Not Happy with Availability

[tjkraz]

It's very frustrating, especially since they keep offering me a cash room every time I call. Just give me one of those, I have no problem staying in a non-DVC designated room...

Cash rooms are either supported by unsold points (Disney owns the points and can use the rooms however they wish) or they're the net result of a member trading the points for some non-DVC destination. It's not often one hears of a room being pulled back into the DVC inventory. Disney is willing to roll the dice and bet that someone will book it on short notice. They can offer promo price or even offer the room as a complimentary upgrade to cash guests.

If Disney routinely allowed those cash rooms to be pulled back, they would lose out on some amount of late-notice revenue and eventually DVC would "owe" them more and more villa inventory. Disney knows that it won't rent every villa given to CRO but that's factored into pricing.

 

[crisi]

I remember 15 years ago not being able to get last-minute studios. I'm sure it's worse now, but it's not new. We did end up with something for 2 nights.

And I remember people complaining about it fifteen years ago. That six weeks out there was nothing in a studio for more than a day here or a day there. We've been giving the "DVC is not for people who can't plan ahead" part of the speech since I've been here.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

used to be it was more like food/wine, Christmas, Easter and New Years that you couldn't find a studio. SSR was nearly always available. Now even SSR fills up a couple of months out, even in traditionally "slower" times, which are no longer so slow resort-wide. If you only have one or two nights, waitlists often work if you are willing to pick a larger resort, so long as it isn't peak interest times (to include races, festivals, holidays and pretty much most of December)

 

[DougEMG]

We have been DVC members for about 15 years and have done a one to two week stay annually. This past year we retired and moved closer to Florida and hoped that we would be able to make shorter visits a few times a year as we are now in practical driving distance. We were just looking for availability for a 4 or 5 night stay in either a studio or one bedroom at any resort for dates in January or February, there is no availability. These months are some of the slower in the year? Looks like we still need to plan 7 to eleven months ahead and stay for longer, visiting only once a year as in the past.

Back in October we decided to do a quick trip to WDW in Feb and had a hard time getting a studio. We ended up having to do a split stay at SSR (for 16 nights) and AKV (for 2 nights, cause they weren't available at SSR). Even slow times are booking fast for studios.

 

[n2mm]

I booked feb 7 months out and it was getting slim pickings then. I managed a prez weekend at the 7 month window too. My daughter started looking for a Jan/feb long weekend a few months ago and was surprised that she couldn’t even get SSR. However I stalked her some days which includes moving the first night. I can’t convince her to book in advance. She didn’t get my early booking gene! You can see by my signature that I got my 2018 dates all booked now! Good luck!

 

[ptlohmysoul]

Back in October we decided to do a quick trip to WDW in Feb and had a hard time getting a studio. We ended up having to do a split stay at SSR (for 16 nights) and AKV (for 2 nights, cause they weren't available at SSR). Even slow times are booking fast for studios.

Getting 16 nights in a row is pretty good.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I don't think the hurricane helped. I feel like, though, a lot of owners have had enough of Fall Frenzy, so they're shifting their trips to after marathon-before spring break. Weather is cool. While there may be refurbs, as DVC members it's less critical that everything be open!!!1!!ohno!!

Obviously, it depends on flexibility. Not everyone can just shift like that.

 

[William Ades]

Cash rooms are either supported by unsold points (Disney owns the points and can use the rooms however they wish) or they're the net result of a member trading the points for some non-DVC destination. It's not often one hears of a room being pulled back into the DVC inventory. Disney is willing to roll the dice and bet that someone will book it on short notice. They can offer promo price or even offer the room as a complimentary upgrade to cash guests.

If Disney routinely allowed those cash rooms to be pulled back, they would lose out on some amount of late-notice revenue and eventually DVC would "owe" them more and more villa inventory. Disney knows that it won't rent every villa given to CRO but that's factored into pricing.

