[WishUponAStar]

PS: I was told that RCI also has a "1 in 4" rule, NokeyNose can your friend verify this? I guess it's a rule that RCI members are only allowed to "trade out" every 4 years?

That would make me feel a little better.

[WishUponAStar]

BY THE WAY.... I did find an article that claimed DVC's contract with RCI at this point is only for 2 years. I honestly believe that if members aren't happy with the switch, complain enough, & RCI doesn't prove itself as satisfactory to DVC members as promised then the contract won't be extended beyond those two years. They would probably go back to II just as fast as they dumped them.

So, complain away, maybe the contract won't be extended.

[MissDisney]

You all are right, there is not much fair about a DVC member waiting patiently for that 7-month window knowing full well that highly desirable rooms are being "rented out to" (booked on behalf of) non-DVC members before you become eligible. Now that you mention that part of it, it seems to make a lot of sense to NOT join DVC and just rent to take advantage of the 11-month window at any resort, really.

I know DVC doesn't want people to have a reason not to join, so how about this idea:

Home resort 11-month window stays open for members only. 7-month window for renting points (booking stays for other people), for trade-outs with RCI, and also for other DVC members. That would at least give us all an even shot at some of those great rooms.

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by MissDisney

I know DVC doesn't want people to have a reason not to join, so how about this idea:

Home resort 11-month window stays open for members only. 7-month window for renting points (booking stays for other people), for trade-outs with RCI, and also for other DVC members. That would at least give us all an even shot at some of those great rooms.

Sounds fair to me!

[Boss Mouse]

Now I have headache.

[MissDisney]

Originally Posted by Boss Mouse

Now I have headache.

HEAD ON!

Apply directly to forehead!

HEAD ON!

Apply directly to forehead!

[leslieh]

Originally Posted by MissDisney

HEAD ON!

Apply directly to forehead!

HEAD ON!

Apply directly to forehead!

Now that is funny!

[NokeyNose]

Ok, so after a good nights sleep and some placing of thoughts in correct order, I phoned Disney today. I contacted someone in the executive offices and I we had a very nice discussion. The man whom I spoke with (Anthony) took plenty of time to address my concerns and he said taht if anyone else would like to have their concerns be heard the member services line would be the place to start. (I am sure he wondered how I got to such a high ranking office, but I have my sources!!!) They track every issue that is brought to their attention so please feel free! BOMBARD THEM!!!!

I discussed the fact that the RCI members get to book their vacations earlier than those of us that would like to stay at a resort that is not our home resort: He explained (like most of us thought) this following example:

Joe owns (160 Pts.) at AKL and doesn't plan to go to Disney this year, he wants to go to St. Martin. Joe calls up RCI at his 11 months window and books St. Martin. To do so, Joe commits his 160 points to RCI and then in return gets to go for one week in a 1 bedroom to a St. Martin Villa. RCI takes those 160 points and posts them on their site as 1 week available to an RCI member at AKL. Any RCI member can swipe them up.

When I discussed the fact that they were able to take advantage of room availablity that we DVC'rs have to wait until 7 months out to book, he said that in order to change that we would have to be subjected to the same booking schedule through RCI. (this would not bother me, we are already accustom to these rules, at least we would have an equal chance at getting a much sought after room).

As for why we lose our points to RCI if we have to cancel a booked trip and why an RCI'r does not: He said that he only could speculate, he did not have hard evidence as to why this occurs but he belives it is because the DVC resorts carry a "Higher Value" (seeing that there are a limited amount of them and the fact that they are well sought after), than a typical run of the mill RCI booking. RCI is more likely to be able to get someone to book at DVC than at a random hotel in their network, so we get committed to doing so. basically, RCI has a greater likelyhood of selling that DVC inventory than a regular RCI inventory, seeing that RCI's is more vast.

Why we have lost so many destinations/regions in this partnership: (I contaced my friend this am and she has access to many more resorts than DVC is saying we have access to. Ex: she has 18 resorts in Italy, DVC has 0). Anthony said that they did not purchase the entire RCi network, only a certain number of hotels for the DVc'rs to use. He said that if a hotel that RCI has is very popular and hard to get a reservation at DVC did not acquire it purposely so that they did not frustrate members who wanted to stay there but the availablity is unlikely or impossible. (We appreciate this I am sure) When asked, he also said that he is unaware of any intent to expand the network at this time. (So, no we will not be aquiring other resorts in Italy, my friend said to give Disney the benefit of the doubt, this just started so it could be coming soon! Nope, not happening!!!) The contract is for two years and if the relationship does not work they can opt to not renew it!

