Surprised at BLT Resale Price Softness

[jcf]

You would think Disney would want to maintain the flagship monorail resort - at this rate BLT will be in the 70's in a year...doesn't make any sense...people will flock to resale market...

 

[disneynutz]

Disney's business model makes the most profit selling new contracts only. In fact they intentionally price their resales high as if they don't want to sell them. I am sure that they have their reasons.

Another major fact is that 95% of their buyers aren't educated when it comes to the DVC. They don't use the internet for research and the trust that Disney is looking out for their best interest.

Bill

 

[jcf]

Would you buy new at GF in 2013? for $170-190/pp or $75/pp at BLT resale and use points for BLT and GF?

 

[dizfan]

Would you buy new at GF in 2013? for $170-190/pp or $75/pp at BLT resale and use points for BLT and GF?

A person may need to own there if they wish to stay there most of the time.

Otherwise, everyone would buy at the cheapest resort (including dues) and then stay elsewhere.

 

[GoofItUp]

Otherwise, everyone would buy at the cheapest resort (including dues) and then stay elsewhere.

Which is currently what many of us do. One contract at the resort I love, one "less expensive" contract to let me stay wherever else I can/choose.

 

[Brian Noble]

You would think Disney would want to maintain the flagship monorail resort

The only thing they can do is generate more demand or reduce supply---the prices are only set when willing buyers and sellers meet. They have no interest in generating (resale) demand, because that removes direct demand. As for reducing supply: that may well not be the most efficient way to invest their available capital. Evidently, the Mouse has decided that, for now, it is not.

Ultimately, though, the resale market has a small impact on the rate of developer sales. Why? Most timeshare purchasers do not research a priori. Those who buy don't really want to discover they made a bad decision. So, sales are still completed, even with big bargains on the resale rack ready for the taking. It's true even in timeshare systems where the resale deeds are essentially worthless.

 

[JimMIA]

Would you buy new at GF in 2013? for $170-190/pp or $75/pp at BLT resale and use points for BLT and GF?

If I were looking to get into BLT and I didn't care about MK view (which I don't), I would buy OKW or SSR for $50 or less and book at BLT.

ETA: Whether that strategy would work for GF or not would depend on the size of the DVC portion. If it's a medium-sized resort (300+ villas), it would work; if it's <100 villas, obviously you'd need home resort to get in.

 

[disneynutz]

If I were looking to get into BLT and I didn't care about MK view (which I don't), I would buy OKW or SSR for $50 or less and book at BLT.

And that's why when Disney feels like they want to clean up, they will change the booking rules to push more buyers to direct sales. It's only a matter of time.

Bill

 

[JimMIA]

I'm also a little surprised that anyone would be surprised at the BLT resale pricing. It's a big resort, so is AKV -- what were we expecting?

If anything, I'm surprised BLT has held up as well as it has, considering the number of contracts on the resale listings.

 

[Caren90]

I don't believe Disney is too worried about resale at this point. They know they can sell enough BLT directly to meet their financial goals. After the sale, they have the maintenance fees covered for the next 40-50 years, regardless if that contract is resold 100 times. Yes, a few people will default on these contracts which means Disney can recoup those points (along with a few years worth of direct money and interest) and sell them as "new", or they can have them re-sold by Fidelity, thus covering MF's.
Once the shine and excitement and "newness" of BLT (or Aulani) wears off on a public hungry for the next best thing and a consumer that is unable to be satisfied until the next new toy is available, Disney will have most of their points sold directly for these resorts. Then.... on to Grand Floridian, Disney's version of the Ipad2, Droid 4G, or Tickle Me Elmo... Black Friday is an everyday occurrence for this company. They wrote the book on sales and promotion.