DVC for last-minute travelers?

[dawnball]

I'm not sure that this is the best forum, so feel free to redirect me somewhere better.

We tend to book 3-4 weeks out, and occasionally have to cancel/reschedule at close to the last minute. How hard is it to get a last minute reservation "somewhere"?

For example, we just booked a trip for Aug 25-31. We were flexible for at least four days between Aug 25 and Sept 2, and would have accepted any DVC resort. If we owned DVC, could we have found a studio or 1 bedroom with that little notice?

I know it would vary through the year, but I'm trying to get a feel for our travel schedules making DVC a "bad fit"

Thanks!

 

[disneynutz]

60 days prior to any given date, DVC available inventory is made available to Disney for cash reservations. This can make last minute reservations difficult plus DVC owners started booking 11 months out at their home resorts and 7 months out at all others.

Bill

 

[vicki_c]

DVC is generally not a good fit if you don't plan ahead. Many owners book at 11 months out, and competition gets more at the 7 month window. I wouldn't buy DVC if I couldnt work within those parameters. You will just end up frustrated.

 

[com_op_2000]

Most people on here would tell you that DVC is for people that can plan/book at least 7 months or more out. That being said, I have booked as late as 15 minutes before getting to the resort and checking in. You can expect to be staying in either SSR, OKW, or AKL as that is where you will end up on most trips. If these resorts are not your favorites, IMHO you should not become a member.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm not sure that this is the best forum, so feel free to redirect me somewhere better.

We tend to book 3-4 weeks out, and occasionally have to cancel/reschedule at close to the last minute. How hard is it to get a last minute reservation "somewhere"?

For example, we just booked a trip for Aug 25-31. We were flexible for at least four days between Aug 25 and Sept 2, and would have accepted any DVC resort. If we owned DVC, could we have found a studio or 1 bedroom with that little notice?

I know it would vary through the year, but I'm trying to get a feel for our travel schedules making DVC a "bad fit"

Thanks!

DVC members usually book seven to eleven months out to get the resort they want. That doesn't leave much at three to four weeks out. Some slow times you might find a few days together, but not much more than one or two days. So you'd be moving around multiple times.

Cancellations could also be a problem. If you cancel 30 days or less out, your points go into Holding. That means you can only use them 60 days out or less to book something and they expire at the end of your use year.

 

[JimMIA]

With your normal booking practices, I think just about any timeshare would be a bad idea. DVC, in particular, would be bad for all the reasons mentioned by previous posters.

 

[Brian Noble]

You'd probably be better off renting distressed points from other Members than owning yourself. That way you don't take the availability risk *and* you can benefit from lower rental prices.

 

[Dean]

I'm not sure that this is the best forum, so feel free to redirect me somewhere better.

We tend to book 3-4 weeks out, and occasionally have to cancel/reschedule at close to the last minute. How hard is it to get a last minute reservation "somewhere"?

For example, we just booked a trip for Aug 25-31. We were flexible for at least four days between Aug 25 and Sept 2, and would have accepted any DVC resort. If we owned DVC, could we have found a studio or 1 bedroom with that little notice?

I know it would vary through the year, but I'm trying to get a feel for our travel schedules making DVC a "bad fit"

Thanks!

IMO, DVC would be an extremely poor and potentially VERY expensive choice for this situation.

 

[dawnball]

60 days prior to any given date, DVC available inventory is made available to Disney for cash reservations. This can make last minute reservations difficult plus DVC owners started booking 11 months out at their home resorts and 7 months out at all others.

Does this mean that there's a threshold issue? That if we could book 61 days out, there would be significantly more inventory?

(I do understand that 11 months and 7 months would also be thresholds, but they'd be unrealistic for us. We may be able to make tradeoffs so 60 days works.)

 

[jockotaco]

Anything significantly under the 7 month window will affect availability. If you can not book on average at least 7 months out DVC might be a struggle.

 

[Lynne M]

Does this mean that there's a threshold issue? That if we could book 61 days out, there would be significantly more inventory?

(I do understand that 11 months and 7 months would also be thresholds, but they'd be unrealistic for us. We may be able to make tradeoffs so 60 days works.)

If there's a threshold, it's a lot earlier than 60 days. As PPs have said, most owners book between 7-11 months out, or at least 6 months out. If you can't book any earlier than 60 days out, you're going to be essentially shut out of certain room types, and possibly even certain times of year.

For instance, at 60 days out, your odds of ever getting a BWV standard view room, and AKV club level room, or most grand villas are slim to none. You'll probably not be getting any villas at BWV or BCV between Oct 1 and New Years. The period between Thanksgiving and New Years will be long since booked up, with possibly, maybe, something at SSR. For a night or two of your planned vacation.

