Tiered Benefits

[tjkraz]

I wouldn't rule it out completely. Early purchasers of DVC did receive free park passes until the year 2000. But, they were not "gifted" from Disney Parks, they were paid for via an agreement with DVC Marketing. It would not surprise me to see "free" park passes paid for by marketing make a return, but I think the tier would need to be pretty high.

I have no way of independently confirming this but I have been told by one individual that what you describe has been happening for years with the Annual Pass discount. It's my understanding that Disney Vacation Development is charged some amount by Parks and Resorts for every DVC discounted AP issued. Probably not the full $100/$125 but some amount.

From DVD's perspective, the AP discount serves the dual purpose of sales incentive (reason to buy into DVC) and it also encourages add-on sales by bringing members back to the parks.

Following that same logic, I could certainly see an added ticket perk coming out of some sort of VIP program. It really just depends upon how much DVD wants to invest in such a program.

 

[Dean]

I have no way of independently confirming this but I have been told by one individual that what you describe has been happening for years with the Annual Pass discount. It's my understanding that Disney Vacation Development is charged some amount by Parks and Resorts for every DVC discounted AP issued. Probably not the full $100/$125 but some amount.

From DVD's perspective, the AP discount serves the dual purpose of sales incentive (reason to buy into DVC) and it also encourages add-on sales by bringing members back to the parks.

Following that same logic, I could certainly see an added ticket perk coming out of some sort of VIP program. It really just depends upon how much DVD wants to invest in such a program.

Given the FL resident discount I suspect that's unlikely but don't know for certain.

 

[Sammie]

I was told the tier program is not the focus right now, but new things coming similar to TIW that will be available for every member.

Personally I think the Lewis years hurt the relationship between the membership and staff and DVC. With his sales at any cost attitude he got DVC out of balance.

There has to be sales, to survive, but there needs to be a balance between sales and development, the current membership, and even the DVC staff and I think it got tilted heavily to sales and development.

I think the current focus is going to be on restoring the balance. Not saying that a tier program will never happen but I don't see it in the near future.

 

[Dean]

I was told the tier program is not the focus right now, but new things coming similar to TIW that will be available for every member.

Personally I think the Lewis years hurt the relationship between the membership and staff and DVC. With his sales at any cost attitude he got DVC out of balance.

There has to be sales, to survive, but there needs to be a balance between sales and development, the current membership, and even the DVC staff and I think it got tilted heavily to sales and development.

I think the current focus is going to be on restoring the balance. Not saying that a tier program will never happen but I don't see it in the near future.

My view is a little different. For too many years DVC was too soft and too member friendly and too kids glove that it hurt the business side and ultimately the members by denying potential off site resort options and better pricing on exchange options. It was out of balance from about 1999/2000 until the first reallocation was announced, IMO. It's still out of balance from a sales approach standpoint but there are hints it's moving in a direction that is better for the business.

 

[OhioDVC]

Most other major timeshare companies have tier benefits for large point owners. DVC seems always to be behind the trend in the timeshare industry

 

[lilpooh108]

You might go over to TUG and look up timeos2 (John Chase) and read his opinions about DVC if you want an opinion from an owner (former). I don't think I'm being unfair in saying it's about as negative as one could be. I'd rather read info from Brian any time.

I was curious after reading your comment about timeos2. I googled his handle and TUG and couldn't find anything specific comments about DVC (other than about him not liking Disney food and hence not staying on property). I also clicked on "more posts by timeos2" on the TUG pages and read through (briefly) some comments which were unrelated...

Would you mind posting a link to a thread where he discusses the disadvantages of DVC? Just thought it'd be interesting to see a different point of view outside of the DIS. Thanks.

 

[Dean]

I was curious after reading your comment about timeos2. I googled his handle and TUG and couldn't find anything specific comments about DVC (other than about him not liking Disney food and hence not staying on property). I also clicked on "more posts by timeos2" on the TUG pages and read through (briefly) some comments which were unrelated...

Would you mind posting a link to a thread where he discusses the disadvantages of DVC? Just thought it'd be interesting to see a different point of view outside of the DIS. Thanks.

