Surprised..Someone mentioned that Disney Travel Company books Bay Lake Tower???

[jerseygal]

Can this be? Someone mentioned that they are staying at Bay Lake Tower, but are non DVC members, beginning of November..They are not
DVC members and I don't believe they are renting points..

Didn't think Disney Travel Company books any villas except SSR and OKW??

Anyone have any knowledge about this?

Thanks! Thought that BLT would be difficult for members, no less Disney Travel Company having those villas in inventory???????????

Thanks as always!

 

[Sammie]

Disney owns a percentage of all the DVC resorts and at 60 days out anything not booked by DVC members with points, is transferred to Disney reservations.

 

[toniosmom]

I can only imagine what the cash price is for BLT. I was stunned at the cash price for AKV. Our 2BR villa in March cash price is almost $1,200/night! Thank God for my points!

 

[crisi]

Any rooms that Disney has finished at BLT but has not yet sold the points represented (Disney usually declares by floor or unit), DVD can monitize by turning them over to CRO to rent for cash. Those rooms CANNOT be rented to members because we don't own them. So there will be a lot of cash availability at BLT until it is sold out. Even when there are BWV owners who want to get into BLT and can't.

 

[Sandisw]

Can this be? Someone mentioned that they are staying at Bay Lake Tower, but are non DVC members, beginning of November..They are not
DVC members and I don't believe they are renting points..

Didn't think Disney Travel Company books any villas except SSR and OKW??

Anyone have any knowledge about this?

Thanks! Thought that BLT would be difficult for members, no less Disney Travel Company having those villas in inventory???????????

Thanks as always!

Disney books all the DVC resorts. And, the specials that they run (like free dining, room discounts, etc) can be applied to all of those rooms.

DVC inventory and Disney inventory is completely different. Right now, as others have said, since DVC members may own, at best, 50% of the rooms, the rest are going to cash guests.

At some point, the bulk will be for DVC members, but you will always see cash rooms available.

 

[DebbieB]

I can only imagine what the cash price is for BLT. I was stunned at the cash price for AKV. Our 2BR villa in March cash price is almost $1,200/night! Thank God for my points!

Studios start at $375. These rooms can be discounted with promotions that apply to non-DVC resorts such as AP rates, free dining, 4/3.

http://www.mousesavers.com/dvcresorts2009.html#blt

 

[Tara]

I believe roughly half of BLT rooms are available for cash booking right now.

 

[jerseygal]

So, once resort is "sold out" harder and harder to get these resorts as cash reservation I would imagine..Not to mention, quite PRICEY! I think these folks I mention, got the free dining which was a help!

 

[MikeyNS]

I can only imagine what the cash price is for BLT. I was stunned at the cash price for AKV. Our 2BR villa in March cash price is almost $1,200/night! Thank God for my points!

I just booked a weekend in March for cash (rest on points).. 2BR Dedicated Standard View was like $435/night (maybe 485?), which is an absolute steal.

 

[crisi]

So, once resort is "sold out" harder and harder to get these resorts as cash reservation I would imagine..Not to mention, quite PRICEY! I think these folks I mention, got the free dining which was a help!

Maybe. One of the things some owners find upsetting is that DVC rooms at some resorts sometimes rent for bargain rates. You can often get good deals on studios at almost any DVC resort - and OKW and SSR often have their one and two bedrooms at bargain prices. With BLTs location, I'd think that one and two bedrooms will likely be pricey most of the time, but that you will still get deals on studios. (Most people want two beds in a hotel room). And when the economy is poor, or CRO has a glut of rooms from trades, sometimes those one and two bedrooms - even Grand Villas - can be had from CRO at really reasonable prices. CRO has the advantage of being able to put an unbooked room on "sale" in order to fill it. DVC doesn't.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

My sister (not a DVC member) has TWICE in the past two months received pin codes specifically for BLT.

They will hopefully be staying with us at BLT in 2011

 

[Vickis3js]

Heck I even saw BLT on travelocity last week. I believe it was a 2 bedroom and it was a little over $1000 a night. AKL, SSR, and OKW were there as well and about the same price point. I was shocked at some of the prices they had for the WDW resorts. They had CR for $240 a night! Yet the AS family suite was $290.

