New room concept: 'Family Studios' at Poly2 (speculation)

[Nursemanit]

I can see a potential for 4 Grand Villas all in the center 3 sections. The top two floors of the highest middle section would be 2 single floor 8-section grand villas.

The top two floors on the immediate left and right of the middle section could be 2-story grand villas

They are going to be 1200 points plus for the week so I will never see them.

It makes sense to put the grand villas where they have the best view.

The real crime will be getting the rooms in the rear with the Highway view!

 

[Chuck S]

I can see a potential for 4 Grand Villas all in the center 3 sections. The top two floors of the highest middle section would be 2 single floor 8-section grand villas.

The top two floors on the immediate left and right of the middle section could be 2-story grand villas

They are going to be 1200 points plus for the week so I will never see them.

It makes sense to put the grand villas where they have the best view.

The real crime will be getting the rooms in the rear with the Highway view!

There is also no rule that says GVs HAVE to be two stories high. They could put some all on one floor, which would be better for ADA access.

 

[Nursemanit]

There is also no rule that says GVs HAVE to be two stories high. They could put some all on one floor, which would be better for ADA access.

Did you read my post ? Look at the first paragraph second sentence.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

With all the bungalows in inventory, do they really need grand villas though?

 

[Sandisw]

When we first bought BLT in 2009, I read the POS several times. If I remember correctly, the POS stated DVC had the right to make a 1BR sleep 8.

There are no dedicated 1 bedrooms at BLT, and declared as part of the 2 bedroom LO..that is why you see the info regarding 9…but, regardless, they can certainly update things…however, the POS does define what comes with each type of villas so right now, they do define 1 and 2 bedrooms with having the kitchen…so any change to that would have to be defined differenlty.

 

[Sandisw]

With all the bungalows in inventory, do they really need grand villas though?

If it is considered a new resort, then yes, I think they definitely want them…but even if it is rolled in to PVB, they would still be nice because the bungalows are 2 bedrooms and not 3 bedrooms.

 

[hglenn]

A quick copy and paste rendering of what an "Ohana Suite" may look like.

View attachment 752043
With murphy twin under the TV, couch to murphy queen, and table to murphy queen, it can sleep 7.
Two bathrooms, washer/dryer, full-size fridge... it all can fit.

If that MB has a king size bed, I absolutely love this theory.... We are a family of 4 who often travels with a grandma and a couple of additional kids. This would be great for us bc we like to be able to close up the beds for the day for more "living space." and I hate cooking on vacation but like the idea of a full size fridge and w/d! Could be interesting concept.

 

[cbyrne1174]

What DVC really needs to add is 1 bedroom suite options that are 500 sq feet but still have a working partial kitchen (apt sized stove, oven and fridge) and laundry. They can have a door separating the murphy/kitchen area from the bedroom so it closes off as 2 separate bedrooms when the kitchen isn't in use and have the bathroom and laundry separate from both bedrooms. This is a floorplan of the room I always book at Wyndham Cypress Palms. I just added the door and murphy bed.



I think if they built something like this, it would probably be much more popular than convential 1 bedrooms because you are only adding roughly 150 sq ft of space per unit but it still functions as a 1 bedroom. The parents get their own sleeping space and you have more meal options in your room.

Here is what a partial kitchen looks like:

 

[Nursemanit]

What DVC really needs to add is 1 bedroom suite options that are 500 sq feet but still have a working partial kitchen (apt sized stove, oven and fridge) and laundry. They can have a door separating the murphy/kitchen area from the bedroom so it closes off as 2 separate bedrooms when the kitchen isn't in use and have the bathroom and laundry separate from both bedrooms. This is a floorplan of the room I always book at Wyndham Cypress Palms. I just added the door and murphy bed.

View attachment 752486

I think if they built something like this, it would probably be much more popular than convential 1 bedrooms because you are only adding roughly 150 sq ft of space per unit but it still functions as a 1 bedroom. The parents get their own sleeping space and you have more meal options in your room.

