Anyone else disappointed with booking lately??

[ton80]

We have no complaints over the years.. Usually book a 1 BR late Nov for Mid June... This year we are at the BCV and we own SSR. Others we have gotten BWV, AKL... BLT,VGF were available at 7 Months, but we did not have enough points.

 

[schoen]

We own at OKW, but we stayed in a 1-bedroom at BCV on our honeymoon and fell in love with it. We have fallen into a pattern over the past 8 or so years of taking one, long, trip every year. We like to alternate between OKW and BCV. On even numbered years we go in October and stay at OKW, on odd number years we go in November and stay at BCV. It has always been tricky getting that BCV at 7-months in November, but we have always gotten lucky with waitlists coming through, and have never had to move.

This year I could not get the first three nights of our trip at 7-months (november 10-12-last nights of F &W). I am booked at OKW Nov 10-12 and then BCV Nov 12-19th. I do have a waitlist set up, and I am hopeful on that front-fingers crossed!

This year booking was more difficult. This was the first time my first night was not available, so I had to keep logging on in the am. One day when I checked at 7:50 the room was showing up as available, but out of my booking window. When I tried to get through at exactly 8:00 the room was gone. It was just tough.

Our solution is that we are going to try to buy a 100 point contract and a 50 point contract direct through Disney over the next two years. 300 points at BCV every other year will be perfect for us. I don't *want* to buy BCV points because the end date is so soon. I think it is just the best option for us though, because we like to stay there, and at peak times. My family was in the minority, but we were thrilled with the opportunity to extend our OKW points. I would hope that they will offer an extension for BCV too.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Don't disregard Aulani - I'm relatively certain one of the sales talking points is that you can stay anywhere with those points. DVC has priced them lower - offered greater incentives than PVB so that may attract purchasers there that intend to use the 7 month window. All of it together means little to no 1-2 month bookings - certainly not your choice of room although I also would debate that has been easy for the last quarter of the year even as little ago as a couple of years ago. From my own experience during that time for the past 10 years that was just luck if someone was getting that regularly.

 

[tjkraz]

Yes, very disappointed. It is terrible. I can't find anything.
They need more inventory. Especially for studios. It has gotten to be ridiculous. I never had to look this hard before, it's been like this for about 6 months.

Comments like this suggest you really don't understand how the system is intended to work. There is equilibrium between the number of owners (points) and the number of rooms available. DVC can sell enough points such that every DVC villa is occupied every night of the year. (They do hold back 2% so they can take rooms out of service for maintenance needs.)

It has ALWAYS been this way in the 25 year history of DVC.

What has changed is how members utilize the system. Your fellow owners are booking earlier than ever. Fewer points are allowed to expire unused (which artificially creates vacancies) due to rentals becoming more and more mainstream. And the Seasons DVC created have fallen out of whack with member demand--raising the nightly costs for October during Food & Wine fest would make it more expensive to travel and lower demand.

Adding more inventory only adds more owners. It isn't a fix to availability problems.

Adjusting point charts would help somewhat, but people will still book earlier and earlier to suit their needs. I don't expect DVC to make administrative changes specifically designed to aid people in your situation. If you can't alter your own habits to book sooner, it could be that DVC is no longer a good fit for you.

 

[BillPA]

I really don't think changing the points would make much difference. If one wants to go with the cooler weather, Oct... mid Dec, changing points will not push them into the heat of summer, even at half the points.

 

[Dean]

I really don't think changing the points would make much difference. If one wants to go with the cooler weather, Oct... mid Dec, changing points will not push them into the heat of summer, even at half the points.

Reallocating will adjust when people go, not everyone but you're not trying to change everyone, just a portion. But if they do the same time and the points are higher, they will be able to go less days on average over time.

 

[tjkraz]

I really don't think changing the points would make much difference. If one wants to go with the cooler weather, Oct... mid Dec, changing points will not push them into the heat of summer, even at half the points.

Dean nailed it. A seismic shift isn't necessary in order to have a positive impact. Some people will alter their vacation dates in response to any reallocation. December 1-14 didn't gain popularity primarily because the weather and crowds are so much different than mid-November or even the 3rd week of Dec...it's because of the low cost. One of the more egregious imbalances currently in the system is the fact that May is more expensive than October.

Meanwhile, everyone who still wishes to visit in October suddenly must spend more of their points. A 7 night trip may be shortened to 6 nights. That frees up one night of availability. When literally thousands of owners are forced to shorten their trips by a night--or borrow points, taking away from future years--suddenly hundreds of nights open up across all of the WDW resorts.

 

[brertoad]

Comments like this suggest you really don't understand how the system is intended to work.

We've been members for 5 years. I understand how the 7 month and 11 month window work. I understand about how when they add inventory they sell more points, but I believe that there is entropy in the system, even though they sell more points, I think there would be more availability due to cancellations, or people banking, or whatever. Look at PVC, for the most part their higher priced studios are available longer than other inventory.

