So many resorts, so many members now...

[granmanh603]

I'm really disappointed with the SSR refurbishment they didn't upgrade the studios to sleep 5. I really feel it would have pulled more reservations towards that resort. I'm a family of 5, we only stay where studios sleep 5.

On another point, I think the tipping point was Aulani. They created 11,500,000 points for that resort, they've probably sold 60% of those points. I searched this morning, 2 and 3 Bed Villas had full availability for the next 6 weeks. Meaning, every night that those rooms sit empty, is a member who didn't use their points there and is planning on using them at WDW at the 7 month mark.

Add in Vero HH and all of SSR now that new huge hotel!!! AKA Saratoga 2.

 

[crvetter]

IMO, I was thinking more along the lines of an added fee when actually booking, so that you still maintain flexibility. The problem with the "guaranteed" week program is that it's the same time period every single year for 50 years. I wasn't actually thinking this was a practical application, but more curious of how much people are willing to pay for added flexibility.

Would I pay a fee, probably. Would I want them to add a fee, no. I think it creates a level of classism that currently doesn't exists (everyone bought into the same product and should be treated similarly on the fundamental operations).

Now one big issue with the 7 month availability, which others have touched on, is the idea of the online booking and seeing rooms disappear before 7 months. So people grab what they can then waitlist hoping to move. A huge weakness of the DVC system is they never cross-check waitlists against actual reservations and clear them. Essentially what I mean is if you reserve Resort A for a set of dates and I reserve Resort B for the same set of dates. I want Resort A so I waitlist it and you want Resort B so you waitlist it. Currently neither of our waitlists would clear when practically speaking it could (but it currently requires one of us to cancel to work). There are a few issues with priority of the waitlist, though there are some well designed optimization programs out there that would work for this problem. Something like this has potential to create some more level of movement at the 7 month mark. Though it probably will benefit more desirable resorts since they are more likely wanted to be traded among each other.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

Would I pay a fee, probably. Would I want them to add a fee, no. I think it creates a level of classism that currently doesn't exists (everyone bought into the same product and should be treated similarly on the fundamental operations).

Ya, I don't think practically it would work. My point was more along the lines that if you did want to cancel and play around with the reservations, you could always do it for a small fee. Assuming the fee actually does drive down things like walking, and booking for the sake of booking, there would theoretically be much less cancelling required to get what you want. Everything were talking about is theoretical though.

Now one big issue with the 7 month availability, which others have touched on, is the idea of the online booking and seeing rooms disappear before 7 months. So people grab what they can then waitlist hoping to move. A huge weakness of the DVC system is they never cross-check waitlists against actual reservations and clear them. Essentially what I mean is if you reserve Resort A for a set of dates and I reserve Resort B for the same set of dates. I want Resort A so I waitlist it and you want Resort B so you waitlist it. Currently neither of our waitlists would clear when practically speaking it could (but it currently requires one of us to cancel to work). There are a few issues with priority of the waitlist, though there are some well designed optimization programs out there that would work for this problem. Something like this has potential to create some more level of movement at the 7 month mark. Though it probably will benefit more desirable resorts since they are more likely wanted to be traded among each other.

This would actually be the perfect solution. I just don't trust the makers of the WDW website, or MDE to be the ones to develop such a software. I'd almost be more inclined for them to hire 5 or 10 full time staff at 50K per year who's sole job is to match up waitlists as you suggested. How much would it really cost us?

50K * 10 = 500,000
500,000 / 70 million points = 0.7 cents per year per point in maintenance fees? I'd pay that.

 

[JETSDAD]

One of the problems with charging for changes is you start running into situations where you've now given some owners advantages over others. Also, when someone simply wants more than 7 nights at 11 months they're stuck making changes just to get their desired length of stay.

 

[CarolMN]

IMO, no fee is needed. Just limit modifications until 10 months prior to check in. Changes before that are a cancel & rebook. That should be sufficient to stop almost all walking.