Standards of hotels: He said that Yes, RCI does take on various types of resorts, and they do have a huge amount of hotels in their network. (They are ranked and customers can review the hotels for our researching purposes) HOWEVER YES, Disney does have standards to which they accept a resort into their network. DVC is committed to Quality rather than Quantity.

Ok, so now that I have relayed all of the information, I will say, although Anthony was a sweet guy, I am still not happy with the fact that there is unequal playing field here.

I did express that DVC always made me feel "special" and that after this issue, I felt like less of a target client than an RCI member. He remarked that he did understand where we were coming from, but the booking window could not be changed, he tried to turn it around on the RCI member saying, look, they too could have a member that wants to get into a specific resort and once a DVC member free's up their points to RCI and books at a "wanted" resort, another RCI member could feel the same way, but this chick wasn't buying that!!! I said, something like "Anthony, you are so right, but my concern isn't for an RCI member, I am concerned about those of us DVC members that already know that since we bought into SSR with our hard earned money and don't have the funds to add on at BLT we will never get the chance to watch our little girls wave good night to Cinderlla's castle without paying for a cash room! Not really what I was told when I bought into the DVC. I was told that although yes, I am buying SSR and it will be my home resort, I have the abilty to stay at all of the other DVC resorts. That seems less and less likely! I guess I just thought that DVC was committed to putting their clients in the top priority, not the RCI clients. I know that Disney is a hard working company and it prides itself on making sure guests are satisfied with their experiences so I am sure that DVC will take these concerns and give them some long desrved attention to make sure that those of us who have bought into DVC stay satisfied with our purchase and continue to encourage others to own a piece of the magic too!" He agreed, and I thanked him soooo much for taking a call from a woman who has concerns about the partnership, I knew it wasn't exactly how he wanted to start his day, but I was grateful!

Now, let me end by saying, although some may feel that I took a hmmm... "tone", no, not at all, we actually had a great conversation that showed mutual respect and interest in what the other was saying, I am just poor at relaying things. Another reason I chose to call rather than write.

PLEASE contact member services and let them know what you feel is missing from the partnership, it will remain less than par if you don't!!

[rlcarmichael]

Originally Posted by MissDisney

But for instance if a BCV member trades out at 11 months, that DVC room becomes available to an RCI member. Which means a DVC owner at SSR who was waiting patiently for the 7-month window to open up, will not get the room. It is very unfair.

And -- worst yet -- if you book as a trade, you can't put points back into your account if you cancel. They have to be used on another trade within the use year.

Good reasons not to trade. I haven't really looked at it from the RCI side, but it certainly isn't fair for RCI members to get 11 months when actual DVC Members have 7 months. The way RCI weeks trades work, for a week to be available to book, a week has to be deposited. Which means that an AK member had to have exchanged points for a week at 11 months.

As far as cancelling reservation. It's actually the same for RCI members. They have to take their week (let's say week #14 at Orange Lake) and give it to RCI. Week #14 at OL is no longer their week for this year...it belongs to RCI. If they make a trade then cancel or even if they can't make the trade, they don't get week 14 at OL back. Chances are that RCI has traded it to someone else already.

Same thing with our points. While we don't own a set week, once the trade is made to RCI someone else will snatch them up. They are gone and can't get them back.

DVC management does a lot of things that are not necessarily great for members. If you don't like it tell them about it... DVCmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

ALL of th RCI resorts should be available to DVC Members. There are over 5,000 of them - many of them are low end but there certainly are some nicer places also. That's something worth complaining about.

I just don't think exchanging is a good deal. DVC annual fees are premium and somebody that's paying $500 in annual fees for a 2 br at someplace that you can buy on ebay for $1 can get a DVC unit with annual dues cost in the $1300 range. That's why I suggest if you REALLY want to exchange, you should buy a "trader" week.

[MissDisney]

Originally Posted by NokeyNose

As for why we lose our points to RCI if we have to cancel a booked trip and why an RCI'r does not: He said that he only could speculate, he did not have hard evidence as to why this occurs but he belives it is because the DVC resorts carry a "Higher Value" (seeing that there are a limited amount of them and the fact that they are well sought after), than a typical run of the mill RCI booking. RCI is more likely to be able to get someone to book at DVC than at a random hotel in their network, so we get committed to doing so. basically, RCI has a greater likelyhood of selling that DVC inventory than a regular RCI inventory, seeing that RCI's is more vast.

Why we have lost so many destinations/regions in this partnership: (I contaced my friend this am and she has access to many more resorts than DVC is saying we have access to. Ex: she has 18 resorts in Italy, DVC has 0). Anthony said that they did not purchase the entire RCi network, only a certain number of hotels for the DVc'rs to use. He said that if a hotel that RCI has is very popular and hard to get a reservation at DVC did not acquire it purposely so that they did not frustrate members who wanted to stay there but the availablity is unlikely or impossible.

