Chart Report: Levels of Occupancy per Season

[Tiggerette]

I'm still processing the DVC Fan Show that went up this morning regarding the 2022 point chart. I know I have thoughts, but generally I prefer to sit with my initial impression to see what I resonated with, what I might have missed, what aspects have impacted a prior point of view... etc. Thank you for your work on the show.

In the meantime- I'd love to hear more about what WebMaster Doc mentioned (about 29 minutes in) regarding the publication of owner occupancy rates. I created this separate thread from the 2022 point chart thread to avoid digress on those developments. I might have misunderstood, but I took his past report example to indicate that some resorts may have in their contracts that owner occupancy rates, meaning the percentage of stays that are booked by owners points versus those stays that were paid by cash/breakage/other, are publishable to demonstrate transparency on property use. These reports are to be produced & published every two years.

- Where do we find this report requirement in our contract /Public Offering Statement (POS)?
- Do all resorts have this requirement, and is it required beyond the first few years of opening the resort?
- Rather than requirement, was it initially a preference/strongly encouraged suggestion used by past management to demonstrate transparency during the first decade of DVC offerings?
- Could there have bee an amendment to the Public Offering Statement (POS) to eliminate the report requirement?

The reason I care about such a chart is; 1) if revealed by room type, then we can really see how the 1-bedrooms booking rate is going, as well as other room type of interest, and 2) how many rooms are booked by owners vs other mechanisms.

Thank you very much for the respectful and thoughtful dialogue.

 

[RobDoc]

Attached is the "Historical Occupancy Levels" report I referenced in the podcast. It is from the August, 1998 Multi-Site Public Offering Statement - Exhibit 4. I believe this (the requirement) is included in the POS for every DVC Resort but this is the only document I have with such a chart. Unfortunately, it does not offer an occupancy breakdown by villa-type - only be reservation "Seasons". At that time (and until the 2021 point charts) there were five "Seasons".

The opening paragraph states:
"In compliance with Florida law and at such time as the DVC Reservation Component has been in operation for a period of two years, BVTC shall prepare a chart showing the actual levels of occupancy for each reservation season at each DVC Resort during the first calendar year of operation. This chart shall be revised and updated every two years."

Below the actual chart but still on the same document, there is a
"Note: The above figures include Members' and Exchangers' use only."

I take that to suggest that breakage reservations made thru BVTC are NOT included in the occupancy chart but have no other information to support that notion.

 

[Sandisw]

I have not had time to watch yet but this is good information to have! I can add it to the list I have for clarifications and questions for DVC management! I think to get a copy, though, we would just have to email to request it or to request where it is being published.

 

[hhisc16]

Attached is the "Historical Occupancy Levels" report I referenced in the podcast. It is from the August, 1998 Multi-Site Public Offering Statement - Exhibit 4. I believe this (the requirement) is included in the POS for every DVC Resort but this is the only document I have with such a chart. Unfortunately, it does not offer an occupancy breakdown by villa-type - only be reservation "Seasons". At that time (and until the 2021 point charts) there were five "Seasons".

The opening paragraph states:
"In compliance with Florida law and at such time as the DVC Reservation Component has been in operation for a period of two years, BVTC shall prepare a chart showing the actual levels of occupancy for each reservation season at each DVC Resort during the first calendar year of operation. This chart shall be revised and updated every two years."

Below the actual chart but still on the same document, there is a
"Note: The above figures include Members' and Exchangers' use only."

I take that to suggest that breakage reservations made thru BVTC are NOT included in the occupancy chart but have no other information to support that notion.

Do we as members have access to this information anywhere as of now? Or should we have access and it is not being allow to members?
Thank you for sharing this information!

 

[Marcinr]

Thank you for posting

 

[princesscinderella]

Very interested to know this information

 

[drusba]

The "Historical Occupancy Levels" chart was included in the earlier years in the Multi-Site POS provided to all purchasers from DVD. It was actually required to be in the POS by Florida law for timeshares that were designed to have multiple sites that an owner could use. I cannot remember exactly when DVD stopped including the chart in the POS, but I believe it was in the early to mid-2000's, and I know it was gone by 2007 when AKV went on sale.. Providing it ended because the requirement for it was removed from the law.

 

[garjanjones]

I was just able to watch the show from earlier today. I’m having a hard time finding hard numbers to show that the points are inflated. I didn’t do the math myself, but I do know that some dates take less points than than they used to. Specifically early June at SSR and OKW in a studio. When at WDW this is our normal choice. I understand points had to go up at another date. This doesn’t seem like inflation to me, just balancing. However, I would like to see the math if anyone has a link to it. Has the total number of points allocated to a resort increased?

 

[Tiggerette]

Re: GarjanJones math request: There were spreadsheets in the thread that directly discusses the 2022 point charts. A few folks did find success in directly asking the original poster for them after the OP removed the posts. The point inflation beyond the normal base year calculation is more easily seen in PVB, and I think there may be some analysis remaining on the thread for your review. I encourage going over to that thread to read the relevant posts.

Re: The Historical Occupancy Levels: To be fair to Webmaster Doc's point, as I understood it, even though such a chart may no longer be required to be generated, that report is an option they could revive for further transparency. I believe that was one of the takeaways he was getting to: there are multiple options utilizing metrics/ published figures to show how DVCMC are being good stewards for the owners/members.
In recent years they have not been forthcoming about the actual occupancy data. Instead, we receive the policy impacts based on their wholly internal metrics and analysis. I understood Webmaster Doc's statement as encouraging DVC to consider whether withholding the vast amounts of data is a good choice to maintain the appearance of good stewardship.

