DVCNews article on August 2025 Direct Sales

[Sandisw]

There is plenty empirical evidence at how these types of restrictions affected resale values at other timeshare developers, specifically the Vistana Westin/Sheraton timeshares (formerly Starwood Vacation ownership, now part of Marriott Vacation Club).

There are nuances with weeks vs points, season types, and the type of restrictions, but suffice it to say that, once the market stabilized, you literally had once category of timeshares that held its resale values (unrestricted, high season) and once that was near-zero (restricted, regardless of season).

If you have access to Redweek just take a look at the Westin Kierland Villas (in the AZ desert) 2BR high season resale prices ($12-$16K) versus Westin Desert Willow (in the CA desert) 2BR high season resale prices which are going for near zero. Both are Westin, both highly popular in the winter months, but the one in Scottsdale can trade internally into a 2BR Westin in Hawaii (where dues are almost double) using points, while the one in Palm Desert can only try to trade via Interval.





Even though the resort is only 5 years old, and still in active sales, there is plenty of evidence that resale prices at RIV have decreased at a rapid pace since 2022, while resorts like PVB, BLT, VGF have not decreased much at all. I'm not trying to bash Riviera as a resort (I love the resort itself) but when the supply of a lousy product (due to restrictions imposed by the developer) increases, prices do go down... And it's inevitable supply will continue to increase over the next 5 years as more original buyers sell due to various reasons.

If you perceive the value of a timeshare as $X due to usage at home resort and $Y due to flexibility to trade, with the total resale value being X+Y, that "Y" part for Riviera is zero. Whether Y is 20% of the total value or 60% of the total value may be resort dependent (e.g., lower for VGC and higher for SSR) and subjective, but overall some value is lost due to restrictions. For most resorts, I'd put it personally closer to 50%, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it settle at half the price of prime O14 resorts expiring in the 2060s. But that's just a personal opinion given to how much less I'd be willing to pay for my own resale contracts if they were restricted. In the end, supply and demand will determine the resale price....

My point was that there is a market of buyers out there who are willing to pay similar pricing for RIV and other popular resorts, like BLT and CCV.

And there are resorts that sell for less. It’s age doesn’t factor in IMO.

Even if it didn’t have restrictions, I don’t think we’d see much higher pricing on it right now because of the pricing we are seeing at VGF and PVB.

So we are left with how well is it doing market wise for a resort you can not trade and I’d say in the scheme of things it’s holding its own

When it’s sold out and you can’t get it direct for a decent price, I predict it will stabilize.

The resale pricing in general has gone down in the past few years and so some of what we are seeing for RIV is, in part, impacted by those same factors.

 

[DanCali]

My point was that there is a market of buyers out there who are willing to pay similar pricing for RIV and other popular resorts, like BLT and CCV.

I don't disagree with that.

Here is what a basic demand curve looks like. Yes, there are (a few) people willing to pay high prices. There are also (more) people willing to pay lower prices. And there are also (even more) people willing to pay rock bottom prices. Once the people who pay the high prices buy and are out of the market, you're left with those willing to pay lower prices...

I won't go into interactions with the supply side (which slopes upward), but suffice it to say that as supply increases, which it will for a 5-year old resort, the equilibrium price tends to go down...

When it’s sold out and you can’t get it direct for a decent price, I predict it will stabilize.

The resale product is so different from the direct product, that I don't think it's fair to say that. You'd have to be an die hard Riviera fan to commit yourself to 1 resort for the next 45 years AND be willing to pay as much as BLT or CCV (let alone VGF or PVB) which give you access to a lot more options. What happens when that limited group's demand is satiated? The sellers/supply is not going away...

 

[airjay75]

The resale product is so different from the direct product, that I don't think it's fair to say that. You'd have to be an die hard Riviera fan to commit yourself to 1 resort for the next 45 years AND be willing to pay as much as BLT or CCV (let alone VGF or PVB) which give you access to a lot more options. What happens when that limited group's demand is satiated? The sellers/supply is not going away...

You may well be right here, but I think there are some unknown factors that COULD affect this.