Yeah, I know and understand all of that. I'm just saying we (DVC Owners) pay thousands of dollars for our memberships that generally bring us to the property at least once a year if not several times. If I want a room, I should be able to get one. Especially when I'm trying to book several months out. I'd get it if it were only a week or two. It doesn't even have to be at DVC and/or Deluxe Resort, I'll take a room at one of the All-Stars. I'm just not going to pay more than I already do out of my pocket for it. So at the end of the day if I don't get a room with my points, I'm not going. Therefore they aren't getting the money/revenue I would spend on DDP, fireworks cruises, mini-golf, merchandise, etc. All of which would probably end up outweighing the loss on the room costs. Additionally I'd be much more inclined to add-on to my ownership if there were more options like that. They have a lot of nice perks for DVC Members, but the ones that really make membership worth it (Moonlight Magic, After Hours Discounts, etc) really only apply to folks that live within 250 miles of Orlando. Everything else worth while you can pretty much get as an AP holder. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I bought in and It has brought me there more times than I could have ever expected to, and will continue to do so. It's just frustrating when you see that payment come out every month and yet you can't get a place to stay unless your willing to plan your life, job, vacations and other commitments 11-7 months in advance. The closer to 7 months in advance you get, the slimmer the options become...

 

[William Ades]

Getting 16 nights in a row is pretty good.

Yeah, I'd say getting 16 nights in row is pretty good. Especially when I cant get 3 nights in a row, no matter how I try to make it work...Lol!!

 

[toad611]

My wife and I are now thinking of selling our DVC points, our annual dues money can be used to rent a rom and make short trips when we want. We have been very happy with DVC using it for annual one to two week trips but were looking forward in retirement to just pick up and go when we felt like now that we have moved much closer.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

That's a 2-way street, though. Points only go into holding when a reservation is cancelled on less than 30 days notice. It's not really fair to allow owners to tie-up rooms until just 3-4 weeks before arrival, and still give them unfettered access to re-book with those points. The holding rule is as much a deterrent as anything.

I understand that, but things happen. People get sick or hurt, flights get cancelled, cars break down..... It makes perfect sense that there would be a penalty of some kind, but 60 days does not seem reasonable with the consistent lack of availability.

 

[tjkraz]

I understand that, but things happen. People get sick or hurt, flights get cancelled, cars break down..... It makes perfect sense that there would be a penalty of some kind, but 60 days does not seem reasonable with the consistent lack of availability.

The things you list can only be effectively addressed with travel insurance.

The dilemma is your two desires--more last minute availability & more flexibility for late cancellations--are at odds with one another. Imagine I'm supposed to visit Walt Disney World in 2 days. Bad weather is coming so I cancel my trip. Problem is DVC has very, very little chance of putting someone in that room on 48 hours notice. I have all of my points back, but no member is able to use the room due to my short notice cancellation. That's exactly why the holding account rules exist--if I cancel on short notice, I should only be able to re-book on short notice.

If the holding account rules were relaxed, the problem would only get worse. You'd see more and more speculative reservations--particularly among those who live within driving distance--because there's less reason for them to cancel months in advance when the room is still of use to others still seeking availability.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Yeah, I know and understand all of that. I'm just saying we (DVC Owners) pay thousands of dollars for our memberships that generally bring us to the property at least once a year if not several times. If I want a room, I should be able to get one. Especially when I'm trying to book several months out. I'd get it if it were only a week or two. It doesn't even have to be at DVC and/or Deluxe Resort, I'll take a room at one of the All-Stars. I'm just not going to pay more than I already do out of my pocket for it. So at the end of the day if I don't get a room with my points, I'm not going. Therefore they aren't getting the money/revenue I would spend on DDP, fireworks cruises, mini-golf, merchandise, etc. All of which would probably end up outweighing the loss on the room costs. Additionally I'd be much more inclined to add-on to my ownership if there were more options like that. They have a lot of nice perks for DVC Members, but the ones that really make membership worth it (Moonlight Magic, After Hours Discounts, etc) really only apply to folks that live within 250 miles of Orlando. Everything else worth while you can pretty much get as an AP holder. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I bought in and It has brought me there more times than I could have ever expected to, and will continue to do so. It's just frustrating when you see that payment come out every month and yet you can't get a place to stay unless your willing to plan your life, job, vacations and other commitments 11-7 months in advance. The closer to 7 months in advance you get, the slimmer the options become...

The thing is there are other ways to visit Disney. The timeshare allows any owner to book whenever they wish and the ones who book earliest will of course get the rooms. If you can't book early enough to get rooms then really a timeshare is not the way to stay at Disney. DVC doesn't have to, can't and won't work for all situations.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I understand that, but things happen. People get sick or hurt, flights get cancelled, cars break down..... It makes perfect sense that there would be a penalty of some kind, but 60 days does not seem reasonable with the consistent lack of availability.

We had to change reservations a couple of times very last minute and haven't had issues with the holding point restrictions. Really I think more is made of it than the reality of using them but it does become easier if you can have some flexibility and if you are traveling in the beginning of your UY.

