RESALE POLICY CHANGE!

[freediverdude]

I think that the flurry of all these changes, in the parks as well as DVC, is probably the result of Shanghai, and that an order was probably given across the whole company for each business unit to come up with ways to squeeze more money this year. These are probably things they have had in their back pocket for a while, in case they needed to come up with extra revenue for their unit, and now are being told to pull out all the stops to make up for the cost overruns.

And the executive shakeups are probably related as well. Oh to be a fly on the wall in Burbank. I hope Iger knows what he is doing before he leaves.

 

[Sammie]

There was probably a time that resales did not take away much from the sales of direct. Pretty sure that is not the case now. As more and more buyers become aware of the money that can be saved to buy resale, then those buyers are competition to Disney direct sales.

Every successful business wants to make their product as attractive as possible to buyers. That is all DVC has done and really I can't fault them for it.

I mean look at it like this, resale buyers want every perk that DVC is offering to new direct buyers for less money. Honestly I am surprised it lasted this long.

 

[pmaurer74]

There are two components to consumer response: Intellectual and emotional.

Intellectually we've been telling people for years that "perks could go away at any time...don't buy for the perks!!" In that regard, little has changed. Except for people who may have been willing to roll the dice and bet that they would get SOME perks for SOME amount of time.

On the emotional side, perhaps some people will be so offended by this that they'll refuse to buy. Frankly I think this number is fairly small. Even without AP discounts or the other smattering of perks, buying AKV or SSR points resale is far cheaper than paying cash for the next 30-40 years.

Disney will package this move as perks being a reward for owners who choose to buy direct. And it's hard to object to that. For years Disney has offered sales incentives to direct buyers, most notably the 8-9 years of free theme park tickets for some of their very first customers.

Back in 2011 many people argued that the original resale restrictions would cause the bottom to drop out of the resale market. Yet here we sit with prices as high as ever despite every contract having 5 fewer years remaining. One could argue that resale prices would be even higher if not for the restrictions, still the most dire doom and gloom scenarios never came to pass.

As good as the AP discounts are, I don't think buyers put enough value in that for the resale market to take a huge hit. In fact, people who really want those discounts will probably just buy some modest amount of points direct.

Meanwhile, if DVC plans to continue offering new and appealing perks like the exclusive theme park nights, lounge, etc., it will be a nice bonus for owners who choose to make themselves eligible for those perks.

I think you could be right. I have seen many people say they will not buy resale now. One thing we have learned the past few months on this roller coaster is that people are willing to pay a lot of money for things that most of us would not... $149 for 3 hours of EMH and ice cream comes to mind. Although resale buyers are looking for a bargain and the loss of the AP discount could likely make them reconsider. We have all said for years, I cannot believe people are willing to pay these direct and resale prices and yet prices are higher than ever...at least before yesterday....

 

[dankil13]

So just received this email.... earlier Rachel stated what has been reported on this board that your contract had to be with Disney for ROFR review. My contract was submitted on 3/15 - but this really wouldn't have affected my decision to by resale.

Hello,
I just received a phone call from the Disney Vacation Club. Apparently the email that I received was incorrect. I was just told that all closings past the 4th are affected. Any closings that take place after 4/4/16 will not receive a member ID card and the incidental benefits will not pass on to the new owner. They explained to me that Disney can take away incidental benefits at any time without notice. I apologize to everyone that called me today with questions. I wanted to make sure this information was passed on to everyone correctly.
Sincerely,
Rachel

 

[ParkHoppers]

So just received this email.... earlier Rachel stated what has been reported on this board that your contract had to be with Disney for ROFR review. My contract was submitted on 3/15 - but this really wouldn't have affected my decision to by resale.

Hello,
I just received a phone call from the Disney Vacation Club. Apparently the email that I received was incorrect. I was just told that all closings past the 4th are affected. Any closings that take place after 4/4/16 will not receive a member ID card and the incidental benefits will not pass on to the new owner. They explained to me that Disney can take away incidental benefits at any time without notice. I apologize to everyone that called me today with questions. I wanted to make sure this information was passed on to everyone correctly.
Sincerely,
Rachel

Oh boy! I just got the same info via email. I feel bad for those in the process being caught up in this. Insult to injury for those that thought they were all set and grandfathered in with ROFR entry before April 4th.

 

[distracted]

This is so confusing. I was told it was based on the date the contract was signed.

 

[dankil13]

This is so confusing. I was told it was based on the date the contract was signed.

I know its a disgrace. You'd think a company such as Disney would be able to communicate with its customers the correct information the first time around...

 

[southerngirl528]

DVC is doing something they didn't have to do at VGF to generate those sales: offering discounts for Poly. That generated a 130k month. Before that, they had two 75k months.

DVC wants to sell at $171. That record week came from discounting $168 down to effectively $154.

Definitely agree that they didn't have to offer any discounts for VGF. Personally I think they made 2 big mistakes w/VGF. #1 I think the opening price should have been higher than $149/pt (that's the price I'm remembering, might be a tad off) as this is a higher end property with a prime location on monorail & #2 They should have never offered 50 pt Master contracts for this particular property. If they want to offer 50 pt master's, fine. But they did not need to do this at VGF. And the frustration for many VGF members as a result is that they have a very difficult time ever booking a Studio.

As for your numbers, I don't have THAT much inside info.

