I hope you and your family are staying healthy and doing well during these trying times. The impacts of COVID-19 are testing us all in ways we never imagined, yet we continue to be inspired by stories of care and compassion in our local communities and around the world.
Our team at Disney Vacation Club is deeply appreciative of the patience and understanding shown by our Members – and the helpful feedback and kind thoughts shared with our Cast.
Looking ahead to better days, our team is committed to keeping you informed and providing flexibility in your membership given the unique circumstances of this crisis. Based on your feedback, we are taking additional actions beyond those we previously shared with you:
We know that some Members had reservations for Disney Vacation Club resort stays during the closure period using points that are set to expire . 2019 Use Year points for April and June that are set to expire in 2020 and that were used for these reservations will be extended for one year from the current expiration date. 2018 Use Year points for April and June that were banked into 2019 and used for these reservations will be extended for six months from their current expiration date. Please note this temporary policy only includes expiring points that were used to book a stay between March 12 and the end of the closure period and that involve a reservation cancelled after February 29. In addition, to better support Member availability, Disney Vacation Club will not extend the life of our expiring developer points.
In light of this and to help with resort availability in the coming year, beginning today Members who want to borrow points to complete a reservation will temporarily only be able to borrow up to 50 percent of their future Use Year points per contract, as permitted by your Home Rules and Regulations. Doing this will help manage inventory and accommodate more Members who want to schedule their vacations once the resorts reopen. Points already borrowed for a stay outside the closure period will be honored, even if they are above the 50 percent threshold. We will continue to monitor our inventory and re-evaluate, with the goal of returning to our standard policy as soon as it is appropriate to do so.
Finally, some Members have had questions about how the closure is affecting their association’s annual dues . While lower operating costs are anticipated for each condominium association because of the closures, there are many unknowns ahead as the resorts return to operation. Our commitment to Guest and Cast safety remains our top priority, and changes may be implemented to the way we operate, which may add some new costs. Given the unique circumstances of this situation, the proposal is to issue a credit to Members in mid-December as part of the distribution of Annual Dues Statements for 2021 if their association has an operating surplus (as opposed to rolling all surpluses into reserves).
These changes should provide helpful support to the entire membership as our team works toward making Disney magic for you and your loved ones just as soon as possible. We will continue to evaluate the situation, make changes to policies as they become necessary and keep you updated. More information on these policy changes can be found on our website, www.disneyvacationclub.com.
All of us at Disney Vacation Club are thinking of you and your families and can’t wait to welcome you home.
All the best,
Terri A. Schultz
Senior Vice President
Disney Vacation Club, Guided Adventures & Expeditions and Golden Oak
It seems as if they are confident that at least DVC will be opening?
I am interested because I have a mid June reservation with banked points. I have committed to fully refunding my renter but I did not expect them to be open.
With the numbers the way they are here @melcort, how long before you think Baker will allow travel?
Good point! I’m calculating that they would expect the May/June 2018 points to be able to be used by the end of the year. I’m personally hopeful that Disney can get their resorts up and running by summer. June, I’m not necessarily sure about. But either way, availability is already miserable.
June feels like a question mark in general. I wasn’t necessarily surprised to see schools not going back, but I was (personally) shocked to see daycares closed until June 29. It also feels like a lot of summer programs aren’t going to happen. I feel like he’s setting things up for the 4th of July with that date. I have a mid-June rental on Martha’s Vineyard that is non-refundable through Homeaway and I am hoping if the island still is requesting that people don’t come that I will have a leg to stand on for at least a partial refund. But like many other industries, the Cape/Islands are in big trouble if the summer doesn’t happen.
My parents in NH are hoping that stay at home orders are lifted at the end of next week.
I think if June is cancelled I can apply those points to my late September booking/-maybe. I am hoping to book a few nights next April too. I feel like I would then take the September points and try to move them to April. I am just one example of how crazy this could be?
Honestly, just losing the June points is something I had already accepted.
I see this as a very reasonable solution to mitigate a total and complete logjam of points usage over the next couple of years. It’s not perfect and some people are definitely going to lose some things, but with the extensions I think the majority are going to have things saved from loss.
@melcort10 Governor Sununu just extended the order by 21 days.
Sorry
ETA: it was the State of Emergency declaration that has been extended; the Stay At Home order is still with an end date of 5/4, but may also be extended
Thanks for sharing! I just put in an offer on my first DVC purchase - resale at AKL. I had been wondering what they were going to do about the backlog of points.
I am in Virginia- they gave us an early school cancellation and a June 10 shelter in place order. Anything shorter than that seems fantastic to me!
Prices seem to be down mostly across the board from between 5-10/point, give or take. There have been a few incredible deals listed too, at the higher-cost resorts like GF, Poly, and BW.
From what I have been hearing on podcasts, the buyback rate was the highest of any month so far this year. So Disney is also watching for those deals; I imagine they are confident that while they are not currently selling, they will be able to swiftly offload what they amass during this closure.
It sounds like the expectation is that prices may dip further but will take a little while as folks who might need to offload look to see if other solutions to creating a bit of cash flow might work, such as renting points rather than selling the entire contract. As this pandemic and it’s economic consequences extend, though, that quick fix may become insufficient to meet income loss. I’m going to keep my eye on the market for now.
Check out DVC Podcast (@PrincipalTinker is that it??) with Chad Pennycuff; he has a monthly sit-down with folks from the resale market and they review how the market has done over the last month. I would expect the April edition to be coming soon as we are at the end of the month now.
The My DVC Points Podcast? He also does a regular Sunday Night YouTube show that is released, for pay, as a podcast but is free on YouTube. (How did I get this crazy?)
My kids just wanna see Nana and Papa!
