Would you pay a nominal per point fee to convert your resale purchase to a Blue Card?

[Jnivek]

Forgive my newbie question but I am curious why Disney doesn’t offer DVC resale purchasers an opportunity to pay a nominal per point fee to convert their membership to a blue card? Does anyone know if they have made this type of offer in the past?

 

[chalee94]

Why offer a blue card for a nominal fee when people are willing to pony up at full direct pricing? (You know that you can generally still purchase "sold out" resorts directly, right?)

Disney has never offered that kind of deal in the past. Many years ago, everyone was a full member but they currently restrict the full membership, blue card benefits for direct buyers because they believe that it motivates more direct purchases.

Based on Disney's offer to extend OKW, I predict that if Disney starts offering to upgrade, you will be able to upgrade by paying the difference between resale and direct prices plus another $20 or so per point...

Disney doesn't really understand the concept of "nominal fees."

 

[LAX]

Forgive my newbie question but I am curious why Disney doesn’t offer DVC resale purchasers an opportunity to pay a nominal per point fee to convert their membership to a blue card? Does anyone know if they have made this type of offer in the past?

Simple. No one would buy direct from DVD if this is available. Why pay full retail price when you can get the same thing at a substantial discount?

LAX

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

If it were ever offered, the fee would not be "nominal."

 

[Sandisw]

To add, they put in these restrictions for a reason so doing something that counters that isn’t the way Disney works it,

As mentioned, there would be no benefit to make it a savings for owners to buy resale and then pay something small.

They are more likely to add more blue card benefits and do something with maybe matching points, etc.

 

[starry_solo]

If they ever offered it, it would likely be the difference between the price you paid and the direct price.

 

[sethschroeder]

If they ever offered it, it would likely be the difference between the price you paid and the direct price.

Doubt it, it would be more.

Brought this up before but I think it would be in the $75-$100/point range if it was ever offered. The only way I see it really being less is if it was a very limited time offering. If they made it too low then you would simply buy resale and upgrade it which is not what Disney wants (at least not yet). They may get there some time in the future if they stop building resorts but its not 2042 yet so they can resell BWV/BCV/BRV.

 

[robinb]

I could see DVC offering a kind of "Blue Card" upgrade if the economy of their customers continues to tank. I'm no expert, but I assume that between no potential customers roaming the parks and the tightening of pocketbooks across the world that DVC sales are down. It would be a quick way and relatively painless way for them to infuse cash into the system.

 

[LAX]

I could see DVC offering a kind of "Blue Card" upgrade if the economy of their customers continues to tank. I'm no expert, but I assume that between no potential customers roaming the parks and the tightening of pocketbooks across the world that DVC sales are down. It would be a quick way and relatively painless way for them to infuse cash into the system.

I think DVD would rather offer greater discounts/incentives on direct point sales before even considering upgrade options. Not only would a new direct purchase generate more profits/cash on a per point basis, it also allows offloading obligation to pay MF on those points to prospective buyers.

Keep in mind that DVD gets exactly $0 on every resale transaction, there is no way it would offer options to encourage buyers to go this route, especially if it's at the expense of direct sales.

LAX

 

[D-Trick]

There's no way DVC would offer an upgrade path to non-qualified contracts. How exactly would that work? How many points would you need to qualify? Does this hypothetical also include booking at RIV and newer? You can bet that if they did offer an "upgrade," 99% of those taking advantage would just do the minimum needed, not a point more.

Imagine if an even HIGHER percentage of members had a blue card. What would that do to limited capacity venues and events like the Epcot Lounge or a MM? Only create more frustration at the inability to use perks.

With Disney raising the blue card policy to the current minimum of 100, they've essentially closed every loophole resale members were using. Today, a resale member buying a 100 point "add-on" is buying a contract that's enough to be a standalone membership since it matches the advertised minimum purchase.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Full disclosure I’m a blue card owner with a 25 points direct purchase.

With the currently requirements of 100 points direct IMO it does not make sense to buy that many points just to get the annual pass discount.

After reading multiple threads I know that some people really try to justify buying direct to get the perks.

IMO you should really only buy direct for the easyness and if the resort and contract size is not available resale.

Knowing DVC if they offered an upgrade option it would be like upgrade ALL or no points on your membership (multiple memberships would then benefit) and the price would be like $100 per point. That way Disney still makes a buck without being out anything. They could also ask a fixed fee of like $10.000 plus xx $$ per point.

So if you really want it you can do it.

 

[macman123]

I would pay $20 per point to convert.

