DVC in Lake Tahoe and Caribbean?

[littlestar]

On a side note about Vegas, the last time my husband had a trade show out there, for pure entertainment I looked at the yellow page advertisements for "escort services" and they are hilarious (they take up a lot of the phone book - ha ). One of them I read was advertising "large Russian women to your room" - now, that is scary stuff . My husband said maybe they move furniture or something . . .

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

I don't think LV is in the top 3 family vacation spots. It is a different market, as MGM and Wet & Wild found out. Sure, the land they occupied was worth a lot of $$$, but if the parks had been doing a land office business, it wouldn't matter what the land was worth, they'd still be profitable and operating. A tourist destination is not necessarily a family destination.

DVC trades through II, for full weeks. LV is not normally a full week destination. 3 or 4 days tops for most folks, even convention people.

Also, designing those point charts...DVC is already traditionally heavily loaded on weekends pointwise, and most LV visitiors are "long weekenders" Would it be worth a weekend stay on heavily loaded points? Not to most people.

If the point chart wasn't heavily loaded on weekends, the resort would probably sit empty during the week, and be next to impossible to book on weekends. LV is just not a good fit, IMO, for DVC.

Also, some folks buy DVC looking to (at least occasionally) rent their points and use the cash for other destinations. Even the current $10+ per point rental seems high for LV, even if it was the same point chart as VWL.

There is already an II trade option to LV and most folks still chose a few nights on cash at a Casino resort rather than trading DVC for an II week in LV.

Chuck, I'll just say that families do go to LV on vacation. And, yes, I agree that it is a different kind of market than other tourist markets. But, that being said people do go to LV on vacation and DVC is a vacation club.

When we bought DVC, I thought that we might be able to use points for a trip to LV but then afer we bought, I figured out why is really wasn't a good use of my points.

If Disney is considering building a DVC resort in Tahoe then guess what?... they have already decided that proximity to gaming establishments and prostitution are not going to be obstacles to doing business. The Tahoe/Reno area is filled with casinos and "gentlemens" clubs are everywhere. If a Tahoe DVC can happen, then an off-Strip DVC in Henderson or near Lake Las Vegas would work too.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

Chuck already addressed many of my comments (far better than I would have....thanks, Chuck! ). Disney and Las Vegas are not synonymous...and Disney does not WANT them to be.

Again, if Disney is willing to open a shop in Tahoe/Reno market then they have already decided that all those casinos down the street aren't so bad to have as neighbors after all.

I can easily see families doing one of the Italy Adventures by Disney and then staying on an additional week at a DVC resort in the area. It is getting there...the airfare...that is the major cost. Once there, if DVC made it easy folks to extend their trips, people would do it.

Sorry, I can't and don't easily see families (or at least enough of them) buying into a DVC in Italy. And I just don't see an Italy DVC happening before a DVC in Las Vegas.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

On a side note about Vegas, the last time my husband had a trade show out there, for pure entertainment I looked at the yellow page advertisements for "escort services" and they are hilarious (they take up a lot of the phone book - ha ). One of them I read was advertising "large Russian women to your room" - now, that is scary stuff . My husband said maybe they move furniture or something . . .

Just imagine how it used to be! Up until about 10 years ago, the phonebooks in Nevada were filled with actual pictures of these large Russian women and many other women too. It finally got be too much and they stopped allowing photos of scantily clad women in the yellow pages in Nevada.... although the escort services still seem to do be doing a thriving business!

 

[Chuck S]

I wouldn't hold my breath for any new offsite DVCs if Hawaii doesn't sell well from the start. The slow sales at HHI and especially Vero is what killed the original offsite expansion plans. Resorts have been announced, and cancelled, before.

 

[tomandrobin]

I wouldn't hold my breath for any new offsite DVCs if Hawaii doesn't sell well from the start. The slow sales at HHI and especially Vero is what killed the original offsite expansion plans. Resorts have been announced, and cancelled, before.

This time will be different, no repeat of HH (not on the ocean) and VB nothing special about the area. There are two big differences. First its in a great location with comparable resorts (Marriot and JW). Second, its going to be a mixed use resort, not catering to just DVC members. That hotel portion will draw plenty of non-dvc, Disney fans. There is a third specualtion and that the new cruise ship i believe will call on Hawaii.

 

[Chuck S]

This time will be different, no repeat of HH (not on the ocean) and VB nothing special about the area. There are two big differences. First its in a great location with comparable resorts (Marriot and JW). Second, its going to be a mixed use resort, not catering to just DVC members. That hotel portion will draw plenty of non-dvc, Disney fans. There is a third specualtion and that the new cruise ship i believe will call on Hawaii.

I think it will sell well, too. But if it doesn't I think it will be end of offsite DVCs for a long time.

 

[simzac]

I think it will sell well, too. But if it doesn't I think it will be end of offsite DVCs for a long time.

And if this happens, the only logical choices then are DVC resorts at all the Disney parks around the world, which is what I hope will happen eventually.

 

[3DisneyKids]

I wouldn't hold my breath for any new offsite DVCs if Hawaii doesn't sell well from the start. The slow sales at HHI and especially Vero is what killed the original offsite expansion plans. Resorts have been announced, and cancelled, before.

Absolutely, Chuck. Hawaii will be the barometer for future off site locations. We are definitely in wait and see mode in terms of off-site resorts. There are currently three DVCs in the works anyway...AKV, GCV, and Hawaii. I think we will see CRV next and then one at one of the Asian parks after that....all still tied to a theme park.