SSR adding standard view in 2017

[hakepb]

Are there really bad noise problems from the Firehouse and road in those 2 areas, Paddock and Carousel? I seem to remember reading about major noise complaints.

Because of the pool area at Paddock, I am surprised it is lumped together with Carousel.

How reliable is the given source?

I belive Daddio is David of David's Vacation Club Rentals, so he should be reliable.

 

[Happy_Haunt999]

Wow. We almost always have stayed in Congress Park and we have never had anything I would consider a " view." Most recently we looked at the bus stop.

And we usually stay in Congress Park and have a really great view of DS and Fultons. Would I pay more for it? No, but hey it's better than a parking lot or a bus stop.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/Saratoga.htm

Map reference. If it is Carousel and the Paddocks as Standard category, it appears to be based on amenity access vice view. Though the Paddock pool and Q/S should count.

 

[Dean]

I don't think that they really much care what members think, IMO they do what benefits Disney. If raising the point requirements for popular rooms causes anyone to buy 1 more point, they do it. Granted they may buy resale but Disney knows exactly what percentage of sales go resale and what goes direct. That's like the THV, keep the point requirement low until the points are sold then raise them because the THV are popular?

Bill

I personally wouldn't go that far Bill. I'm practical but not quite as cynical as you are in these areas. I do feel if they were more proactive they would do better overall and save time, energy and money long term.

My guess is that they will be snapped up by owners as a bargain. Which is great for SSR owners.

Maybe, we'll see. My guess is it'll increase the standard somewhat and decrease the preferred demand. Overall I suspect it'll be negative to SSR but we'll see. For those of us exchanging in it will be more likely to get preferred over standard I suspect.

 

[zavandor]

For those of us exchanging in it will be more likely to get preferred over standard I suspect.

Good point.
How points costs impact RCI deposits?
If a member uses for example 160 points to get a week in an RCI resort, what will DVC deposit? One week regardless of point cost or 160 points worth of reservation? I mean, does DVC combines all points deposited by members and then deposits enough weeks to cover the points spent in total? In this case, if SSR members will book the standard category more than preferred, then in total less weeks will be deposted into RCI and members effectively gain something: being able to book more nights in standard section category, the extra points are partially offset by more expensive trade in by RCI.

 

[Sammie]

I would feel sure it was driven by member feedback. There truly is no advantage for DVC to do this. SSR is sold out so how does it benefit them except to listen to member feedback. I am sure Congress Park, Springs and Grandstand are the most requested areas. So when a member does not get those areas and gets Paddocks or Carousel and has to pay the same points they are not happy.

 

[beer dave]

I think it is a good idea. Get some of the point costs down closer to OKW and AKV-- so the people looking to stretch their points can now include SSR--- hopefully will free up booking at other resorts. And with the all new DS, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to pay a premium for close proximity. Hopefully this will help SSR move from the "resort of last booking, booking of last resort".

 

[Dean]

Good point.
How points costs impact RCI deposits?
If a member uses for example 160 points to get a week in an RCI resort, what will DVC deposit? One week regardless of point cost or 160 points worth of reservation? I mean, does DVC combines all points deposited by members and then deposits enough weeks to cover the points spent in total? In this case, if SSR members will book the standard category more than preferred, then in total less weeks will be deposted into RCI and members effectively gain something: being able to book more nights in standard section category, the extra points are partially offset by more expensive trade in by RCI.

Historically DVC has tended to deposit less desired options where possible. That means 1 BR, SSR/OKW/AKV and lower season over other where possible. Even with the small % of exchanges it's still a significant volume of deposits. That plus the ones where they're required to deposit home resort mean there will always be some portion of higher demand options. It's actually now 150 for high season Gold Crown (130/150/260/340 studio to 3 BR) and for other than Gold crown it's (110/130/230/300). We don't know the agreement between DVD and RCI in terms of number of deposits, season, home resort, etc nor the financial incentive that DVD receives based on those parameters. In all likelihood it will be more preferred villas at SSR deposited with RCI assuming the standard view are a higher demand to members reserving at or before 7 months out a I assume will be the case but if the history at BWV and AKV is any indication, it will be a combination of both.

 

[disneynutz]

I personally wouldn't go that far Bill. I'm practical but not quite as cynical as you are in these areas. I do feel if they were more proactive they would do better overall and save time, energy and money long term.

Sorry but how does raising the point requirements for the popular areas of SSR good for the membership? How do we benefit?

If they cared about the members they would fix the website, I still have issues no matter which browser I use. Now trying to long in it wants we to use a password from 3 years ago, waiting for the email to change the password. If I could pick a different DVC provider, I would drop DVCMC like a hot potato.

Bill

 

[supersnoop]

Sorry but how does raising the point requirements for the popular areas of SSR good for the membership? How do we benefit?

It allows members to reserve a specific area and lowers the point-cost of other rooms. That's not a bad benefit.

 

[Dean]

Sorry but how does raising the point requirements for the popular areas of SSR good for the membership? How do we benefit?

