Cancellation policy

Teamjame

Earning My Ears
Joined
Dec 26, 2017
We are not DVC members but have friends who booked a reservation for us using their points. Our trip is in 2 weeks. It’s a very long story, but we may need to cancel due to COVID exposure and the need to quarantine at home (still awaiting guidance from healthcare professionals). I don’t want to talk to our friends just yet because I don’t want them to freak out until we know for sure. And of course we will still pay them for our stay even if we can’t go, but what is the cancellation policy right now, particularly if we wouldn’t even be allowed on Disney property per their resort guidelines? I can’t find DVC cancellation policies due to COVID on Disney’s website right now!
 
DVC is different in that what will happen depends on the status of the points being used,

Right now, they are waiving the holding penalty which means that points are not restricted to 60 day advance bookings, but it could end at any time so tomorrow, it could be changed,

But, even without that, the points could still have limitations. If they are banked points, they will expire at the end of the UY.

If they are points beyond the banking deadline, they will expire at the end of the UY.

Borrowed points might get returned, but again, it’s a policy that could change at any time as this to is a temporary change,

Honestly, it really is a discussion you have to have with them because it depends on their specific points.

There are no special exceptions for travel restrictions as this is a timeshare and you are booked via an owner,

Hopefully, you all decided what would happen if a cancellation occurred, but since you will pay them in full anyway, it should be fine.
 
DVC is different in that what will happen depends on the status of the points being used,

Right now, they are waiving the holding penalty which means that points are not restricted to 60 day advance bookings, but it could end at any time so tomorrow, it could be changed,

But, even without that, the points could still have limitations. If they are banked points, they will expire at the end of the UY.

If they are points beyond the banking deadline, they will expire at the end of the UY.

Borrowed points might get returned, but again, it’s a policy that could change at any time as this to is a temporary change,

Honestly, it really is a discussion you have to have with them because it depends on their specific points.

There are no special exceptions for travel restrictions as this is a timeshare and you are booked via an owner,

Hopefully, you all decided what would happen if a cancellation occurred, but since you will pay them in full anyway, it should be fine.
Ok thank you. In my little bit of research I was able to do online today, I figured that the use year would come into play when trying to figure this out. We will discuss it with them. We are prepared to pay them in full no matter what, but I would feel bad if they “wasted” points on us (even know I know they will understand).
 
Just a follow up question because we did end up having to cancel due to exposure to COVID and now symptoms have developed within our family. Our friends ended up canceling the reservation for us and gave us a random $$ amount that we owe them, but said that they were able to have all points refunded back to their account but they purchased points to add one night to the reservation. We really don’t want bad blood with our friends, but they weren’t really transparent about why we owe the amount we owe and it’s roughly half the total cost they were charging us for 7 nights. But they said it was for adding that one additional night out of pocket? I am confused. How does adding a night paying cash for points work? Is there a dollar amount per point that Disney charges in this case? Honestly, with all of the COVID stress going on, I’m just trying to understand if our friends were unfair to us? They seemed very angry that we cancelled even though they know the circumstances. They were very excited to be traveling to Disney with us, but this last-minute cancellation is obviously way beyond our control.
Lesson learned that we will never mix money with friends again. They just insisted that we use their points rather than go through Disney and book cash (as we’ve always done in the past). Never again. Not worth questioning a friendship.
 