 

[CarolMN]

I seriously doubt Disney needs cash that badly to offer Membership Extras (ME) for a nominal fee, and I don't think such a program would bring in any significant amount even if they did. Certainly it wouldn't be enough to upset all their recent direct purchasers who paid "full price"!!

IMO, the fact that this idea even comes up shows that their policy re ME is working to increase direct sales.

 

[Lorana]

With the currently requirements of 100 points direct IMO it does not make sense to buy that many points just to get the annual pass discount.

After reading multiple threads I know that some people really try to justify buying direct to get the perks.

It does depend on the size of your family, how often you visit, and how long you intend to keep the contract. It made sense for us, because we'll break even on the direct costs after 4 years on the Gold AP vs Regular Platinum AP alone.

I also think now that Riviera is open, and DL Tower looks like it's going forward, that there's another direct perk that's important to talk about, and that's the ability to stay at those new resorts. For folks who do not have grandfathered resale points (which I am one), direct purchase means I have points that I can use at the new resorts when I want to stay at them. I imagine as time goes on, this will become more important as more new resorts are built -- and as the older resorts expire, though admittedly that's 22 years from now.

 

[sethschroeder]

There's no way DVC would offer an upgrade path to non-qualified contracts. How exactly would that work? How many points would you need to qualify? Does this hypothetical also include booking at RIV and newer? You can bet that if they did offer an "upgrade," 99% of those taking advantage would just do the minimum needed, not a point more.

100% or nothing on your membership to convert them all to qualifying points. Its also likely $75-$100/point since thats what they seem to want to make when flipping contracts from ROFR to direct.

Who knows maybe they do something else but more than likely nothing. The math will not favor having purchased resale. Instead it will be a "buy out" where you don't need to sell your contracts and then buy again.

 

[ScubaCat]

Another problem with this idea is that it would negate most of the FOMO generated by direct sales. If this were offered, people would be less reluctant to buy resale thinking they'd eventually get an opportunity to pay an upgrade fee to obtain the perks. Also, if would raise further awareness of resale as an option.

 

[sethschroeder]

Also, if would raise further awareness of resale as an option.

Nah it would likely be a semi-silent offering sent specifically to the membership. It would also be more expensive doing resale and addon vs just buying direct.

I didn't catch until now the other thread saying its going to 125 points with that being said I think we can put a close to this idea anytime soon since Disney is going in another direction.

 

[zavandor]

If it were ever offered, the fee would not be "nominal."

This.
In the Riviera POS they have introduced the possibility to allow the "qualification" of resale points to full direct point status for a fee (not just blue card but also booking all resorts), so we know it's something they're thinking about and I'd be suprised if it doesn't happen sooner or later.
However it won't be for a nominal fee, otherwise going through resale + point upgrade would be much cheaper than direct and everyone would do it.
I can see them doing it in one of two possible ways:

• buy X direct points at full price (no incentives) and qualify an equal amount of resale points (e.g. if you have a 100 points contract, buy 100+ Riviera direct points and have all 200 points with direct status)
• pay to upgrade your points, an amount a bit higher than the maximum spread between resale and direct. So if currently resale contracts are $60 pp cheaper than direct, pay somethig like $80

I know many hope Disney will ask just $15 or $20pp to qualify points, but it'll never happen, buying resale and then upgrading will always have to be more expensive than going the direct route. It'll be an option for someone who purchased resale and then regrets it (because a new resort they like opens, for example) and so they're willing to pay a ransom fee, not something one should plan on doing from the beginning.

 

[Dean]

Forgive my newbie question but I am curious why Disney doesn’t offer DVC resale purchasers an opportunity to pay a nominal per point fee to convert their membership to a blue card? Does anyone know if they have made this type of offer in the past?

I wouldn't be surprised if they did but it wouldn't be a nominal fee. It's probably be roughly the difference between usual resale price's and a discounted retail price. But IF they offered the option, I could see them having specials from time to time that were modestly less. More likely would be the option to upgrade points if one purchased retail for say 50 or 75 points instead of 100 based on current minimums.

Marriott offers similar options though it's more complicated than DVC since they have 2 separate systems and more resorts. They allow conversion of weeks to points if one is not qualified and if you bought after the 2010 cutoff, it's a chunk depending on how many weeks you have. Basically you make an additional purchase of a certain # of points for $30K for one week, $40K for two and 50K for 3-7 weeks. They offer this special periodically but have done so for the last few years. With their Trust Points system you have MAJOR restrictions if you buy resale unless you pay a conversion fee. Currently one can buy Marriott trust points for around $1 per point and the conversion fee is $3 per point but it still comes in about half the retail price.