 

[lark]

Duplicate

 

[lark]

At certain times of year, DVC resorts are a pretty good cash bargain when compared to points.

For example, as a deluxe resort, BLT goes down to "value" rates on July 18, 2010. This is still premium points season for DVC. The result is that a cash stay, even at rack rates, turns out about $11 per point for a week.

So, to book July 18, 2010 for one week right now on the WDW web site (rack rates including tax) for a 1 BR MK view is $4095, but since it's magic season for DVC it costs 361 points. With just an AAA discount, the price drops to $3480.75, or closer to $9.50 per point. With other types of discounts like free dining, you're really getting in $8/point areas. For shorter stays that do not include weekends, the difference is much more significant.

 

[crisi]

At certain times of year, DVC resorts are a pretty good cash bargain when compared to points.

For example, as a deluxe resort, BLT goes down to "value" rates on July 18, 2010. This is still premium points season for DVC. The result is that a cash stay, even at rack rates, turns out about $11 per point for a week.

So, to book July 18, 2010 for one week right now on the WDW web site (rack rates including tax) for a 1 BR MK view is $4095, but since it's magic season for DVC it costs 361 points. With just an AAA discount, the price drops to $3480.75, or closer to $9.50 per point. With other types of discounts like free dining, you're really getting in $8/point areas. For shorter stays that do not include weekends, the difference is much more significant.

And you get housekeeping - which a lot of members don't mind - or prefer - skipping. But its something that you would pay for if you did want it on points.

 

[Dean]

It's also available for rent through RCI which will get it on a number of rental websites.

 

[shoes99]

We are checking into BLT this Thursday. We tried to rent points for a 3 night stay but it didn't work out. We booked a standard studio with free dining, then when the 40% pins came out, we were able to change to room only for $239 per night plus tax. Its more then renting points, but I was happy to book a room thru the Disney Travel Company for 3 nights to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary before we go on the Wonder this Sunday.
We are paying $268.88 for each of the three nights ($806.64).
If we rented points @ $11.00 per point it would have been 54 points or $594.00.... oh well, we are happy....
We can't go to the lounge, but we do get mousekeeping and turn down service.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I was SHOCKED to read that someone was able to book a one bedroom CLUB LEVEL VILLA, on cash, at AKV. There are only FIVE of those! HELLO? WHY can they be booked for CASH through CRO? And the ressie is for December, so this is not a case of being 60 days out. So maybe not all 5 of those lock-offs are really set aside for points.

I thought maybe the guy was just mistaken and he had booked a club level SUITE, but he says his confirmation says AKV club level VILLA.

When I called at the 11 month mark to book club level for 2010 they were all gone. And when I called Member Services Sunday just to see again what club level availability looked like for June, there were only Fri & Sat nights open. Every single weeknight was already booked. Granted that was for studio, but still. Kind of aggravating.

 

[Sammie]

I was SHOCKED to read that someone was able to book a one bedroom CLUB LEVEL VILLA, on cash, at AKV. There are only FIVE of those! HELLO? WHY can they be booked for CASH through CRO? And the ressie is for December, so this is not a case of being 60 days out. So maybe not all 5 of those lock-offs are really set aside for points.

I thought maybe the guy was just mistaken and he had booked a club level SUITE, but he says his confirmation says AKV club level VILLA.

When I called at the 11 month mark to book club level for 2010 they were all gone. And when I called Member Services Sunday just to see again what club level availability looked like for June, there were only Fri & Sat nights open. Every single weeknight was already booked. Granted that was for studio, but still. Kind of aggravating.

This is an area of DVC that does concern me, if you were to try and find out the answer to why with only 5 of these units, are they booking them for cash, I guarantee you will never get an answer.

As to what forumula DVC uses to determine what inventory goes to cash, is a question they never seem to be willing to answer.

There are some areas of DVC that they do not feel the need to share with the members.

It is just like the 2 queens beds in the second bedroom at BCV, as members we have been told they are not available for cash reservations but I know they have been given to cash paying guests.