Can Disney Takeaway The Option Of Booking Any Non-Home Resorts From Resale Owners?

HairyChest

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Can Disney decide that resale owners can only book their home resort? Specifically from people who already purchased resale. I know that resale owners of riviera can't book anywhere else. Can they do that to the resale owners of the other resorts?
 
My understanding is that they can change this rule, but if you already bought in you are grandfathered in. Like the change in Jan last year for resale going forward you are limited to the original 14 resorts. But if you bought resale before Jan 19 you are grandfathered in and allowed to book at Rivera and new resorts
 
Difficult to answer. There was a thread last year discussing the new Riviera resale restriction and accoding to many even what they did with Riviera was illegal. The resort joined the Vacation Club with substantially different rules than the older resorts. This seems to be contrary to the contracts of the older resorts, which require that new resorts can join the Club only with substantially similar rules.
However, unless someone is willing to challenge them in court, they'll get away with it. Grandfathering older resale owners was probably not out of good heart but to defend themselves from possible lawsuits.
 
So the interchanging of the L14 can’t be changed because of how the contract is written (access was granted so taking that away will immediately look suspicious to Florida). Though new resorts going forward they can change however they want since they are changing the contracts and how they are admitted to BVTC. I suspect they keep the grandfathered approach going forward.
 


The official documents, other than those for Riviera, specifically provide that any member (new or resale) shall be able to reserve DVC Resorts that are part of the system other than the one the member owns. The documents do provide that such right can end if certain unexpected events occur such as the DVC entities gong out of business, the resort is withdrawn from the DVC system by a vote of the members. Moreover, the right can be suspended (but not done away with) due to certain events, such as a disaster that destroys much of a resort, but the right then needs to be restored when the special circumstances creating the suspension are overcome. Moreover the events that can lead to suspension apply equally to new and resale purchasers and Disney could not suspend the rights of resale purchasers without also doing the same to purchasers from Disney.

So if Disney actually obeys the Public Offering Statements (POS) and contracts relating to the resorts (all of which it created), then the answer is no, Disney cannot punish resale purchasers of the original 14 resorts by taking away their rights to reserve other resorts.

The problem, however, is whether the prior resort POSs and contracts mean anything to Disney. The same provisions in the POSs and applicable contracts of the original 14 resorts that require Disney to treat new and resale purchasers the same when it comes to reserving resorts other than the one the member owns, also specifically provide that when a new resort is added to the existing DVC system, the same rules shall apply, i.e., the new resort added to the DVC system has to have same right to allow members (new and resale) of other resorts to reserve the resort. In adding Riviera, DVD apparently decided to ignore the controlling provisions of the POSs and contracts applicable to all the prior resorts, which prohibited DVD from adding a new resort to the existing DVC system that did not allow all members, new and resale, to reserve the new resort.

So the answer to your question is that the provisions of the POS's and applicable contracts of the original 14 resorts should prevent Disney from taking away the rights of resale purchasers to reserve other resorts except to the extent that such rights can be suspended (but not done away with) as to all members (not just resale) due to certain events. However, Disney has already chosen to ignore those provisions when it added Riviera to the DVC system. Moreover, during another dispute last year involving attempted changes to the point charts raising studios and 1BRs almost year round (later withdrawn), Disney claimed that it believed itself not bound by prior representations it had made at time of sale of the older resorts. As a matter of practice in the last 10 years, when taking away things from resale purchasers, Disney has always applied the change only to resale purchasers that purchase after the date the new restriction has gone into effect. That is actually its main methodology that helps it avoid lawsuits from existing members. You may be able to take comfort in that practice which protects reservation rights of resale purchasers of the original 14 resorts to reserve other resorts, but based on the acts of Disney in relation to Riviera and the point charts, and its attitude of believing itself not bound by its prior representations, you likely should never assume anything is completely safe.
 
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I think it would be a very difficult thing for them to do given the way the POS is written for those resorts, They are allowed to remove a resort from the club and then all owners are stuck at home resort, But it would apply to all owners, not just resale. I could see them doing that with HH and VB down the road..

I know they entered RIV with new rules, and there is some language that others believe shouldn’t have allowed it, but my guess is that there was something that was written in such a way to make that bold of a move,

I do not see them ever needing to put in that in place for L14, especially since when the 2042 resorts expire, those resorts will follow the way of RIV, and have those restrictions put in place then.
 
Beyond difficult, it is legally dicey at best and would certainly result in action by the Florida AG to investigate.

Some guides will claim Disney can do it. Some buyers will believe it. But it's really not legally or economically possible to make such drastic changes to the O14 due to how their condo associations and membership in BVT are structured.
 



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