Why is DVC rooms available to public but not members?

[wedance6]

I'm waitlisted at AKV for December, however, I could go on the disney site and get myself a room. How is that possible? Aren't we supposed to be given the rooms first?

 

[wildernessDad]

DVC members sometimes exchange their points to do things such as regular Disney Resorts, Adventures by Disney, and other items. Those benefits have to be paid for so, DVC gives the reservations to CRO. Plus Disney owns some of the rooms. There are other reasons which others, more knowledgeable, can explain.

 

[Lynne M]

The villas you see on the WDW site are not part of 'our' inventory.

Here's a simplified, but hopefully mostly accurate, explanation:

DVC retains ownership of a very small percentage of villas at each resort, so they have some flexibility when rotating rooms out for maintenance.

Also, when you trade out of the DVC system....use the Concierge Collection, reserve a room at the Poly with your points, or trade through II, those lodgings must be paid for by DVC. They recoup that money by selling a somewhat equivalent chunk of time in a villa or villas to Disney Resorts, which then makes the villas available for booking for the general public.

That process is what makes it possible for you to use your points at non-DVC resorts. So, it's not like they're giving away 'our' rooms to CRO. The rooms you see on the WDW site have either always belonged to Disney, or they're being rented out to pay for a DVC'ers vacation.

 

[Dean]

Given this comes up about once a week it seems a sticky at the top would be a good idea. It's simply a question of understanding how the system works as noted above. The only other option is to stop all cash type exchanges leaving only breakage inventory and Developer inventory as cash rentals.

 

[DVC Mike]

Anyone can book a cash reservation via Disney CRO, and DVC members can book one via DVC MS at a 25% discount, subject to availability. There are four major sources of inventory for cash reservation:

• Exchanges: The number one source of cash rooms is actually from the Member inventory. This occurs when members exchange/trade outside of the DVC resorts. This includes using your points to book the Disney Collection (hotels at the Disney theme parks and the Disney Cruise Line), Concierge Collection, and the Adventurer Collection. When a member trades outside of DVC, the points used to book the outside reservation are assigned to DVD to rent out. This does not apply to the World Passport Collection.

• Breakage: Another source of cash reservations includes Member inventory that has not been reserved by members using points. Any Member inventory not reserved by members using points is made available to Disney CRO at the 60-day mark for cash reservations by the general public. This is actually beneficial to DVC members, in that the association earns “breakage” income on these rooms rather than letting them sit empty.

• ROFR: Another source of cash reservations is the inventory of declared points owned by DVD. These points are typically acquired by the ROFR process. Since DVD owns the points, they can rent them out.

• Undeclared: These are the units that have been built by the developer that has not yet been declared into the condominium association. Since DVD controls these units, they may be rented out for cash reservations.

 

[Inkmahm]

They are completely different inventories.

 

[crisi]

Of Mike's list, only breakage can be returned to DVC after it reaches CRO - the rest of the rooms don't belong to members (they belong to DVD) or have already been used by members.

I like to think about it this way for exchanges - a member IS using that room, they just happen to be staying in it on the Disney Wonder.

 

[wedance6]

I'm just concerned I won't be able to get any resort at the 7mo mark either. I realize Kadani isn't built yet, so there are no rooms at the inn....The CM actually told me there are less than a dozen Value studios, and there are not many rooms total in Jambo house. I didn't think beg. of Dec would be so crowded, the parks aren't are they?

 

[wedance6]

And what really makes me feel like my pixie dust is flying away, is that when we purchased this dvc 2 weeks ago, my guide assured me that we would always get a ressie at our home resort, because Disney has "inventory" that they own, and they can fill our request with that. So there would always be room at the inn......

 

[DVC Mater]

I didn't think beg. of Dec would be so crowded, the parks aren't are they?

From what I have read, beginning of December is one of the most busiest times for DVC bookings because of the low point requirements and the holiday decorations are up.

my guide assured me that we would always get a ressie at our home resort

I think what he meant is that you would always get a ressie if you book right at 11 months. If your trying to get beginning of december (the busiest time for DVC) 8 months out, your probably going to deal with a waitlist, especially if you wanted the lower point value studio. People book 11 months and call day by day booking to almost guarantee a spot during "prime DVC seasons" (BW/BCV during FW, beginning of december for almost anywhere)

-hope that helps

 

[Dean]

I'm just concerned I won't be able to get any resort at the 7mo mark either. I realize Kadani isn't built yet, so there are no rooms at the inn....The CM actually told me there are less than a dozen Value studios, and there are not many rooms total in Jambo house. I didn't think beg. of Dec would be so crowded, the parks aren't are they?

