RIviera: Standard vs Preferred

[Drewferin]

I know Disney hasn't announced the percentage of rooms per category yet for RiV, however lets assume a 25% Standard and 75% Perferred. If you were to buy RIV and have the 11 month booking window how hard would it be to get a Standard studio (Not talking about tower studios)? Would the 25% Standard studio category still be hard or impossible when booking exactly at 11 months during the W&D to Race weekend in Jan time frame? What are everybodies thoughts?

 

[CarolMN]

IMO, it will depend on the time of the year. BWV has about 20% standard view and those are difficult to book from mid-September - Marathon weekend, even at 11 months. Other times of the year, there usually isn't a problem at 11 months. I believe Riviera will end up about the same.

 

[Drewferin]

Does RIV have more studios than BWV? Or would this be a good comparison?

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

If I was buying Riviera to stay in a studio I'd buy enough points for the preferred view, even if I intended to stay in the standard view. As DVC has raised the direct price per point and lowered the contract point minimum, new resorts have much more of a supply & demand issue with studios than older resorts.

Personally I think having a bit of a point buffer isn't a bad thing. I'd rather have extra points to bank because I scored a standard view than have to trim my vacation by a day or two because preferred view was the only thing available. I own at both BLT & BWV and this philosophy has served me well.

 

[aoconnor]

I think it will be hard to get even preferred view studios at RVA. It's difficult at CCV for owners to get studios even at the 11-month mark. I think that points-heavy cabins aside, CCV sold a lot of small contracts because the price per point has increased so much. You'll need a lot more points for the same number of nights at RVA. More people than ever will only be able to afford studios IMO.

I hope I'm wrong though because I would consider a small resale contract at RVA for studio stays. I'm going to wait a year or two and see how studio availability plays out.

 

[crvetter]

Does RIV have more studios than BWV? Or would this be a good comparison?

Riviera has less possible studios. BWV has 245 (split between the views and dedicated/lockoffs) and Riviera has 186, excluding the tower studios.

 

[kenyoncad]

Does anyone know what makes a room preferred view? Lake / pool view or being able to see either Epcot or HS fireworks?

 

[Drewferin]

An online tour of RIV had a guide saying that Standard views were only for parking lot (Front of resort and maybe the side depending on the view). Everything else is Preferred.

 

[zavandor]

Riviera has less possible studios. BWV has 245 (split between the views and dedicated/lockoffs) and Riviera has 186, excluding the tower studios.

Studios are such in high demand that DVC felt they had to raise the lockoff premium to compensate. And yet they don't build more studios.

 

[CarolMN]

Studios are such in high demand that DVC felt they had to raise the lockoff premium to compensate. And yet they don't build more studios.

But we all complained when they built all those studios (and no 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms) at the Poly!

 

[zavandor]

But we all complained when they built all those studios (and no 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms) at the Poly!

Everyone complained about the pricey bungalows. Some complained about the lack of 1 and 2br.
Anyway, the proportion is wrong. If members want studios above all, why not increase the number of studios in proportion to the other room types?

 

[aoconnor]

Everyone complained about the pricey bungalows. Some complained about the lack of 1 and 2br.
Anyway, the proportion is wrong. If members want studios above all, why not increase the number of studios in proportion to the other room types?

Agreed- Poly was a fluke at 100% studios but to build a new resort with only 20 or 30% studios (forget the exact #) seems strange. It's clear that demand for studios far, far outstrips any other kind of room. I don't think even 50% studios would be unreasonable to truly balance demand.

 

[crvetter]

Agreed- Poly was a fluke at 100% studios but to build a new resort with only 20 or 30% studios (forget the exact #) seems strange. It's clear that demand for studios far, far outstrips any other kind of room. I don't think even 50% studios would be unreasonable to truly balance demand.

