Tired of SSR being blamed

[mort1331]

So as a SSR owner I am so over everyone jumping on us for having SAPs. We love staying at our home, and do yearly, but every once and a while we do try out new resorts. All the people who complain about us at the 7 month mark, that means most of you are looking at booking your non-home resort as well. What makes your moves more important than ours? Buy where you want to stay as everyone has as their motto. We did, but sometimes we try others. Recently I have fell in love with OKW. Stayed here my last 2 trips. We even booked a last minute 7 days in July, 2 weeks out. There were other resorts as well that had availablility , but the whole family really liked OKW, and my girls still wanted to go back to the pools at SSR.
We have been able to stay at most resorts, but dont blame SSR point holders for no availability at 7 months. Yes we may have more points and more of us doing that, but the ones complaining about not being able to are trying to sleep around as well. So book you home before 7 months, be happy, and if you want to try other resorts roll the dice like we do. Its all fair and equal.
Now back to my happy planning for March break trip where we will be staying at BLT for our 2 nights close to MK, but then relaxing at home for the last 7 nights.

 

[cheryl.UK]

We've fallen for OKW too.

As we come from the UK and flexibility isn't really possible once the flights are booked, I book SSR at the 11 month mark, make a slight change when we've booked the flights then swap to OKW at the 7 month mark. If I can't get all my dates, I spend time at SSR as well. I love OKW so much I sometimes use my BLT points to stay there too. So, rather than causing an issue, I'm freeing up my time at BLT!!!

This year we did just that but used our BLT points for AKL. When we bought at SSR, Disney Springs was Downtown Disney and we loved being able to walk there. However, I don't love it like I used to so don't stay at SSR as much as I used to. Also, when we bought, SSR was the only resort being sold direct so there wasn't really any other choice.

 

[Pennyguy23]

I feel like the rental companies are more to blame. I get multiple emails a month from rental companies with tons of dates for sale. (I think I signed up for last minute deals or something at one point) And the ease of renting your points through them. Less points are going unused then in years past. It's only been the last couple of years for us that it been more difficult to move at the 7 month mark if we wanted to. Then at the 6 month mark it has been close to impossible if you want any kind of extended stay. 1br are a little more accommodating But not much

 

[Jenniebee]

I think the whole bungalow/cabin setup is what causes this. I mean really what this did was oversell points at Poly and CCV. If you have a 150 pt contract, that cannot even get you one night at a bungalow many times of the year, vs. 4-5 nights in a studio. You could bank and borrow 3 years and have three nights in a bungalow and that would be your one trip in THREE years. No one is doing that. And the people with thousands of points that could stay there are doing multiple trips per year over more days at lower point rooms.

 

[Gary Carter]

I so appreciate this post! We are SSR Owners and we were lucky to find that we love Saratoga, but we planned on sleeping around at all the resorts we could so we chose Saratoga for the value.

I always thought it was funny when I read people complain about us, because if you're upset that we all try to exchange at the 7 month window, that means you arnt booking at your home resort either!

Good post Mort1331

 

[GoingSince1990]

I would never feel the slightest guilt at booking a non-home resort at 7 months, nor would I ever complain about anybody else doing so. We all knew the rules going in.

 

[The Jackal]

I think the whole bungalow/cabin setup is what causes this. I mean really what this did was oversell points at Poly and CCV. If you have a 150 pt contract, that cannot even get you one night at a bungalow many times of the year, vs. 4-5 nights in a studio. You could bank and borrow 3 years and have three nights in a bungalow and that would be your one trip in THREE years. No one is doing that. And the people with thousands of points that could stay there are doing multiple trips per year over more days at lower point rooms.

I agree. I personally think the members who rent the bungalows the most are people who bought points resale at the less desirable resorts SSR, OKW etc.. than people who bought PVB direct. But DVD probably rents them out more than people use points. I would like to stay in one for a day just to check them out, but besides the view of the MK, the cabins look way nicer. With the refurbishment happening at SSR and the 1 bedroom has 5 sleeping surfaces. This will draw more to SSR. We love SSR and the new rooms are almost as nice as RIV. The RIV rooms have a better bathroom layout, not much they can do about that at SSR.

 

[DduzDis]

I would never feel the slightest guilt at booking a non-home resort at 7 months, nor would I ever complain about anybody else doing so. We all knew the rules going in.

I was going to say the same thing. That's the nature (and some of the draw) to DVC in the first place. Sleep around and have great, guilt-free time doing so.

 

[CarolMN]

Let's not have this argument again. It usually results in a closed thread.

No one is or should be "blaming" SSR owners for their choices (although some posts on the subject are poorly worded). I really hope SSR owners do not feel personally responsible for anyone else's disappointment or attempt to explain why the competition is so intense at 7 months. It's just the way the SYSTEM is designed. FWIW, in the past, posters have "blamed" OKW, HHI, VB & recently Aulani, the Poly bungalows & CCV cabins for the same thing.

The number of points chasing bookings at 7 months is continuing to grow. The number of choices at the near-park resorts is fixed. Competition for them will only increase. It's first come, first served. There will be winners and losers and not always the same ones. Doesn't matter who is in the race.

 

[tjkraz]

Our first points were at SSR so no irrational hatred. But honestly, we'd all be much better off if they had capped the resort around 8 buildings / 368 rooms. At that size, it would do a much better job of accommodating demand from actual owners with some modest number of villas remaining at 7 months.

