How many treehouses are there?

[Cmbar]

Hi All, I thought there were something like 40 treehouses. My sister just bought SSR and when she called MS they told her there were only 10 treehouses available for booking. I told her she must have misunderstood, but she said no and thats it all they have in treehouses for booking at SSR. I said did he mean at that TIME? She said no, it was all they have for booking anytime.

Is this true?

 

[erionm]

There are a total of 60 THVs.

 

[Chuck S]

There are 60 THV, I don't think all of them have been declared into DVC. In order for a unit to begin sales, it must be declared into DVC. And the percentage of those units declared can be booked with DVC points.

In otherwords, if a resort has 500 rooms, and 250 of those rooms have been declared into DVC, then only 50% of the total resort can be booked with points, unless the developer wants to turn the rooms that have not been declared (used for cash reservations and promotions) over to DVC...it is solely their option.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Of the 60 THV's 1/2 have been declared.

 

[Cmbar]

Ok so from what I gather, there is probably about 30 that can be booked at one time as of now. When they fully sell out the Treehouse SSR points then it will then be 60 available to get ressies (well I guess less what is owned by DVC and can be used for cash).

So the 10 doesn't sound right? I didn't think so.
My sister was so dissappointed because her husband loves the treehouses and the MS CM said there is only 10. I will tell her that he was either wrong or she misunderstood him. Thanks everyone.

 

[La2kw]

She must have asked the bus driver for that information.

 

[DenLo]

Maybe 10 THVs were available for booking for the dates the OP's DSis asked about?

 

[tjkraz]

Ok so from what I gather, there is probably about 30 that can be booked at one time as of now. When they fully sell out the Treehouse SSR points then it will then be 60 available to get ressies (well I guess less what is owned by DVC and can be used for cash).

I don't believe that unit availability is limited by what has been declared into inventory. For instance, to the best of my knowledge none of the top-floor Grand Villas at the Bay Lake Tower have been declared. However those villas are still available for points bookings.

By that same token there is no reason that Disney would be obligated to hold on to all 30 undeclared Treehouses.

A few weeks ago I punched some random dates into the reservation system on Disney's website. There were dates when a Treehouse was offered to me and other dates when no Treehouses were available. I highly doubt that CRO had successfully booked 30 cash groups into undeclared Treehouses during the time periods in which no availability was shown.

Whatever ownership Disney retains in the Treehouses is probably spread out over all different SSR villa sizes.

 

[oct2014]

I've been buying into this declared/undeclared theory. I actually want it to be true because otherwise I have little hope of ever getting a treehouse! We had to go on a waitlist at only 10.5 months out. I just feel bad for those that bought at SSR based on THV marketing.

I'm not sure about the BLT GVs. This thread indicates some might be declared. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=32420006&highlight=gv#post32420006

Caroline

 

[wdrl]

I don't believe that unit availability is limited by what has been declared into inventory. For instance, to the best of my knowledge none of the top-floor Grand Villas at the Bay Lake Tower have been declared. However those villas are still available for points bookings.

By that same token there is no reason that Disney would be obligated to hold on to all 30 undeclared Treehouses.

A few weeks ago I punched some random dates into the reservation system on Disney's website. There were dates when a Treehouse was offered to me and other dates when no Treehouses were available. I highly doubt that CRO had successfully booked 30 cash groups into undeclared Treehouses during the time periods in which no availability was shown.

Whatever ownership Disney retains in the Treehouses is probably spread out over all different SSR villa sizes.

DVD has declared nine BLT grand villas for the DVC membership (see http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2212548). Thus, the DVC membership can, on any use day, book up to 9 GVs using points.