So the room counts are

TS: 24
DS: 38
1Bed: 29
2Bed: 90
LockOff: 148
GV: 12

So treating the lockoffs as split we get

TS: 24
DS: 186
1Bed: 177
2Bed: 90
GV: 12

This puts studios at ~38% of the overall room counts. Really the only way to increase the studio proportions, while decreasing 1 beds, would be to decrease the lockoffs at the resort, assuming they could each have been replaced with 3 studios. This would have allowed DVC to sell more points, since 3 studios cost more, very slightly though, than a 2 bed. So their decision not to do that isn't driven out of greed, IMO. I would guess they build in a significant number of lockoffs (remember now Riviera has dedicated 1 Beds and DS so increasing the lockoff premium as discussed with BLT/SSR/etc really wouldn't work as with those resorts) because it creates some "future-proof" of the resort. So as vacation habits change there are different options at the resort. But reasonably their one thing they could have done was decrease Lockoffs and increase Studios and Dedicated 2 Beds since both are in high demand, but as I said that would be mostly point neutral so again their makeup isn't really greed driven, in my eyes.

I wonder if people shut out of studios are more likely to book shorter stays in 1 beds, rather than save their points. This would be an advantage to the membership on a whole. Saving their points is simply kicking the can down the road.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

But we all complained when they built all those studios (and no 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms) at the Poly!

It was overkill. Why they don't go somewhere more in the middle I have no idea. Increase the percentage of the resorts that are studios but still have the larger villas. Especially with the increase to both point requirements and point pricing.

 

[DougEMG]

Everyone complained about the pricey bungalows. Some complained about the lack of 1 and 2br.
Anyway, the proportion is wrong. If members want studios above all, why not increase the number of studios in proportion to the other room types?

I wonder what the cost to build per square foot is for a studio, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom? Would that have any impact what DVC builds?

 

[zavandor]

TS: 24
DS: 186
1Bed: 177
2Bed: 90
GV: 12

This puts studios at ~38% of the overall room counts.

Raw room count doesn't capture the reality. Points needed to book 1BR are ~double the studios and 2BR are ~treble the points. This means the points that can be used to book studios are way less than 38%. Someone clever than me could do the count, but probably nearer 20% than 40%. This means of the total number of members who will buy Riviera, only 20% will be able to book studios, while probably a much higher percentage will buy enough points to stay only in studios. It's not as bad as CCV, but still studios won't be easy to book at 7 months.
For a more balanced resort, I would say half the points should be tied to studios.

 

[Madame]

Raw room count doesn't capture the reality. Points needed to book 1BR are ~double the studios and 2BR are ~treble the points. This means the points that can be used to book studios are way less than 38%. Someone clever than me could do the count, but probably nearer 20% than 40%. This means of the total number of members who will buy Riviera, only 20% will be able to book studios, while probably a much higher percentage will buy enough points to stay only in studios. It's not as bad as CCV, but still studios won't be easy to book at 7 months.
For a more balanced resort, I would say half the points should be tied to studios.

Yes. This is the exact problem. Even if they have somewhat raised the buy-in requirement, they’ve also raised the points chart. Same problem.

 

[The Jackal]

But we all complained when they built all those studios (and no 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms) at the Poly!

They built 2 bedrooms at Poly, Disney calls them Bungalows. Other people call them the biggest waste of points. I know they are not a true 2 bedroom in terms of DVC.

 

[The Jackal]

Agreed- Poly was a fluke at 100% studios but to build a new resort with only 20 or 30% studios (forget the exact #) seems strange. It's clear that demand for studios far, far outstrips any other kind of room. I don't think even 50% studios would be unreasonable to truly balance demand.

DVC should have some good stats by now to figure the optimum number of what types of rooms. It just appears they don’t care and build whatever they want and in the future we will be paying more for studios an 1 bedrooms. There are times of the year those Poly studios book up fast and are hard to get.

 

[Madame]

It just appears they don’t care and build whatever they want

I would say they build whatever enables them to sell the most points at the least expense.