I don't think it is just a DVC issue, Disney is crowded! When I was looking for value resorts last October, there was NOTHING available and that was about 3-4 weeks ahead of the Saturday I was looking for. Yes, part of the problem is that my friend's husband asked me to look for something less than a month away from the date, and this year I already booked it well in advance - problem solved.

 

[sean.anita]

I think the problem comes from Aluani. People bought there but are staying in WDW. The other off-site resort, Vero Beach and Hilton Head, aren't very big so WDW could handle those people coming and and they could handle the owners from WDW. But Hawaii is so far away that owners from the WDW resorts aren't traveling there.

 

[hakepb]

I really don't think changing the points would make much difference. If one wants to go with the cooler weather, Oct... mid Dec, changing points will not push them into the heat of summer, even at half the points.

But March - mid May has similiar weather as Oct-Dec but (other than Easter) has much better DVC availability.

 

[crisi]

We've been members for 5 years. I understand how the 7 month and 11 month window work. I understand about how when they add inventory they sell more points, but I believe that there is entropy in the system, even though they sell more points, I think there would be more availability due to cancellations, or people banking, or whatever. Look at PVC, for the most part their higher priced studios are available longer than other inventory.

I don't think it is just a DVC issue, Disney is crowded! When I was looking for value resorts last October, there was NOTHING available and that was about 3-4 weeks ahead of the Saturday I was looking for. Yes, part of the problem is that my friend's husband asked me to look for something less than a month away from the date, and this year I already booked it well in advance - problem solved.

And that is part of the problem. If you bought five years ago, the economy was just starting to recover. Now its stabilized. That means more people vacationing and fewer cancellations.

Five years ago it was also much easier to rent points if you were looking for a rental.

I think more points (we've owned since there were five DVC properties - OKW, HHI, VB, BWV and VWL) has added less - not more - entropy to the system. Because every new resort adds more people interested in sleeping around, those people who want to stay put buy where they want to stay, book early, and don't cancel - especially if they've paid a premium to own that resort (either buying a resort resale that has a high resale value, or buying a resort direct from Disney). If they need to cancel their own vacation, they find someone else to use their existing reservation - pretty easy to do since Disney fans know Disney fans (if I cancelled my vacation, I could get half a dozen people willing to take it off my hands for a little over the cost of dues with a single Facebook post).

The changes they allegedly made to the waitlist has also changed the game (if they occurred). If a cancelled reservation no longer immediately goes into the booking queue, but gets held to run against the waitlist, its going to be very difficult to find rooms on shorter notice during popular times - you can no longer luck into someone's just cancelled reservation. Likewise, the availability of web based booking changes the game....I can sit at my desk at work and grab a reservation when it appears - that's going to reward people who stalk availability - and makes it much easier to do so than when you had to call.

 

[Anal Annie]

I think that a problem has been created by the overall COST of buying into DVC with the last few resorts increasing in points required to stay there and the high $$$ cost to buy in per point. People are buying fewer points because they can't afford to buy as many as they could have 10 years ago. So more people are trying to go in "choice" or "adventure" seasons and they're trying to utilize studios for the lower point values. This is putting a much greater demand on available studios. Another thing I commonly read is people complaining "there's nothing available" when in fact SSR and / or OKW are indeed wide open - as if those resorts don't count?!?!?! Personally I'm getting tired of hearing that record. People are just being picky because they can't get into some other resort they had their hearts set on - then they should have booked their home resort prior to 7 months IMO.

We have had success booking at 7 months at ALL of the current DVC resorts (except VGF which is too pricey for our blood). If we're going at a high demand time like during the New Year - Jan. Marathon week we book our home resort (SSR) at 11 months as we know there won't be anything available to switch to by even 9 months out (at least for studios). We have been able to book as close as 6 months (at BLT) for spring break week and even had luck snagging a 1 bedroom at SSR once at like 8 days out (although it was the very last one). Sometimes ya just gotta be flexible and keep your fingers crossed. But I honestly don't think any timeshares were designed with last minute booking in mind....

 

[bobbiwoz]

I think the problem comes from Aluani. People bought there but are staying in WDW. The other off-site resort, Vero Beach and Hilton Head, aren't very big so WDW could handle those people coming and and they could handle the owners from WDW. But Hawaii is so far away that owners from the WDW resorts aren't traveling there.

Well, I've done my part as far as Aulani! We used over 1,000 points there in an 18 month period, and do not own there. Hoping to use another 800 points soon! Just saying....it's beautiful!!

 

[crisi]

Another thing I commonly read is people complaining "there's nothing available" when in fact SSR and / or OKW are indeed wide open - as if those resorts don't count?!?!?! Personally I'm getting tired of hearing that record. People are just being picky because they can't get into some other resort they had their hearts set on - then they should have booked their home resort prior to 7 months IMO.

