Riviera Standard View Studios

[DVCsloth]

Anyone else notice Riviera standard view studios rarely available at 11 months for a full week lately?

 

[gmi3804]

Anyone else notice Riviera standard view studios rarely available at 11 months for a full week lately?

No. Do you have a question about that?

 

[jennypenny]

Yes, they are very hard to come by most times of the year now. I'm glad we have a fixed week. I would not want to battle bots to get that week every year.

 

[Sandisw]

We always book them right at 11 months at 8 am. But we only do 2 to 3 nights at a time so haven’t noticed beyond that.

 

[DVCsloth]

No. Do you have a question about that?

No. Do you have a question about that?

No,

 

[DVCsloth]

Yes, they are very hard to come by most times of the year now. I'm glad we have a fixed week. I would not want to battle bots to get that week every year.

We were thinking about a fixed week, but we've started to go different times now, so we didn't buy one. I did inquire about it, but I'm pretty sure my guide said they were only selling preferred weeks at the time. Never followed up to see if he was mistaken. I always try for SV to save points.

 

[CarolynFH]

I always try for SV to save points.

Exactly. DVC owners are notoriously frugal with their points, so a high percentage of RIV owners will try for SV to save points. As more RIV points are sold and there are more owners, competition for those SV studios will increase. It's just a fact of DVC life - there are more RIV owners wanting SV studios for whatever date than there are SV studios - and I'd expect competition to get worse as RIV approaches sold-out status.

 

[jcolvin5]

I’ve been looking at Riv in Oct and I can see the 2BR SV lock-offs are be walked leading up to our dates, so that tracks with what you are experiencing.

Apparently they have 66 SV studios. Seems like they would have more, but I guess not.

 

[RachaelA]

I’m sure a lot of people are walking them. That happens with standard view at Boardwalk and Bay Lake as well.

 

[BuffaloJim]

There are almost three times as many preferred versus standard studios. 138 vs 48.

 

[tx911]

Plus the fact that the standard view at RIV is considered not much of a downgrade, if any, from the preferred view.

 

[princesscinderella]

Plus the fact that the standard view at RIV is considered not much of a downgrade, if any, from the preferred view.

We prefer the standard view because from a lot of them you can see the fireworks at Epcot and even MK if you are on a higher floor.

 

[ehh]

There are almost three times as many preferred versus standard studios. 138 vs 48.

Plus the fact that the standard view at RIV is considered not much of a downgrade, if any, from the preferred view.

We prefer the standard view because from a lot of them you can see the fireworks at Epcot and even MK if you are on a higher floor.

View scarcity and relative view quality are two of the Four Horsemen of the Booking Apocalypse.

The other two are relative view points chart and room category points share. Riviera fares pretty badly with 3 of the metrics, and arguably the 4th, as well.

For Riviera SV Studios:

• View Scarcity: About 1/3rd of rooms within a room category are Standard View, other 2/3rds are Preferred View
  • (though I don't think the 138 vs. 48 numbers are accurate, fwiw...)
• Relative View Quality:
  • Standard View sees 'out of' the resort, which typically means parking lot but can include Skyliner and/or fireworks.
  • Preferred VIew sees 'into' the resort, which means seeing other balconies and one or more pools.
    • I think my family is at the extreme end here, but we'd much rather see out of a reseort instead of seeing other rooms andwould also rather see parking lot instead of a pool. In short, we don't really want to see other people or be seen. Fireworks are a small bonus, but overall SV is significantly preferred for us over PV at RIV. We might be at the extreme end but I suspect some of our sentiment is shared more widely.
      • At every other resorts, we agree with the view hierarchy, but not at RIV
• Relative View Points Chart: On average, Preferred View carries a 25% points chart premium at RIV for Studios and 1BR. That's a pretty big gap for a resort with just 2 tiers of points charts for views. Other gaps for Studios at 2-tier resorts:
  • BWV: 30% gap
  • OG Poly: 19% gap
  • SSR: 13% gap
  • OG VGF: 20% gap
• Room Category Points Share: This is the one horseman that Riviera kiiiinda gets a pass with, as it's pretty much 'normal' here according to old school ratios. Though modern ratios (e.g., VDH, VGF1+2, and PVB1+2) suggest something at or above 50% Studio is ideal, which it falls very short of. With full lock-off splitting, 20.8% of RIV points are for Deluxe Studios, with another 1.9% for Tower Studios. With zero lock-off splitting the share of Deluxe Studiio points is just 4.7% but that's extremely unlikely based on the 2BR booking patterns. Deluxe Studio share of points at other resorts:
  • AKV: 22.7% with full LO splitting
  • BCV: 21.7% with full LO splitting
  • BLT: 17.7% with full LO splitting
  • BRV: 19.8% with full LO splitting
  • BWV: 28.8% with full LO splitting (note: BWV has no dedicated 2BR so full splitting on any given night is extremely unlikely)
  • CCV: 14.4% with full LO splitting
  • OKW: 14.2% with full LO splitting
  • OG Poly: 73.4% (no LO exist)
  • Poly + Island Tower: likely ~55% with full LO splitting
  • SSR: 16.1% with full LO splitting
  • OG VGF: 14.7% with full LO splitting
  • VGF1+VGF2: 49.3% with full LO splitting

