It seems that DVC has only just started to take a look at renting because interest in the parks and experiences has cooled.…
DCL is even discounting cruises now. The revenge travel bubble is officially over, at least as far as Disney is concerned.
This is my theory also. Disney had to release a lot of massive discounts this year to fill hotel rooms, I think they will crack down on commercial renting up to the point where they don’t have to give 30% off and free dining, etc. I don’t know what their target occupancy and discount rates are, but I expect that enforcement will continue until they hit them. A big economic downturn could mean more enforcement and a travel boom could mean less.
Right this moment, if I try to book a room 11 months out, just over 24% of the room types are unavailable. (30/123)
…
As of now, 30 different room types, across 9 different resorts, are completely off limits 11 months out. That is not what it was a decade ago. People are complaining that it has gotten worse because it has gotten worse. I mean we own 4 resorts because we used the points from the first to try out the other 3 and then bought in... all three of those rooms we stayed in to test out those resorts, I couldn't book today at 11 months- I sure as heck wouldn't have gotten a 5-6 nights at 7 months.
I don’t think stopping spec renting will help very much at 7mo, but it should give owners more options at 11mo… also for those who don’t care about cheap rooms, remember that spec rooms being tied up causes a trickle down impact— someone who’s not in value will be in standard studio, standard studio gets bumped to savannah, and so forth. I do think it’s more of a problem for those of us who own at smaller resorts (there is no “pay more for different view” option at VGC and BCV) and those who want the lowest point rooms, but if Disney is willing to let most of their lowest point rooms go to spec renters eventually they are gonna have a problem with owners.
I think
point charts are driving some of this "unavailability" people talk about and need to be recast. In other words, are the "low point" rooms driving too much demand because they are "too low"?
Maybe if the variances were less extreme, demand would even out?
There are definitely areas where rebalancing would help make it less cutthroat to get certain rooms, but as long as there are rooms where you can make a lot of money, spec renters will swoop them.
On the whole I do not believe that this is Disney protecting developer sold points it seems like a genuine effort to improve the DVC ownership experience.
I think it’s about protecting profit margins at hotels, with a marginal benefit to improving owner experience.
I think if you’re using them yes! But as far as others who have multiple contracts and rent out $20k worth of reservations in 2-3 month span should be worried.
I don’t mean to single out this post, but there are a lot of people on the thread confidently stating that only the most dramatic, egregious examples will be punished and I don’t understand why? Maybe it’s just my risk averse lawyer instincts but I don’t understand how anyone could say with confidence that people who rent half or more of their points won’t be targeted when Disney has indicated it doesn’t want regular
or frequent rentals.
Did they actually say what a large point owner is? I once thought I was a large point owner until a friend told me he knew of lots of people with 4,000-12,000 points and that suddenly made me feel like a small point owner. So which am I?
I’ve never seen where the 95% cut off is for total points, but I would be surprised if it was over 1000, I would be surprised if the first wave targeted people under 500 points, but I also wouldn’t count on it if I was renting 400 points each year.
I hope commercial renter doesn't include owners trying to offset some of the annual dues once in while.
I think of a commercial renter as person or an entity (fancy word) whose primary or substantial source of income comes from renting out points.
Disney is almost certainly going after people who rent points as a “side hustle” or just one of many prongs of their business. But none of those people are renting “once in a while.”
And we are now looking at the 11 month booking for May which has seen an increase in popularity since they lowered the points.
Obviously, there are rooms that are booked for renters…but I just don’t think j people are going to see that availability changes to that degree because if an owner can’t rent, then they are not going to let points expire….they are going to use.
So, in the end, the rooms still get booked.
Some will use, some will bank, some will trade, and some will lose. It would definitely make more rooms available to owners and not people using rooms to make money.
If we stopped spec renting, I do think we’d see more availability at exactly 11mo all the way down to 6.5 mo, on average, but then we’d see less availability and waitlists clearing 1-4 months out.
I know exactly which poster you are referring to. It’s unbelievable right?!
I’m also regularly amazed by the same people posting reservations for rent which cover the entire month of Sept/ Dec and letting renters just pick the week they want. There are people who literally have every day covered and available for rent. I often wonder if there are groups of owners pooling their points and working together. I don’t know
Once you start looking for (or coming across) confirmed rentals, it becomes clear a huge chunk of overall rooms are being used to maximize profits (based on the patterns of what’s available and the prices they charge) and tie up peak dates.
No, but an owner is now capped at being an owner or part of an ownership of 8000 points.
That’s pretty high. I can’t answer where you fall, but to me, opinion only, owners who are 2k and under should not be too concerned.
I think Disney will probably start with the very biggest accounts but they could start with the most obvious. If you have 1000 points and haven’t been to a Disney resort in 5 years, that could put you in the crosshairs.
I will be watching to see if/how this impacts walking. We go at Thanksgiving and stay in 1bdrms now to avoid having to walk but it can be frustrating to not get what you want or have to pick up scraps only to see spec rentals offered up on Facebook closet to the 11 month mark. That, in my opinion, is a commercial renter who is picking up spec rentals at the expense of owners who want the ressies for their families.
On other threads about spec renting and walking, several members have reported not being able to get their home resort at 11m (or even 11.1mo) and already seeing multiple rental availability for those rooms and those dates. There is a better argument that DVC is violating its duties to members if it’s not possible for a human being to reserve certain room types without specialized software than there is that DVC can’t crack down on people who rent regularly and frequently.