I've noticed that as well - and agree, I'm getting tired of "nothing" meaning "I can't get one of the resorts I want."

 

[Anal Annie]

I've noticed that as well - and agree, I'm getting tired of "nothing" meaning "I can't get one of the resorts I want."

Yes, those are two completely different things.

 

[crisi]

I think that a problem has been created by the overall COST of buying into DVC with the last few resorts increasing in points required to stay there and the high $$$ cost to buy in per point.

Oh, to go back to this statement for a minute - I own BWV and have for fifteen years now. There is no way I'd spend my precious points on the Poly, GF or BLT - well, maybe I'd try them, but I wouldn't book them regularly. The point cost is too high. We tend to stay at our home resort, but any desire I had to switch out and free up BWV space dies in the face of the point premium and the newer resorts.

But I suspect as time goes on, the reverse will not be true. MK resort owners who bought for proximity to the MK are going to be eyeing my lower point cost BWV right next to Epcot rooms as their kids outgrow the MK.

 

[ziravan]

Look at PVC, for the most part their higher priced studios are available longer than other inventory.

While Poly is still for sale, DVD releases inventory ahead of sales. There are more rooms available than owners to book them. Poly is something like 70% sold with 85% of rooms avail right now.

We won't get a true idea of booking pattern until sold out when Poly will be 98% owned with 98% availability.

My guess is that with 25% of points being tied up in Bungalows and far less than 25% of Poly owners buying enough points to routinely stay in Bungalows, that Poly studios will be routinely booked near full before the 7 month window once sold out.

 

[Anal Annie]

Oh, to go back to this statement for a minute - I own BWV and have for fifteen years now. There is no way I'd spend my precious points on the Poly, GF or BLT - well, maybe I'd try them, but I wouldn't book them regularly. The point cost is too high. We tend to stay at our home resort, but any desire I had to switch out and free up BWV space dies in the face of the point premium and the newer resorts.

But I suspect as time goes on, the reverse will not be true. MK resort owners who bought for proximity to the MK are going to be eyeing my lower point cost BWV right next to Epcot rooms as their kids outgrow the MK.

For the LIFE OF ME I can't figure out why anyone would buy at the higher premium per point at the Poly then want to stay somewhere else? If you're trying to stretch your points why the heck didn't they just buy somewhere else that cost less to start with? We stayed at the Poly once and we DID love it. But it's too rich for us to afford other than just every-once-in-awhile. We also tend to book our home (SSR) a lot because the point values are very reasonable and we can squeeze more trips in. We do like to resort hop but as long as we're trying to stretch our measly 250 points into 3x a year we have to go about it in a reasonable way and stay where we can get the most bang for our buck...we would switch to AKV sometimes at 7 months if the std. view is available at Jambo...but sometimes it's not (like over Marathon week).

 

[Dean]

For the LIFE OF ME I can't figure out why anyone would buy at the higher premium per point at the Poly then want to stay somewhere else? If you're trying to stretch your points why the heck didn't they just buy somewhere else that cost less to start with? We stayed at the Poly once and we DID love it. But it's too rich for us to afford other than just every-once-in-awhile. We also tend to book our home (SSR) a lot because the point values are very reasonable and we can squeeze more trips in. We do like to resort hop but as long as we're trying to stretch our measly 250 points into 3x a year we have to go about it in a reasonable way and stay where we can get the most bang for our buck...we would switch to AKV sometimes at 7 months if the std. view is available at Jambo...but sometimes it's not (like over Marathon week).

It doesn't take much of that to make buying at all an unreasonable option.

 

[tjkraz]

I understand about how when they add inventory they sell more points...

Then I'm not sure why you proposed adding more rooms as a possible solution. More rooms = more owners. Equilibrium.

...even though they sell more points, I think there would be more availability due to cancellations...

There certainly are cancellations. Not necessarily right when you're searching, though.

...or people banking, or whatever.

There are also people borrowing, perhaps in larger numbers than banking for a specific snapshot of time. It all balances out in the end, though.

Look at PVC, for the most part their higher priced studios are available longer than other inventory.

Not sure the relevance. Cheaper rooms have often booked up sooner than more expensive. AKV Value...BLT Standard...BWV Standard...those often go to owners while non-owners are left questioning whether or not to pay the higher rates if they want to book a non-home location inside of 7 months.

I don't think it is just a DVC issue, Disney is crowded! When I was looking for value resorts last October, there was NOTHING available and that was about 3-4 weeks ahead of the Saturday I was looking for.

WDW may be crowded but it has little bearing on DVC. Rooms = owners. If you aren't finding what you want, it means other owners are beating you to the punch. There's little DVC can do administratively to change that.