More availability than usual?

[-djd-]

Surprised to see lots of availability at deluxe resorts in April (<7 months out). Is that typical? Wonder if it’s a sign of weaker than usual demand.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Surprised to see lots of availability at deluxe resorts in April (<7 months out). Is that typical? Wonder if it’s a sign of weaker than usual demand.

I was wondering the same because when I booked after 7 mths for our March trip, there was also a ton of availability, even for studios. I never usually try to book after 7 mth or at 7 mth mark so I'm curious too if this is the norm.

 

[drusba]

April has actually traditionally been one of the lower demand months of the year except that the Easter weeks are usually somewhat more in demand. And demand in April has actually lowered somewhat in the last few years -- a result of the point shifts that occurred over a period of a few years to raise the fall season but lower points needed May to Sep; the April points per night just remained high.

 

[zavandor]

After covid we had a couple of years of very limited availability while people burned the extra points banked while travel was not possible. It seems we're back to normal.

 

[-djd-]

April has actually traditionally been one of the lower demand months of the year except that the Easter weeks are usually somewhat more in demand. And demand in April has actually lowered somewhat in the last few years -- a result of the point shifts that occurred over a period of a few years to raise the fall season but lower points needed May to Sep; the April points per night just remained high.

We’ve been a few Aprils and notice the crowds really do vary depending how Easter and Spring Breaks fall.

Re the point shift, and at risk of a tangent. Always wondered how Disney sets the charts.
Is it basically there are a fixed number of points per calendar year for a given resort? And then they have to divide those up across the total room inventory, types, view classes, peak periods etc and it all needs to total up to the overall amount? Then they adjust values periodically to even out the demand? I imagine some uber spreadsheet somewhere!

 

[Willow Ufgood]

We’ve been a few Aprils and notice the crowds really do vary depending how Easter and Spring Breaks fall.

Re the point shift, and at risk of a tangent. Always wondered how Disney sets the charts.
Is it basically there are a fixed number of points per calendar year for a given resort? And then they have to divide those up across the total room inventory, types, view classes, peak periods etc and it all needs to total up to the overall amount? Then they adjust values periodically to even out the demand? I imagine some uber spreadsheet somewhere!

Every resort has a base year that the original number of points that can be sold is determined. The total number of points needed to book every unit in the resort for every day of the base year is what decides the total number of points that can be sold by DVC.

Points charts are adjusted due to demand but the total number of points needed in order to book every unit during the base year has to remain the same. There was a challenge to the points charts for 2020 because some very bright minds on this board figured out that some resorts' charts were not calculated correctly based on this rule.

If you really want to dive down a rabbit hole. Read about lockoff premiums. It's an interesting subject but rather complicated to follow.

 

[toesmom]

I think many Canadians are not traveling to Florida now, this may also affect the demand

 

[Brian Noble]

Is it basically there are a fixed number of points per calendar year for a given resort? And then they have to divide those up across the total room inventory, types, view classes, peak periods etc and it all needs to total up to the overall amount? Then they adjust values periodically to even out the demand? I imagine some uber spreadsheet somewhere!

Pretty much. This is a quick introduction. There are more details in the governing documents.

https://dvcfan.com/general-dvc/how-dvc-point-charts-work-a-beginners-guide/

 

[CarolynFH]

We’ve been a few Aprils and notice the crowds really do vary depending how Easter and Spring Breaks fall.

Re the point shift, and at risk of a tangent. Always wondered how Disney sets the charts.
Is it basically there are a fixed number of points per calendar year for a given resort? And then they have to divide those up across the total room inventory, types, view classes, peak periods etc and it all needs to total up to the overall amount? Then they adjust values periodically to even out the demand? I imagine some uber spreadsheet somewhere!

If you really want to read up on this and have lots of time on your hands, here is the thread: https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...to-stop-revert-the-2020-reallocation.3726101/. @zavandor, who posted above, deserves thanks from all of us, as do the other members of the Notorious 24.

 

[-djd-]

If you really want to read up on this and have lots of time on your hands, here is the thread: https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...to-stop-revert-the-2020-reallocation.3726101/. @zavandor, who posted above, deserves thanks from all of us, as do the other members of the Notorious 24.

Rabbit hole opened!

 

[davidhr]

Surprised to see lots of availability at deluxe resorts in April (<7 months out). Is that typical? Wonder if it’s a sign of weaker than usual demand.

For the past year/year and a half availability has been pretty good overall. Besides those really hard to get rooms, I’ve been able to find good options.

 

[Genie+]

Surprised to see lots of availability at deluxe resorts in April (<7 months out). Is that typical? Wonder if it’s a sign of weaker than usual demand.

High point season. Only Easter Week and Christmas-New Years cost more points.

A while back they did slowly lower Summer Season and increase fall before December.

The hardest times I found to book are first half of May and first half of Dec.

Alot of people assume Easter and Christmas would have the highest demand but the point cost helps availability.

 

[mikeuno]

I booked a 2 BR villa at Riviera yesterday for 3 nights Easter weekend