In an announcement today, Ken Potrock announced new restrictions to benefits available to resale purchasers after today – including discounts on dining, shopping, annual passes, and access to member-exclusive events. In a letter to DVC members, he states:
Dear Disney Vacation Club Member,
Our goal at Disney Vacation Club has always been to create magical experiences for you and your families – experiences you simply can’t find anywhere else but Disney.
As our Member community continues to grow, we want to make sure we can continue to deliver the Membership Extras that add value to your overall experience – offerings that are provided as a premium advantage to our Members who purchase directly from Disney Vacation Club.
With that in mind, please be aware of a policy change regarding the availability of Membership Extras to our membership. As previously communicated (effective March 21, 2011), Getaways included within the Disney Collection (e.g., Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney) and the Concierge Collection, which are now part of Membership Extras, have not been available for ownership interests not purchased directly from Disney Vacation Club. Now, effective April 4, 2016, Members who do not purchase their ownership interest directly from Disney Vacation Club will not have access to other Membership Extras, such as exclusive Member experiences and discounts. Please know that as a current Disney Vacation Club Member (regardless of when or where you bought your membership), your access to Disney Differences and these additional Membership Extras will not be affected by this policy change. For more details about our Membership Extras program, please refer to our Membership Extras Acknowledgment and Disclosure Statement available online at disneyvacationclub.com.
We see this policy change as a very positive step to ensure that, going forward, our Members who purchase directly from Disney Vacation Club receive a premium advantage – in addition to all the magic that Disney has to offer.
Speaking of membership advantages, you’ve probably heard about the exciting Membership Extras introduced as part of the Disney Vacation Club 25th Anniversary. With this celebration, we’ve created unprecedented and exclusive Disney experiences for you and your family. In fact, just weeks ago, nearly 16,000 of you were able to enjoy the Disney Vacation Club 25 and Beyond Bash at Magic Kingdom Park. Meanwhile, more than 10,000 Members have entered our Disney Vacation Club Silver Anniversary Sweepstakes, and thousands of you have booked the Member Cruise sailing from New York later this year.
In the coming months we’ll be bringing you even more spectacular Membership Extras as part of the anniversary, from exclusive merchandise and one-of-a-kind events (including exciting plans for the West Coast) to an all-new Member Lounge opening later this spring in the Imagination! Pavilion at Epcot. And there’s so much more Disney Vacation Club fun on the horizon!
Thank you, as always, for being part of the Disney Vacation Club family – a family we are proud to serve. We look forward to welcoming you home again soon!
Sincerely,
Ken Potrock
Senior Vice President & General Manager Disney Vacation Club & Adventures by Disney
Copy of the letter: DISNEYVACATIONCLUB_414860FINAL
New Membership Extras document: MEADSFinal
The loss of benefits applies to any resale purchase closing after April 3, 2016. As of April 7, DVC now says that anyone with a contract that was received by Disney Vacation Club by the end of the day on April 3, will be grandfathered in to have the same access to Membership Extras that are available to others who have purchased DVC memberships from sources other than Disney since March 21, 2011.
While I understand to some extent Disney making changes to conditions of membership for those buying resale ,the recent price hikes have made it extremely difficult to purchase direct .
We purchased direct for both our contracts Akl in 2010 and a small add on a year later at Vwl we feel we bought at the right time as we could not afford to buy in now as buyers from Uk have no finance option , cash only .
However we feel Disney have made us feel less of a valued member of the vacation club family by being excluded from recent silver anniversary promotions as we live outside the US so no chance of winning a stay courtesy of DVC which kind of smacks of hypocrisy if reason for these moves are to ensure all members pay equal to receive equal benefits .
We still love our membership .
I think this is horrible. Dear DVC stop killing the magic! I’d love to add about 300 points to my membership but at Disney direct prices that will never happen. You keep Taking away rather than maintaining what was so special about being a DVC member. If you’re so greedy for the direct sales LOWER YOUR PRICES DRASTICALLY! Win the sale by being competitive. It’s bad enough that the majority of us will never stay in a Polynesian bungalow because we will never afforded the insane amount of points you set it at. Please actually read the threads on Facebook. Your losing touch with anyone but share holders. Maybe they are all you care about. Please keep in mind that DVC members are guaranteed tickets, food, and retail money for at least 50 years per membership because resale exist. Please remember back to when DVC began and members where special rather than taken for granted. I’m a TA and most my clients get better perks and deals than I ever could. Please tell us how you plan to make direct purchase members far more special because your prices simply are to high.
This is awful. I am a Disney fanatic and defend most controversial things you do. This type of move is only to better your bottom dollar. Why punish people for wanting to be part of your community. If resale is the only way for people to afford it, you should welcome them not take things away. How about instead reward new buyers more with more perks instead of taking away from resale.
Perks offered by DVD are a marketing tactic to entice people to buy into DVC. From a marketing perspective, DVD needs to provide some differentiation between buying direct and buying resale. There has to be some justification for the price variance between direct and resale. Clearly, the changes they made in 2011 have been deemed not effective enough. We have seen direct point sales decline over the past year, and this is a plain and simple marketing tactic to increase the value of a direct purchase over a resale purchase. Guides must be jumping up and down with excitement for this new sales tool.
DVD is a business, and it exists to sell. Perks are a marketing tool to help sell. The primary reason for DVC to offer perks is to help improve sales by Disney Vacation Development. Offering perks to all members does increase their goodwill towards Disney and increases the positive word of mouth about DVC from current members to their friends and family. A lot of happy members providing positive word of mouth advertising would be a good marketing tool. So, it’s good for business – to a certain extent. However, in this case, DVD decided it’s direct sales would be better enhanced by differentiating it more from resales.
Could not agree more. Another point to remember that if you drive down the value of the resale market it gives you a bigger margin on each contract you ROFR.
Well, here is my take on the subject.
The DVC sales have been down for the last two quarters. Management may see it as a loss of value for the customer, because resale prices are lower. Of course they don’t take into account that one of the reasons to buy DVC is the retention in value. So this brings question number one. How can my membership retain value if I can not sell it in the future, it comes with no perks. I see DVC sales dropping even more in value. And if direct sales are dropping the resales prices will drop.
Now if you are ok with no perks for a resale membership then just wait around and scoop up some really killer deals on resale. I live in Florida so I get the discounted annual pass and food and merchandise discounts. I guess I could live with not being able to go to a few parties.
How low do you think resale points will go?
Of course Disney has right to first refusal, but I don’t think they can say no to everyone. Or they will be buying a lot of memberships back.
Am I seeing this wrong?
disney already made thier money off of the first sale. the resale should be the same as direct sale because the original property interest was already purchased. if disney is worried about money then buy back all the resale properties. with the new resale changes its not worth it. just go buy a timeshare down in orlando or simply rent a house.this all because they built that new disney in Shanghai. disney went way over budget now they want to make up for it.