DVC booked through Disney/cash reservation

[saraheliz]

How far in advance can DVC rooms be booked through Disney? Do they have a specific allotment that can be booked 499 days out by phone like other rooms? Or at 11 months out like for DVC members? Does their inventory change? (ie if less booking by DVC members, do at some point those go to cash reservations or is the inventory separated initially and stable). Any insight would be super! Looking to try to snag a 1 bedroom for next April- but after the craziness don't want to deal with renting points so I'm trying to figure out when to call (obviously not now but maybe once this all calms down a bit).
Thanks for any help!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

How far in advance can DVC rooms be booked through Disney? Do they have a specific allotment that can be booked 499 days out by phone like other rooms? Or at 11 months out like for DVC members? Does their inventory change? (ie if less booking by DVC members, do at some point those go to cash reservations or is the inventory separated initially and stable). Any insight would be super! Looking to try to snag a 1 bedroom for next April- but after the craziness don't want to deal with renting points so I'm trying to figure out when to call (obviously not now but maybe once this all calms down a bit).
Thanks for any help!!

Since most of the DVC resorts are owned by the members and not Disney, most won't be available until a member either trades their points into the Disney Collection (like DCL or Disney hotels that are not DVC or ABD). 60 days out any unbooked inventory is turned over to Disney Reservation Center to sell. With the large number of point brokers, there may not be a lot of member inventory left at 60 days out other than the odd inventory like a few nights in a Bungalow or Villas at Aulani or a couple of nights here and there (usually not studios and one bedrooms). DVC does retain about 2% of each resort, but that may be needed for maintenance issues or to leave enough villas for point stays while they are renovating. New resorts like Riviera will rent out the unsold inventory (builders inventory) and that won't be available for points. There also might be some inventory from Disney buying back points that are for sale by the owners through Right of First Refusal. But if it is like 2008 during the financial crunch, Disney might not be buying back any inventory through ROFR. No need to buy it back if they can't sell it to a new buyer.

Depending on the resort, you could start to look for villas available for cash through Disney Reservation Center no more than 11 months out, but you might not find anything until seven months out or less. Some resorts are going to be very hard to find like Grand Californian Villas, or Grand Floridian Villas since they are small. Larger ones like SSR, OKW and AKV might have inventory available for cash sooner.

 

[saraheliz]

Since most of the DVC resorts are owned by the members and not Disney, most won't be available until a member either trades their points into the Disney Collection (like DCL or Disney hotels that are not DVC or ABD). 60 days out any unbooked inventory is turned over to Disney Reservation Center to sell. With the large number of point brokers, there may not be a lot of member inventory left at 60 days out other than the odd inventory like a few nights in a Bungalow or Villas at Aulani or a couple of nights here and there (usually not studios and one bedrooms). DVC does retain about 2% of each resort, but that may be needed for maintenance issues or to leave enough villas for point stays while they are renovating. New resorts like Riviera will rent out the unsold inventory (builders inventory) and that won't be available for points. There also might be some inventory from Disney buying back points that are for sale by the owners through Right of First Refusal. But if it is like 2008 during the financial crunch, Disney might not be buying back any inventory through ROFR. No need to buy it back if they can't sell it to a new buyer.

Depending on the resort, you could start to look for villas available for cash through Disney Reservation Center no more than 11 months out, but you might not find anything until seven months out or less. Some resorts are going to be very hard to find like Grand Californian Villas, or Grand Floridian Villas since they are small. Larger ones like SSR, OKW and AKV might have inventory available for cash sooner.

I appreciate the information. What your saying is kind of how I though it would work but when I started looking about 10-11 months ahead of time (earlier this year for December) just to get an idea of when they would be available for booking, I was surprised to see a good number of villa options right around 11 months out, so I figured I'd try to see if there was certain inventory "held" aside for cash reservations no matter what (ie at 499 days). I suppose it's all going to be up in the air for these uncertain times anyway. Just trying to figure out *when* is my best plan to call if there's something specific I am hoping to get for next April. Unfortunately the current situation has kind of scared me away from renting points so I'll need to find something direct through Disney. Thanks for your help!