With resale restrictions in place for Riviera, the Villas at Disneyland Hotel, and The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, it doesn’t seem like DVC is interested in removing the restrictions anytime soon, but would DVC ever be able to remove restrictions in the future if they ever found them ultimately unfavorable? A look at the Public Offering Statements of recent DVC resorts gives some hints as to what is feasible.
What Does the Public Offering Statement Say?
Tucked into the Public Offering Statements of restricted resorts like Riviera, the Villas at Disneyland Hotel, and The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort are the following terms:
Most of these terms are already familiar to most DVC Members; any resale contracts for these newer resorts cannot be used to book at other DVC Resorts. In the specific example in this quote, resale points from the Villas at Disneyland Hotel can only be used to book at the Villas at Disneyland Hotel.
However, one small phrase that is easy to overlook is “or from an approved seller.” This essentially leaves the door open for DVC to appoint a third party as an approved seller of unrestricted DVC resale contracts that could be used at other DVC resorts, similar to contracts purchased directly from Disney.
While Membership Extras can come and go as they have over the years, one of the biggest selling points for purchasing a direct contract versus a resale one is the ability to use direct points at any resort. The prospect of being able to purchase cheaper resale points that aren’t restricted could be enticing to many prospective DVC Members and existing DVC Members who are looking to add on points.
How Could This Work?
The first question that came to my mind was, who could be that “approved seller”? While no such approved seller exists as of now, perhaps DVC would require some sort of approval process for third party sellers to become approved sellers of these unrestricted resale contracts.
Why Would This Benefit DVC?
I’ve speculated in the past about whether or not resale restrictions could unintentionally be hurting Disney Vacation Club as a product. If DVC ever wanted to legally back out of the resale restrictions, this small detail offers them a path forward.
Also, it’s highly unlikely that this status as an approved seller would come without some sort of fee. If offering third-party resellers an approved status generates income, that’s clearly beneficial for DVC as well.
While I’m not banking on DVC removing restrictions anytime soon, it is interesting to see that there is a means for DVC to do so if they ever decided to in the future.
What are your thoughts on this? Is this merely a clause to cover all bases as some kind of insurance, or do you think an approved seller is something that DVC would ever seriously pursue?
