Max Occupancy in DVC Resorts

[Deb & Bill]

Studios are limited to four. Once your youngest became three, you became a family of five.

 

[Deb & Bill]

It seems AK is going to get a reputation with DVC members. First the issues with room assignments for Concierge then Savannah view and now being strict on Occupancy, what's the DVC World coming to?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Your right...I am new at this . But even in a queen, we would have been fine. Oh she was a stickler...even put me on hold to call AKV and ask if it was o.k.. She said they would never allow it and would of made us change rooms on the spot.

Hi, you are new, new to DVC and to the boards. Honestly, I hope you'll love that one bedroom and find that being in one has added immensely to your first trip home. There are plenty of animal viewing spots. If you will be in Kidani, then you'll get to be close to the new pool area and will have 2 bathrooms, if you're in Jambo, the standards are very close to the elevator and have a pool view. There you are close to the Mara, which I really like for counter service.

Bobbi

 

[discott71]

Studios are limited to four. Once your youngest became three, you became a family of five.

Actually, I believe MS said once they turn 4. But my point is that she's just turning 4 and a pack-n-play is more of a fire hazzard in a studio than having an extra little person in bed. However, I do play by the rules - they are what they are. I could have fibbed, but I didn't. I'm sure there others that get away with it or lie to make it work, but I didn't and it cost me my Savanah View - that's all .

 

[discott71]

Hi, you are new, new to DVC and to the boards. Honestly, I hope you'll love that one bedroom and find that being in one has added immensely to your first trip home. There are plenty of animal viewing spots. If you will be in Kidani, then you'll get to be close to the new pool area and will have 2 bathrooms, if you're in Jambo, the standards are very close to the elevator and have a pool view. There you are close to the Mara, which I really like for counter service.

Bobbi

We are at Kidani and very excited about the new pool! We haven't even told our kids yet - it's a surprise I'm sure I will appreciate the extra space in the 1 BDR. I was just trying to save on some points since it's only a couple nights. I'm sure we will LOVE it!

 

[bobbiwoz]

It seems AK is going to get a reputation with DVC members. First the issues with room assignments for Concierge then Savannah view and now being strict on Occupancy, what's the DVC World coming to?

I don't know...but in December I had an issue with not having the dining plan noted on the reservation. I had only booked 2 weeks or so before and didn't have written confirmation. The AK CM did go somewhere to have it added. When I got home, I remembered that I did have an e-mail from MS confirming the addition of the DP to the reservation. I have sent a note and copy of the e-mail to the MS satisfaction committee. Mistakes happen, I know, but I really did want the dining plan and I thought it was understood that it could not be added to the reservation at the desk.

Bobbi

 

[NJ Mets fan]

I find reading these threads very funny. I'm not sure why anyone would really care whether or not someone else has an extra occupant in their room. I agree certain rooms might be tight but what do you care if you're not the one staying there. If someone wants to bring an air matress and use it to sleep in the tub or on the balcony for that matter as long as they're not causing trouble I could care less. I have seen 4 people share a room on a cruise ship that was 180 sqft with a bathroom that barely fits a toilet. Disney would probably love the extra person - extra park tickets, food, bottles of water, etc. being purchased. Not everyone is going to do it and not everyone has the points to upgrade. There is obviously a relaxed rule on this depending on who you talk to from what I have read so why not just learn to live with it.
I'll be packing 12 into my one bedroom in a few weeks and when I booked Disney they said no problem............okay I'm just kidding

 

[Deb & Bill]

I find reading these threads very funny. I'm not sure why anyone would really care whether or not someone else has an extra occupant in their room. I agree certain rooms might be tight but what do you care if you're not the one staying there. If someone wants to bring an air matress and use it to sleep in the tub or on the balcony for that matter as long as they're not causing trouble I could care less. I have seen 4 people share a room on a cruise ship that was 180 sqft with a bathroom that barely fits a toilet. Disney would probably love the extra person - extra park tickets, food, bottles of water, etc. being purchased. Not everyone is going to do it and not everyone has the points to upgrade. There is obviously a relaxed rule on this depending on who you talk to from what I have read so why not just learn to live with it.
I'll be packing 12 into my one bedroom in a few weeks and when I booked Disney they said no problem............okay I'm just kidding

I guess some of us read what Disney gives us when we buy and others don't. And some don't care. But I've made an investment (yeah, not really an investment, but I have gotten a nice return on contracts I've sold), and I'm going to follow the rules to make sure it maintains value. I'm glad that MS isn't relaxing the rules that much. I've been hoping that they go back to four in a one bedroom in those one bedrooms where there are sleeping spaces only for four.

