Poly Room Category Thoughts?

[DenLo]

I thought I read that increaduing the points for a studio by a single point per night would decrease the bungalow by 26 points per night. There's more room in there than you might think.

People will always compare the PVB studio point per night to VGF and some compare it to BLT. If the cost per night is higher than VGF, guests are savvy enough to question whether it is worth staying there. And how would that benefit PVB if the fill up the bungalows and most of the studios go vacant?

 

[dizfan]

You didn't but the two responses (complain and legal action) are often used together in such situations which is why I elected to include the information. Also when some talk about complaining in such situations it's sometimes done with the attitude of "boy will I complain" and they often do so implying that they alone can get it changed simply by complaining, you also did not take that stance.

Disney could care less what I or any individual thinks. When most of the PVB owners buy to stay in a studio, it makes most of the owners lose just to make a handful of owners win.

Market forces will decide if rooms are correct for points or not. If people don't like it, they won't book a resort/room.
Many people wanted to buy a fixed week bungalow thinking they would be priced slightly higher than a VGF 2BR. They wrote that a fixed week would be necessary because 20 rooms is an incredibly small number of rooms. There is a great deal of middle ground of a few points here/there for them to play with. However, all of us need to remember, the resort has been open just over 4 months and is expected to have significant construction for 5-12 more months.

For a new resort, all room categories rarely book up before 7 months until a resort is much closer to sold out. PVB is about 10% sold. Long time before Disney knows what the booking trends are for PVB.

 

[dolfingrl]

In regards to the split bath in the studios I actually love it. It works perfectly for my family who only sleeps in the room on vacation. My kids are also so slow getting up and ready in the mornings. I love the idea of not having to wait for them for quite so long because they can get ready at the same time. Once they get up that is...

 

[VGF Ben]

This is an interesting conversation. I, for one, don't subscribe to the negativity surrounding the absence of 1br and 2br at the Poly. I think they'll eventually be there, but if you look at availability for DVC as a whole, they are overbuilt on 1br and 2br. That is a problem when you're booking at 95-99% all the time. I think where it presents a potential problem for DVC is the bungalows. If you are a Poly owner, there aren't 2BR or 1BR for you to book into when you want to step down from the extraordinary point cost of the bungalow. So if you are a potential bungalow customer, you pretty much have to decide to commit to a bungalow every time you go. That's a very expensive vacation every year....are there that many ultra high spending DVCers? If there were 1br/2br options available, someone could buy in with the intention of usually staying 1Br/2BR with the occasional "splurge" on Bungalow.

Then again, you look at the 1st week of September 2015 availability...which is just 3 weeks out. The only sold out DVC properties are VGF and Poly...in fact the Poly is sold out on studios and bungalows completely through the end of October...that's EVERY SINGLE DAY. Same with VGF. There are 1BR/2BR/Grand Villa availability everywhere else. There is spotty Studio availability at only OKW and SSR as usual. They needed a high end property with lots of studios...there's really no question of that. Truthfully, they need to do something for SSR to build up its appeal. DTD can help...but it isn't enough. They need a signature restaurant....a destination restaurant...something. Didn't they try something for a while with food trucks at SSR? That's not a bad idea...but they need to find something that works. Making SSR more attractive to DVCers helps everyone. In some ways, I think it even makes sense to add $0.10 to everyone's MF across the board to make SSR more of a destination. It would benefit everyone as availability would be less tight everywhere else.

I participated in a DVC survey today about the Poly...seemed to be a survey figuring out why people aren't buying there. Raised issues that have been raised here so I thought I'd mention it. Talked about the point cost of Bungalows....point cost of studios (interestingly, worded it as if people were concerned the studios point cost was too much)....lack of 1BR/2BR....they mentioned Washer Dryer in the studios multiple times (which I found interesting)...they mentioned negative talk about the Poly DVC construction. Basically it was a long survey that tried to find the priority of each of these things for people and how much of a hindrance it might be to purchase....

 

[Tikiman]

They have taken 8 trips to the Poly pre-kids with family and friends. Always requested adjoining rooms...Always got them. Not saying it is a garuntee, but seems like it. That being said, they can't take the "chance" of not getting it with kids now, especially as they age. I am not saying they won't buy DVC, but it won't be Poly.

I on the other hand still want Poly points, just to use for trips with my wife...No kids. But, we would probably only buy 60 points or so now and go every few years...if they had offered 2 bedrooms or even adjoining atudios, we would probably have bought enough to go on non VGF years every other year. Now we are looking at BCV and BWV instead.

We requested connecting rooms (I’m guessing that is what you meant since adjoining only means they are next to each other, not connecting) and we did not get it. Not all the hotel rooms connect but all the DVC studios do. Your chances are better at getting connecting rooms in DVC than the hotel side.

 

[Tikiman]

360 studios divided by 20 bungalows should be 18 points lower.

IMHO, lowering points for 20 bungalows and raising them for 360 rooms would be a social media problem for Disney. Not sure how someone could claim PVB studios should be more points than a VGF studio. The majority of the additional space at PVB was wasted in a bathroom.

I think they would need to remodel the PVB studios to do this. Maybe a stackable washer/dryer. At BLT, DVD received so many complaints, they remodeled the studio bathrooms at Disney's expense, so it's not inconceivable for them to do this.

There is actually 362 studios at the Polynesian

 

[dizfan]

I participated in a DVC survey today about the Poly...seemed to be a survey figuring out why people aren't buying there. Raised issues that have been raised here so I thought I'd mention it. Talked about the point cost of Bungalows....point cost of studios (interestingly, worded it as if people were concerned the studios point cost was too much)....lack of 1BR/2BR....they mentioned Washer Dryer in the studios multiple times (which I found interesting)...they mentioned negative talk about the Poly DVC construction. Basically it was a long survey that tried to find the priority of each of these things for people and how much of a hindrance it might be to purchase....

