So many resorts, so many members now...

[SL6827]

The only areas that seem to be going empty based on just what I am reading here are the bungalows and cabins,

Does Disney benefit greatly from building these bungalows/cabins that stay empty a lot?

 

[Dean Marino]

Deleted

 

[Sandisw]

Does Disney benefit greatly from building these bungalows/cabins that stay empty a lot?

Yup. It allowed them to sell more points at the resort, which meant they made more money. But the owners buying in aren’t buying the points there to stay in those, but rather the other room sizes. So, the sit empty many of times.

 

[Jenniebee]

And for marketing they are great - featured in all the materials and booklets!

 

[SL6827]

Well I understand the fiasco with owners buying in at a resort such as CCVs and not being able to get in a studio at 11 months as a result of the cabins in the system, but it really benefiting Disney money wise seems as though they knew all along what would happen. The cabins sit empty, they can rent them out for cash during then. They get their cake and eat it too?

 

[sachilles]

I do think the bungalos/cabins do skew things a bit.
I think they sit empty, and if they do, that is where some correction is needed.
I think one option is to make sure they are used within reason. Perhaps a complimentary upgrade to the cabins/bungalows at the 8 month mark, or maybe at the 3 month mark, basically to free up the lower points value rooms. Basically escalating upgrades, 2 bedroom to cabins, one bedroom to two bedrooms, Studios to 1 bedrooms. Then studios are more available to be used. It would have to be done well before check in to free up studios for someone else to reserve.
The inventory has to be there.....it's just a matter of it being available when, where and what size.

It doesn't necessarily help this problem, but I'm also surprised there are not more 2 queen bed DVC rooms. To my knowledge, only OKW has them. A room like the bayou rooms at POR with 2 queens and small murphy at a points price above a studio and below a 1 bedroom would go a long way towards coaxing the use of the small point contracts.

I also wonder if small point contract's ability to borrow and bank across three years are causing folks to hoard their points for once in three year trips, and maybe we are seeing a bubble of that stuff right now(probably not).

 

[Sandisw]

I do think the bungalos/cabins do skew things a bit.
I think they sit empty, and if they do, that is where some correction is needed.
I think one option is to make sure they are used within reason. Perhaps a complimentary upgrade to the cabins/bungalows at the 8 month mark, or maybe at the 3 month mark, basically to free up the lower points value rooms. Basically escalating upgrades, 2 bedroom to cabins, one bedroom to two bedrooms, Studios to 1 bedrooms. Then studios are more available to be used. It would have to be done well before check in to free up studios for someone else to reserve.
The inventory has to be there.....it's just a matter of it being available when, where and what size.

It doesn't necessarily help this problem, but I'm also surprised there are not more 2 queen bed DVC rooms. To my knowledge, only OKW has them. A room like the bayou rooms at POR with 2 queens and small murphy at a points price above a studio and below a 1 bedroom would go a long way towards coaxing the use of the small point contracts.

I also wonder if small point contract's ability to borrow and bank across three years are causing folks to hoard their points for once in three year trips, and maybe we are seeing a bubble of that stuff right now(probably not).

I don’t think that this type of situation would be allowed u dear timeshare laws as it could create an imbalance of points.

When they set the points for the resort, they had to account for them i the chart, Now, what they could do, if make adjustments in the cost of cabins nightly point chart in certain seasons to increase the move from 2 bedrooms to cabins to raise,/ lower to adjust. But given how much difference there is, it might not even be feasible at all.

But to just give complimentary upgrades, like they can do with cash rooms, is not possible within a timeshare system

 

[SandyinMonterey]

When my DH and I purchased back in 2002, we were paying for a Disney trip with the 3 kids yearly. My youngest was going to be 3 in 2003, hence he would become a 5th guest. Going forward, we were looking at having to rent 2 rooms every time we went to WDW, because the rooms only slept 4. (this was pre-family suites). When we sat down with the salesperson, he of course told us we were the family DVC was built for.We went yearly or even sometimes twice a year. We buy in at today's cost and we get years of vacations while the regular resort room prices go up and up. He was correct. My husband did the math and flipped it every way he could to see if there would be a way for us to enjoy WDW as frequently as we were going, and buying DVC was in fact money saver.

Little did we know waaaay back then, that Disney would just keep building DVC resorts. The amount of members we are competing with for rooms is ridiculous. You can no longer decide on a spur of the moment trip and find any rooms outside of SSR. It is so frustrating that if you want to stay at a resort beside your home, you have to walk a reservation at 7 months. This never happened before. I'm annoyed right now, because I want to stay somewhere other than OKW in June. My use year is June, so I am going to be limited with how early I can "walk" (only 3 days, since I want to arrive Jun 4th).

Any other early owners frustrated with how hard it is to get reservations these days?

Yes! We've been DVC Members since 2001. When we lived in California, we were able to get the GC a couple of times. But as the years rolled on, it was increasingly difficult to make a reservation at 7 months out. At WDW, we have only been able to stay at another DVC resort other than our home resort once, and that was for only 3 days. We now live closer to WDW and can drive. We thought we'd be going more often because of the proximity and even get AP passes. But it seems impossible to get a reservation at the 7 month window and the AP have gone up so much, it does not make financial sense for us. Don't get me started on all the pre-planning with ADR's and FP's. We've discussing this as a family for a while now and we are seriously considering renting out some of our points once in a while going forward.

 

[DougEMG]

Please tell me what would happen to availability if every DVC owner took this advice and did not stay anywhere but their home resort?

People at the POLY and CCR would be crying as a lot of them would be forced to book their point to get a bungalow/cabin.

 

[DougEMG]

Does Disney benefit greatly from building these bungalows/cabins that stay empty a lot?

There is a HUGE benefit to Disney as they can rent them out for cash.

 

[SL6827]

There is a HUGE benefit to Disney as they can rent them out for cash.

Right, so the benefit/reasoning for Disney to build them is great even though it can be a disadvantage for the DVC owners at those resorts. Sad.

 

[SL6827]

People at the POLY and CCR would be crying as a lot of them would be forced to book their point to get a bungalow/cabin.

What if they didn't have enough points to do so? Win-Win for Disney?

 

[Madame]

What if they didn't have enough points to do so? Win-Win for Disney?

Yes. People like to think only the “cheap” point resorts would get screwed by any tightening of the system. They seem to forget the problems other resorts have which would be exacerbated by the same.