Here's an observation that just occurred to me...
The consensus is that the resale value of the Riviera will be tanked because the points can only be used at the Riviera. There are also many current owners who are interested in staying at the Riviera and already own grandfathered points so buying restricted Riviera points to stay there exclusively shouldn't be an issue. If (or really, when) the resale prices bottom out, which probably won't be for 2-3 years, those owners should be able to get a nice deal on a resale. With the "Rehab Facility" on the market and Riviera, presumably both of them with these new restrictions (and who knows what else DVC has up their sleeves
), I don't think these properties are going to be selling themselves. I would not think that Disney is going to be rushing to buy back a bunch of Riviera contracts via ROFR when they are sitting on two, new resorts that they are trying to sell, even if the price is low.
I don't know what the percentage of sales of a new resort is to current members vs new members but I imagine it is pretty small. I think that current owners who want to eventually own at Riviera
in order to stay there will probably be able to take advantage of these restrictions by getting a nice, affordable contract at the Riviera without losing any of their current benefits. You just need patience
.
Honestly, I think this was either a bad decision, or just bad timing considering it was combined with the 2020 points chart adjustment. I think that it created a lot of "bad blood" within the current membership and they failed to take into account that current members account for a percentage of sales of their new resorts. I wonder how many current members had planned to add on DIRECT to the Riviera but have now changed their minds? It would be an interesting data point for DVD to look into. I'm sure it is such a small percentage that they wouldn't even worry about it.