 

[jerseyduke]

Disney probably does not see a 7 month issue, so they wont do a thing to solve it.

If they haven't added a cancellation fee already because of all the walking, I highly doubt they would ever do it.

And if you really want to change at 7 months, and something is available, is a nominal fee going to change anything?

I love my home resorts, but I also love some at which I do not have points. Im happy to switch at times when I can, but if i cant, its fine. (As long as you buy where you would not mind staying)

 

[JETSDAD]

IMO, no fee is needed. Just limit modifications until 10 months prior to check in. Changes before that are a cancel & rebook. That should be sufficient to stop almost all walking.

What if someone wants more than a 7 night reservation?

 

[jerseyduke]

What if someone wants more than a 7 night reservation?

They should probably get rid of that rule anyway. I have yet to make a 7 night reservation, they are either shorter, or 8 nights. Maybe its needed to call MS to do it, but I can't see why.

 

[CarolMN]

What if someone wants more than a 7 night reservation?

Allow nights to be added, but not dropped until 10 months prior. It's the reuse of points that supports walking as most walkers do not have enough points to hold multiple nights beyond what they really want. Nothing "reasonable" will totally eliminate walking, but it could be greatly minimized without inconveniencing most members.

Disney is very unlikely to do anything about it. They don't care who gets a particular room, and the nights do end up booked, so no real negative impact to them or the system as a whole. They fixed their issue with walking ( MS call volumes) by adding the modify button to the online system.

 

[JETSDAD]

Allow nights to be added, but not dropped until 10 months prior. It's the reuse of points that supports walking as most walkers do not have enough points to hold multiple nights beyond what they really want. Nothing "reasonable" will totally eliminate walking, but it could be greatly minimized without inconveniencing most members.

Disney is very unlikely to do anything about it. They don't care who gets a particular room, and the nights do end up booked, so no real negative impact to them or the system as a whole. They fixed their issue with walking ( MS call volumes) by adding the modify button to the online system.

This just benefits people with a lot of points though. I don't have a lot of points but even I could still walk a Value Studio a 3+ weeks that way. I just think that any of the 'solutions' that have been put forward in the many discussion of the matter are worse than the 'problem'. If any changes are made it will be to benefit Disney, not owners, though they would hide behind 'customer demand'.

 

[CarolMN]

This just benefits people with a lot of points though. I don't have a lot of points but even I could still walk a Value Studio a 3+ weeks that way. I just think that any of the 'solutions' that have been put forward in the many discussion of the matter are worse than the 'problem'. If any changes are made it will be to benefit Disney, not owners, though they would hide behind 'customer demand'.

Maybe, but if you have that many points, why would you want a value? To stay longer, right? Thinking most who have lots of points go multiple times a year & thus would have other reservations such that they don't have lots of "spare" points available to tie up walking. FWIW, there are so few value & concierge rooms that it doesn't make sense to try to stop walking for them. Any solution will just result in a different set of winners and losers, along with some collateral damage.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I would like to see walking taxed somehow. JMO

 

[cheryl.UK]

Limiting the number of nights you can book will not suit overseas owners. UK owners often book 3-4 weeks as the airfares are the expensive part of our holidays. I may have only had 15 WDW holidays but added together, that's 53 weeks spent in WDW

 

[JETSDAD]

Maybe, but if you have that many points, why would you want a value? To stay longer, right? Thinking most who have lots of points go multiple times a year & thus would have other reservations such that they don't have lots of "spare" points available to tie up walking. FWIW, there are so few value & concierge rooms that it doesn't make sense to try to stop walking for them. Any solution will just result in a different set of winners and losers, along with some collateral damage.

Personally I only own 185 pts so far from a lot but I also have stayed in banking mode so could manage 1-2 walks per year easily....possibly a third. There are plenty of people renting out confirmed reservations that would take advantage of this as they own a lot of points and could really work the system. I really don't care if walking exists or is somehow stopped so long as the fix actually benefits owners however I have not seen any solution which does not have a greater negative impact than walking does (especially since it really only is a small percentage of the overall rooms where this happens).