I don't have a specific thread at present, I don't frequent TUG as much as I once did due to time limitations. TUG did change their format a few years ago and the archived info was all but lost. It suffices to say he's about as negative toward DVC as you can get and very vocal about it. I was VERY surprised to find out he was a previous owner back in the early days. He's irrationally negative IMO. The point was that being an owner doesn't necessarily give one perspective as well as that being an owner doesn't necessarily mean one is actually knowledgeable about the product.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Most other major timeshare companies have tier benefits for large point owners. DVC seems always to be behind the trend in the timeshare industry

Jim Lewis was the president of the largest timeshare industy organization (remember when he sent out information asking us to donate to it??) and DVC is lagging in the trend. Maybe DVC is the trendsetter and the others are just trying to catch up.

 

[Brian Noble]

It's probably not fair to spend a lot of time discussing someone who posts on another board. But, John also posts on DISboards under the user name TotoToo. It's easy enough to search for his posts here and get a sense for his style. You can draw your own conclusions, but my take is that John has some very strongly held opinions, and is not shy about sharing them. It is true that he's not fond of DVC (with the possible exception of OKW), nor is he fond of Orange Lake, Interval International, and a host of other entities in the timeshare universe.

 

[dizkneedreamers]

I don't see DVC setting up new benefits for current owners, whatever we got sold on for perks is what we're getting. DVC is sold to people in the moment, the deals on re-sale are too good that anyone doing there research would surely go re-sale. The only new perks will be thrown to new buyers buying direct.

 

[Caren90]

I don't see DVC setting up new benefits for current owners, whatever we got sold on for perks is what we're getting. DVC is sold to people in the moment, the deals on re-sale are too good that anyone doing there research would surely go re-sale. The only new perks will be thrown to new buyers buying direct.

I don't know about excluding current owners completely. Don't you think that will upset some big point owners? Maybe they give new buyers different perks (something that would cost DVC some money such as bigger discounts on AP's, etc.) and give current owners perks that have no direct out of pocket expenses based on points total (such as 8 month booking window at non-home resort if you own greater than 500 points).
Stephen

 

[disneydawn6]

I don't see DVC setting up new benefits for current owners, whatever we got sold on for perks is what we're getting. DVC is sold to people in the moment, the deals on re-sale are too good that anyone doing there research would surely go re-sale. The only new perks will be thrown to new buyers buying direct.

I don't believe this. They wanted to know what we would like to have at the focus group I attented and we had all already bought lots of points. They did say it was to be based on points and referals. I have never refered anyone so I don't know how they would add it all in. It sounded like it was a done deal just figuring out what perks to offer....

 

[Chuck S]

I wonder if Disney has vetted this idea about basing it upon referrals through all their legal channels, since several states do not allow the $200 referral bonus.

The argument could be made that "well, they are giving a discount or perk, not cash, and they are giving it on Disney property." But if that argument would work, why could they simply have been giving those people in states that don't allow direct cash payments a $200 "discount/credit" on their dues for the past 20+ years, or a free park hopper, or something? I sure can see a lot of state attorney generals trying to make a name for themselves by filing against Disney if this is based upon referrals.

 

[WDWMom]

We live in Michigan and do not get the referral bonus. We have had atleast 3 families buy DVC because of us and I think they used us as a referral but maybe not since we knew we couldn't gain anything from them. So if we did not gain, how would we know if we were to get credited for the referral or not? If Disney uses past referrals it is unfair to those of us who referred people, but knowing we weren't gaining our name was not used. Or because we couldn't gain, Disney didn't keep track of those referrals or Disney could "conveniently" not have that info. I just see the referral aspect unfair especially if they use previous referrals to guage the tiers if they even come to fruitation.

In the long run, I doubt our 371 (yes 371 we bought a 51 pt contact) points will be enough to give us much in perks. In reality, I don't care as long as we don't lose anything. We owe/stay at OKW and can get in pretty much whenever we want. Don't use 11 month window or 7 month. Used wait list once for BCV for DS's birthday when we stayed 2 nights. Never used valet since we use ME. We fly using the cheapest flights we can find not caring about which company. We don't use DP, we eat in the room. Never bought AP's, we buy 10 passes which are more economical for us with 1 trip per year and only go into the parks 2-3 days.

So as long as I can book my room at OKW, I am good. Oh, and that I can pool hop. It's really the only perk we ever use.

 

[sissy_ib]

I don't see DVC setting up new benefits for current owners, whatever we got sold on for perks is what we're getting. DVC is sold to people in the moment, the deals on re-sale are too good that anyone doing there research would surely go re-sale. The only new perks will be thrown to new buyers buying direct.

If they want e to buy more points they will give me what ever they give new members with the same number of points as me.