# NYT on Aulani



## Jay MA (Aug 26, 2011)

NYT online, 8/26/11

"Disney would not comment on the cost of building Aulani, which has been reported at more than $800 million. But behind the scenes, the resort has not always been the happiest place on earth. Disney broke ground on the project in November 2008 during the recession and temporarily suspended sales of time-share units in July amid concerns that it underpriced annual fees, including maintenance costs for the units. The Orlando Sentinel first reported that Disney fired three executives over the financial mistake including Jim Lewis, president of Disney Vacation Club. Disney said it recalculated the annual fee and was taking deposit reservations from prospective buyers, but not executing contracts until modifications are made in the registration materials." 

See 

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/08/26/business/AP-US-Travel-Disney-Hawaii.html?hp


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## tlwmkw (Aug 26, 2011)

Disney magic isn't cheap- that's for sure.  If you look at Werner Weiss's pictures of the resort it looks impressive and very spendy.  I imagine keeping that lush tropical look is going to cost many $$$'s.  Wonder if they'll ever allow Aulani time to be released onto RCI?  If they do then you'll see some angry DVC owners.

tlwmkw


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## a1000monkeys (Aug 26, 2011)

The more pictures I see of this resort, the more impressed I am.


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## thebreards (Aug 29, 2011)

I noticed last week that Aulani does have an RCI resort code now (DV11), which tells me that it will allow owners to deposit, but no unit sightings yet.  And I wouldn't expect them for a while.  If I were an owner I would definately want to check it out before trading elsewhere.  I am just hoping for some availability in a year or two.


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## SueDonJ (Aug 29, 2011)

I am just amazed by how few DVC owners appear to be concerned about the MF situation at Aulani.  If Marriott or Starwood had to suspend sales of a brand new timeshare because they'd applied for and received authorization from the regulatory agencies based on MF figures that would seriously underfund the resort, these boards would be blowing up!  The relative silence from DVC owners is just mind-boggling.  Even on the disboards it's like, "oh well, ho hum, DVC will have to subsidize for decades, no worries."  WHAT?!?!  How can owners not want to know just exactly how this situation happened and what it's going to mean for Disney's reputation going forward?


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## heathpack (Aug 29, 2011)

SueDonJ said:


> I am just amazed by how few DVC owners appear to be concerned about the MF situation at Aulani.  If Marriott or Starwood had to suspend sales of a brand new timeshare because they'd applied for and received authorization from the regulatory agencies based on MF figures that would seriously underfund the resort, these boards would be blowing up!  The relative silence from DVC owners is just mind-boggling.  Even on the disboards it's like, "oh well, ho hum, DVC will have to subsidize for decades, no worries."  WHAT?!?!  How can owners not want to know just exactly how this situation happened and what it's going to mean for Disney's reputation going forward?



Hi Susan,

Sometimes I too am amazed by the lack of concern many of my fellow DVC owners have about this issue.  I think most DVCers are east coast residents who bought because they want to travel repeatedly to WDW.  The system works for them and beyond that nothing else matters.  I think a great many DVC owners have no huge interest in being part of an extensive timeshare system and I'm not sure how many really even care about the ability of DVC to expand outside a themepark location.  In fact, I frequently read comment like "who would want to go to Hawaii, it costs so much to get there and flights take so long?"  As if the entire West coast of the US does not exist!  None of that is a criticism of these folks, its just an observation of how fundamentally different our perspectives are.

For me, Aulani is a huge litmus test as to whether DVC is capable of expanding beyond themepark locales.  Its a "proof of concept" type of situation and if DVC does not make this work, then it will be a very long time before there are any viable new resorts outside of WDW.  I would LOVE for DVC to build great resorts outside of WDW and DL, but honestly, I think most of the membership does not really care.

So I'm with you on this.  I just don't get the lack of concern.

H


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## bnoble (Aug 29, 2011)

> which tells me that it will allow owners to deposit, but no unit sightings yet.


DVC owners can exchange from day one, but the management company chooses what, when, and where to deposit.  I don't think anyone knows the "rules" by which they make those decisions.  BLT was not seen in the space bank before 2012 usage dates, but has been in active sales since late '08 or early '09.  I would not be surprised to see a similar lag before we see Aulani deposits.



> Aulani is a huge litmus test as to whether DVC is capable of expanding beyond themepark locales.


I'm in a similar boat.  But, from where I sit, they already have two strikes with VB and HHI.  If Aulani gives them a third, I suspect it will be a VERY long time before we see another DVC resort beyond the berm.