If they cared about the members they would fix the website, I still have issues no matter which browser I use. Now trying to long in it wants we to use a password from 3 years ago, waiting for the email to change the password. If I could pick a different DVC provider, I would drop DVCMC like a hot potato.

Bill

I don't own at SSR so it doesn't have any direct affect on me nor do I have any say. While I realize that many look at DVC as a whole, the reality is we only have ownership and reasonable input for what we own. My Opinion is this is a reasonable change and like any reasonable change, it will be positive for some and not for others. It will help those who want to save a few points and it might help those who want to avoid certain location though the cost just went up to do so. But those who routinely request the higher areas may be less than enthused that their cost just went up. I'm thinking a slightly higher % of owners there will reserve and a slightly lower % of others will reserve at 7 months or less. My suspicion is this will be slightly negative overall to SSR desirability but we will see. Since a large % of those reserving under 7 months out are by default anyway, the affect is likely to be minimal. Overall I think it'll increase the pressure at higher demand location for 7 months out just slightly but I could see it having essentially no overall affect. It'll likely free up OKW somewhat as well.

While I think DVC has a lot of things they could do better, I think they do a lot of things well and some very well. I'd agree that the areas they don't do as well (maintenance, housekeeping, on site guest services, preferences, etc) are generally things they could choose to do better. The have the potential to be an elite timeshare but have chosen to just be a very good one so far. But that could change, I'm always hopeful.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

It allows members to reserve a specific area and lowers the point-cost of other rooms. That's not a bad benefit.

But why does that have to come with a points reallocation? Just have a separate booking category like at BWV where pool and garden view are the same points as boardwalk view but separate booking categories.

 

[Dean]

But why does that have to come with a points reallocation? Just have a separate booking category like at BWV where pool and garden view are the same points as boardwalk view but separate booking categories.

I'm sure it doesn't have to but I suspect the demand in terms of requests was overwhelming for the areas that now appear to be preferred. One can also ask why not and I can't think of any legitimate reason not to other than the planning costs if there is a demand discrepancy. If they want to shape behavior and even out demand, a reallocation such as this will do so, booking categories alone will not. Unfortunately most of the things they could have done to increase demand needed to be done on the front end, all they can do now is work with what they have which in reality is a large resort with lower demand than the average on property location.

 

[Doug7856]

I'm not sure it's secrecy as much as practicality and timing. They do provide the buildings for HH view at OKW but don't provide the exactly locations of standard view normally. If it's truly by building and section, it should be easy for them to provide that info if asked. It's all new, give it some time, the info will be out there. IMO this is positive for several reasons. First, it gives some control over choices at SSR beyond just requests which DVC doesn't do well. It also suggests they're more willing to change in such matters, a problem they've had over the years. I'm sure some will complain that they're having to pay more for certain locations but any owner there should have known prior to buying this was a possibility and at 7 months well, they don't own there so don't have any say. I believe one should expect such changes over the years, the Poly and BCV would seem to be 2 possibilities the are forefront, also it's uncertain what will happen at VWL with the expansion there.

I appreciate your opinion Dean. I do wish DVC would have explained the change instead of just dropping it on us. I'm open to the idea and I'm of the opinion that the Carousel should be a lower point category simply because of it's undesirable location. Time will tell how this will play out.

 

[disneynutz]

I'm sure it doesn't have to but I suspect the demand in terms of requests was overwhelming for the areas that now appear to be preferred. One can also ask why not and I can't think of any legitimate reason not to other than the planning costs if there is a demand discrepancy. If they want to shape behavior and even out demand, a reallocation such as this will do so, booking categories alone will not. Unfortunately most of the things they could have done to increase demand needed to be done on the front end, all they can do now is work with what they have which in reality is a large resort with lower demand than the average on property location.

IMO Disney is much smarter than we give them credit for, there are teams everyday who spend all day working to increase profit while deciding how it will impact guests and what we will put up with. While increasing less expensive rooms at SSR and other resorts may attract guests to those rooms it also increases the number of days that guests can now vacation. More days equals more profit. More points needed for the preferred rooms equals a shortage of points that will cause diehards to buy additional points and if you only need a small add on, direct sales will increase and DVD has been ROFRing SSR contracts to get ready.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

IMO Disney is much smarter than we give them credit for, there are teams everyday who spend all day working to increase profit while deciding how it will impact guests and what we will put up with. While increasing less expensive rooms at SSR and other resorts may attract guests to those rooms it also increases the number of days that guests can now vacation. More days equals more profit. More points needed for the preferred rooms equals a shortage of points that will cause diehards to buy additional points and if you only need a small add on, direct sales will increase and DVD has been ROFRing SSR contracts to get ready.

