Disney Vacation Club writes to members with details of temporary cancellation policy

Mar 28, 2020 in "The Walt Disney Company"

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Posted: Saturday March 28, 2020 12:32pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney Vacation Club has established a temporary cancellation policy to handle vacation points when trips are cancelled due to coronavirus.

Disney's Vero Beach Resort

For reservations checking in within the next 30 days, Vacation Points returned due to a cancellation of a resort reservation will not be placed in a holding account and will be returned to the current Use Year and when a reservation involving Borrowed Points is cancelled, the Borrowed Points will be returned to the Use Year they were borrowed from.

Here is the full notice:

Dear Members,
I know the last couple of weeks have been a challenge for all of us. As we navigate the rapidly changing COVID-19 environment, we continue to make decisions focused on the health and wellbeing of our Members, Guests and Cast Members. Today I want to share another update with you.
As a result of this unprecedented pandemic and in line with direction provided by health experts and government officials, Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will remain closed until further notice. This closure affects all Disney Vacation Club properties, including Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort and Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa.
During this temporary closure, it is our priority to continue providing you with helpful and efficient service, even as the majority of our Cast Members are working remotely, including those in Member Services and Member Accounting.
Until the decision is made as to when the resorts will reopen, all reservations scheduled for arrival during the closure time will be automatically cancelled by Disney Vacation Club on a week-by-week basis. Members do not need to cancel the reservation online or contact Member Services. In light of the unusual circumstances and to provide more flexibility, Disney Vacation Club established a temporary cancellation policy to supplement our existing cancellation rules. Details include:
Vacation Points returned due to a cancellation of a resort reservation will not be placed in a holding account and will be returned to the current Use Year. This applies to all reservations checking in within the next 30 days.
When a reservation involving Borrowed Points is cancelled, the Borrowed Points will be returned to the Use Year they were borrowed from. This applies to all reservations regardless of arrival date. Please allow up to 15 business days for this process to be completed.
The following existing cancellation rules continue to apply:
Reservation Points returned due to a cancellation of a Disney Collection Resort reservation will be returned as Reservation Points to the current Use Year.
Reservations made with points Banked from the previous Use Year will be returned as Banked Points to the current Use Year.
One-time use Points will be returned to the current Use Year as one-time use Points.
In addition, some Members may have questions about reservation cancellations involving Points that are set to expire soon. At this time, we are evaluating the banking and expiration policy and the use of certain Points impacted by the closures. As a part of our evaluation process, we need to be considerate of the impact any changes could have on future inventory availability for the Membership overall. A decision will be made when we better understand how long COVID-19 will impact our operations.
As we anticipate high call volume in the days ahead, we encourage you to use the Disney Vacation Club website for general information – and we ask that you contact Member Services only if you need assistance with an existing reservation. Any Member who would like to book a new Disney Vacation Club Resort reservation or modify an existing reservation may do so through the Member Online Booking Tool.
We realize that disruptions related to COVID-19 are altering your family’s vacation plans, and we thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time. It is our commitment to stay focused on serving you with ongoing communication and updates.
We look forward to “welcoming you home” as soon as we can.
Stay well,
Terri Schultz
Senior Vice President
Disney Vacation Club, Guided Adventures & Expeditions and Golden Oak

Discuss on the Forums

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ScubacatAug 11, 2020

I doubt the current availability is due to people not having enough points. It's mainly people afraid to travel and electing to push trips later into 2021 which is furthering the problem of having too many points in the system, hence the borrowing restriction. Heck, the people who had 2018 banked points extended only have until the end of November to use them anyway. The thing is, people not booking the rooms right now makes it less likely the borrowing restriction will be lifted soon. The issue is too many points in the system in the 2021 use years. People hanging onto their points right now is exacerbating that problem. While it's not technically DVD's problem, they have to at least balance out demand for all the points they granted exceptions on during the shutdown. I don't know what the break-even point is, but obviously they don't want a whole bunch of members losing points in 2021 due to this. As a side note, lifting the borrowing restriction only for bookings in the next 60 days creates a loophole where people could borrow the points, book a currently open villa >30 days out, and then cancel that. Then they'd have successfully borrowed the points and could subsequently make a later booking with them. It would take another process to reverse the result of those circumstances.

nickysAug 11, 2020

But the people who are only going to get their “developer” points on Sept 1st or Oct 1st and have to use them by November will then have a very limited choice, especially since DIsney can take any of those rooms anyway in the next 60 days. And then ther’s also the issue of people modifying it to a later date and keeping those points. No way to stop that without a lot of effort. 🤷‍♀️

ToTBellHopAug 11, 2020

They should suspend the 50% borrowing limit for stays within the next 60 days or so—give people the chance to book a room with current points but when it becomes clear that rooms are still available, let members borrow to grab a room. Turning people away while rooms are empty is stupid.