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## tlwmkw (Aug 29, 2011)

Sue and Heathpack,

I agree with you both.  It is odd that the DVC members aren't concerned about this, however I have seen many of them saying that they want to trade into Aulani in the future so it's a bit of a disconnect.  Unless you actually have ownership of that resort then it doesn't really affect you, but it will affect anyone who has bought, or wants to buy there.  Also the overall health of DVC will certainly be affected.  It will be interesting to see what happens when the new fees are made public.  Will it hurt their sales?  I guess DVC feels this is a very big issue since some heads rolled in the corporate offices.  As to trading in via RCI I would think DVC will limit the amount of inventory that goes out because pretty much anything that they trade for will be an automatic down-trade because this is such an expensive property.

tlwmkw


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## ocdb8r (Sep 2, 2011)

I think we might be surprised to see Aulani sooner rather than later.  People forget that trade-ins are a valuable source of fresh clientele to market the resort to.  Unlike the resorts on-site at WDW, DVC can't just drive the traders at SSR or AKV over to Aulani - that means more incentive to get them out to Hawaii.  In addition, they don't have an established rental clientele in Hawaii to push over to Aulani.  That means there should be plenty of unsold inventory to throw into RCI.

The one wildcard is whether DVC will allow existing owners trading in from other resorts to suck up all the inventory.  There's nothing that obligates them to do this (rather than deposit in RCI) but they may find sufficient value in upselling existing owners to just allow them to use DVC points to trade in.

In either case, it means MORE overall DVC availability in RCI one way or another as there are just MORE overall units now.


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## bnoble (Sep 2, 2011)

> to just allow them to use DVC points to trade in.


In past resorts, any inventory declared into the condominium is open season for DVC owners, even if it is unsold.  In many ways, it is to DVC's advantage to allow this---that frees up inventory in Orlando that they *can* rent, quite easily.


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## ocdb8r (Sep 4, 2011)

bnoble said:


> In past resorts, any inventory declared into the condominium is open season for DVC owners, even if it is unsold.  In many ways, it is to DVC's advantage to allow this---that frees up inventory in Orlando that they *can* rent, quite easily.



While this is true, there is nothing restricting DVC from depositing any of that inventory into RCI.  They don't have to let Aulani sit in open season for any amount of time - therefore I still think it's up to their specific motivations as to what we end of seeing in RCI.

While they may be able to rent Orlando inventory easier than Aulani, I would hardly call it "quite easily".  It also doesn't take into consideration their motivation to get fresh blood to Aulani for sales pitches.  Finally, if this was the case, why not deposit Aulani inventory rather than the Orlando inventory they can rent "quite easily"?

I still maintain there is a good chance of Aulani inventory making its way into RCI at some point within the first 12 months of opening.


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## MULTIZ321 (Sep 4, 2011)

Jay MA said:


> NYT online, 8/26/11
> 
> See
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/08/26/business/AP-US-Travel-Disney-Hawaii.html?hp



The writer of this article is geographically challenged - Hilton Head Island (HHI) is in South Carolina, not Georgia - although it is close by.

Richard


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## bnoble (Sep 4, 2011)

> While this is true, there is nothing restricting DVC from depositing any of that inventory into RCI. They don't have to let Aulani sit in open season for any amount of time - therefore I still think it's up to their specific motivations as to what we end of seeing in RCI.


Historically, Disney has had a very passive sales arm---even at the other two outside-the-berm resorts.  I suppose this could change for Aulani, but Occam's Razor suggests otherwise.


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## icydog (Sep 13, 2011)

I for one am very happy to see Jim Lewis and company gone from the top of the DVC food chain... Good riddance and goodbye.  

I hope whoever takes over is more prudent and responsible.  An error like this one is outrageous.  It was his job to know the correct maintenance fees  for the property.  To go back to the state with hat in hand, asking for maintenance fees to be aligned with actual costs, is an admission of poor management.  It makes DVC look ridiculous, ends sales when this DVC property is the hottest, and costs the Disney Co a small fortune to redo his mistakes.  

Like I said, good riddance.  I am so glad he's gone!


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## icydog (Sep 13, 2011)

Look at this from the Orlando Sentinel

The new president looks very qualified.  And they picked a Disney Cast Member rather than going outside the company as they did with Jim Lewis! AND they picked a WOMAN!!!


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## blondietink (Sep 17, 2011)

When I originally heard that yearly maintenance/dues at Aulani were going to be around $4.50 per point, I thought that was seriously way too low considering how much people are paying out at places like Sheraton and Mariott timeshare systems on Maui in yearly fees.  I know DVC is not what you would call a "regular" timeshare, but when they were quoting yearly fees to be virtually the same as the Florida properties, I thought it was way out of line.  I will trade my points into Hawaii at some point and pay the transient fees, but I would never try to own any timeshare there.  Airfare costs too much to make Hawaii a regular stop on our vacation circuit.


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