Bill

Any profit from ROFR has got to be such a tiny drop in the bucket that they wouldnt spend a great deal of time with a team working on it deciding how to get it to happen, IMO. If they have teams working on that it wouldn't be exactly showing how smart they are. The biggest way I could see this benefitting Disney is attempting to alleviate difficulties at the front desk with people not getting those most requested areas and being unhappy with the CMs. If they still had a lot of Developer SSR points then something to increase sales might have factored in but ROFR costs so much more than building that I'd think with the time spent on the process to recover points thru ROFR and then sell them that they're probably lucky to make anything at all.

Mostly I think this is an attempt to increase guest satisfaction and with the lower points to perhaps draw some demand away from other resorts. Now if that happened to a level that they could rent out rooms for cash at the more popular resorts because they have moved point stays to SSR then that could be a slight monetary benefit, but I don't think they could really be believing that. Which leads me back to an attempt at guest satisfaction.....due to member requests for it. . I see it as a positive for some but it will be a negative for others.

 

[Sammie]

IMO Disney is much smarter than we give them credit for, there are teams everyday who spend all day working to increase profit while deciding how it will impact guests and what we will put up with. While increasing less expensive rooms at SSR and other resorts may attract guests to those rooms it also increases the number of days that guests can now vacation. More days equals more profit. More points needed for the preferred rooms equals a shortage of points that will cause diehards to buy additional points and if you only need a small add on, direct sales will increase and DVD has been ROFRing SSR contracts to get ready.

Bill

As a stockholder that is exactly what I expect them to do, be a successful business that makes money. I do still think though it also fed by guest feedback about preferred locations. Just because an individual doesn't agree, does not mean others agree. I am sure many will love the changes.

After seeing the changes to Disney Springs in October and what is coming there, we are definitely interested in staying at SSR even more than we have been. And if going to Disney Springs; Congress Park, Springs and Grandstand would be my choice of locations.

 

[Dean]

I appreciate your opinion Dean. I do wish DVC would have explained the change instead of just dropping it on us. I'm open to the idea and I'm of the opinion that the Carousel should be a lower point category simply because of it's undesirable location. Time will tell how this will play out.

They don't have a history of doing so so I would not expect them to this time as well. Personally I think they should do more advanced planning and notification but within limits.

IMO Disney is much smarter than we give them credit for, there are teams everyday who spend all day working to increase profit while deciding how it will impact guests and what we will put up with. While increasing less expensive rooms at SSR and other resorts may attract guests to those rooms it also increases the number of days that guests can now vacation. More days equals more profit. More points needed for the preferred rooms equals a shortage of points that will cause diehards to buy additional points and if you only need a small add on, direct sales will increase and DVD has been ROFRing SSR contracts to get ready.

Bill

We'll have to disagree on this being planned and orchestrate. I'm sure some is planned though not nefariously so, just to avoid some of the complaints. If I felt it was all a purposeful song and dance, I wouldn't own.

 

[Donna M]

As an owner it doesn't really bother me one way or the other. It makes sense to have the buildings closer to Disney Springs listed as preferred given the growth going on there. Disney Springs will be a destination in itself once complete and the demand for SSR with be like the Epcot resorts during the F&W season, almost. Too many people were unhappy getting Carousel when they wanted to have easy access to DTD.

 

[skier_pete]

I started a thread on the member services section - but if that is repetitive I thought I would post this over here.

My initial analysis says this move is done to make owning at SSR more favorable. With what appears to be slightly more than half of the resort set up as standard view rooms, owners will now have a positive reason to own at this property - in other words - lesser points cost rooms. Based on other resorts - these rooms will likely book up first. While SSR owners do not 100% fill up there resort, there may now be a favorable reason to book early.

Analyzing the charts - the changes are more interesting than just two room categories. Look at the point shift:
Deluxe Studios:
Standard - 1 to 2 points LESS per night
Preferred - 1 point MORE per night
Result: Small effect

One-Bedroom Villas:
Standard - 2 points LESS per night
Preferred - 2-4 points MORE per night
Result: Moderate effect

Two-Bedroom Villas:
Standard - 3 points LESS per night
Preferred - 4 to 9 points MORE per night
Result: Moderate effect / Large effect during Magic/Premiere Season

Three-Bedroom Villas:
Standard - 3 points LESS per night
Preferred - 8 to 16 points MORE per night
Result: Huge effect

Based on the points distribution - they are shifting a higher % of points to the 2 and 3 bedroom preferred units than they are to the studios and one-bedrooms. Of course one would expect the amount of points in the change to be greater the larger the room sizes, but in particular, the shift is unusually large in the 2-bedroom units during the two "prime" seasons and especially strong across the board in the Grand Villas. While a standard Grand Villa is only dropping by about 20 points a week, the preferred Grand Villas are going UP by between 60 and 100 points a week - indicating that the "shift" here is that points were taken away from the studio and 1-bedroom units to add more points to the Grand Villas. Meanwhile - a studio in a standard unit went down by 7 points and the preferred went up by 7 points. Again, a MUCH bigger shift in the Grand Villas.

No conspiracy theory here - just saying this is clearly a purposeful move by DVC.