On the demand side, RIV could eventually experience the type of 7-month ability you see at BCV/BWV - plenty of people buy contracts at those resorts intending to use them only there and probably see almost all of their value in those contracts having home resort priority. You also see this with VDH resale pricing which has the same restrictions as RIV and I won't be surprised if we see that with CFW. As we near closer and closer to 2042, the demand side of things for a product like RIV resale could change. Owners of direct or resale points at a monorail resort may want some points at an Epcot area resort, and RIV may well be the most economical option at that point. I also think a lot of direct RIV owners who decide to buy resale RIV points to supplement their direct points, could more regularly churn those (i.e., temporarily plus up their points and then take them back down) or maybe they buy some RIV resale points for the RIV stays and then use their direct RIV points for non-RIV stays.

On the supply side, DVD may decide to exercise ROFR much more regularly than we've historically seen with unrestricted resorts on account of the larger spread between direct and resale. And, on the flip side, if resale prices stay low enough, you may not see as many RIV owners willing to sell their points, so resale supply may not be as high as has been typical with unrestricted resorts.

I'm certainly not predicting any of these things, but I think there is a fair degree of uncertainty how this play out over the long-term. I wouldn't buy RIV, direct or resale, counting on any of the above to come to fruition.

 

[Girlstar30]

When thinking about restrictions affecting sales, it does make me pause before wanting to purchase, but only because I know about it. A guide just took my cousin on a tour during our vacation and she was enamored with the thought of being a DVC owner. The word "Restriction" never came up when discussing Riviera and she was ready to sign. She wouldnt know about it and if it was mentioned and she liked Riv, it would have been like OK, well im not selling, so thats fine. She wouldnt have had time to research all this and see the price impact if she was looking to sign on the spot, which many people do sign on the spot

I also think about my initial reaction when touring both Poly and Riv when I was considering buying direct first. Again the "R" word never came up, but PIT being added to the OG poly did and I thought, "Less years at PIT, theyre ripping me off and Riv is better!"

So I do think resale restrictions have some impact on sales. I have heard of people buying Poly over Riv when they preferred Riv, but perhaps not as much as some people think, and that person i read about came to regret that decision

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm a RIV fan and sometimes-apologist. But even I am pretty sure that the resale price is only going down from here---at least in inflation-adjusted terms, if not in absolute dollars. That is despite the fact that I am the poster child for the argument a lot of people are making: I am putting together a portfolio* of roughly 50/50 developer/resale points at RIV, with an expectation of alternating between RIV and Not-RIV each year for variety.

The thing is, I don't expect that there are that many of "me"s out there relative to the number of people who will be looking to get out, especially as the resort reaches maturity--and that's easily 5-10 years after sales close.

But I also do not care. Frankly, as a RIV buyer, I want the price to be low. A lower trading price allows me to put this portfolio together at a lower commitment of capital. If I need to downsize, I can shed the resale points, and while I might lose a little on the sale, it won't be a lot, because I paid less for it in the first place.

-----
I went back and forth a lot about how to put this together. Of the direct options on the table when I bought, RIV was easily the one I wanted most as a home resort. I didn't feel the need to have the entire portfolio be unrestricted. So the question was: Pair that with a resale locked in to the O14, or with RIV?

Either could have worked. I'm really not a studio person, and for the most part 1BRs are not that complicated at seven months. It is also easy for me to plan my "main" stay each year at 11 months. So because I imagine RIV being my home for about half of my stays, the lock-in there wasn't a problem. The point values at RIV are on the high side, even for Resort views, so having the ability to use a little more than my resale allocation there made sense, because over time I will average more points at RIV and less points at "not-RIV" for the same stay each year. But having the home resort advantage for everything there means Resort views are more easily obtained.

 

[Brian Noble]

I also note that, once again, the monthly sales data post has become a referendum on restrictions in general, and RIV in particular. Someday that won't happen, but that day is not today. But it reminds me that I really do love owning at DVC's red-headed stepchild.

 

[airjay75]

I'm a RIV fan and sometimes-apologist. But even I am pretty sure that the resale price is only going down from here---at least in inflation-adjusted terms, if not in absolute dollars. That is despite the fact that I am the poster child for the argument a lot of people are making: I am putting together a portfolio* of roughly 50/50 developer/resale points at RIV, with an expectation of alternating between RIV and Not-RIV each year for variety.

The thing is, I don't expect that there are that many of "me"s out there relative to the number of people who will be looking to get out, especially as the resort reaches maturity--and that's easily 5-10 years after sales close.

But I also do not care. Frankly, as a RIV buyer, I want the price to be low. A lower trading price allows me to put this portfolio together at a lower commitment of capital. If I need to downsize, I can shed the resale points, and while I might lose a little on the sale, it won't be a lot, because I paid less for it in the first place.