So basically, they served up the DVC resorts to RCI as top-flight options to take advantage of, and thn did not get the top-flight RCI resorts forus to choose from? Hmmm. I just don't know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, it might dissuade DVC members from giving up a wonderful resort to stay in crummy dump. That's good. On the other hand, we sort of gave up nice resorts at II in lieu of gettign the less-desirable RCI spots, so even if soeone wants to book RCI, they will not have access to the better properties. That's bad.

All in all, I think we got shafted, and esepcially on the heels of the 2010 points charts.

[DVC Mike]

Wow, I just read this thread. People seem to be up in arms based upon some common misperceptions.

When a member "trades-out" via RCI (or even II, previously), their points are available for the RCI member to book the DVC owner's resort. In effect, the DVC owner booked a room at their home resort and then let an RCI member stay there, while the DVC owner got to stay at an RCI resort. That's what a trade is. The owner at another DVC resort has no right to be concerned that an RCI owner booked at 11 months while they have to wait until 7 months. In effect, the DVC owner booked their home resort at 11 months and traded that out for an RCI resort.

The only possible issues I can see someone might have with RCI (as compared to II) are the different resorts available via RCI than II. Otherwise, the programs are very similar (there are a few differences).

[MissDisney]

Originally Posted by DVC Mike

Wow, I just read this thread. People seem to be up in arms based upon some common misperceptions.

When a member "trades-out" via RCI (or even II, previously), their points are available for the RCI member to book the DVC owner's resort. In effect, the DVC owner booked a room at their home resort and then let an RCI member stay there, while the DVC owner got to stay at an RCI resort. That's what a trade is. The owner at another DVC resort has no right to be concerned that an RCI owner booked at 11 months while they have to wait until 7 months. In effect, the DVC owner booked their home resort at 11 months and traded that out for an RCI resort.

The only possible issues I can see someone might have with RCI (as compared to II) are the different resorts available via RCI than II. Otherwise, the programs are very similar (there are a few differences).

True all that -- that's why I revised my suggestion to be that the 11-month window should apply only to DVC members booking a room for themselves, and everyone else (other DVC members, RCI, and rental bookings) should begin at 7 months.... LOL that's in my perfect world!

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by DVC Mike

Wow, I just read this thread. People seem to be up in arms based upon some common misperceptions.

When a member "trades-out" via RCI (or even II, previously), their points are available for the RCI member to book the DVC owner's resort. In effect, the DVC owner booked a room at their home resort and then let an RCI member stay there, while the DVC owner got to stay at an RCI resort. That's what a trade is. The owner at another DVC resort has no right to be concerned that an RCI owner booked at 11 months while they have to wait until 7 months. In effect, the DVC owner booked their home resort at 11 months and traded that out for an RCI resort.

The only possible issues I can see someone might have with RCI (as compared to II) are the different resorts available via RCI than II. Otherwise, the programs are very similar (there are a few differences).

The first point you made Mike was EXACTLY what I was trying to express, I understand what you are saying there and totally agree.

I guess my only complaint with the RCI thing, that DOES upset me, is that when I joined DVC I was so excited that 'perhaps' I'd use my points to stay at an international non-Disney location. I even took my original DVC member book & circled II locations I was interested in. I wanted to try Oslo, Stockholm, I loved Germany when I visited back in 1996 & circled some locations there because I want to go back, and even Italy. Even last year I thought maybe I'd use some of my points near Barcelona where my best friend is living. GUESS WHAT, NONE of these locations are now available to DVC members through RCI. Frankly, the selections available to us now totally suck.

YES, I completely understand that it's 'not a good deal for us' to trade out our DVC points to do an RCI (or previously II) vacation. Honestly, I probably WON'T ever do it & pay cash to stay at a nicer hotel than what's available through these exchanges. ALTHOUGH, I don't like options being taken away from me & to be honest I kinda feel like some were.

That's my only complaint really.

[WishUponAStar]

I think I am done with this thread. It's giving me a headache & I had a bad day at work. I plan on writing a letter to member satisfaction & voicing any complaints I DO have but to be honest I feel like we're just going around in circles here. I am not a professional or know the in's & out's of RCI, etc. so I think I am going to go straight to the horse's mouth. I want to see if I get the same answers from someone than NokeyNose did, hopefully there is consistancy amongst DVC cast members on all levels. We'll see.

Thanks for letting us know how your conversation went NokeyNose, I appreciate the relay of information.

[Boss Mouse]

Originally Posted by WishUponAStar

ALTHOUGH, I don't like options being taken away from me & to be honest I kinda feel like some were.

No taxation without representation!