating that had I seen this increase before buying, it would have given us pause and we would not have signed.

You can still sell before having to pay the increased MF. You would only loose closing costs and commissions on the sale.

 

[tjkraz]

If I were to argue that the dues increases--and underlying pay raises--are unfair, I'd be arguing that nearly 40,000 workers employed at Walt Disney World deserve a full time wage of $20,800 per year. I'm not that guy.

 

[skier_pete]

If I were to argue that the dues increases--and underlying pay raises--are unfair, I'd be arguing that nearly 40,000 workers employed at Walt Disney World deserve a full time wage of $20,800 per year. I'm not that guy.

Yep - not a dang one of us owners is making anywhere near $20,000 a year - so I do not begrudge the pay raises (or the increase) one bit.

 

[siren0119]

If I were to argue that the dues increases--and underlying pay raises--are unfair, I'd be arguing that nearly 40,000 workers employed at Walt Disney World deserve a full time wage of $20,800 per year. I'm not that guy.

Bingo - and what the argument is really saying is that those workers deserve $20K per year (before taxes) and not a penny more so that owners dues don't go up.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Bingo - and what the argument is really saying is that those workers deserve $20K per year (before taxes) and not a penny more so that owners dues don't go up.

No, no bingo.

What it's saying is that DVC may not be doing what they can or should do to control expenses - like any budget that means looking at all expenses. You can be absolutely certain that when things go up in the regular Disney budgets they look at cuts elsewhere that they can take. Are they pushing back if the resorts want to allocate more common area expenses to DVC? Are they efficiently using their employees? Are things being done the same old way when something else might increase efficiencies? And so on.

 

[siren0119]

No, no bingo.

What it's saying is that DVC may not be doing what they can or should do to control expenses - like any budget that means looking at all expenses. You can be absolutely certain that when things go up in the regular Disney budgets they look at cuts elsewhere that they can take. Are they pushing back if the resorts want to allocate more common area expenses to DVC? Are they efficiently using their employees? Are things being done the same old way when something else might increase efficiencies? And so on.

While I'm well aware correlation doesn't equal causation, there is alignment between the rise in employee wages and the jump in dues. Your argument might make more sense if the dues continue on the same trend next year and the year after in spite of the fact that there won't be as significant a wage increase (after next year the hourly rate increase will be 1/3 lower until they reach $15 per hour). Could they justify another similar jump via other avenues? Possibly, but there's enough outside oversight that it'd have to be pretty well documented and subject to scrutiny. I'm not saying due diligence shouldn't happen ANY time there's an anomaly....just that this particular anomaly has a sensible possible root cause.

 

[Dean Marino]

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[skier_pete]

No, no bingo.

What it's saying is that DVC may not be doing what they can or should do to control expenses - like any budget that means looking at all expenses. You can be absolutely certain that when things go up in the regular Disney budgets they look at cuts elsewhere that they can take. Are they pushing back if the resorts want to allocate more common area expenses to DVC? Are they efficiently using their employees? Are things being done the same old way when something else might increase efficiencies? And so on.

So you are suggesting that since they are forced to raise employee salaries by 30% - they should respond like a school district and instead cut staff and services to keep the costs the same? We should maybe close all the quiet pools? End kids activities?

Again, I'd rather pay 10% more and keep services the same than reduce services by 10% and keep costs the same.

 

[CraigInPA]

So you are suggesting that since they are forced to raise employee salaries by 30% - they should respond like a school district and instead cut staff and services to keep the costs the same? We should maybe close all the quiet pools? End kids activities?

Clearly, you don't live in Pennsylvania. Here, the school districts just raise taxes to cover the shortfall caused by giving teachers raises and benefits that are far beyond what anyone in private industry receives.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So you are suggesting that since they are forced to raise employee salaries by 30% - they should respond like a school district and instead cut staff and services to keep the costs the same? We should maybe close all the quiet pools? End kids activities?

Again, I'd rather pay 10% more and keep services the same than reduce services by 10% and keep costs the same.

Read my reply again as it said nothing about cuts. And my response was towards pouncing on the idea that because people are upset with a 10% increase that the correlation is that we feel the Disney employees should live on a lower wage so we can enjoy our vacations for less. One does not even imply the other in any way.

 

[skier_pete]

Read my reply again as it said nothing about cuts. And my response was towards pouncing on the idea that because people are upset with a 10% increase that the correlation is that we feel the Disney employees should live on a lower wage so we can enjoy our vacations for less. One does not even imply the other in any way.

OK - I misread that as you were suggesting cutting services. You are saying the opposite. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[disneynutz]

Are we now paying for daily room checks by mousekeeping? Will they do a better job now that they are being paid a higher wage. Since mousekeeping is a non-tipped position will guests stop leaving tips now that they are being paid more? Will they higher additional mousekeepers which will improve the room ready time?

Bill

 

[Cyberc1978]

Since this thread is about dues, can I prepay part or all of my dues with multiple Disney gift cards online?

I see that on the membersite I can put in Disney gift card numbers, just don’t know if I’m only allowed 1 card, multiple cards or if it even is possible to do right now?

 

[Bing Showei]

Since this thread is about dues, can I prepay part or all of my dues with multiple Disney gift cards online?

I see that on the membersite I can put in Disney gift card numbers, just don’t know if I’m only allowed 1 card, multiple cards or if it even is possible to do right now?

Yeah. I did a BJs giftcard thing and amassed a bunch of gift cards that required consolidating first in the Disney Gift Card site
https://www.disneygiftcard.com/Manage/Transfer. After that, I was able to preload the consolidated cards to my account in multiples of $1,000.00 at a time, in anticipation of 2019 dues.