Room availabilty or lack of it?

[Chris and Pooh]

Hello,
I am a newbie to this discussion forum and reading and following some of the threads I have noticed members commenting about the lack of availability for booking accommodation especially at BWV, BCV and WL. This being the case I was surprised to see that Expedia.co.uk were offering availability at all these resorts during May and June in select periods,ie as of today 22nd March I found a week available at BCV on 29th May in a one bed, a week at WL on 6th June for a studio and a week at BWV on 8th May in a one bed.
Does this mean that Disney is renting these rooms out in preference to members, if so why?

Chris and Bev SSR members since SEP 2003

Oct 1996
Nov 1997
Oct 1999
Oct 2001
Sep 2003
Oct 2004

 

[Deb & Bill]

DVC has member inventory which is made up of the units owned by members through their points. Disney has the inventory which is made of the points traded out by members for non-DVC trips (DCL, non-DVC Disney resorts, other non-Disney resorts) and breakage (used to take rooms out of service for repairs, renovation, etc). The only availability that members have is kept with Member Services and you can only see that availability by calling MS. The other rooms you see on Expedia, etc, are those Disney inventory made up of members traded out points. The money generated from these reservations is used to pay for the trades members make.

 

[CarolMN]

This is a frequently asked question. There are two separate inventories of rooms - one is available for cash and the other is available to members to reserve fro points. It is not uncommon for rooms to be available for cash and not for points and vice versa.

At a DVC resort, most rooms will belong to members and thus available to be reserved for points. Cash inventory at DVC resorts comes from several different places:

1. A small percentage of each resort is retained by Disney. If these rooms are not needed for administrative purposes, they are often rented to the general public for cash. These rooms do not belong to members.

2. Any unsold portion of a resort still belongs to the Developer. The room nights represented by this percentage are also rented to the general public for cash.

3. 60 days prior, any unreserved rooms in the points inventory are made available for cash rental to the general public. DVC members still have access to these rooms, but they are competing with the public for them. Income from renting these rooms for cash is returned to DVC and used to reduce the annual fees paid by members. It is listed as "Breakage Income" on the budget statements.

4. When members use their points to reserve one of the non-DVC options (such as a cruise or a stay at the AKL or GF or certain other non-DVC options), DVC rents the equivalent number of room nights for cash and uses the proceeds to pay for the members' "trade out". This is how most (nearly all) of the rooms become available to the public for cash. In essence, the DVC member trades a stay at a DVC resort for something else. DVC just acts as the "middleman" or TA for the member (and gets a portion of the proceeds for its trouble).

That's a long way around to answer your question - which is no, DVC does not give preference to cash guests over members when it comes to getting a reservation at a DVC resort.

Best wishes -

 

[Chris and Pooh]

Thank you for the info

Chris and Bev SSR members since SEP 2003

Oct 1996
Nov 1997
Oct 1999
Oct 2001
Sep 2003
Oct 2004

 

[mikesmom]

Also "seeing" the rooms on Expedia is not the same as getting the rooms. Some on other DIS boards have reported seeing rooms available, but when they actually tried to go thru the process to secure the reservation, somewhere near the last step they got a "sorry not available" message.

 

[Daitcher]

This is a frequently asked question. There are two separate inventories of rooms - one is available for cash and the other is available to members to reserve fro points. It is not uncommon for rooms to be available for cash and not for points and vice versa.

At a DVC resort, most rooms will belong to members and thus available to be reserved for points. Cash inventory at DVC resorts comes from several different places:

1. A small percentage of each resort is retained by Disney. If these rooms are not needed for administrative purposes, they are often rented to the general public for cash. These rooms do not belong to members.

2. Any unsold portion of a resort still belongs to the Developer. The room nights represented by this percentage are also rented to the general public for cash.

3. 60 days prior, any unreserved rooms in the points inventory are made available for cash rental to the general public. DVC members still have access to these rooms, but they are competing with the public for them. Income from renting these rooms for cash is returned to DVC and used to reduce the annual fees paid by members. It is listed as "Breakage Income" on the budget statements.

4. When members use their points to reserve one of the non-DVC options (such as a cruise or a stay at the AKL or GF or certain other non-DVC options), DVC rents the equivalent number of room nights for cash and uses the proceeds to pay for the members' "trade out". This is how most (nearly all) of the rooms become available to the public for cash. In essence, the DVC member trades a stay at a DVC resort for something else. DVC just acts as the "middleman" or TA for the member (and gets a portion of the proceeds for its trouble).

