what percentage of rooms are held for.cash visitors?

[Chuck S]

If u go to "CRO" u can actually book a "Value Studio" at AKL Jambo from the 23rd Dec to 6th Jan,So from what u are saying it sounds as if whoever books the "Value Studio" through "CRO will actually get something else Why would they put it over to "CRO" IF they are NOT Available Am i missing something?

Isn't it good public relations if someone books a "value" studio for cash, and is upgraded to a "better" room at check-in? As other posters have explained, CRO uses the lowest common denominator for room descriptions, and then routinely upgrades.

 

[Brian Noble]

I am unhappy how it worked that I was unable to get a room for several weeks but there were rooms available to cash paying guests for all of the weeks.

This is something that folks new to timesharing are often surprised by. In general, timesharers plan ahead (in some cases, FAR ahead). In general, folks just "going on vacation" tend to book much later, relatively speaking.

 

[sdzta]

Actually we used to book a year out. Now I have to wait til 11 months.

I was just surprised that at 7 months I couldn't.get more than a day or two in succession at a time that crowds are pretty low in general.

 

[Brian Noble]

Actually we used to book a year out. Now I have to wait til 11 months.

Hence the phrase "in general". Because more timeshares plan farther out, timeshare inventory will tend to get booked up more quickly than cash inventory.

 

[spiceycat]

I.guess I'll be setting an alarm to remind me to call MS at my 11 month window as soon as they open.

So on another note....does anybody know what the down times for DVC memers are?

hey it is not your fault - the guides should know better than to tell new members that you can get any time with just a few months notice. which some are still doing.

the first of Dec even back when it was new and only DVC (OKW) - was always a demand time for DVC members.

down times seem to verily - mostly summer because it is so hot and the point cost is so high.

depending upon the week - spring break week. Now some have the bad luck that their week is Easter or Palm (week before) - then just forget it. the crowds are horrible (my opinion)

sometimes Sept - kids are back in school and it is definitely hot and humid - also some won't come then because it is hurricane season. most of the hurricanes that have hit Florida come in Aug or Sept. few Oct, Nov and June - but most are in Sept.

May can be gotten - but not the last week on May.
may still has the last of the flower/garden festavial - but that ends around the middle of the month.

it did have the Star wars weekends but that got moved to June.

 

[Greysword]

So on another note....does anybody know what the down times for DVC members are?

Determining slower DVC usage periods is a bit more difficult these days. In general, DVC high occupancy periods are generally when the point costs is low (off season, weekdays, etc). Thus, the opposite could be speculated (low occupancy is during high point cost times), but this is not actually the case.

For one reason, DVC did a point reallocation a couple of years ago to reduce the higher cost of weekends and smooth some of the seasonality. In addition, the busier seasons at WDW (holidays and summer) are also times when a lot of DVC members are free to visit as well. WDW has also done a good job of attracting guests (including DVC members) with special events (such as Food & Wine Festival, Flower & Garden, Cheer leading competitions and Pop Warner, Halloween and Christmas events, and business conventions).

A third factor is the sheer number of DVC owners. With ten DVC resorts (and millions of points), the ownership pool is pretty massive. Some Vero and HHI members bought there due to the low initial point cost with the plan of using their points at WDW during the seven month booking window. The same can be said for SSR resales (members buy SSR with the intention of never visiting the resort, instead booking BCV, BWV, BLT or AKL at the seven month window). As DVD continues to build DVC resorts, regardless of their location, the ownership pool grows and the ability to get any room at the seven month window becomes even more difficult.

I guess in the end it all falls back onto the DVC golden rule, "buy where you want to stay."

As for the room availability for cash guests versus members, imagine 10% of BLT owners decided to use their points to book a Disney cruise, get a room at Disneyland (Paradise Pier or Disneyland Hotel like we just did last weekend), or even get a room at a concierge collection hotel. Lets also assume each owner has an average of 200 points. At 5 million points total at BLT (rounded down), this would amount to 25,000 families trading out to a Disney or Concierge collection stay. That is the equivalent of 25,000 families trading their week stay at a studio or 1BR to Disney for a week stay on a cruise or a non-DVC hotel.

