Developer points, cash rooms... how does all this work?

[disney dumbo]

For some strange reason, I'm trying to figure out how DVC really works. I'm sure it is more than my brain can handle... by I just got to try!

On a sold out resort, DVC members own 98% of rooms.
The extra 2% is owned by Developer? or membership association?
Disney owns rooms from ROFR (How do you know how much Disney owns? when they do ROFR does it show up on the county web site that someone posted?)

When all of DVC allotment is reserved but there are still cash room available... these are made up of:
1.trades out for cruises, Disney hotels or ??? (some trades will show Disney on their boards... so those are gone) But since trades are such bad point deals, I would guess there is not a bundle of this type thing.
2. 2% held for cash

Now, how are these 2% allocated? Evenly? more on Fri/Sat? or when cash comes in? or is it where I read that at 30 days unbooked rooms go to cash rooms?

So, say last night a room went vacant. Whose allocation did that come out of? I sure hope it didn't come out of mine!

Where do all these developer points come from? I would think unsold SSR & AKV. But when they sell them, they often give prior year points. Hope they haven't given away double. Guessing that somebody keeps up with all those points... but I guess they don't distribute that to membership?

It just seems like sooo many points flooding the system. And guess I'm curious since I had a waitlist that didn't clear until 7 days prior.. and it makes me wonder... why? when "cash" rooms were available the whole time including check in day.

And I guess with banking, borrowing options... some years are going to be worse than others... especially toward the end! Makes me hope they extend these things forever because those last true years are going to be a mess!

Forgive me for rambling... and thinking...

 

[Mtnman44]

DVC owns points for:

1) Units not fully sold yet
2) points that have been ROFR'd
3) points given back to DVC as part of a trade out
4) points retained due to default on loans or maint fees
5) Points held back for administering the program (maintanence, bank/borrow imbalance, etc) This is probably the 2% you mention.

1 - 4 are what constitute the points availabe for cash stays via the regular reservation system I would guess. This inventory of points is also where "developer" points come from.

It all balances, but I have no idea the intricate math required to make all of this run smoothly. There are a exact number of points at each resort, this never changes. Each point represent a specific amount of useage of a unit. There is no flood of points. DVC is just another member-owner. Whether they own all those points, or whether 5,000 other members owner those points, it has no impact on you, as your stake is exactly the same.

 

[disney dumbo]

Thanks Mtnman44... clears up my thinking on cash points and developer points. It still seems weird that they can hold out cash rooms... that can turn into vacant room nights... seems any DVC member request would be honored over cash nights at some point in time... even if last minute. And that time table should be published for membership to know.

I'm sure in prime holiday season... and guessing on Fri/Sat. nights they can bring in some big $$$ and definite need for cash nights. So I can see holding out on those time periods... and maybe they hold out plenty during that time. But nobody knows how they distribute the number of member nights. Seems weird.

And when a vacant night goes by... must come out of disney/developer allotment???

Should be a way to see how much Disney owns... I am still curious about that.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[RobDoc]

DVC maintains ownership of 2-4% at each resort. This is used to replace villas in the member inventory when guest rooms are being renovated/rehabbed. These rooms are not really "held back" for cash reservations, but DVC would be within it's right in doing so, since they do own those rooms.

The bulk of the cash availability - especially at resorts besides SSR and AKV - comes from points used by members for non-DVC options, like the cruise or stays in other WDW or DL resorts or any of the other non-DVC options except World Passport.

These points are then used to make reservations at DVC resorts - available for cash - to pay for the non-DVC options. Technically, they are rooms being "used" by members. Without this arrangement, DVC would not be able to offer many of these other options to use points.

Any unsold inventory may also be used for cash reservations (again, DVC does own these villas). This includes contracts reclaimed thru ROFR and from default or foreclosure as well as units not yet declared into member inventory. These sources are also responsible for availability of Developer Points - recently used as sales incentives by DVC - and also responsible for some of the reservation pressure.