 

[Dean]

I find reading these threads very funny. I'm not sure why anyone would really care whether or not someone else has an extra occupant in their room. I agree certain rooms might be tight but what do you care if you're not the one staying there. If someone wants to bring an air matress and use it to sleep in the tub or on the balcony for that matter as long as they're not causing trouble I could care less. I have seen 4 people share a room on a cruise ship that was 180 sqft with a bathroom that barely fits a toilet. Disney would probably love the extra person - extra park tickets, food, bottles of water, etc. being purchased. Not everyone is going to do it and not everyone has the points to upgrade. There is obviously a relaxed rule on this depending on who you talk to from what I have read so why not just learn to live with it.
I'll be packing 12 into my one bedroom in a few weeks and when I booked Disney they said no problem............okay I'm just kidding

Because it affects the cost of the membership and the experience of other guests while you are there.

 

[NJ Mets fan]

Because it affects the cost of the membership and the experience of other guests while you are there.

I'm not sure how exactly it affects the cost of membership. If you are talking about wear and tear on the rooms, I'm not buying it. An irresponsible group of 4 could cause just as much damage and could be just as disruptive. They don't provide extra bedding, linen or towels. I guess there might be a few extra people in the pools. I'm new at this so educate me on what I missing. What probably should be a greater concern IMHO is people who rent out points/reservations to non-owners. Those people staying are not likely to care whether on not they cause extra wear and tear on the rooms as opposed to an owner who pays MF's.

 

[Brian Noble]

Oh she was a stickler...even put me on hold to call AKV and ask if it was o.k..

I'll bet you a Mickeybar that she put you on hold and sipped coffee for two minutes....or took another call.

MetsFan: there are marginal costs incurred by extra occupants that are spread across all owners at that resort, but the Member booking the room uses less points than they "should have".

Some people care about these costs. Others don't.

 

[discott71]

I'll bet you a Mickeybar that she put you on hold and sipped coffee for two minutes....or took another call.

That's funny. Not to beat this to death, but like I said, my youngest is just turning 4. I could see if I had 3 teenagers, but they're little. All 3 of them fit in 1 bed comfortably together and when we're away from home they like having us in the same room as them. Oh well, I know we'll still have a great time and that's all that matters. I do hope though that MS is consistant with this rule. I would be mad if I knew others were sliding by. Also, I'm sure there are fibbers out there that constantly get away with it - not my style.

 

[tjkraz]

I'm not sure how exactly it affects the cost of membership. If you are talking about wear and tear on the rooms, I'm not buying it. An irresponsible group of 4 could cause just as much damage and could be just as disruptive. They don't provide extra bedding, linen or towels. I guess there might be a few extra people in the pools. I'm new at this so educate me on what I missing.

Let's look at just one villa--a Lockoff Two Bedroom.

If DVC enforces an occupancy of 4 in a Studio and One Bedroom, a group of 5 is forced to book a 2B. So if I'm traveling with 5, there are 5 people in that single villa.

Now, when DVC relaxes the rules and allows 5 in a One Bedroom, I can just book the 1B. That leaves the locked-off Studio available for a second booking to hold 4 or 5 MORE people (depending on how many they decide to allow.)

In this analogy, the occupancy of that single villa goes from 5 to as many as 9 or 10.

Granted that isn't going to happen in every single resort. But it should help illustrate how DVC's decisions can impact total resort occupancy. I can tell you first-hand that we bought our points with the intention of booking a Two Bedroom most of the time and bringing extended family. But there have been trips with just three adults and two kids where we booked a One Bedroom simply because DVC would allow it.

None of us can put a number to these increases (10% more guests on average? 20%?) but in my mind it's undeniable that it does happen. I've done it myself!

And with that higher number of guests you have larger crowds at the pool, more people in line at the restaurants, more bodies at the bus stop, and so forth. Dean's comment was that it affects "the experience of other guests" and I cannot argue with that. Perhaps there are times where the pool has plenty of extra chairs and the buses can handle everyone waiting. But other times they will not and that means folks who cannot use the pool when they want or who have to wait 20 minutes for a second bus.

What probably should be a greater concern IMHO is people who rent out points/reservations to non-owners. Those people staying are not likely to care whether on not they cause extra wear and tear on the rooms as opposed to an owner who pays MF's.

I'm not sure I buy that line of reasoning. I've heard too many people over the years express an attitude of "I paid ___ for DVC and I can do whatever I want!" That attitude is clear either thru their words or actions (or both.)