Here is what a partial kitchen looks like:

Why have a kitchen if there is no place to eat? That design is ok for a small NYC apartment where 2 people can live. But you would have an issue with 5 for a week.

In addition, the shape of the room will not maximize the square footage. The whole triangular corner is wasted space, just square it off, get rid of the foyer and you have a Copper creek sized 1BR.

 

[mamaofsix]

I guess I'm not understanding this thread very well. Isn't the point of DVC to be deluxe suites with lots of space? "Home away from home?" Why buy into DVC if what you really want is a value resort experience? Why not just book a family suite at one of the value resorts?

Poly2 is not going to be built like a Value Resort. I imagine it will be nearly identical in suite make-up to Riviera.

 

[ehh]

I guess I'm not understanding this thread very well. Isn't the point of DVC to be deluxe suites with lots of space? "Home away from home?" Why buy into DVC if what you really want is a value resort experience? Why not just book a family suite at one of the value resorts?

Poly2 is not going to be built like a Value Resort. I imagine it will be nearly identical in suite make-up to Riviera.

This is a little reductive.

"Home away from home" means different things to different people in a vacation context. Not everybody wants to continue (or even consider) all of their at-home duties (cooking, laundry, etc.) while on vacation. It's great to have the option, especially emergency laundry, but the popularity of DVC Studios shows it's not a dealbreaker for a lot of visitors.

For example, to me, HAFH primarily means 'everyone gets a sleeping surface similar to home'.

If your norm at home is each child having their own bed in their own bedroom? Well, DVC will often fall short. If you have 2 children they're not getting their own bedrooms in anything other than a GV (unless the parent(s) sleep in the living room of a 2BR), but they get their own real-sized bed with a decent mattress with this, a 2BR, or a GV. This is the appeal.

And while this type of room would sleep up to 6 (maybe even 7), I'd argue this concept is ideal for families with 2 children. Certainly better than traditional 1BR/Studios and still plenty of space (same amount of space as a 1BR). These types of rooms would not be the exclusive use of families of 6.

Anyway, I do agree HAFH does mean lots of space. This doesn't fall short on that. For a family of 4, it's the same people density as 2 in a Deluxe Studio or 6 in a 2BR. And obviously the same as 4 in a 1BR since it's the same amount of space.

If a family of 6 wanted to use it for 6? That's roughly the same people density as a family of 8 using a 2BR, exactly the same density as a family of 3 in a Deluxe Studio, and lower density than a family of 4 in a Studio. So it still checks off the box.

And deluxe-ness is a combo of how nice the room is and its setting in the resort. There's no reason to believe anything they do at the Poly falls short on 'Deluxe', even tiny Duo Studios.

 

[Chuck S]

"Home away from home" means different things to different people in a vacation context. Not everybody wants to continue (or even consider) all of their at-home duties (cooking, laundry, etc.) while on vacation. It's great to have the option, especially emergency laundry, but the popularity of DVC Studios shows it's not a dealbreaker for a lot of visitors.

I think you're confusing the popularity of cheapest point accomodations with the popularity of amenities, like kitchen and in room laundry.

Remember, there are a LOT of DVC Members that really have only enough points for a week or so in a studio. 100 points or so. This is another reason Disney, in my opinion, should not have lowered the required buy in years ago, it pits many more owners against each other at the 11 month window who HAVE no choice other than to compete for the same studio rooms, even though the resort isn't legally oversold point wise.

Even if there were these Ohana suites that would take roughtly the same number of points as a one bedroom unit, a lot of members would not have access to them.

We've always encouraged prospective owners to look at the point charts, find their desired accommodation and season, and purchase points accordingingly, adding about 10% as a buffer against point chart changes, whether they are buying direct or resale.

