GF GV at 7 months

[Meredith71]

Is it impossible to get a GV at GF at 7 months? We do not own there (own at BLT, AK & Poly) but my daughter is planning her wedding at the wedding pavilion May 2022. We would love to get a GV for a couple of nights, the night before and night of the wedding, to use it to get ready as well. She is looking at Memorial Day weekend so that makes it more difficult. Any advice?

 

[Marionnette]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/grand-villa-availability-at-all-resorts.3564854/#post-56842206
Typically not a problem if you just want a couple of random nights and are flexible with your dates. Otherwise, weekends tend to go before 7 months, taken by people who want to do what you would like to do...a night or two in an upscale villa to have a place for a large gathering. I had a lot of inquiries about booking Friday and/or Saturday nights when I posted my VGF points for rent. Many bachelorette parties and small weddings.

My advice would be to rent from a VGF owner since your nights are inflexible and you want a holiday weekend. There are only 6 VGF GVs, so the odds are not in your favor otherwise.

 

[drusba]

Prior to covid, VGF GV's were typically open at 7 months out for time in May (e.g., they were open in Oct 2019 at 7 months out for all of May 2020); pre-covid, they were actually open at 7-months out for much of the time between mid-Jan and late Sep -- despite that there are only six, the extremely high point cost has kept most away. The problem with 2022 is that demand is likely to vary due to large numbers of members that either cancelled or avoided reservations in 2020, and now 2021, are accumulating large numbers of banked points that can be used for reservations in 2022 when many believe the covid problems will be over. That could mean higher demand for the GVs in 2022, and thus one should assume May 2022 is simply an unknown at this point.

 

[Meredith71]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/grand-villa-availability-at-all-resorts.3564854/#post-56842206
Typically not a problem if you just want a couple of random nights and are flexible with your dates. Otherwise, weekends tend to go before 7 months, taken by people who want to do what you would like to do...a night or two in an upscale villa to have a place for a large gathering. I had a lot of inquiries about booking Friday and/or Saturday nights when I posted my VGF points for rent. Many bachelorette parties and small weddings.

My advice would be to rent from a VGF owner since your nights are inflexible and you want a holiday weekend. There are only 6 VGF GVs, so the odds are not in your favor otherwise.

Thank you. I figured it was going to be difficult but it is hard to justify renting points when we own quite a but already. Do people ever trade points? Is that allowed. I’m usually very flexible with where I stay so I have never encountered this before.

 

[Marionnette]

Thank you. I figured it was going to be difficult but it is hard to justify renting points when we own quite a but already. Do people ever trade points? Is that allowed. I’m usually very flexible with where I stay so I have never encountered this before.

People can and do trade points but the limits of one transfer per membership per UY often prevents owners from being able to simply do a swap. Owners with more than one membership can trade out points from one membership and accept them into another one without a problem.

For most, it's a matter of trading reservations of equal value, rather than swapping points.. And coming to terms on "equal value" can be difficult. For instance, a 120-point reservation at VGF in exchange for a 120-point at SSR is not likely to happen because SSR tends to have availability inside of 7 months, but a 120-point reservation at RIV would have a better chance.

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Have you considered renting some of your points to generate the cash for the points you need to rent the VGF reservation? That might make renting points more tolerable considering you already own quite a few. As for trades, they are tricky and almost like finding a DVC unicorn, especially since you will need a large number of points and you only have 3 months to find this unicorn. You could always book the GV at BLT since you own there so you are guaranteed somewhere to stay with the possible bonus of switching to VGF if there is an opening at the 7 month mark.