In simple terms, this means WDW now has 25,000 DVC studios and 1BR rooms available for cash guests (since I effectively bought the DVC room with my points then sold it to WDW in exchange for money for the cruise or non-DVC hotel room). These rooms (essentially the points) are now theirs until the end of my UY, and they can book them for someone else for cash (like we do on the rent/trade board), give them away to someone (like I do for my friends and family who go when I'm not there), or just leave them empty (as if I booked a room and decided not to use it, and that has happened before, too).

It seems the main disconnect with this concept is that we perceive Disney as a large corporation and not in terms of an owner, thus we believe any inventory they receive from a trade or points they own (due to not being sold yet, foreclosure, etc) will be put back for other owners to use. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Instead, we should assume developer points (points that have yet to be sold or resold) and points acquired by DVC due to trades for non-DVC accommodations are owned by a DVC member family and treated as such. They can be used to book a room for a friend (comp, upgrades from the moderates or values, etc), sold to a non-member for cash (via CRO), or simply booked and not used. However, I doubt you or any other member would simply give unused DVC points to other members simply because they demanded you do so (I sure wouldn't). Thus, if I chose not to use my 100 BLT points in a given year (let them expire), then there would essentially be an empty room for a couple days between August and July. If you wanted it that day (and you had to ask the member directly) and I said no, would you be mad at me for not letting you use my time? Just askin'

- Chris

 

[crisi]

Thanks to everyone trying to explain.


I never had a problem with my room location or condition using DVC. I am unhappy how it worked that I was unable to get a room for several weeks but there were rooms available to cash paying guests for all of the weeks. I never had a problem getting a room as a cash guest and never realized before purchasing DVC that this would be an issue. I.guess I'll be setting an alarm to remind me to call MS at my 11 month window as soon as they open.

So on another note....does anybody know what the down times for DVC memers are?

Another way to think about this is that DVD sold enough points to pretty much fill up each of the DVC hotels every night. When members are using their points, there pretty much shouldn't be any availability by the time you travel (there is often some - people cancel, people waste points, and Disney did keep a little buffer). So the question isn't "what times of year are slow" but "what times of year are slow to book?"

From October 1st to about mid January is pretty fast to book - some variation in there (the first two weeks of December book much faster than the second week in January). Food and Wine goes straight into the holidays without much of a break and then there is the marathon. The rest of the year is slower to book generally speaking - but will eventually book pretty solid.

MOST times of year, seven months has a lot of availability with the exception of the low supply/high demand rooms (Grand Villas pretty much anywhere, rooms where the points are a good value, VAKL concierge, 2 Queens in a 2nd bedroom at BCV). Flexibility in planning is still important and people tend to be happier at seven months if they don't have their heart set on something (we'd like to try BLT or VWL, for example - instead of "we really want a BLT Magic Kingdom view").

 

[Deb & Bill]

...So on another note....does anybody know what the down times for DVC members are?

They are becoming few and far between. Early May, Sept after Labor Day and before Food & Wine starts. The week in Nov between the end of Food & Wine/Jersey Week and Thanksgiving.

The middle of Jan but not MLK weekend. Early Feb, before Presidents Day and Spring Breaks start.

After Spring Break/Easter before Memorial Day.

Some of the summer time, but not July 4th.

Right now OKW is 87% occupied which is fairly low. Points go up on June 10 to a new season.

 

[Disbug1]

Isn't it good public relations if someone books a "value" studio for cash, and is upgraded to a "better" room at check-in? As other posters have explained, CRO uses the lowest common denominator for room descriptions, and then routinely upgrades.

Ahh i get it now Thanks for the explanation Still i am curious as to why the "value Studio" has "Availability" for those 2 wks at "Christmas" but search any other time & there is "NO" availability Could it be that a "Member" has traded out points Or whatever it is

 

[jagson]

How can it be that you can reserve thru CRO consecutive dates, ie say a 7 day ressie, but not thru DVD? The room is obviously available. Does CRO have priority over DVD, or are the rooms/dates alloted in blocks to CRO and DVD; or are points proportionally distributed on a daily basis to DVD and CRO? Is it possible to link a CRO and DVD reservations to get your desired dates? Does CRO or DVD have the capacity to make a seamless ressie for you, ie reserve the 1st 3 days on points, and the last 4 days on cash; without making separate calls to DVD and CRO? Do these questions even make sense?