 

[southerngirl528]

I think that the flurry of all these changes, in the parks as well as DVC, is probably the result of Shanghai, and that an order was probably given across the whole company for each business unit to come up with ways to squeeze more money this year. These are probably things they have had in their back pocket for a while, in case they needed to come up with extra revenue for their unit, and now are being told to pull out all the stops to make up for the cost overruns.

And the executive shakeups are probably related as well. Oh to be a fly on the wall in Burbank. I hope Iger knows what he is doing before he leaves.

Boy, do I EVER agree with that post, freediverdude!

There was probably a time that resales did not take away much from the sales of direct. Pretty sure that is not the case now. As more and more buyers become aware of the money that can be saved to buy resale, then those buyers are competition to Disney direct sales.

Every successful business wants to make their product as attractive as possible to buyers. That is all DVC has done and really I can't fault them for it.

I mean look at it like this, resale buyers want every perk that DVC is offering to new direct buyers for less money. Honestly I am surprised it lasted this long.

Well said, and I concur wholeheartedly. It might not be a popular decision but I entirely "get it".

 

[goofy4tink]

There was probably a time that resales did not take away much from the sales of direct. Pretty sure that is not the case now. As more and more buyers become aware of the money that can be saved to buy resale, then those buyers are competition to Disney direct sales.

Every successful business wants to make their product as attractive as possible to buyers. That is all DVC has done and really I can't fault them for it.

I mean look at it like this, resale buyers want every perk that DVC is offering to new direct buyers for less money. Honestly I am surprised it lasted this long.

I have to agree. I have friends that have consistently purchased through resale. I 'think' their first contract, a smallish one, was directly through Disney, but not 100% sure. I know that they have about 25% more points than I do....and they laid out a lot less money than I did! I guess I can understand Disney doing this. My big concern is what happens when I go to sell my shares? We are considering a move to Florida in the next 5 yrs. I was going to sell my DVC contracts and use that as a deposit on a condo.
I really think the only perk that's worth anything is the AP discount. And truly? If you buy resale, and get those great prices, you can make up for those few perks that we get!!! The perks really aren't all that and a bag of chips. Not anymore.

 

[DVC Mike]

Yes, I got it too. One DVC Resale Broker just sent an email saying:
"I just received a phone call from the Disney Vacation Club. Apparently the email that I received was incorrect. I was just told that all closings past the 4th are affected. Any closings that take place after 4/4/16 will not receive a member ID card and the incidental benefits will not pass on to the new owner. They explained to me that Disney can take away incidental benefits at any time without notice."



http://i235.************************************************************* DVC Mike - *******.com

 

[Sophie_inBflo]

Yes, I got it too. One DVC Resale Broker just sent an email saying:
"I just received a phone call from the Disney Vacation Club. Apparently the email that I received was incorrect. I was just told that all closings past the 4th are affected. Any closings that take place after 4/4/16 will not receive a member ID card and the incidental benefits will not pass on to the new owner. They explained to me that Disney can take away incidental benefits at any time without notice."

Ugh.. I hate this back and forth. And maybe I shouldn't have said publicly (above in this thread) that we would buy 50 points from Disney tomorrow if our current resale contract didn't get these extra perks. Certainly Disney saw that and said, "Ka-ching! $8k from Sophie!" (Joking of course.)

 

[disneynutz]

Ugh.. I hate this back and forth. And maybe I shouldn't have said publicly (above in this thread) that we would buy 50 points from Disney tomorrow if our current resale contract didn't get these extra perks. Certainly Disney saw that and said, "Ka-ching! $8k from Sophie!" (Joking of course.)

The fact is you will have to buy direct if you want to be a documented member. Expect that the minimum direct contract size will increase.

Bill

 

[distracted]

I'm hoping for more official information, there is so much inconsistency right now.

 

[disnebraska]

I want official information as well. After seeing these boards, I contacted our broker who said they haven't heard anything new and that the written info they got yesterday is pretty clear about being grandfathered if the contract was submitted for right of first refusal before 4/4.

 

[DVC Mike]

I'm hoping for more official information, there is so much inconsistency right now.

Three brokers are saying it just had to be submitted for ROFR by 4/4, while one is claiming DVC Member Admin initially communicated incorrect info and you needed to close prior to 4/4.


http://i235.************************************************************* DVC Mike - *******.com

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

The fact is you will have to buy direct if you want to be a documented member. Expect that the minimum direct contract size will increase.

Bill

And that is why I think I need to get my 50 points now and by the rest resale before this happens.

 

[ScubaCat]

This is the second top executive to leave Disney, Staggs was going to be the new CEO, not a good feeling of what must be going on behind closed doors.

Bill

Ken Potrock will step in and save us all.

 

[WebmasterDoc]

Hi, I'm sure that somewhere in this thread someone may have asked but, my resale offer was accepted and my purchase was sent to Disney for ROFR 3/25/16. Am I in or out ? Thanks for any info!
Christine

You might want to check again with your broker. Some brokers are now reporting that any closings April 4 or later will fall under the new policy.

At least one broker has been sending out apologies to their clients waiting on closing after already sending them the incorrect information yesterday.

 

[disnebraska]

Well, our broker just called me back, half an hour after telling me he hadn't heard anything, to say that 15 minutes after he talked to me Disney called them and retracted their previous statement. If you haven't closed by 4/4, no benefits.