In short, I think you're really going to find DVC ownership frustrating. Most of your stays are going to involve a lot of moves, you'll be finding a night in a studio at SSR, and a couple days in a one-bedroom at OKW, and then another studio at SSR.

If you were primarily going to be booking 7-11 months out, with the occasional short notice stay, I'd say go for it. But if your entire use of the membership will be for 3-8 weeks out....I honestly can't recommend it. Timeshares just aren't designed for short notice booking. When you do find something on short notice, it's more of a stroke of luck than a routine occurrence.

 

[k3chantal]

I think it is about expectations. If you have realistic expectations and will take what MAY be available, then you will be happy. If you have a desired resort or specific, unmovable time period then you will definitely find yourself frustrated.

Your biggest challenge would be making sure you make your reservations EARLY in your Use Year so that if you have to cancel; you can reschedule for later in your use year.

Our first trip was made under the three month mark. We 'took' what we could get. That was a split stay at VWL, Vero Beach and VWL again. It worked really well for us and we were thrilled with our first experience. BUT, we were open to try anything and had so little knowledge of what to expect, that everything seemed 'magical' to us. Now we are a little more savvy and want what we want. Unless we book at 11 months out or find ourselves with some flexibility at 7 months, good luck to us........

 

[dawnball]

I really do appreciate everyone's input. It may seem like I'm trying to jam a square peg into a round hole and insisting that it fits, but in reality, I'm just trying to establish what reasonable expectations are.

I can go to wdw reservations now and book studios through 2 bedroom villas for three weeks out, so I thought that since they were the same physical rooms as DVC, they'd be the same availability pool. Not having access to the member services reservation data makes it hard for an outsider to know what the landscape looks like, so I'd rather ask here than assume.

At any rate, I can't guarantee where I'll be living 11 months out, so planning impossible-to-reschedule vacations that far away is a non-starter. Distressed DVC sounds like a good suggestion to go with our current liberal usage of hotel and airline consolidators.


Thanks again!

 

[disneynutz]

I really do appreciate everyone's input. It may seem like I'm trying to jam a square peg into a round hole and insisting that it fits, but in reality, I'm just trying to establish what reasonable expectations are.

I can go to wdw reservations now and book studios through 2 bedroom villas for three weeks out, so I thought that since they were the same physical rooms as DVC, they'd be the same availability pool. Not having access to the member services reservation data makes it hard for an outsider to know what the landscape looks like, so I'd rather ask here than assume.

At any rate, I can't guarantee where I'll be living 11 months out, so planning impossible-to-reschedule vacations that far away is a non-starter. Distressed DVC sounds like a good suggestion to go with our current liberal usage of hotel and airline consolidators.


Thanks again!

Some of the inventory that you see are the 60 day rooms that I wrote about, supposedly a room from that category can be pulled back but I have heard mixed reports of that happening. The rest of those rooms belong to Disney, not DVC so owners do not have access to them.

Bill

 

[DizBub]

We too have booked a last minute stay while on the road. It turned out well because we got 2 nights at BWV bw view. It was our very 1st DVC stay and it was awesome. Last Nov we had to rent an existing reservation from another member because there was absolutely nothing available anywhere and were able to add 2 nights while we were there. Last minute cancellations, I'm sure.

But we always book one trip at 11 months. Then piece together whatever is available 3 or 4 other trips during the year. Good thing we have learned to really love SSR. It is very frustrating to have no availability for DVC members but see that they can be rented for huge money to the general public but those are the rules. Disney holds back 2% of the inventory to be able to use for cash reservations. The system is set up for people to plan far ahead but it is actually pretty flexible if you are. It gets a little frustrating to be spending BLT points to stay at SSR so if you can't book 11 months out and still want to buy, SSR points are the way to go.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I really do appreciate everyone's input. It may seem like I'm trying to jam a square peg into a round hole and insisting that it fits, but in reality, I'm just trying to establish what reasonable expectations are.

I can go to wdw reservations now and book studios through 2 bedroom villas for three weeks out, so I thought that since they were the same physical rooms as DVC, they'd be the same availability pool. Not having access to the member services reservation data makes it hard for an outsider to know what the landscape looks like, so I'd rather ask here than assume.

At any rate, I can't guarantee where I'll be living 11 months out, so planning impossible-to-reschedule vacations that far away is a non-starter. Distressed DVC sounds like a good suggestion to go with our current liberal usage of hotel and airline consolidators.


Thanks again!

What you see on the WDW Reservation site is the stuff that members have traded out. So it cannot be used for a points stay because it has already been used for a points stay. Some member wanted to go on the DCL or Adv by Disney and they used points to do that. So DVC trades those points to Disney Reservation Center to sell to pay for the trip. That inventory cannot be pulled back and used for a points stay because it was already used for a points stay.