 

[CarolynFH]

Stopping walking won’t solve the problem. The problem is that there are many fewer villas of the desired type than there are owners who desire them. If no one walked, many would still be unable to book because their computers were just a millisecond slower at connecting to DVC’s computer than others.

 

[Sandisw]

Personally I only own 185 pts so far from a lot but I also have stayed in banking mode so could manage 1-2 walks per year easily....possibly a third. There are plenty of people renting out confirmed reservations that would take advantage of this as they own a lot of points and could really work the system. I really don't care if walking exists or is somehow stopped so long as the fix actually benefits owners however I have not seen any solution which does not have a greater negative impact than walking does (especially since it really only is a small percentage of the overall rooms where this happens).

I agree with you, I would hate to see anything put in place that penalizes someone for booking and then changing. While yes, walking does plat a role, I also think people are booking earlier and that not all lack of availability is due to walking.

But there are going to be only so many rooms and no matter what happens, some will get and some will not. I love the online abilities so I am hopeful things don’t change in a way that changes the flexibility of changing trips.

 

[Deb & Bill]

It seems the big caveat is the type of room you are looking for...I find the rooms at Riviera that only fit two were designed to help with so many parties of two booking studios? I am hot/cold on buying resale- no way I look at buying direct (given today’s stats) make it feasible as an option. We will rent 2 BR 90% of the time- it seems a high point contract for a low price would make the most sense for us staying mostly in mid-September...but, then I look at just renting and then- that makes more sense...so many variables that can change make it even tougher to decide. I think this climate Disney put buyers in is sketchy- I think it will slow contract sales and something must give. I’ll just wait and see- seems I’ve been in this holding pattern for 15 years- not sure it’ll ever be a good time to buy. Hmmm.

I don't think this was the case. It was more likely they had smaller spaces that they didn't want to combine with another space to make an alternative studio like at CCV. So they made a tinier studio for only two people. They get a bigger ROI on a second space to sell rather than giving the same space more room.

As for renting, it pretty much didn't exist in the early days, so lots of points just expired if owners didn't bank them. Now you have renters contacting an owner or a broker before 11 months out to get that hard to get studio that sleeps five. They are going to be going after those Riviera two person studios in the future, but they will need a Riviera owner to book it at 11 months out. It would be nice if DVC required reservations without the owners present to purchase a guest certificate just like RCI and many other timeshares.

 

[cruisin5]

Maybe they could solve the problem by raising the points per night for a studio and decrease, perhaps, the points per night for a two-bedroom?

 

[lovin'fl]

Maybe they could solve the problem by raising the points per night for a studio and decrease, perhaps, the points per night for a two-bedroom?

Nah, they'll just raise all the points and claim lock-off premium. But they should raise studio points. The difference between a studio and a 1BR is pretty big. We own a ton of points (450 now, had 650) and it still gives me pause when I go to book that 1BR. Can't you get 2 studios for cost of 1BR? That's too wide a gap.

Edit to add: OMG, just looked at this last week of Oct and 2 standard view studios at BWV actually are 10 less points than a 1BR. THAT is just ridiculous!

 

[chalee94]

Nah, they'll just raise all the points and claim lock-off premium. But they should raise studio points. The difference between a studio and a 1BR is pretty big. We own a ton of points (450 now, had 650) and it still gives me pause when I go to book that 1BR. Can't you get 2 studios for cost of 1BR? That's too wide a gap.

Edit to add: OMG, just looked at this last week of Oct and 2 standard view studios at BWV actually are 10 less points than a 1BR. THAT is just ridiculous!

I object strongly to DVC raising points across the board with that lockoff premium garbage.

But I agree with you that raising studios and reducing 1BRs makes sense.