Just a follow up question because we did end up having to cancel due to exposure to COVID and now symptoms have developed within our family. Our friends ended up canceling the reservation for us and gave us a random $$ amount that we owe them, but said that they were able to have all points refunded back to their account but they purchased points to add one night to the reservation. We really don’t want bad blood with our friends, but they weren’t really transparent about why we owe the amount we owe and it’s roughly half the total cost they were charging us for 7 nights. But they said it was for adding that one additional night out of pocket? I am confused. How does adding a night paying cash for points work? Is there a dollar amount per point that Disney charges in this case? Honestly, with all of the COVID stress going on, I’m just trying to understand if our friends were unfair to us? They seemed very angry that we cancelled even though they know the circumstances. They were very excited to be traveling to Disney with us, but this last-minute cancellation is obviously way beyond our control.
Lesson learned that we will never mix money with friends again. They just insisted that we use their points rather than go through Disney and book cash (as we’ve always done in the past). Never again. Not worth questioning a friendship.
i'm very sorry that you had to cancel.
Please understand that even if they got the points back, the points may have very little to no value. If the points expire soon, they, at the very least, would likely lose the dues on those points. Dues for this year range anywhere from $6.56 to $10.13 each point (more if borrowed from next year). Even if the points have a longer expiration and they are able to rent them out to someone else, they are now closer to the points' expiration, & would likely get much less than had they rented them out a while ago. Also consider that many people have points expiring, so there is a glut of points at cheap prices for reservations in the near future.
I understand that you must be frustrated & questioning the friendship, but just wanted to help you understand how they might feel - many DVC owners won't rent to friends or family because of the possibility of losing money and/or points.
I hope you & your family stay healthy, and your friendship endures this. Good luck!
 
Just a follow up question because we did end up having to cancel due to exposure to COVID and now symptoms have developed within our family. Our friends ended up canceling the reservation for us and gave us a random $$ amount that we owe them, but said that they were able to have all points refunded back to their account but they purchased points to add one night to the reservation. We really don’t want bad blood with our friends, but they weren’t really transparent about why we owe the amount we owe and it’s roughly half the total cost they were charging us for 7 nights. But they said it was for adding that one additional night out of pocket? I am confused. How does adding a night paying cash for points work? Is there a dollar amount per point that Disney charges in this case? Honestly, with all of the COVID stress going on, I’m just trying to understand if our friends were unfair to us? They seemed very angry that we cancelled even though they know the circumstances. They were very excited to be traveling to Disney with us, but this last-minute cancellation is obviously way beyond our control.
Lesson learned that we will never mix money with friends again. They just insisted that we use their points rather than go through Disney and book cash (as we’ve always done in the past). Never again. Not worth questioning a friendship.
If you have to ask that question, I honestly think you already know the answer. Also, if you were prepared to pay them the full amount anyway, why would you question what you were told? I’ve made many visits with friends using my points to help them save money.

There was only one time that this very same situation occurred and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. From that point on, I vowed to never assist them with saving money on reservations again. True to my word, I’ve declined every time these so called friends reached out to try to save money using my points. Of course it now makes me the villain 🦹‍♀️ So I wear that badge proudly.

Renting from friends can be a great experience for all parties involved when both parties adhere to the contract.

I’m sorry your friends are upset about you canceling due to Covid exposure. I’d re think my friendship going forward. I hope you and your family recovers soon and have an awesome visit in the near future.


PS.... Did your friend offer to let you rebook? or use the points at a later time? Was that even an option?
 


If you have to ask that question, I honestly think you already know the answer. Also, if you were prepared to pay them the full amount anyway, why would you question what you were told? I’ve made many visits with friends using my points to help them save money.

There was only one time that this very same situation occurred and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. From that point on, I vowed to never assist them with saving money on reservations again. True to my word, I’ve declined every time these so called friends reached out to try to save money using my points. Of course it now makes me the villain 🦹‍♀️ So I wear that badge proudly.

Renting from friends can be a great experience for all parties involved when both parties adhere to the contract.

I’m sorry your friends are upset about you canceling due to Covid exposure. I’d re think my friendship going forward. I hope you and your family recovers soon and have an awesome visit in the near future.


PS.... Did your friend offer to let you rebook? or use the points at a later time? Was that even an option?
The only reason that I’m questioning it was that when we spoke to them about the hypothetical situation of possibly needing to quarantine, we made the offer that we would cover all costs. They told us we would owe nothing and that all of their points were refundable. Then we found out that we definitely needed to quarantine (and that same day, the first family member started with symptoms) and then the story changed. They wanted us to ignore the quarantine orders which we simply weren’t going to do. So unfortunately I feel like they are charging us out of spite, which leaves a bad taste in our mouths for sure. Especially since they don’t seem concerned at all about our health at this point. No offer was made to rebook.
But again, we will chalk this up to an important lesson learned. We had a non-DVC room already booked and they were adamant that we stay at the same resort as them and use their points. Given the current situation with COVID, we should have kept the regular resort room which would have been 100% refundable. That’s our fault for entering into an agreement that wasn’t 100% refundable. It just sucks that the friendship had to also take a hit in the process.
 
