RIV availability

[Can_Dannn]

Thoughts on availability at RIV now, verses 5 years from now?
We bought RIV today (2/6/2020), 100 points and are quite stunned by the resort.

availability is hard right now even at 11 months but guessing because it’s so shiny and new, and that will die down.

what happened wit other new resorts? Did they have same trend of difficult availability for a while after opening and then it quieted down a bit?

 

[Wakey]

I’ve been looking- RIv availability isn’t bad at all. It’s availability 11 months out looks similar to most resorts and more than some (for example, BLT has less).
I suspect you are talking about a standard studio? Unfortunately the standard studios anywhere (BLT, Boardwalk, VGF for example, SSR not included, neither AKL due to lack of Savannah view) go often bang on 11 months and are increasingly being walked.
This is getting worse as price goes up and points per night go up- people only can afford enough for standard studios when pricing up.
It won’t get any better, and will possibly only get worse speaking generally , at all resorts. Studio availability will only get worse generally. There seems to be much less of an ever decreasing circle on 1 beds.
However you are correct in that it’s new so demand will drop off a bit maybe in coming years, but that’s probably countered by the ever decreasing circle on studio demand.
You are more likely to find 1 bed standard being easier to book eventually. It depends on how many want to book it and cannot, waiting in the wings so to speak. There will be many more in studios than 1 beds.
But Riviera availability or lack thereof, is not exceptional at all.

 

[Pyotr]

11 months from now is marathon weekend. The CCV studios are gone instantly.

I just checked the RAT and it shows that preferred studios are available half of June and almost all of July and beyond. I would say availability is quite good.

 

[AKNOTTS66]

11 months from now is marathon weekend. The CCV studios are gone instantly.

I just checked the RAT and it shows that preferred studios are available half of June and almost all of July and beyond. I would say availability is quite good.

I've been wondering. What Does Rat mean exactly or stand for? lol

 

[Pyotr]

I've been wondering. What Does Rat mean exactly or stand for? lol

The resort availability tool.

I just wanted to add that I am surprised at the availability of studios at the Riviera. Sure, Tower and Standard are all gone, but there is plenty of preferred available.

 

[AKNOTTS66]

The resort availability tool.

I just wanted to add that I am surprised at the availability of studios at the Riviera. Sure, Tower and Standard are all gone, but there is plenty of preferred available.

I think last night they made a room declaration like they did with CCV. I was able to score a Standard view studio for 2 nights in June. Prior to last night there was nothing available. Of course the Tower Studio room was available for nights all around the 2 I needed lol.

 

[jerseyduke]

You can not really judge anything right now because of the difference between percent sold and percent declared.
Particularly at > 7 months. You can literally have twice the amount of inventory available then there are members to use it - if they have declared a million point and only sold 500,000 for example, inventory should be very wide open.

< 7 months, the Newness factor comes into play, so many wanting to at least try it.

When its sold out and not new, thats the real test.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

availability is hard right now even at 11 months but guessing because it’s so shiny and new, and that will die down.

Shiny and new never matters at 11 months, because only home resort points can book at 11 months. If anything, availability at 11 months should be as good as it ever gets right now, because more units are declared to the condo association than points sold. Since only home points book, that means there are more units than points to book them.

 

[Sandisw]

I have had good luck so far at 11 months.,,even at 9,,,getting rooms. I also think rooms were released yesterday because I got a SV 1 bedroom in May that wasnt there hours earlier,

I think until the resort is sold out, the tower and SV studios will be the first to go and one will need to book right at 11 months, But, I also think owners who don’t get it and waitlist will have a good chance getting them as some owners will want to trade out.

I also think, even PV, will become popular at 7 months.

During certain times of the year, even just a few days can change things,

 

[drusba]

There are 24 Tower studios total. I have not yet seen any accurate figures on how many standard studios at Riviera there actually are (and any count should include standard 2BR lock-offs). However, both of those room categories are already demonstrating a problem of disappearing super-fast at exactly 11 months out some times of the year, so I am guessing there may not be a large number of standard studios. As to reliable patterns, it is too early to tell, but in the past for other resorts, when particular room categories have shown an 11-month issue early on, the issue has only gotten worse by the time the resort has sold out.

 

[Spartan86]

There are 24 Tower studios total. I have not yet seen any accurate figures on how many standard studios at Riviera there actually are (and any count should include standard 2BR lock-offs). However, both of those room categories are already demonstrating a problem of disappearing super-fast at exactly 11 months out some times of the year, so I am guessing there may not be a large number of standard studios. As to reliable patterns, it is too early to tell, but in the past for other resorts, when particular room categories have shown an 11-month issue early on, the issue has only gotten worse by the time the resort has sold out.

The most credible count I have seen is 66/120 on the studios including lock offs.

 

[The Jackal]

There are 24 Tower studios total. I have not yet seen any accurate figures on how many standard studios at Riviera there actually are (and any count should include standard 2BR lock-offs). However, both of those room categories are already demonstrating a problem of disappearing super-fast at exactly 11 months out some times of the year, so I am guessing there may not be a large number of standard studios. As to reliable patterns, it is too early to tell, but in the past for other resorts, when particular room categories have shown an 11-month issue early on, the issue has only gotten worse by the time the resort has sold out.

While there may be 24 tower studios, they have not all been released for use. Maybe in 3-4 years they will all be available (depending on sales) to use member stays. It appears DVC just released some more rooms and the resort sales seem to be picking up.

 

[dez1978]

11 months from now is marathon weekend. The CCV studios are gone instantly.

I just checked the RAT and it shows that preferred studios are available half of June and almost all of July and beyond. I would say availability is quite good.

What is RAT? Sorry, newbie here

 

[drusba]

What is RAT? Sorry, newbie here

It is a reference to the online reservation section on the members' official DVC site. It refers to initials of that system when it was initially created on the site and was actually listed on the site as the Resort Availability Tool. When DVC apparently caught on that everyone was calling it RAT (not just because of its initials but also because of its constant problems) , it changed the name to Check Resort Availability page, apparently not realizing that members would then call the system CRAP. Now, on the site, it is just called "Book a Vacation." But members have long memories.

 

[DVC_HK]

I watch the RAT like a hawk just to get a feel of booking patterns and it's gonna be a dogfight for tower and standard studios for those with very small contracts. We have 125 for now but we are already waiting till our loan is paid a good bit down and add again in maybe a year or 2. I can easily get a 1 bedroom anyway I really want right now but surprisingly the 2 bedroom standard are out a bit more. We have a couple nights here there for this year and then I banked a lot away for the 50th as I'm getting ready if I need to book even a grand villa just to be sure I'm there for the 1st and I have seen only a very small handful of those gone