A report from DVC News highlights an updated policy that Disney Vacation Club (DVC) rolled out this month. The new policy aims to crack down on commercial renting that a number of members are alleged to be engaging in. The new change includes a disclaimer that members need to check a box that clearly states that the reservation is being made “for personal use only”. Here’s the latest.
DVC to Crack Down on Commercial Renting
The newly published terms and conditions specifically note that the reservation must be for personal use, but that you can allow friends and family to use the reservation “on occasion”. Disney does not define what “commercial purposes” are, but says that they reserve the right to define and interpret what is personal use and what is commercial use. Here’s the relevant part of the updated language.
You agree that any reservations made under your membership are solely for personal use and not for commercial purposes, as required by governing documents for each DVC Resort, including but not limited to the Declaration of Condominium and Membership Agreement.
DVCM reserves the right to interpret personal use and determine if reservations are booked for personal or commercial purposes in its sole discretion. Personal use may include enjoying the benefits of a DVC Membership with family or allowing use of any reserved Vacation Home to friends and family on occasion. Additionally, personal use means that the member does not regularly or frequently rent/sell reservations booked using their membership.
There is an entire industry of third-party DVC points resellers that connect prospective vacationers with DVC Members who are willing to give up some of their annual point allocations for a fee. This has been going on for decades, and it looks like it’s something that Disney is looking to crack down on.
It’s unclear how this will impact that industry, or DVC members who occasionally rent out points. That said, the policy and wording are very clear that Disney’s definition and intention here is to severely crack down on any third-party renting.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
I applaud this. If you buy a DVC timeshare, you buy it because you plan to use it. You don’t buy it to supplement your income when you have a slow year of usage. I used to be a DVC member. They need to get rid of these third party sites that make a killing off of renting points.
This may stop the “commercial” rental of points. But it also prohibits the rental of a few extra points that can’t be used by a family within the allotted time frame, and that can’t be banked a 2nd time. These points will now expire unused.
Hopefully, the occasional rental will still be allowed even though 3rd party rental companies. I live in Europe and can‘t make it to Disney each or even every other year, so I‘m glad to be able to rent out points to recover the annual dues if I can‘t use the points myself. And a 3rd party company just makes it easier for me to collect the funds and keep me safe from fraud.
That being said, we usually try to do bigger Disney vacations, combining points from 2 or even 3 years, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out, so it would be a shame to lose the unused points.
I would personally like to see the DVC remain DVC only and not allow Non DVC members the opportunities to use the facilities that were gained by obtaining membership. What I have seen is third party brokers gaining points through purchase from DVC members and they use those points to sell room and full facility usage to Non DVC members. This is an invasion of properties by allowing folks to use rooms without paying for the upkeep that is requiered after we pay off our loans. Why should pay upkeep for someone who may abuse and possibly damage things that could lead to an additional rise to fees above normal inflation.