That's a long way around to answer your question - which is no, DVC does not give preference to cash guests over members when it comes to getting a reservation at a DVC resort.

Best wishes -

Carolmn a big to you. I really need to print this out for future reference. People always act surprised with this. THAT surprises me as all timeshares keep a certain percentage of rooms to rent on cash.

Thank you very much,

DAVE

 

[conciergekelly]

I have never had a problem getting what I want. I got VWL at 7 months out the week before xmas. BCV in July 5 months out. I got BWV in July 2 months out. All of these with no waitlist. I wouldn't worry.

 

[byoung]

CarolMN Thanks for your responce.

 

[Dean]

Carolmn a big to you. I really need to print this out for future reference. People always act surprised with this. THAT surprises me as all timeshares keep a certain percentage of rooms to rent on cash.

Thank you very much,

DAVE

Dave, this is simply not true. I don't know of a single timeshare resort that keeps rooms specifically to rent them. They may rent unsold or repossessed weeks (permanent or this years week) or even through a rental program; but they do not keep them simply to rent out. As a rule, the developer arm wants out as soon as they can. There is really no money in renting out rooms, it's simply used to cut losses. The only gain is when there is a rental arm and they take a percentage (usually 25-40%) of the unit you give them to rent. No risk to them and a potential windfall if they're consistently successful as is Marriott. You may know of an exception, but it would just be that. I'd love to hear of a resort or system that has a policy such as you state.

 

[Daitcher]

Dave, this is simply not true. I don't know of a single timeshare resort that keeps rooms specifically to rent them. They may rent unsold or repossessed weeks (permanent or this years week) or even through a rental program; but they do not keep them simply to rent out. As a rule, the developer arm wants out as soon as they can. There is really no money in renting out rooms, it's simply used to cut losses. The only gain is when there is a rental arm and they take a percentage (usually 25-40%) of the unit you give them to rent. No risk to them and a potential windfall if they're consistently successful as is Marriott. You may know of an exception, but it would just be that. I'd love to hear of a resort or system that has a policy such as you state.

I wa told that Marriott is one. They have a certain percentage that they rent out on cash. They will also rent rooms for members taking a cut if the member wants to put there week(s) up for rent. Hard to dispute you here, you are the timeshare guy. I was told this by a Marriott timeshare guy. Are all the rooms on the Marriott website for rent, MVC owner rooms that Marriott is renting for them? Sheraton, and others I thoguht were the same way. Is this exclusive to DVC. Realy don't all timeshares have a certain percentage of roms kept as owner inventory. You would think they would have to in cases of maintenence. ???????? Thanks for the clarification.

DAVE

 

[Dean]

I wa told that Marriott is one. They have a certain percentage that they rent out on cash. They will also rent rooms for members taking a cut if the member wants to put there week(s) up for rent. Hard to dispute you here, you are the timeshare guy. I was told this by a Marriott timeshare guy. Are all the rooms on the Marriott website for rent, MVC owner rooms that Marriott is renting for them? Sheraton, and others I thoguht were the same way. Is this exclusive to DVC. Realy don't all timeshares have a certain percentage of roms kept as owner inventory. You would think they would have to in cases of maintenence. ???????? Thanks for the clarification.

DAVE

I think you believed too much info from a timeshares sales person trying to sell you on how good the system was or simply misunderstood. Marriott definitely does not hold rooms to rent out. As I noted, they will rent out unsold inventory, rooms given up for points, rooms under a rental contract and units taken back either for that year or foreclosed on permanently. The later are by the HOA and not Marriott itself though Marriott is the vehicle There is not a single instance I'm aware of where a timeshare specifically keeps units to rent long term. The only time I could think of was when Marriott kept rooms in Utah prior to the olympics and had usage starting the next year.

 

[RobDoc]

THAT surprises me as all timeshares keep a certain percentage of rooms to rent on cash.
DAVE

That is ABOSLUTELY not true. Most timeshares are 100% owned by those who have purchased and the developer has not retained any ownership. In the case of DVC, 2-4 % is retained for use when there are maintenance or refurbishing requirements needed. There are few reservations retained specifically for cash reservations. Most cash reservations aer based on members who opt to use non-DVC options for reservations (like cruises, non-DVC WDW reservations and Concierge Collection reservations.)