So, in all, Standard View Deluxe Studios at RIV are:

• Uncommon as a view, just about 1/3rd of the room category is SV
• Much less expensive, 20% fewer points than PV, which is a bigger discount than most other 2-tier resorts and increases relative demand
• Occasionally preferred solely on the merits of the view vs. Preferred View
• At a resort with a fairly old-school ratio of Studios, despite being a modern resort (and still actively for sale)

 

[lukemorenus]

Yes - sadly, you have to play the "one night at a time" game

 

[peacefrogdog]

I similarly noted these are hard to come by. However for one night we are hoping to do a MK After Hours (feb 17) , I noticed the only available studio is a standard/resort view studio at Riviera. Even studios at SSR, OKW and AKV are booked. I booked it, but noticed there is at least one other still available that night. Is there something up or goign on at Riviera then that would make these rooms more available ? FWIW the preferred view studio and all 1- and 2-BR's are booked.

 

[eticketplease]

I similarly noted these are hard to come by. However for one night we are hoping to do a MK After Hours (feb 17) , I noticed the only available studio is a standard/resort view studio at Riviera. Even studios at SSR, OKW and AKV are booked. I booked it, but noticed there is at least one other still available that night. Is there something up or goign on at Riviera then that would make these rooms more available ? FWIW the preferred view studio and all 1- and 2-BR's are booked.

Somebody probably just dropped it.

It is not there now.

 

[eticketplease]

Apparently they have 66 SV studios. Seems like they would have more, but I guess not.

There are almost three times as many preferred versus standard studios. 138 vs 48.

Where did you get 66? I assume @BuffaloJim got the info from DVCHelp.com

DVCHelp does state there counts are estimates hopefully your resource does have the right number or is lower for those that want the standard view.

When I look out at December 2025 it is showing 52 rooms for 1 night but not sure what the actual inventory is.

 

[BuffaloJim]

Where did you get 66? I assume @BuffaloJim got the info from DVCHelp.com

DVCHelp does state there counts are estimates hopefully your resource does have the right number or is lower for those that want the standard view.

When I look out at December 2025 it is showing 52 rooms for 1 night but not sure what the actual inventory is.

I’m not sure where I got the info but I’m sure it was from something like DVCHelp, *******, or similar. In general, I use this info when setting up a waitlist to give me the best chance of it coming through. I often don’t care about views, but I do want specific resorts. Aiming for rooms with more inventory seems to help.

 

[T00dles]

Another pressure point that will continue to increase with RIV is a growing number of resale owners who, as a result of restrictions, must book only at RIV. Without any other options, resale owners will be more inclined to do whatever it takes to book the reservation they need. So I expect that booking at exactly 8AM eleven months out or walking reservations will become more and more common as time goes on.

 

[Mouseforward]

Anyone else notice Riviera standard view studios rarely available at 11 months for a full week lately?

I was just going to post that 2BR lockoffs SV for Nov/ Dec this year are brutal. Lucky I can use dedicated 2BR since I am going with my parents.

I think there is a real advantage to having dedicated 2BR at Riv unlike BWV where you're kind of screwed.