 

[Pens Fan]

That picture above of the tiny little kitchen reminded me of a place we once stayed. We hadn't owned DVC for very long and it was our first really long trip using our points. We spent 3 nights at HHI, then a little over a week at CCV. Both stays were in 2 BR's. We stopped in Charleston on our way back home for a few nights and booked a 1 BR "suite" at a Marriott paying cash. The kitchen looked about like that, though it did not have a stove. I remember walking into that room, looking at each other and saying, "well we aren't at DVC anymore". Within a week of arriving back home we'd signed our first resale contract to add on more points .

I can understand people wanting to cram as many beds into the smallest space possible to save points, but that has never been the DVC model. It's certainly not the product we bought into. And while DVC has been pretty tight lipped on the details of Poly2, they haven't said anything to even hint that this is where they are going.

 

[ehh]

I think you're confusing the popularity of cheapest point accomodations with the popularity of amenities, like kitchen and in room laundry.

Remember, there are a LOT of DVC Members that really have only enough points for a week or so in a studio. 100 points or so. This is another reason Disney, in my opinion, should not have lowered the required buy in years ago, it pits many more owners against each other at the 11 month window who HAVE no choice other than to compete for the same studio rooms, even though the resort isn't legally oversold point wise.

Even if there were these Ohana suites that would take roughtly the same number of points as a one bedroom unit, a lot of members would not have access to them.

We've always encouraged prospective owners to look at the point charts, find their desired accommodation and season, and purchase points accordingingly, adding about 10% as a buffer against point chart changes, whether they are buying direct or resale.

The popularity of the cheaper resort accommodations is kind of my point. Between DVC Studios and the ~entire inventory of cash rooms, the vast majority of on-site guests at Disney don't have laundry or a full kitchen and they still have a functioning vacation. These amenities are not dealbreakers for these guests, as evidenced by the fact they don't have these amenities.

And for the guests that do stay in DVC 1BR/2BR/GV/Cabin/Bungalow/Treehouse, there's a portion of them where these amenities are not must-haves. This includes my family. In 29 nights in the above accommodations, we've never once used laundry, stove, oven, or dishwasher. These are things we don't want to deal with on vacation and while we're likely in the minority, we are not alone in this.

On the flip side, there are guests who stay in 1BR/2BR/GV/etc. because of, or in large part due to, these amenities. These buyers have had their demand met for years and at nearly every resort. Nothing is happening to the existing rooms with these amenities (I'm not even sure anything could, legally) if there's a new room type introduced. There will likely be traditional 1BR/2BR/GV at Poly2, even.

Do some guests who don't have these amenities want these amenities? Absolutely. But what are they willing to pay for it? Are they willing to save money/points to not have these? As you cite with the 100 point contracts (and with tons of other circumstances we've seen), guests have demonstrated they're less likely to pay for 1BR/2BR as-is. Especially so, historically, for 1BR.

An Ohana Suite is a different set of amenities/trade-offs in the same points bracket as a 1BR and is a potential solution to the '1 Bedroom Problem' (or historical problem). Guests get more good beds for the same points, a number of good beds that had been exclusive to 2BR+, making this number of beds more financially accessible than current options.

Families that need or strongly desire 3 beds have had limited options:

• Grand Villas are fantastic, but very expensive
• 2 Bedroom Villas are great, but still expensive
  • Ironically, even 2BRLO fail the '3 good beds' criteria at most resorts that don't yet have Murphy beds (only OKW passes)
• Making do with a room with fewer than 3 good beds, such as 2 beds and an under-TV bed
• Multiple Studios, with adjoining only possible at PVB and VGF2 and not guaranteed
• Simply not buying DVC if the above options aren't acceptable

Considering the options, maybe, just maybe, a room/villa/suite that's good for these families and is more financially accessible is an untapped sales opportunity for DVC.

Inevitably, there's even some families that would buy more points than they would otherwise. They'd go from buying enough points for a Studio that technically fits their family (with a permanent bed, a Murphy bed, and an under-TV bed) to buying enough points for an Ohana Suite with 3 good beds and more space, but doesn't cost as much as a traditional 2BR. Why wouldn't they go for 1BR at the same number of points? The bed situation doesn't get an upgrade over the Studio, and to them, the space/kitchen/laundry/etc. wasn't enough to justify the jump from a Studio to a 1BR.