 

[drusba]

I was just able to watch the show from earlier today. I’m having a hard time finding hard numbers to show that the points are inflated. I didn’t do the math myself, but I do know that some dates take less points than than they used to. Specifically early June at SSR and OKW in a studio. When at WDW this is our normal choice. I understand points had to go up at another date. This doesn’t seem like inflation to me, just balancing. However, I would like to see the math if anyone has a link to it. Has the total number of points allocated to a resort increased?

Time from mid-March to April 30 is the key. DVC created new 7-season point charts, which, for the most part, follow the rule of any increase (or decrease) in nightly points for any dates have to be met with offsetting decreases (or increases) for other dates. The real problem is the use of Easter's changing date to annually increase total points.

DVC chose a new base year, 2035, to spread out all owned points throughout the year so that the total owned points properly equaled the total points needed for the entire 365-day year. That is the year when Easter will be the earliest it possibly can be over the next 50 years, March 25. Under the new 7-season chart, days in March or April before the two Easter weeks will always be in higher point season six, while days in April after the two Easter weeks will always be in lower point season 5.

So DVC spread all the owned points throughout the 2035 year so that the total equaled all the points needed to reserve all rooms for the year. Because Easter is March 25 in 2035, that means the two Easter weeks are March 18 through March 31, that year. That results in all of April being after the Easter weeks, and thus all of April is in lower-point season 5 when Easter is March 25. During 48 of the next 50 years Easter occurs after March 25, mostly in April, and as late as April 25 (in 2038). That means for 48 of the next 50 years total annual points needed to reserve all rooms for the year will be greater than the total number of owned points used in the 2035 base year. The math is actually fairly simple. Jan 1 to March 17 will essentially have the same total points every year. May 1 to December 31 will essentially have the same total points every year. However, for every year that Easter is after March 25, the total points for March 18 to April 30 will be greater than the 2035 base year. Example: in 2035, all 30 days of April will be in lower point season 5; in 2038, when Easter is April 25 there will be no season 5 at all as all days in March and April will either be in the two Easter weeks, or before the Easter weeks when they are in higher point season 6. In other words that change in the Easter date from March 25 to April 25 results in 30 days increasing total points needed daily from the season 5 level to the season 6 level. Further example, what that means at Poly is that total points needed to reserve all rooms during 2038, when Easter is at its latest, April 25, will be tens of thousands of more points than needed to reserve all rooms in the 2035 base year.

Members particularly noticed the change in total points by simply comparing the 2021 charts to the 2022 charts. Easter was April 4 in 2021 and will be April 17 in 2022. Both years total points are actually higher than the 2035 base year, but the difference in the two years was particularly noticeable because of the change in Easter dates from April 4 to April 17. In 2021, from March 18 to April 30, there were 10 days before the two Easter weeks in higher point season 6 and 20 days in April after the two Easter weeks in lower point season 5. But in 2022, between March 18 and April 30, there will be 23 days before the two Easter weeks in higher point season 6 and only 7 days in April in lower point season 5.

Thus, what DVC has done is purposefully use the change in the annual Easter date as a way to make total points needed to reserve all rooms for the year greater than those in the base year for 48 of the next 50 years.

The only real math you have to do for any resort to see the problem is to total all points needed to reserve all rooms at a resort from March 18 to April 30 in any given calendar year and compare that total to what is needed for the same period in 2035, when Easter is March 25.

Noteworthy is that DVC could have easily avoided the problem by annually putting in Season 5 all days from March 18 to April 30 that are before and after the two Easter weeks. That would provide the same point totals for March and April that are in the 2035 base year.

And there appears to be no valid basis for DVC's doing what it did. It claimed the new point charts were created to help lower demand in some parts of the year while raising it in others. Though that justification may be true as to other seasonal point changes in the new calendars, that reason does not support using the change in the Easter date for changing total points annually in March and April, i.e., do the same days in April really have a noticeably higher demand factor when they are before the Easter weeks rather than when they are after the Easter weeks? I am fairly certain DVC has nothing to prove any such difference in demand. Thus, one possible conclusion is that DVC did what it did so as to create more opportunity for DVC to rent rooms and make more profits.

 

[dismedvc]

Noteworthy is that DVC could have easily avoided the problem by annually putting in Season 5 all days from March 18 to April 30 that are before and after the two Easter weeks. That would provide the same point totals for March and April that are in the 2035 base year.

If the Rumer turns out to be true that DVC will revise the 2022 point charts, but not change the points for rooms already booked, then DVC will not be able to change the 2022 point charts for most, or all, of the March 18 to April 30 time frame which is the issue.
DVC would instead need to reduce points from June to December, which will make the 2022 point charts even more convoluted. If DVC then addresses the March 18 to April 30 issue in the 2023 point charts, that would result in major changes between the 2022 and 2023 point charts, since in 2023 DVC would then also need to undo the June to December reductions in the 2022 point charts.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

In the Rumer the DVC will revise the 2022 point charts, but not change the points for rooms already booked. That means, DVC will probably not be able to change the 2022 point charts for the March 18 to April 30 time frame which is the issue.
DVC would instead need to lower points from June to December, which will make the 2022 point charts even more convoluted. If DVC then addresses the March 18 to April 30 issue in the 2023 point charts, that would result in major changes between the 2022 and 2023 point charts, since in 2023 DVC would also then need to undo the June to December reductions in the 2022 point charts.