Interesting article that was shared on chat
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Super interesting. Thanks for posting here.
I haven’t read the article yet but I did see the discussion on the DIS forums where this story originated.
It was based on a survey that some members got recently, in which they were asking about the interest in a trust form of membership.
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Also based on actual corporate filings, so not just survey chatter.
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From the article:
But a recent corporate filing with the State of Florida has sparked speculation that DVC may be considering a major shift in its vacation club product offerings. The creation of the Palmetto Trust Association, Inc., on August 11, 2023, which shares the directors and officers of Disney Vacation Development and many of DVC’s primary directors like Senior VP of Disney Vacation Club, Bill Diercksen, has set the rumor mill abuzz.
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I need to read more of the Dis board chatter. I wonder if this has advantages for helping them dump Aulani shares by putting them in the trust? My main question being, would trust inventory be seperate from other inventory?
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This has now taken off, thanks to some recent filings for the Cabins at FW, whose Association is listed at the DVC Trust (not sure what actual the name is).
There is consequently some discussion over on the DIS about what this means. Frankly my head hurts trying to make sense of it all. From what I understand, owners won’t be buying a deeded interest in a unit but a “use plan” in the Trust.
I still don’t understand what this means for existing owners. Trust owners will have home resort priority at any property that is part of the Trust. So far, so good.
But there is talk of putting points from unsold resorts, like Aulani, Riviera, the Poly Tower etc into the Trust. Let’s say 25% of points at these resorts are put into the Trust.
Soooooo
Do owners of the Trust have access to only 25% of the points at these resorts, or do they have access to ALL availability? If the former then it doesn’t impact existing owners at Riviera, Poly etc. But if it’s the latter it does, that’s a lot more owners with home resort priority than there are points at that resort.
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It’s hard to foresee how this will impact existing owners without more details. It seems like they would have to figure out some way to make sure that the pool of people who actually use (not just have access to) the 11-month privilege for a given resort doesn’t increase significantly.
Given the imbalance in popularity of DVC resorts, it seems unlikely they could manage to strike such a balance. But maybe they have something in mind.
Heard about that a couple of weeks ago.
I don’t think it has much legs
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I think the court filings (linked above) show this isn’t going away. I am curious what the resale rules would be for Trust buyers and if this would be a way around those resale restrictions?
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Fair. But I think there’s a lot that would have to happen to make this come to fruition
Perhaps this is their 2042 solution?
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Perhaps they will grant trust owners ~10 month access, leaving 11 months access to existing owners???
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Welp
Maybe it’s not a long term plan:
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Does that make sense? If you own a trust interest in FW do you have any booking availability at any of the other DVC (non trust) properties?
I have no idea. 
I think this is going to complicate things over time.
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This was my question reading this too. It sounds like each property that has a portion of that property within the trust, can have different rules for reservations - but that appears to apply only to those who have bought into the larger Ttust Association.
So if you have bought into the Trust Association I don’t see how that links to the deeded properties.
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The Cabins are listed as belonging to the Trust’s Association.
The documents detail a membership as a use plan, not deeded ownership. That is a change in how all ownership up until now has worked.
All that definitely suggests the Trust is going ahead. The Cabins are due to go on sale in the Summer. I guess we’ll find out more nearer then.
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I have faith that the DVC owner lawyers will look out for the interest of the deeded owners of some of the existing points go into the trust.
Also, I am kind of glad I didn’t buy direct VGF points for the purpose of making sure I have access to new builds. I was close with some of those incentives.
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This is what I was thinking of when, not realizing they had filed specifically for FW Cabins already, I said it sounded like it was something that will take a long time to come to fruition.
I suppose with it restricted to just FWC right now it should keep it clean for a moment, provided use functionality is one and the same
Agreed.
I am wondering how in the world you sell Aulani or especially Riviera if people buying those points won’t be able to use them at new builds in the future!
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