(and as I've pointed out with the points/bay density, cannibalization of 2BR sales might be tolerable as more points can be sold total)

 

[ehh]

Allow me to slightly belabor the point.

The room/occupancy vs. points relationship is a problem for some prospective buyers. There's a huge points jump from Studios to 2BR before you get more beds/occupancy:


But adding something like an Ohana Suite, the stars in this image, reduces the jump in points:


This reduces the points gap between Studios and higher occupancy/more beds. And for all the talk of 'cramming', the people and bed density is still lower than Studios. And people don't have to fully load a room, of course.

And even something like the Ohana Suite still gives sub-linear scaling for points. Those stars are below the line connecting a Studio and a 2BR, so it could be argued that the jump from an Ohana Suite to a 2BR is still a really good value just on beds/occupancy, let alone the true-Villa amenities.

For those that are interested, here's the data in the charts:

• Studios: 100 points, 2 beds, 4.5 people
• 1 Bedrooms: 200 points, 2 beds, 4.5 people
• Ohana Suite: 200 points, 3 beds, 6 people
• 2 Bedrooms: 265 points, 4 beds, 8.5 people

 

[Chuck S]

Again, you basically want a Disney value class resort family suite at a Disney Deluxe class resort. Why not just stay at the Art of Animation? Or get connecting studios at the resorts that offer them. DVC, and timeshares in general, aren't for everyone. Timeshares try to stay within certain room parameters for trading purposes. If those parameters don't fit your needs ot travel style, don't buy a timeshare, and stay at regular hotels.

 

[ehh]

This is where we have fundamentally different opinions. I see no reason why DVC shouldn't try to appeal to as many potential buyers as makes business sense. As far as I'm concerned, everybody's money should be good here and DVC should be trying to find new-to-DVC buyers and giving them a great ownership experience. This isn't even a bottom-of-the-points-chart room like Tower/Duo Studios.

These rooms also could address a demand weakness in certain points brackets. Even if the solution isn't an Ohana Suite, I do think DVC ought to try to address this problem. Tradition and trading should be tertiary concerns (at best), and trading is a solvable problem.

 

[Sandisw]

This is where we have fundamentally different opinions. I see no reason why DVC shouldn't try to appeal to as many potential buyers as makes business sense. As far as I'm concerned, everybody's money should be good here and DVC should be trying to find new-to-DVC buyers and giving them a great ownership experience. This isn't even a bottom-of-the-points-chart room like Tower/Duo Studios.

These rooms also could address a demand weakness in certain points brackets. Even if the solution isn't an Ohana Suite, I do think DVC ought to try to address this problem. Tradition and trading should be tertiary concerns (at best), and trading is a solvable problem.

The original way that points were determined was based on square footage, and why the difference from a studio to 1 bedroom is larger than going from a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom…

Now, I don’t know if there is something in the FL timeshare law that guides this type of set up or if it is up to DVD to set things anyway they chose. But the Exhibit A in some of the POS explains it.

But, as you said, we just don’t see it the same way, and I really hope we don’t see a change to the concept of traditional 1 and 2 bedroom units in this new tower, especially, as was mentioned, it can be accomplished in the MK area by just making connecting studios at BPK and PVB a booking category.

 

[js]

Hi.

Where is this picture taken from because it has me all confused.
I could understand if the chapel was behind the tower but where am I looking at this and where is the actual GF then, is it to the right of the chapel?
Is this taken from the regular Pol rooms that are on the grass/beach part? The ones you first see when entering the walkway to the Poly from the GF? Sorry, I'm confused LOL

Also, when do they make the balconies? Will they be come out from the concrete?

Thank you.

 

[Chuck S]

Hi.

Where is this picture taken from because it has me all confused.

THis photo seems to be taken from the Seven Seas Lagoon. AS you can see the monorail track to the right of the chapel, the Grand Floridian would be to the right of the photo, the mmajprity of the Poly is to the left of the photo