In my opinion, the Declaration of Condominium does not give DVD the flexibility of letting members book more villas than what has been officially declared for the DVC. The Reciprocal Use clause (section 3.7 of the BLT Declaration of Condominium) states ". . . the total number of accommodations available for Club Member reservation for any given Use Day will never exceed the total number of Vacation Homes existing within the Vacation Ownership Plan on that Use Day. Conversely, DVD may assign its renters or other users of the completed accommodations which have not yet been committed to the Vacation Ownership Plan to occupy both those Vacation Homes which are committed to the Vacation Ownership Plan and those accommodations which are not; however,the number of total Vacation Homes available for DVD renter/user reservation for any given Use Day will never exceed the total number of completed accommodations which have not yet been committed to the Vacation Ownership Plan on that Use Day."

At SSR, 30 of the 60 THVs have been declared for the DVC. Thus, under the Reciprocal clause, members can book up to 30 THVs on any given day, but no more.

 

[billsfan]

There is one way to book a DVC room with points that has not been declared into DVC inventory. A guide can do this to close a deal sometimes. We bought last June at AKV and wanted a two bedroom dedicated savana view at Kidani for October and there were none available to book with points so I informed our guide that the sale depended on getting that room in October and it happened.

I don't know how much a pull a guide would have for the THV though.

 

[tjkraz]

At SSR, 30 of the 60 THVs have been declared for the DVC. Thus, under the Reciprocal clause, members can book up to 30 THVs on any given day, but no more.

If the Treehouses were a separate resort, I would agree. But since they are just one small section of 900 unit Saratoga Springs, I don't see anything in what you have quoted which would mandate that DVD use its holdings exclusively to rent the 30 undeclared Treehouses.

 

[Chuck S]

If the Treehouses were a separate resort, I would agree. But since they are just one small section of 900 unit Saratoga Springs, I don't see anything in what you have quoted which would mandate that DVD use its holdings exclusively to rent the 30 undeclared Treehouses.

But that could be a problem. If all the treehouses were reserved on points, then a higher number of smaller one, two bedrooms and studios would be unavailable. It is still an overall percentage of the resort. Should those wanting those units be penalized because they make all the treehouses available?

 

[wdrl]

If the Treehouses were a separate resort, I would agree. But since they are just one small section of 900 unit Saratoga Springs, I don't see anything in what you have quoted which would mandate that DVD use its holdings exclusively to rent the 30 undeclared Treehouses.

The Reciprocal clause specifically addresses how DVC and DVD use "accommodations" and "vacation homes" that belong in each other's inventory. Although it never states that the "accommodations" or "vacation homes" must be equivalent in size or value, it is in each party's interest that they are.

For example, if DVD has 9 BLT studios in its inventory, one might argue that the Reciprocal clause would permit DVD to trade those 9 "accommodations" for 9 grand villa "accommodations" from DVC's inventory. But such a trade would be detrimental to the DVC members because the 9 studios could not possibly absorb the 314,000 points allotted to the 9 grand villas, thereby causing an "overbooking" situation for the membership.

At SSR, THVs have the same point costs as SSR's two-bedroom villas. However, they are not equivalent in terms of rack rates. Why would DVD turn over its 30 THV "accommodations" to the DVC in exchange for 30 two-bedroom "accommodations." Such a trade would be detrimental to DVD.

Thus, I believe that the Reciprocal clause governs not only the number of accommodations that are available to the DVC, but also that the accommodations be equivalent in size and value.

 

[tjkraz]

At SSR, THVs have the same point costs as SSR's two-bedroom villas. However, they are not equivalent in terms of rack rates.

Yes they are. Plug any set of dates into the booking engine at waltdisneyworld.com. Assuming that a Treehouse Villa is available, the prices for 2B and Treehouse accommodations are identical.

As previously stated, you can attempt to book a Treehouse on cash for many dates and find no inventory available. I tried many dates particularly in June, July and August and was offered a 2B at SSR but no Treehouse.

It's worth noting that Treehouses are excluded from promotional offers available to the general public. The fine print of the offers states that the Discount for "Deluxe Villa Accommodations" applies only to Studio, One Bedroom and Two Bedroom villas. I went so far as to confirm that the Treehouses are excluded. In my trials, there were dates where I was offered a Treehouse without any discount codes but was unable to book the same dates with the code.