Occasionally, they can pull back inventory that they sent over to DRC at 60 days out if a member wants to book at trip and it still hasn't been sold. That inventory wasn't already used for a points stay.

 

[Sandisw]

I really do appreciate everyone's input. It may seem like I'm trying to jam a square peg into a round hole and insisting that it fits, but in reality, I'm just trying to establish what reasonable expectations are.

I can go to wdw reservations now and book studios through 2 bedroom villas for three weeks out, so I thought that since they were the same physical rooms as DVC, they'd be the same availability pool. Not having access to the member services reservation data makes it hard for an outsider to know what the landscape looks like, so I'd rather ask here than assume.

At any rate, I can't guarantee where I'll be living 11 months out, so planning impossible-to-reschedule vacations that far away is a non-starter. Distressed DVC sounds like a good suggestion to go with our current liberal usage of hotel and airline consolidators.

Thanks again!

I think it's a wise choice. As already mentioned, nothing is really impossible as there is always a chance. But, going in to DVC knowing you wont book less than a month out will prove very frustrating and it's too much money, IMO, to chance with your travel patterns. As mentioned, you always have the option of renting last minute reservations if their is availability.

 

[zavandor]

I can go to wdw reservations now and book studios through 2 bedroom villas for three weeks out, so I thought that since they were the same physical rooms as DVC, they'd be the same availability pool. Not having access to the member services reservation data makes it hard for an outsider to know what the landscape looks like, so I'd rather ask here than assume.

Three weeks from now it's the end of August, one of the slowest period for DVC. Points charts are high, weather is terrible, there is the risk of hurricanes and love bugs. I can see now availability at OKW and SSR, but not everywhere else, for that week.

If you can drive to Orlando and are very flexible ("ehi, look, there is some availability next week, let's go di Disneyworld"), you might get something in slow DVC seasons (not completely related to low park seasons). But I wouldn't count on it enough to buy DVC.

 

[Dean]

If there's a threshold, it's a lot earlier than 60 days. As PPs have said, most owners book between 7-11 months out, or at least 6 months out. If you can't book any earlier than 60 days out, you're going to be essentially shut out of certain room types, and possibly even certain times of year.

For instance, at 60 days out, your odds of ever getting a BWV standard view room, and AKV club level room, or most grand villas are slim to none. You'll probably not be getting any villas at BWV or BCV between Oct 1 and New Years. The period between Thanksgiving and New Years will be long since booked up, with possibly, maybe, something at SSR. For a night or two of your planned vacation.

In short, I think you're really going to find DVC ownership frustrating. Most of your stays are going to involve a lot of moves, you'll be finding a night in a studio at SSR, and a couple days in a one-bedroom at OKW, and then another studio at SSR.

If you were primarily going to be booking 7-11 months out, with the occasional short notice stay, I'd say go for it. But if your entire use of the membership will be for 3-8 weeks out....I honestly can't recommend it. Timeshares just aren't designed for short notice booking. When you do find something on short notice, it's more of a stroke of luck than a routine occurrence.

I think there are several threshold's. The break points are at 11 months out, 7 months and then a steady decline (if anything is left) down to around 60 days out. Some will be successful at or around 60 days out due to slower times and to catching openings due to cancelations.

I really do appreciate everyone's input. It may seem like I'm trying to jam a square peg into a round hole and insisting that it fits, but in reality, I'm just trying to establish what reasonable expectations are.

I can go to wdw reservations now and book studios through 2 bedroom villas for three weeks out, so I thought that since they were the same physical rooms as DVC, they'd be the same availability pool. Not having access to the member services reservation data makes it hard for an outsider to know what the landscape looks like, so I'd rather ask here than assume.

At any rate, I can't guarantee where I'll be living 11 months out, so planning impossible-to-reschedule vacations that far away is a non-starter. Distressed DVC sounds like a good suggestion to go with our current liberal usage of hotel and airline consolidators.


Thanks again!

While some will be successful at times, buying in with this as your situation is a very risky and potentially costly option.

 

[BrerNashville]

Right now, there is studio availability for the week you mentioned at OKW, SSR, and AKV; there is 1BR availability for those same resorts plus BWV. Random week I picked in september, saturday to saturday, much the same situation. There is nothing available now, I suspect, for October through the end of the year. In november, there will likely be decent availability for January. So, as long as your last minute travel will occur during off times (probably limited to end of August to September-before-food-and-wine starts and january) and you are ok staying at SSR, AKV or OKW, you *might* be able to make it work.

But I like someone else's suggestion above to just rent distressed points. That is bound to be cheaper.