-----
I went back and forth a lot about how to put this together. Of the direct options on the table when I bought, RIV was easily the one I wanted most as a home resort. I didn't feel the need to have the entire portfolio be unrestricted. So the question was: Pair that with a resale locked in to the O14, or with RIV?

Either could have worked. I'm really not a studio person, and for the most part 1BRs are not that complicated at seven months. It is also easy for me to plan my "main" stay each year at 11 months. So because I imagine RIV being my home for about half of my stays, the lock-in there wasn't a problem. The point values at RIV are on the high side, even for Resort views, so having the ability to use a little more than my resale allocation there made sense, because over time I will average more points at RIV and less points at "not-RIV" for the same stay each year. But having the home resort advantage for everything there means Resort views are more easily obtained.

Very interesting thought process. Were I not already in the midst of supplementing with my CCV resale, I might be giving your strategy some serious thought and I may well do so in the future. I highly doubt I will want more direct points in the future and I plan to keep my RIV points for the long-term, but what you're doing may well make a lot of sense, particular as new resorts come online, and, while we love staying at our home resort, want to occasionally try others, including new ones.

Of course, I agree that probably aren't a lot of us out there, but, as you say, if prices stay low, that could actually be to our benefit.

 

[Brian Noble]

Lower acquisition costs can be a very good thing.

My best timeshare "purchase"---and it is not close---was two oceanfront 2BR weeks at a less-popular resort in Kauai. The previous owners paid the transfer fees and gave us the first year's usage for free. It's a lovely if slightly worn place, right on the water between Kapa'a Town and LIH, central to both "ends" of the island, so nothing is more than about an hour away modulo traffic.

Those started out as floating weeks, bookable 1-52. During the Covid shutdown, the management company offered to convert the weeks into their points system for free. That took a long time but when it happened, there were a couple of mistakes they made that were favorable to us, even after I pointed them out---in some cases, more than once.

The resort has been something of a hot mess. It's about 40 years old, and there are significant construction defects that were only discovered a little while ago. The result is that the buildings are effectively a tear-down, and the ownership collectively voted to terminate the resort last month.

You know what? No worries! I didn't pay a dime to buy it, didn't have to pay the fees for one of the years we owned there, and used the weeks (and later the points) to take some fantastic vacations. I might even end up getting a few dollars back when the property is auctioned off.

"Free" means a lot can go wrong and it still doesn't matter. I got more than fair value out of owning it, and while I will be sad to see it go, I am not upset to see it go.

 

[Sandisw]

I don't disagree with that.

Here is what a basic demand curve looks like. Yes, there are (a few) people willing to pay high prices. There are also (more) people willing to pay lower prices. And there are also (even more) people willing to pay rock bottom prices. Once the people who pay the high prices buy and are out of the market, you're left with those willing to pay lower prices...

I won't go into interactions with the supply side (which slopes upward), but suffice it to say that as supply increases, which it will for a 5-year old resort, the equilibrium price tends to go down...

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The resale product is so different from the direct product, that I don't think it's fair to say that. You'd have to be an die hard Riviera fan to commit yourself to 1 resort for the next 45 years AND be willing to pay as much as BLT or CCV (let alone VGF or PVB) which give you access to a lot more options. What happens when that limited group's demand is satiated? The sellers/supply is not going away...

It is a different product but it isn’t an either or situation.

Many owners have more than one home resort and so it might be a product buyers are willing to have as one of several contracts.

I don’t think you need to be a diehard RIV…or any restricted resort fan that comes along…to be the only one who will buy…you just need to want it as an option to be willing to have it in your portfolio of DVC..if you decide to go resale.

When RIV opened, many of us predicted it’d never sell well, meaning above $100, and here it is, 6 years later and it’s averaging someone between $110 to $120.

Given a depressed market for all the resorts,,VGF was in the $180s in 2022 and now back to the $150s…things can ebb and flow.

Matter of fact, because RIVs pricing may already be depressed because of restrictions it might not ebb and flow as much.

We also have no idea how DVD will use ROFR for restricted resorts when it’s sold out…we know they took one at $89/point.

I just don’t see RIV not continuing to sell similarly in relative to where it is in the list of resorts.

I guess we wait and see.

Now, in 10 years or so, when a lot more restricted resorts are out there? I think resale as a whole will become a depressed market.