NEW VGF Building

[Ruttangel]

More info
https://www.dvcnews.com/resorts/grand-floridian/news/5029-early-look-at-grand-floridian-s-new-villas

 

[mustinjourney]

Okay since it is in the same association now it comes down to just being a shorter contract length still. I guess it makes sense that if they are doing a conversion do it now and get it done with especially with resale prices of VGF.

Question is how this impacts resale prices now?

they'll get lower if the direct price gets lowered to RIV levels.

 

[Heather07438]

I could definitely be wrong because I don't know much about timeshare law, but assuming it follows normal real estate law you can incorporate new additions into a condo association with their own set of rules/restrictions. The rules that currently govern the O14 only apply to existing contracts - new additions should be able to enter existing associations under their own terms. I believe the issue they ran into with the O14 is that they were attempting to change existing real estate contracts. Here, there are no existing contracts and I would think they absolutely could give new points the same restrictions as RIV points (but of course I will be happy to be corrected)

Yeah I’m just not 100% sold that there’s absolutely no angle they could use.

 

[TCRAIG]

I was planning on buying more GF so we can stay for a week every May rather than every other (we only do 1Br) - now I think I’ll hold off to see if any discounts are offered...

 

[Sandisw]

This development brings up some interesting questions:
1 They are doing the conversion in just about a year. That sound incredibly quick to me considering they would need to build in a small fridge, microwave, sink, etc.
2 What does this say about Rivera sales? Will that resort be sold out then? Or are they feeling so much push-back from the restrictions there that they needed to add some non-restricted inventory?

My thought is that they have projected that right now, converting hotel rooms to have more to sell direct, now that Reflections was scraped makes more sense then having all those hotels which are not filling yet as some are still closed.

 

[mustinjourney]

This development brings up some interesting questions:
1 They are doing the conversion in just about a year. That sound incredibly quick to me considering they would need to build in a small fridge, microwave, sink, etc.
2 What does this say about Rivera sales? Will that resort be sold out then? Or are they feeling so much push-back from the restrictions there that they needed to add some non-restricted inventory?

more likely -- they are having a tough time selling GF hotel rooms, so why not convert some to DVC and sell, sell, sell!!!

 

[CSLucas]

Yes but by this logic why wouldn't new points bought direct from o14 resorts be restricted (which they aren't)

They can't do anything to originally declared points because they are a real estate interest regardless of who owns them (DVC or an individual). The original association rules would apply because they were declared into the original association under those rules. The only thing I have to go on is real estate law, but in real estate law if you bought into a neighborhood with certain HOA restrictions, those restrictions would always apply for the lifetime of the HOA no matter if the lot were sold back to the developer or not. But a developer can always declare new sections into the association with modified HOA restrictions.

 

[Belle53]

I will definitely be buying when it goes on sale. I always regretted not joining DVC when VGF first opened.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I wonder if they would consider making these concierge level rooms...or maybe doing a floor (or two) concierge? Presumably they will be a different booking category. When they did AKV originally -- were Jambo and Kidani done at the same time?

Jambo was converted 1st but I think the new building was always announced as part of the plan? It just opened later. I doubt concierge. CCV had the perfect opportunity for it with rooms up on the concierge level but they didn't do it. At VGF the concierge is not in this building that DVC is announced to get.

 

[Heather07438]

More info
https://www.dvcnews.com/resorts/grand-floridian/news/5029-early-look-at-grand-floridian-s-new-villas

That’s funny
I’m not the only one wondering about that tiny chance...

• Barring unexpected legal maneuverings on DVC's part, Grand Floridian resale buyers should have access to all current resorts except Disney's Riviera Resort

 

[havoc315]

Fascinating....

But it's an interesting note of WHY this is happening.

They have been dumping off GFV rooms at 55% off on Hotwire. With strong demand elsewhere at WDW, they get very low demand at Grand Floridian.
Simple enough reason: They are over-charging for Grand Floridian.

But they don't want to cut the prices -- They do have plenty of people willing to spend $800 per night at Grand Floridian, but not nearly enough to fill the rooms.

So the solution? Cut the number of cash rooms.... Sell them to DVC so they are "always occupied"..

So yes, if you buy into the GFV expansion as DVC, you are getting "40% off rack rates".... though if there was no DVC, you'd be able to get the rooms at 55% off rack rate on hotwire!