Very interesting. I hope they realize they missed what should have been a very, very big opportunity.
I wonder what PVB would look like if Claire Bilby had remained in charge for the PVB design and construction.

 

[quandrea]

Even if poly added a washer and dryer and an upgraded kitchenette, we wouldn't stay there. Cramming myself, dh and our three kids in a room in not a holiday. We will never stay there which is too bad. I agree that increasing ssr appeal is a great idea--would help with booking everywhere. I'm hoping dvc moves to mAking more one bedroom units that sleep five. That is the sweet spot for us. Studios that sleep five make my head want to explode--can't see the logic

 

[dizfan]

There is actually 362 studios at the Polynesian

Thanks Steve.

The breakdown I had always heard was...
Moorea 144
Pago Pago 72
Tokelau 144

Is Tokelau 146? Did they maybe use the second storage room for additional rooms? At one point there was speculation it would a second laundry room to try to solve the demand problem with all those studios.

 

[wdrl]

There is actually 362 studios at the Polynesian

The breakdown I had always heard was...
Moorea 144
Pago Pago 72
Tokelau 144

Is Tokelau 146? Did they maybe use the second storage room for additional rooms? At one point there was speculation it would a second laundry room to try to solve the demand problem with all those studios.

Are you sure about PVB having 362 studios?

The initial declaration at PVB shows Moorea having 142 studios, which is the same that we saw when we walked the hallways in May.

We also walked the hallways of Pago Pago and it has 76 studios.

Tokelau, I think, has only 142 studios. Hotel rooms 1928 and 1929 were converted to utility/work areas rather than villas. Rooms 1928 and 1929 sandwiched the entranceway on Tokelau's East side and DVD decided not to convert them to villas. I apologize for the quality of the photo below, but you can see that villa 1927 is next to a utility room.

I think PVB has only 360 studios. But if I'm wrong, please let me know.

 

[Tikiman]

Thanks Steve.

The breakdown I had always heard was...
Moorea 144
Pago Pago 72
Tokelau 144

Is Tokelau 146? Did they maybe use the second storage room for additional rooms? At one point there was speculation it would a second laundry room to try to solve the demand problem with all those studios.

Tokelau and Moorea are the same size buildings at 144 but Moorea has 2 less rooms because of storage and laundry. Pago Pago is 76

 

[Tikiman]

Are you sure about PVB having 362 studios?

The initial declaration at PVB shows Moorea having 142 studios, which is the same that we saw when we walked the hallways in May.

We also walked the hallways of Pago Pago and it has 76 studios.

Tokelau, I think, has only 142 studios. Hotel rooms 1928 and 1929 were converted to utility/work areas rather than villas. Rooms 1928 and 1929 sandwiched the entranceway on Tokelau's East side and DVD decided not to convert them to villas. I apologize for the quality of the photo below, but you can see that villa 1927 is next to a utility room.

I think PVB has only 360 studios. But if I'm wrong, please let me know.

I did not notice that last week. Thanks for the heads up. That would make it 360. I was in that building a lot. It must not be obvious from inside. I will have to fix my maps.

They were rooms after the 2013 room conversion but when they made them DVC they must have changed it.

 

[cvjw]

Even if poly added a washer and dryer and an upgraded kitchenette, we wouldn't stay there. Cramming myself, dh and our three kids in a room in not a holiday. We will never stay there which is too bad. I agree that increasing ssr appeal is a great idea--would help with booking everywhere. I'm hoping dvc moves to mAking more one bedroom units that sleep five. That is the sweet spot for us. Studios that sleep five make my head want to explode--can't see the logic

We got two studios for our family of 4. Doesn't work for everyone, but there are ways to have more space for a family of 5 at the Poly.

 

[quandrea]

We got two studios for our family of 4. Doesn't work for everyone, but there are ways to have more space for a family of 5 at the Poly.

Fair enough, but the point cost is too high. Give me a one bedroom any day.

 

[dizfan]

Fair enough, but the point cost is too high. Give me a one bedroom any day.

DVC prices a 1BR as the equivalent of two studios at most (possibly all) resorts. If PVB had 1BRs in those same longhouses, it's very likely they would be double the points of a studio with the same view.
Do you mean the point cost for PVB and VGF is too high? Maybe even BLT.

BLT (excluding standard view) seemed to be the start of DVC deciding they were going to charge more points for similar room types than the other WDW resorts.

 

[Sparrow624]

All MK monorail resorts will always demand a premium in points or cash. Just a fact of life. People want to be near the MK and people don't like busses...

 

[one11sgt]

Please excuse my lack of knowledge, I am a very new member but can someone explain to me why the total number of points must remain the same? Even though PVB is still being sold.

 

[Dean]

Please excuse my lack of knowledge, I am a very new member but can someone explain to me why the total number of points must remain the same? Even though PVB is still being sold.

For a sold out resort it's a requirement and is stated in the POS. The issue with a resort not completely declared is that it's a moving target. At present the entire resort legally is what's declared. As more units are declared, the total will change proportionate to the unit added. Realize that a "unit" does not mean a room or villa necessarily and for the studios it generally doesn't.

 

[one11sgt]

I kinda understand somewhat. Thanks

 

[disneynutz]

Any idea on what units have been declared. Can DVD change the point requirements on the units not declared yet?

Bill