 

[DebbieB]

How can it be that you can reserve thru CRO consecutive dates, ie say a 7 day ressie, but not thru DVD? The room is obviously available. Does CRO have priority over DVD, or are the rooms/dates alloted in blocks to CRO and DVD; or are points proportionally distributed on a daily basis to DVD and CRO? Is it possible to link a CRO and DVD reservations to get your desired dates? Does CRO or DVD have the capacity to make a seamless ressie for you, ie reserve the 1st 3 days on points, and the last 4 days on cash; without making separate calls to DVD and CRO? Do these questions even make sense?

Rooms available through CRO and rooms available through DVC with points come from separate inventories so it's possible that a room is available through one and not the other. As explained earlier in this thread (see post #46), rooms go to CRO through various ways - rooms that DVD owns through points not sold yet or that they obtained through ROFR or foreclosures. Rooms go to CRO when a member trades out to pay for their tradeout (such as a cruise). In those 2 instances, the rooms are not owned by the members, so they cannot be reserved with points.

Any rooms left 60 days before check-in go to CRO to try to fill but in that case those rooms could still be reserved with points.

DVC and CRO reservations cannot be linked. You can request that the reservations be noted and request to keep the same room (assuming they are the exact same cateogry). If you book a cash room through DVC, they can be linked.

 

[dzorn]

Ahh i get it now Thanks for the explanation Still i am curious as to why the "value Studio" has "Availability" for those 2 wks at "Christmas" but search any other time & there is "NO" availability Could it be that a "Member" has traded out points Or whatever it is

Lets say CRO has 1 DVC room to rent out (and it is a savannah). They advertise it 3 times with the hope that someone bookes it first come first gets the room. DVC no longer owns it so they cannot use points for it.

Value at 299 per night
Standard at 399 per night
savanah at 499 per night.

Do they hope for a 499 yes but they realize at 499 it might sit empty if they get 299 per night the person who bookes it will be thrilled they got upgraded.

They realize that someone will always be thrilled with an upgrade. They would rather sell out at 299 per night and be completely booked than have some it empty at 499 so the just advertise the lower one even with the knowldege that the person my get a standard or savannah.

Denise in MI

 

[disneynutz]

Any rooms left 60 days before check-in go to CRO to try to fill but in that case those rooms could still be reserved with points.

And Members who have points stuck in a holding account have to wait until 60 days to book. We had to cancel a reservation do to a death in the family and when I asked about availability when I called at 60 days, only SSR was available. When I asked about the CRO 60 transfer I was told that the CM with 9 years of working at MS had never heard of such a thing. Her Manager told me that it doesn't work that way and acted like I was really confused.

I gave up and booked at SSR.

Bill

 

[DebbieB]

And Members who have points stuck in a holding account have to wait until 60 days to book. We had to cancel a reservation do to a death in the family and when I asked about availability when I called at 60 days, only SSR was available. When I asked about the CRO 60 transfer I was told that the CM with 9 years of working at MS had never heard of such a thing. Her Manager told me that it doesn't work that way and acted like I was really confused.

I gave up and booked at SSR.

Bill

"Breakage Inventory" is unreserved points rooms that were sent to CRO to rent for cash at 60 days. It's possible the other resorts did not have any breakage inventory. Rooms sent to CRO for other reasons are not breakage inventory and cannot be sent back for points use. If breakage inventory could not be sent back, members would not be able to get any points resevations under 60 days.

 

[Disbug1]

Lets say CRO has 1 DVC room to rent out (and it is a savannah). They advertise it 3 times with the hope that someone bookes it first come first gets the room. DVC no longer owns it so they cannot use points for it.

Value at 299 per night
Standard at 399 per night
savanah at 499 per night.

Do they hope for a 499 yes but they realize at 499 it might sit empty if they get 299 per night the person who bookes it will be thrilled they got upgraded.

They realize that someone will always be thrilled with an upgrade. They would rather sell out at 299 per night and be completely booked than have some it empty at 499 so the just advertise the lower one even with the knowldege that the person my get a standard or savannah.

Denise in MI

It all makes sense to me now
Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me