 

[DougEMG]

Getting 16 nights in a row is pretty good.

I was happy to get what I did. What I was pointing out was that there wasn't anything more than 1-2 nights in a row at any of the other resorts (otherwise I would have done a different split stay) and even SSR wasn't available for the entire trip at 4 months out for Jan 31 to Feb 18, which I thought was suppose to be a slow time for DVC bookings.

The take away is that studios are booking up faster than ever before and that trying to plan a 7+ day trip under the 7 month window will not give you a lot of choices.

At least my summer trip will be at BWV as I booked it right at the 11 month mark

 

[William Ades]

The thing is there are other ways to visit Disney. The timeshare allows any owner to book whenever they wish and the ones who book earliest will of course get the rooms. If you can't book early enough to get rooms then really a timeshare is not the way to stay at Disney. DVC doesn't have to, can't and won't work for all situations.

It's really not whenever they wish though is it? It's more like, whenever you wish as long as its at your home resort no earlier than 11 months, and then take your chances at another resort no earlier than 7 months. Either way, if you can't plan your life out a year to 6 months in advance you your chances of getting what you "wish" are slim. You are right, there are a lot of ways to visit Disney, but I pay significant amount of money to visit with DVC...

 

[tjkraz]

You are right, there are a lot of ways to visit Disney, but I pay significant amount of money to visit with DVC...

So do the other half million owners. You can't expect Disney to bend to fit what's best for you personally. The rules are what they are. You need to decide if it fits or not.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

It's more like, whenever you wish as long as its at your home resort no earlier than 11 months, and then take your chances at another resort no earlier than 7 months.

But it's always been like that. I bought in 2002 and it was like that back then. That's not what has changed, the demand has. I haven't figured that they have the duty to add more inventory so I can visit whenever I please, whenever I decide to. I have to do the work, and if there's no availability I don't go.

There's not enough inventory they can add so that every single member can have a room whenever they want one. The other issue is that many times there's no better availability at the cash resorts (except the very expensive ones).

 

[WALTSAGOD]

Yeah, I know and understand all of that. I'm just saying we (DVC Owners) pay thousands of dollars for our memberships that generally bring us to the property at least once a year if not several times. If I want a room, I should be able to get one. Especially when I'm trying to book several months out. I'd get it if it were only a week or two. It doesn't even have to be at DVC and/or Deluxe Resort, I'll take a room at one of the All-Stars. I'm just not going to pay more than I already do out of my pocket for it. So at the end of the day if I don't get a room with my points, I'm not going. Therefore they aren't getting the money/revenue I would spend on DDP, fireworks cruises, mini-golf, merchandise, etc. All of which would probably end up outweighing the loss on the room costs. Additionally I'd be much more inclined to add-on to my ownership if there were more options like that. They have a lot of nice perks for DVC Members, but the ones that really make membership worth it (Moonlight Magic, After Hours Discounts, etc) really only apply to folks that live within 250 miles of Orlando. Everything else worth while you can pretty much get as an AP holder. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I bought in and It has brought me there more times than I could have ever expected to, and will continue to do so. It's just frustrating when you see that payment come out every month and yet you can't get a place to stay unless your willing to plan your life, job, vacations and other commitments 11-7 months in advance. The closer to 7 months in advance you get, the slimmer the options become...

What would your solution be to this?

 

[William Ades]

What would your solution be to this?

I don't really have one per say. I was just venting a little, which maybe I misunderstood but seemed kind of like what the originator of the thread was doing. I do appreciate everyone letting be know all the things I already knew though, especially the fact that it has always been a certain way as if I didn't know that as well. Doesn't change the fact that it is still frustrating. Since you asked, though I would start by having and option to receive any available room by type as opposed to being restricted to choosing one to two resorts and room type. As I've said, I would take any room 1 BR or Below at any resort for my desired trip dates. Yet, I will only be considered for the one to two options I Wait List unless I call several times a day everyday. There should also be an accessible list for each resort and the Wait List for each room type. Your Wait List request would come with a confirmation number that you could periodically check to see where you stand on the list, and see what resorts have more and/or less requests. If I know there are 50 people Waiting for BLT and only 20 for OKW, I might be more inclined to request OKW. We should also be able to view availability and book any resort and/or room on property through the website. Like I have said several times now I like being a DVC Member and all that it has to offer but, like most things it could always be better...