GoofGoofAug 11, 2020

I say go for it. If this pandemic has taught us anything it’s that we need to take advantage of opportunities when they come up and live life to the fullest. One thing I would consider if you are planning to use the timeshare mostly in Hawaii is to look at Marriott and Hilton too. They both have resorts on all 4 of the main islands in Hawaii if you want more variety when visiting. Aulani looks amazing (never been there but may be doing it in 2022 if I actually manage to get my WDW trip in next year) but I was less of a fan of Oahu overall vs the other islands (don’t get me wrong, it’s still amazing). Pearl Harbor is a must do and seeing the big waves on the North shore but I could personally live without Waikiki. Too urban for me. It’s why I love the location of Aulani since its close to a lot of stuff but not in the urban part of the city. If you plan to use it at WDW too then Aulani for sure. The off property resorts in Orlando are very nice (stayed at the Hilton by Sea World several times) but not as good as DVC. All just my personal preferences.

correcaminosAug 10, 2020

Eh maybe then? Be sure the restrictions are ones you can live with for while

CaptainAmericaAug 10, 2020

The points chart. Price-per-point is comparable but points-per-night is not close. My general benchmark (excluding Aulani) is that I should be able to do 8 nights in a Studio during Magic Season for under 160. We would plan to use points there regularly.

nickysAug 10, 2020

Don’t forget the borrowing restriction right now. We don’t know when that will end. I’m looking to Christmas 2021 and I’m not sure the restriction will have been lifted by January when I’ll be booking.

correcaminosAug 10, 2020

Unless subsidized and you plan to actually use the points there regularly, don't do it.

CastAStoneAug 10, 2020

What makes Poly too expensive but CCV viable? They run around the same price, and neither really has any chance of being ROFRd because they're both new enough that Disney is acquiring plenty via foreclosure, so there's little risk to a lowball offer.

CaptainAmericaAug 10, 2020

If I did Aulani as my home resort, we'd be looking at enough points to do a two bedroom villa once every three years, so the points glut doesn't bother me. I'd be looking for a contract with bankable 2020 points and a trip in late 2021 using 2020, 2021, and 2022 points. The starting MF is high but so far they have a good track record of reasonable annual increases (as opposed to Bay Lake Tower and Hilton Head in particular). Viable: Animal Kingdom Aulani Copper Creek Old Key West 2057 Saratoga Springs Too Expensive: Bay Lake Tower Grand Californian Grand Floridian Polynesian Riviera (also I hate it) Contract Ends too Soon to Get Max Value: Beach Club Boardwalk Boulder Ridge Hilton Head Old Key West 2042 Vero Beach

CastAStoneAug 10, 2020

$8.33 a point increasing at an average of 4% a year. Resort isn't scheduled to open and you'll be staring down the barrel of at least 6 months of points glut - if the contract is loaded you may have trouble using all the points. That's a good price though and the flip side of the points glut is that it will be much harder than usual to book Aulani with WDW points at 7 months for the next few years.

CaptainAmericaAug 10, 2020

Someone please talk me out of buying Aulani at $85pp.

imsosarahJul 28, 2020

Not in the US? Where are you located at.

nickysJul 25, 2020

There is another reason which I just saw explained elsewhere, so I will attempt to explain it here. Not everyone who was granted developer points in lieu of 2018 banked points used in a cancelled stay have had a chance to use them yet. Those with an August use year won’t get those points until sometime after 1st August, those with September and October use years will have to wait longer. DVC will want them to at least have a chance to book something in the next few months, since the developer points expire at the end of November. And these points couldn’t just be handed over early either. DVC had to wait until the banked points have actually expired before giving members the new points.