"Home Resort" booking frustrations!!

[Chuck S]

Point is I wouldn't want to be a part of a system that you can be shut out of your home resort during the home resort priority period. Doesn't matter what resort I owned.

Of course you can be shut out of your home resort during the priority booking window. If there are 200 rooms, and 300 owners at that resort that want to stay there at a given time, 100 people WILL be shut out. Then add to that the fact that some folks are still booking day by day ressies for rental spec...that compounds the problem at smaller resorts. But there is no reason to claim theproblem is due to a large resorts, because during the priority window, you are competing ONLY against other owners at that resort.

Redoing the points charts may help the problem to a small degree, but there will always be seasonal demand during the holidays.

 

[Sammie]

To the OP, I am sure it is very discouraging and especially so when the time frame you want or your friend wants will be available to rent on Ebay.

Which is the reason I have no problem with members renting points, I have serious problems with members renting already booked reservations for peak times. If that does not reek of commercialism I don't know what does.

 

[dumbo71]

To the OP, I am sure it is very discouraging and especially so when the time frame you want or your friend wants will be available to rent on Ebay.

Which is the reason I have no problem with members renting points, I have serious problems with members renting already booked reservations for peak times. If that does not reek of commercialism I don't know what does.

I would agree and I feel is probably the motivating factor for the crackdown on renting/transfers.

 

[fishermouse]

Perhaps it is time that Disney reviewed the points needed at different times of the year and perhaps rearranged them, decreasing the number needed in late July and early August and increasing the number needed in December, perhaps this may even out demand a little better.

Bite your tongue!

 

[dvcnewgirl]

Bite your tongue!

Step away from the December Value points.::cop:

I will be giving up 2 SV studios at BWV the first week of december if I can get OKW. I know I am the minority but there may be some things opening at the 7 month mark.

 

[Granny]

True. You got me on that. Point is I wouldn't want to be a part of a system that you can be shut out of your home resort during the home resort priority period. Doesn't matter what resort I owned.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I wasn't being sarcastic...I just didn't follow the logic.

We all knew the rules when we bought DVC, and understand that if there are enough owners to fill up a resort for an entire year...well then certainly there could be times when a significant percentage of them want to travel at the same time. So I understand that there may be times that I can't get into my home resort during the priority booking period. But at least I would be ahead on the waitlist of any owners at any other resort.

I wouldn't trade the small amount of risk associated with booking home resorts for the security of a fixed week traditional timeshare. Sorry, that holds absolutely no appeal to me. YMMV.

 

[BroganMc]

My guide explained to me that the only points available to use would be the ones sold in the units that are opening this year. Granted, I don't *do* DVC math (or much of any, if I can help it!), but I wouldn't think it would over-burden the system. BCV trades over to AKV trades over to OKW trades over to...

I flunked DVC Math too, but somehow this doesn't compute. The new AKV building is set to open Spring '09. Only 135? rooms will be available as of Fall this year. And good many will be value-sized which is fewer points. New members must buy a minimum of 160 points come next month. So if sales are strong, do we expect they'll just stop selling AKV until the new building opens and they can accommodate demand?

I thought the financing of the building was supported by member sales. Seems to be how all timeshares I've worked with have done things.

 

[Dean]

And this hasn't changed from when I started hanging here. I started hanging here before BCV opened. And even back then, people bought VWL or BWV if they really wanted prime seasons at those resorts because they didn't want to be shut out once the window opened. We have a number of owners here who bought VWL way back when for the home booking advantage. And way back when a lot of people recommended BWV resales if you really wanted those standard view rooms (way back then, there was still a room assigner and no seperate booking category for the Boardwalk View - but the room assigner assigned rooms by request in the order they came in).

SSR did change the amount of competition I have (as a BWV owner) to get a room at VWL. But it didn't change the fact that if I really wanted VWL at Christmas time, I should buy VWL.

But someone hit it on the head - most people don't have a flat learning curve. If I call in December for my October room and can't get the Standard View room I was hoping for, next year I'll remember to call in November. And its going to work the same way with the seven month window....if I call for a May BCV stay in Feburary and are told "no dice" next year I'll try earlier. Which is why I'm always skeptical of the "oh, we've always had no problem booking what we've wanted, you should just buy XXX resort and you'll be able to stay at XXX" posts - because five years from now, that relationship may have changed significantly. Buy where you want to stay, and use your home booking advantage. You may read plenty of posts from people who didn't need the home advantage, but you won't be regretting it if the situation changes.

The principles haven't changed but the specifics have over time. Truth is every time a new resorts comes on board, there is some change. AKV will actually help a little in that some of those BCV/BWV/VWL people will want to trade to AKV and if they are successful, that will free up a little bit of inventory with a corresponding decrease in AKV inventory and vice versa. IF the members there are booking time in their home resort priority time and only giving it up if they get what they want at 7 months out it will be a wash. It only helps everyone else for those that don't plan ahead and book early leaving unreserved inventory. The one catch to the DVC system is also one of it's benefits, that is the first come first served method. Imagine if you will that a BCV owner wants AKV and vice versa both for the same unit size and since they booked their home resorts with the idea of only canceling if they got the other one. Ultimately no one will get it in this scenario where a true exchange oriented system would allow them to "swap" reservations through the system.

AKV will help some in that it will have more demand compared to members at large. That's the problem with SSR as it relates to reservations at 7 months out, it almost instantly overwhelmed the system increasing the number of people looking for something other than they own by a factor likely 2-3 times what it was before and likely far more than ten to 1 compared to those from BWV, BCV, & VWL. Those that own where they want and reserve before 7 months will not be affected at all but all the rest will be.

 

[Dean]

I flunked DVC Math too, but somehow this doesn't compute. The new AKV building is set to open Spring '09. Only 135? rooms will be available as of Fall this year. And good many will be value-sized which is fewer points. New members must buy a minimum of 160 points come next month. So if sales are strong, do we expect they'll just stop selling AKV until the new building opens and they can accommodate demand?

I thought the financing of the building was supported by member sales. Seems to be how all timeshares I've worked with have done things.

Legally they can't formally sell what's not available. A number of SSR members had to wait until their "unit" opened before they could get their points. Think of it this way, DVC can't legally sell anything that is not within a certain period of being ready for occupancy. That's true even if they have nothing to sell. Will DVC get the new building ready in time to avoid this issue, I doubt it unless they figure a way to phase it in. Maybe they can but it looks like a difficult building to do so. They'll still have SSR to sell though. I predict an announcement maybe summer that SSR is close to being sold out then after AKV has sold what they can, SSR will miraculously be ready to sell again. It happened with VWL and in a sense with HH. I further predict that there will be a time between buildings openings when there will be little or no AKV points to sell.