As for the issue of wear and tear, I think overcrowding the rooms can very easily lead to damage to the unit. When you have people carting-in their own airbeds, sleeping beds or cots, that's when damage occurs. When you have excess luggage in a room, walls get scuffed and gouged. When you don't have enough room for everyone to have their own personal space, that's when kids and teens start getting stir-crazy and causing (unintentional) damage to the unit.

 

[culli]

That's funny. Not to beat this to death, but like I said, my youngest is just turning 4. I could see if I had 3 teenagers, but they're little. All 3 of them fit in 1 bed comfortably together and when we're away from home they like having us in the same room as them. Oh well, I know we'll still have a great time and that's all that matters. I do hope though that MS is consistant with this rule. I would be mad if I knew others were sliding by. Also, I'm sure there are fibbers out there that constantly get away with it - not my style.

Name the saying you want to about you telling them about your 4 year old and being honest. But my favorite is "no good deed shall go unpunished"

 

[Dean]

I'm not sure how exactly it affects the cost of membership. If you are talking about wear and tear on the rooms, I'm not buying it. An irresponsible group of 4 could cause just as much damage and could be just as disruptive. They don't provide extra bedding, linen or towels. I guess there might be a few extra people in the pools. I'm new at this so educate me on what I missing. What probably should be a greater concern IMHO is people who rent out points/reservations to non-owners. Those people staying are not likely to care whether on not they cause extra wear and tear on the rooms as opposed to an owner who pays MF's.

Sorry, running out the door earlier so had to be cryptic. It does increase wear and tear, likely FAR more than the percentage increase in numbers. Certainly there are other situations that increase wear and tear but that is irrelevant as it's additive and it's also against the rules as written even if DVC doesn't enforce it very much or very well. It increases number of vehicles, saturation at the pool, restaurants on site, health club, etc. We can argue about the amount of affect but the fact that there are negative effects in both areas are absolute. Some might argue that another room might be under but that does't hold water because the system is based on the assumption that some rooms WILL be under and thus there's an average that's under the maximum. There's really are 2 issues for occupancy one is DVC's enforcement and that is the big one right now. The other is honesty or lack of if you lie about the number in the room. Each and every person that bought retail signed that they undestood that there was an occupany limit and those that bought resale assumed those same legal requirements.

 

[Brian Noble]

"no good deed shall go unpunished"

Ah, but what goes around comes around.

And there are probably more.

(As an aside, it looks like the quotes are being misattributed. I'm not the one who wrote that one.)

 

[Dean]

What probably should be a greater concern IMHO is people who rent out points/reservations to non-owners. Those people staying are not likely to care whether on not they cause extra wear and tear on the rooms as opposed to an owner who pays MF's.

I don't think there's any indication that renters treat the place worse, if anything, I think most of them treat it better than owners. In spite of the terminology DVC isn't a home and members don't treat it like one. It's a rental car even for members, nothing more. I might buy the ownership approach if you owned a fixed unit and stayed at the same resort and unit every time but that's not the case.

 

[PADISFAM]

I don't know...but in December I had an issue with not having the dining plan noted on the reservation. I had only booked 2 weeks or so before and didn't have written confirmation. The AK CM did go somewhere to have it added. When I got home, I remembered that I did have an e-mail from MS confirming the addition of the DP to the reservation. I have sent a note and copy of the e-mail to the MS satisfaction committee. Mistakes happen, I know, but I really did want the dining plan and I thought it was understood that it could not be added to the reservation at the desk.

Bobbi

I had the same thing happen on our trip to AKV in Oct.......I didn't think to send my email confirmation to MS.......

My CM was able to just cut us new cards right at the check-in desk after calling someone.

 

[Dean]

I'm not sure I buy that line of reasoning. I've heard too many people over the years express an attitude of "I paid ___ for DVC and I can do whatever I want!" That attitude is clear either thru their words or actions (or both.)

And if they go against what they agreed to up front and in many cases, lied to DVC about the occupancy, you certainly can't trust them for other things. Certainly one has to hold DVC responsible when the guest is honest but over the written occupancy. I also wonder if the change to RCI will affect this issue.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I had the same thing happen on our trip to AKV in Oct.......I didn't think to send my email confirmation to MS.......

My CM was able to just cut us new cards right at the check-in desk after calling someone.

Mine did too, and I was relieved. I wonder if the issue comes up most often at AKV. I was going to let it go, but someone in the past week here mentioned that if MS doesn't know that there have been problems, nothing will be done to have things be right in the first place. In my case, the e-mail had a name attached, so at least that CM at DVC should have seen that the dining plan was added...where did it get lost?

Bobbi