JimMIA
There's more to life than mice...
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2005
I think Tim's logic here is right on target for people who only rent occasionally.Personally I don't see the logic in doing that. In pre-booking a room you are limiting your market to people who are seeking the exact resort, room size AND dates that you've chosen. The only upside is that you MIGHT be able to get another dollar or two if you book a small resort for high-demand dates. But people renting points aren't known for advance planning and I think the room could sit unrented for well over 6 months. If you can't find a renter for some reason, then the reservation is cancelled and you start all over again.
By comparison, if you simply post that you have X points available for any reservation thru X date, you have a potential market of hundreds of members and non-members looking to stay at any resort, any room size, any dates for months to come. Those points could be rented in days with the money in-hand.
However, it's a pretty well-established fact that commercial renters do, in fact, book multiple ressies at certain resorts during peak times. When you are in the business of renting points, I guess you have a different mindset than someone with 75 points they're not going to use this year.
Also, the commercial renters are not renting for a dollar a point more -- they're renting for 40-50% higher than rentals here on the DIS, and one reason they can get those prices is they have prime time ressies already locked up at a time when last-minute vacationers can't get anything. Even paying $15 per point or more, the person renting the ressie is saving money.
I don't have a problem with people renting -- even with people renting a lot -- but I do think DVC should do more to protect owners of the smaller resorts from speculative bookings. I really think it devalues ownership in a place like BCV.