The only reason that I’m questioning it was that when we spoke to them about the hypothetical situation of possibly needing to quarantine, we made the offer that we would cover all costs. They told us we would owe nothing and that all of their points were refundable. Then we found out that we definitely needed to quarantine (and that same day, the first family member started with symptoms) and then the story changed. They wanted us to ignore the quarantine orders which we simply weren’t going to do. So unfortunately I feel like they are charging us out of spite, which leaves a bad taste in our mouths for sure. Especially since they don’t seem concerned at all about our health at this point. No offer was made to rebook.
But again, we will chalk this up to an important lesson learned. We had a non-DVC room already booked and they were adamant that we stay at the same resort as them and use their points. Given the current situation with COVID, we should have kept the regular resort room which would have been 100% refundable. That’s our fault for entering into an agreement that wasn’t 100% refundable. It just sucks that the friendship had to also take a hit in the process.

It is possible that they added that additional night on via cash and did not use OTU points which are $19/pt.

DVC does offer a 25% discount if the room is available so it’s possible that is what they are referring to which could be more than you think,

I am sorry that you have to cancel out but in most cases, rentals are non refundable and the hard part is that this should have been discussed before the rental so both sides knew what to expect.

As mentioned, having the points back, if they have no use for them, doesn’t mean much.

Obviously the best is to just give them what they are asking and move on.
 
It is possible that they added that additional night on via cash and did not use OTU points which are $19/pt.

DVC does offer a 25% discount if the room is available so it’s possible that is what they are referring to which could be more than you think,

I am sorry that you have to cancel out but in most cases, rentals are non refundable and the hard part is that this should have been discussed before the rental so both sides knew what to expect.

As mentioned, having the points back, if they have no use for them, doesn’t mean much.

Obviously the best is to just give them what they are asking and move on.
Yep, that’s what we did. The amount they asked for has already been paid to them. My post here was honestly just to make me feel better that maybe they weren’t just being nasty and they really were out that money. But I realize now that everything is entirely based on their specific situation with their points and how they are able to use them. I wish they would have explained to us why we suddenly owed them money and when I politely asked, nothing was explained. Again, we should have had more of a written contract. But because we’re friends, we didn’t do that like we would have done if we had rented points from someone we didn’t know. Now we know what not to do in the future.
 
The only reason that I’m questioning it was that when we spoke to them about the hypothetical situation of possibly needing to quarantine, we made the offer that we would cover all costs. They told us we would owe nothing and that all of their points were refundable. Then we found out that we definitely needed to quarantine (and that same day, the first family member started with symptoms) and then the story changed. They wanted us to ignore the quarantine orders which we simply weren’t going to do. So unfortunately I feel like they are charging us out of spite, which leaves a bad taste in our mouths for sure. Especially since they don’t seem concerned at all about our health at this point. No offer was made to rebook.
But again, we will chalk this up to an important lesson learned. We had a non-DVC room already booked and they were adamant that we stay at the same resort as them and use their points. Given the current situation with COVID, we should have kept the regular resort room which would have been 100% refundable. That’s our fault for entering into an agreement that wasn’t 100% refundable. It just sucks that the friendship had to also take a hit in the process.
Oh that really would make me 😡 I’m sorry you are having to go through this. They should have stuck with the deal that nothing was owed! I hope your next experience is a great one. I don’t think I could remain friends after this. It would make me question everything. I’d actually ask to see such reservation they had to pay cash for and see if you can get some reimbursement. I mean if they paid cash, that should have been refunded unless it’s the OTU points.
 

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