If you want to believe that there are already 30 cash Treehouses booked for dates in June, July and August at full rack rates, then we'll just have to agree to disagree on that point.

As for the question of why DVC would make more than 30 Treehouses available to members, I would propose that it may simply be because DVC is not as diabolical as some would portray them to be.

Historically DVC has excluded BoardWalk View villas from any cash inventory. They aren't contractually obligated to exclude these villas from CRO bookings--they simply do it because they know members have a higher preference for the BW View than the Pool View. Similarly non members cannot pay cash for the "near Hospitality House" villas at OKW.

DVC has always had first crack at resort availability to pull out units freed-up by member trades, undeclared units, points held by DVC and so on. Yet there have never been any obvious signs that DVC is pulling an inordinately high number of units with a superior view or during periods when demand is higher.

Just because DVC COULD hold onto 30 Treehouse villas every night of the does not mean that they are. Based upon my own trials on the Disney reservation site and relative apathy toward them among the non-DVC community, I highly doubt DVC has chosen that approach. YMMV.

 

[wdrl]

Yes they are. Plug any set of dates into the booking engine at waltdisneyworld.com. Assuming that a Treehouse Villa is available, the prices for 2B and Treehouse accommodations are identical.

As previously stated, you can attempt to book a Treehouse on cash for many dates and find no inventory available. I tried many dates particularly in June, July and August and was offered a 2B at SSR but no Treehouse.

It's worth noting that Treehouses are excluded from promotional offers available to the general public. The fine print of the offers states that the Discount for "Deluxe Villa Accommodations" applies only to Studio, One Bedroom and Two Bedroom villas. I went so far as to confirm that the Treehouses are excluded. In my trials, there were dates where I was offered a Treehouse without any discount codes but was unable to book the same dates with the code.

If you want to believe that there are already 30 cash Treehouses booked for dates in June, July and August at full rack rates, then we'll just have to agree to disagree on that point.

Just because DVC COULD hold onto 30 Treehouse villas every night of the does not mean that they are. Based upon my own trials on the Disney reservation site and relative apathy toward them among the non-DVC community, I highly doubt DVC has chosen that approach. YMMV.

I stand corrected: The THV have the same rack rate as SSR's two-bedroom villas. However, Disney offers the SSR two-bedroom villas as part of the 30% off promotion, but does not include the THVs as part of that promotion. I tried several dates in early August 2010 and, just like in your trials, I could get a THV only if I did not try to apply a discount promotion. Thus, it appears that Disney gets more income from the THVs than from SSR's two-bedroom villas.

The fact that Disney offers THVs at full rack rate in early August 2010 is not inconsistent with my assumption that Disney keeps some THVs in their cash inventory. The fact that Disney doesn't discount the THV compared to the two-bedroom villas is also not inconsistent with my assumption that the THVs are of greater value to Disney's bottom line. In addition, the fact that Disney doesn't seem to discount the THVs implies that it can book them at full rack rate.

 

[tidefan]

I've been buying into this declared/undeclared theory. I actually want it to be true because otherwise I have little hope of ever getting a treehouse! We had to go on a waitlist at only 10.5 months out. I just feel bad for those that bought at SSR based on THV marketing.

Caroline

Well, we stayed over Spring Break (March 13-20) in a THV (7005) and didn't have the first problem booking it. I did book it at 11 months out, but I wasn't on the phone right at 9am EST either...

Now, it may depend on when you are trying to book, but being only 60 units, they will go fast. I will say this, you have a much better chance of booking a THV by owning at SSR than not...

 

[BCV23]

It's worth noting that Treehouses are excluded from promotional offers available to the general public. The fine print of the offers states that the Discount for "Deluxe Villa Accommodations" applies only to Studio, One Bedroom and Two Bedroom villas. I went so far as to confirm that the Treehouses are excluded. In my trials, there were dates where I was offered a Treehouse without any discount codes but was unable to book the same dates with the code.

I was able to book a week at THV with a bounceback rate.