 

[CSLucas]

That’s funny
I’m not the only one wondering about that tiny chance...

• Barring unexpected legal maneuverings on DVC's part, Grand Floridian resale buyers should have access to all current resorts except Disney's Riviera Resort

I have a hard time believing they don't have a way to restrict these points - they would either have to keep the price at its current level (which would take forever to sell out IMO) or it would tank Riviera sales - why buy RIV direct when you can get a similar product with no restrictions?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Fascinating....

But it's an interesting note of WHY this is happening.

They have been dumping off GFV rooms at 55% off on Hotwire. With strong demand elsewhere at WDW, they get very low demand at Grand Floridian.
Simple enough reason: They are over-charging for Grand Floridian.

But they don't want to cut the prices -- They do have plenty of people willing to spend $800 per night at Grand Floridian, but not nearly enough to fill the rooms.

So the solution? Cut the number of cash rooms.... Sell them to DVC so they are "always occupied"..

So yes, if you buy into the GFV expansion as DVC, you are getting "40% off rack rates".... though if there was no DVC, you'd be able to get the rooms at 55% off rack rate on hotwire!

I think Disney churns back and forth whether they like more DVC or more hotel. The pandemic told them DVC is good even if a PITB because owners still want to show up when Disney wants to be shut down. The expenses were paid though!

 

[havoc315]

This development brings up some interesting questions:
1 They are doing the conversion in just about a year. That sound incredibly quick to me considering they would need to build in a small fridge, microwave, sink, etc.
2 What does this say about Rivera sales? Will that resort be sold out then? Or are they feeling so much push-back from the restrictions there that they needed to add some non-restricted inventory?

It says nothing about Riviera sales. There is a fair chance that the new GFV rooms will have the same restriction. (Depends if they simply add the rooms to the existing GFV or designate it as a new resort).
What it does say: They are having trouble booking those rooms as regular cash rooms. If they were getting 90% occupancy at Grand Floridian, they wouldn't be taking out cash inventory. The removal of cash inventory demonstrates the difficulty they are having booking the rooms.

 

[Ruttangel]

It says nothing about Riviera sales. There is a fair chance that the new GFV rooms will have the same restriction.

When VGF-2 is launched and sells out in 2 weeks (because it is linked to original non-restricted contracts) DVC may wonder why it ever bothered doing it to RIV, it was a complete own goal.

 

[OKW Lover]

It says nothing about Riviera sales. There is a fair chance that the new GFV rooms will have the same restriction. (Depends if they simply add the rooms to the existing GFV or designate it as a new resort).

The announcement specifically says that they will be part of the original GFV association. It won't be a new resort.

 

[OKW Lover]

What it does say: They are having trouble booking those rooms as regular cash rooms. If they were getting 90% occupancy at Grand Floridian, they wouldn't be taking out cash inventory. The removal of cash inventory demonstrates the difficulty they are having booking the rooms.

So, they are taking the short term here? I thought the hotel rooms at the GF were always pretty heavily booked during normal times. Going forward they will have fewer regular rooms available.

 

[DianaMB333]

Are they going to sell it separately?

 

[CastAStone]

Fascinating....

But it's an interesting note of WHY this is happening.

They have been dumping off GFV rooms at 55% off on Hotwire. With strong demand elsewhere at WDW, they get very low demand at Grand Floridian.
Simple enough reason: They are over-charging for Grand Floridian.

But they don't want to cut the prices -- They do have plenty of people willing to spend $800 per night at Grand Floridian, but not nearly enough to fill the rooms.

So the solution? Cut the number of cash rooms.... Sell them to DVC so they are "always occupied"..

So yes, if you buy into the GFV expansion as DVC, you are getting "40% off rack rates".... though if there was no DVC, you'd be able to get the rooms at 55% off rack rate on hotwire!

Hey weird we agree on something!

 

[CastAStone]

I think Disney churns back and forth whether they like more DVC or more hotel. The pandemic told them DVC is good even if a PITB because owners still want to show up when Disney wants to be shut down. The expenses were paid though!

I think the lesson is that Hotel-DVC hybrids have hidden issues when you need to shot down some facilities to deal with demand destruction. A pandemic is hopefully a once in a lifetime event, but this was the 2nd time in 20 years that they’ve had to close resorts due to factors outside of their control. It will likely happen again. Best to keep some properties you can close completely.

And therefore best to continue to convert partially converted resorts