I do think I understand part of the problem. Disney isn't a single traditional company. It's more like 30 individual companies, under the conglomerate name Disney, with each individual company or division having their own annual goals and sales targets. Overselling contracts (some of which were used for rentals) helped DVD's bottom line while hurting individual resorts, which have their own sales targets. So this likely necessitated some interventions from the C suite to enforce a change at DVD that, in terms of finances, hurt DVD and mostly benefited other divisions (Walt Disney World, Aulani, etc.). Though I'd like to think member inconvenience was a driving reason, I doubt it was: I bet it was more keyed toward financial loss outside of DVD but inside of Disney--and only when it got to a noticeable point (such as Iger continually needing to explain on quarterly earnings calls that sales and visitation are down in Florida, a small part of which--maybe 10 or 15%--was likely due to for-profit
DVC rentals), that the resorts finally had leverage to get the C Suite to enforce change at DVD on their behalf. Or at least that's my guess.
And along with this, let me tell you, last month, when I drove out to Port Orleans for a late dinner (40% off for APs) how incredibly empty the parking lot was...around 9pm...at Riverside. I've always felt that people who stay in moderates are usually the easiest targets for future
DVC rentals. And anecdotally, I'm pretty sure the biggest swings in bookings, when visitation goes south, aren't at the values or the deluxes, it's at the moderates, specifically Port Orleans and Caribbean Beach. That's where buildings are noticeably empty.
