I have brought this up on the VGF thread as well, but I thought I'd also bring it up here since there are so many knowledgable folks on this thread.
How will the addition of new points into the existing VGF condo association affect those of us original VGF owners. I worry that by DVD adding additional points to the resort, it could devalue my original ownership, especially if they make the new "Resort Studios" have a higher point value, but allow those that purchase into the new building to access the original VGF inventory at 11 months. Essentially, it would create a LOT of competition for those original 47 studios. To me, that is not "enhancing" my membership...
The announcement states that the new 200 studio villas at VGF will be done as an addition to the original resort and not as a new separate resort. Such additions have been done before such as at OKW (new buildings with elevators) and SSR (the treehouses),
By stating the rooms will just be part of the original VGF resort creates legal restrictions that DVD will not be able to avoid, absent an amendment to the VGF POS that the existing members would actually have a right to vote on and approve. I doubt seriously that the amendment process will be attempted. However, there is always the chance that DVD will just ignore the rights of members and act illegally on purpose with the hope that nobody sues, like it did by adding Riviera as a
DVC Resort with its resale restrictions, despite that the POS's of all the other existing resorts have provisions that require all members, including resale, to be able to reserve any all DVC Resorts, including any, such as Riviera, that are added to the DVC Reservation Component. However, if DVD was going to attempt that illegal action again, it would likely set up the new VGF as its own new resort.
Assuming it is true that the new studios will be part of the existing VGF DVC Resort and not a new resort, and DVD avoids any illegal tricks, then what will likely happen is as follows:
-- The opening price per point will be the same as whatever the price per point is for the existing VGF at the time the new rooms are first offered for sale Members should likely thus expect some VGF point price increases before the new rooms are offered. DVD could offer an opening discount off that price for purchases of the new units but the same offer would also apply to any sales of points for the existing VGF resort.
-- The new rooms will have the same 2064 expiration date as the exisiting VGF resort and be subject to the same resale restrictions that currently exist for other VGF owners -- resale owners will be able to reserve all existing resorts other than Riviera.
-- Points per night could differ for the new studios from the existing studios but the difference would require a valid basis for creating a new class of studios. To charge higher points, DVD would need the new rooms to either be bigger or better than the existing rooms, otherwise the per night points would need to be the same. As provided by the POS, two keys to determining points per night are the demand factors applicable to each season and the square footage of the rooms. At many resorts, 1BRs are close to double the size of studios and the nightly points for the 1BRs are close to double the studios. That difference results from the POS requirement to apply square footage as a key determinant of points per night. Many believe the points for 1BRs should be a lot closer to studios, but the difference cannot actually legally be changed by much because the POS makes square footage a key to determining nightly points. Thus, DVD could create larger studios and charge higher points. In fact, it could also create smaller studios which would require lower points
Moreover, even assuming like square footage, it is possible that DVD could create a new class of higher point per night studios for at least some of the 200 being added but something noticeable would need to be better. DVD could make the rooms internally better, such as by adding a separate second, full bathroom. Another possible difference could be view. VGF already has two view classifications that could be copied for the new resort. To create a new and higher point classification requires something better than what already exists in the preferred category. Possibly some of the rooms could have direct MK views (I do not know) and thus DVD could classify those as Theme Park view studios similar to BLT. However, I cannot currently think of any meaningful difference that would actually apply to all the new rooms and it sppears that many rooms in the designated building have no more than a pool view, which should put them in the standard view category. In any event, DVD would need to go the new DVC Resort route to legally make like-size, like make-up, and like view rooms cost more than the current VGF.
It is thus possible that at least some of the new studios could have a higher point per night cost and thus create some greater demand for the existing VGF studios, but that would be offsetted somewhat by the requirement that there be a valid reason for the difference in the new rooms, such as having Theme Park view or a larger room.