At nearly 900+ rooms, it wouldn't surprise me if the resort was only about 20% booked within the 11 month window.

 

[Sandisw]

Agree with all that @CarolMN said. The DVC system is what it is and owners, no matter where they own points, can and do compete at 7 months for other home resorts when they want to.

i feel there are a lot of reasons why things are busier now at 7 months, but to me, it means that people need to adjust.

I own a lot at SSR and will use them there sometimes and elsewhere when I can. I don’t feel any guilt about it either.

 

[Marionnette]

So as a SSR owner I am so over everyone jumping on us for having SAPs. We love staying at our home, and do yearly, but every once and a while we do try out new resorts. All the people who complain about us at the 7 month mark, that means most of you are looking at booking your non-home resort as well. What makes your moves more important than ours? Buy where you want to stay as everyone has as their motto. We did, but sometimes we try others. Recently I have fell in love with OKW. Stayed here my last 2 trips. We even booked a last minute 7 days in July, 2 weeks out. There were other resorts as well that had availablility , but the whole family really liked OKW, and my girls still wanted to go back to the pools at SSR.
We have been able to stay at most resorts, but dont blame SSR point holders for no availability at 7 months. Yes we may have more points and more of us doing that, but the ones complaining about not being able to are trying to sleep around as well. So book you home before 7 months, be happy, and if you want to try other resorts roll the dice like we do. Its all fair and equal.
Now back to my happy planning for March break trip where we will be staying at BLT for our 2 nights close to MK, but then relaxing at home for the last 7 nights.

I think you’re taking the comments personally. It’s points that are purchased solely as SAPs that add to the competition at 7 months. They aren’t the sole reason for availability issues, but they are a contributor. And due to SSR being the most economical choice right now, that’s where buyers are looking when they want to purchase SAPs. I don’t “blame” SSR owners for using their points in the way that the system allows. But I do believe that when more owners want to trade out of one resort than there are owners who wish to trade into it, you have to expect that some of them will face disappointment.

 

[Jenniebee]

It’s points that are purchased solely as SAPs that add to the competition at 7 months

Isn't that ALL points though? I mean the entire idea is to be able to stay at lots of places. That's the entire draw to DVC, and really all timeshares for that matter. No one wants to buy a timeshare and only be able to stay at one hotel. Hence why Riviera will be so unpopular as a resale... but that is another whole discussion.

 

[Marionnette]

Isn't that ALL points though? I mean the entire idea is to be able to stay at lots of places. That's the entire draw to DVC, and really all timeshares for that matter. No one wants to buy a timeshare and only be able to stay at one hotel. Hence why Riviera will be so unpopular as a resale... but that is another whole discussion.

No. Because there are people who purchase points at a less expensive resorts just for sole use at non-home resorts. Those are SAPs. Those owners never intend to use those points at their home resort if they can avoid it.

I don’t agree with you that the entire draw of DVC is the ability to “stay at lots of places”. There were a number of factors that went into my decision to purchase DVC. Staying at resorts other than my home resorts was very low on the list. RIV is unpopular with some for a variety of reasons, the resale restrictions being only one of them. Those who object to those restrictions do so more out of concern as to how it will affect booking during the 11-7 month window once resales at RIV reach a certain level.

 

[bobbiwoz]

My five nights in a studio in February at SSR ARE A BARGAIN! Even a Tower studio would be more points. I am happy for SSR!

 

[Jenniebee]

I don’t agree with you that the entire draw of DVC is the ability to “stay at lots of places”.

I mean that in the sense of it being marketed that way, as is every other timeshare. The portfolio of places you can stay, the entire tie-in to RCI, other collections, etc. Every timeshare is sold this way with the feature of using it at more locations then where you are buying. So it seems odd for members to shade other members for taking full advantage of this.

 

[davper]

Look, it all comes down to...
...Buy where you want to stay so you have the advantage starting at 11 months. Because there is no guarantee that the resort will be available at 10 months and 29 days out.

If you don't start planning until 6 months out, then maybe DVC is not for you.

 

[Marionnette]

I mean that in the sense of it being marketed that way, as is every other timeshare. The portfolio of places you can stay, the entire tie-in to RCI, other collections, etc. Every timeshare is sold this way with the feature of using it at more locations then where you are buying. So it seems odd for members to shade other members for taking full advantage of this.

No one is throwing shade. I don’t care who owns where when I’m staying at Disney, no more than I care if the guy in the seat in front of me on the plane paid the $68 bargain rate or is flying free on points. I just think that it’s naive to believe that points purchased solely to sleep around do not contribute to the 7-month booking problems that people complain about.

 

[tjkraz]

No. Because there are people who purchase points at a less expensive resorts just for sole use at non-home resorts. Those are SAPs. Those owners never intend to use those points at their home resort if they can avoid it.

If Saratoga Springs wasn’t the least expensive, some other resort would be.

If not for SSR, we’d probably see more people buying OKW and AKV points just to stay elsewhere. Or Vero and Hilton Head.

 

[Minniesgal]

Isn't that ALL points though? I mean the entire idea is to be able to stay at lots of places. That's the entire draw to DVC, and really all timeshares for that matter. No one wants to buy a timeshare and only be able to stay at one hotel. Hence why Riviera will be so unpopular as a resale... but that is another whole discussion.

Certainly not all points, We bought ours purely to stay at home resort, tend to book at 11 months and leave it.

But the system needs people swapping out at 7 months to work. If everyone stays at home nothing will be available for anyone.