Salesmen sometimes stretch the truth a little, LOL. As more points sold the Value and concierge will get more difficult. This year it appears almost no rooms made it to the 7 month window for the first 3 weeks of Dec.

 

[eliza61]

I'm just concerned I won't be able to get any resort at the 7mo mark either. I realize Kadani isn't built yet, so there are no rooms at the inn....The CM actually told me there are less than a dozen Value studios, and there are not many rooms total in Jambo house. I didn't think beg. of Dec would be so crowded, the parks aren't are they?

Unfortunately the last couples of years attendance has been hitting some high numbers the first couple of weeks in Dec. As DVC mater mentioned, the holiday decorations are up. We notice a big crowd last dec (1st week). A lot of people who would normally go during Christmas have shifted their vacations, even if it meant taking the kids out of school. No where near the madness of Christmas or Thanksgiving but still a lot more folks than we were use to.

 

[doconeill]

The first couple weeks of December are also the cheapest for DVC points in general, which is making it more popular.

We also were there the 1st week last December, and it was pretty crowded in general. We got our ressie at our home resort (SSR) for a 2BR in April. We waitlisted for BCV/BWV in July after having stayed at BCV, but it never came through.

 

[crisi]

Unfortunately the last couples of years attendance has been hitting some high numbers the first couple of weeks in Dec. As DVC mater mentioned, the holiday decorations are up. We notice a big crowd last dec (1st week). A lot of people who would normally go during Christmas have shifted their vacations, even if it meant taking the kids out of school. No where near the madness of Christmas or Thanksgiving but still a lot more folks than we were use to.

There really isn't a "slow" time at Disney any more. There are "slower" times. "less busy" times and "oh my God, I conceived a child with a complete stranger walking down Main Street" times (Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter). People are more willing to pull kids, some schools have year round schedules, some put in weird breaks just so people don't have to yank kids, more people homeschool. Plus, Disney is popular in early December (and much of the school year) with the empty nesters and childless by choicers.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Salesmen sometimes stretch the truth a little, LOL. As more points sold the Value and concierge will get more difficult. This year it appears almost no rooms made it to the 7 month window for the first 3 weeks of Dec.

My brother just closed on an OKW contract. He is still within his 11 home ressie period. There were only 1 bedrooms left at OKW for week between Christmas and NY. Only other resort that had anything left was SSR, plenty of 2 bdrms. But thats it for all the resorts for that week. I would expect everything gone within first week of 7 mos. opening.

 

[Deb & Bill]

There really isn't a "slow" time at Disney any more. There are "slower" times. "less busy" times and "oh my God, I conceived a child with a complete stranger walking down Main Street" times (Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter). ...

Just imagining that at Christmas time is really funny!

 

[ZekeKelso]

and "oh my God, I conceived a child with a complete stranger walking down Main Street" times (Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter).

Must be some of that Disney Magic

 

[DoOverDreams]

"oh my God, I conceived a child with a complete stranger walking down Main Street"

 

[wedance6]

I'm thinking we might be better off going the week before Thanksgiving, but then there will be no Candelight Pro. or Epcot decorations. I'm just confused. Right now I was able to get 2 ni in a studio and 2 ni in a 1 bed. at AKL Dec 3-7, I just have to wait for the 7 mo. mark to find another hotel available

 

[Dean]

I'm thinking we might be better off going the week before Thanksgiving, but then there will be no Candelight Pro. or Epcot decorations. I'm just confused. Right now I was able to get 2 ni in a studio and 2 ni in a 1 bed. at AKL Dec 3-7, I just have to wait for the 7 mo. mark to find another hotel available

From what I've heard that time might be almost totally gone as well. The last year or two even times that are traditionally slow times like late August and Sept have been unavailable for many. We jut called to day for a few days over Sept/Oct time and all that was available for a studio was SSR.