DVC no reservations available at all? Really?

[bobbiwoz]

It was slim pickings before Hurricane Irma. So many people had to reschedule their trips that I think that is what caused everything to be totally booked.

After this years experience will little to no availability, I'm sure not going to wait to plan my fall/early winter trips anymore. I'm currently looking at what I want to do for fall/winter of 2018 so I can book it the moment it becomes available.

I agree...I wish we knew next year’s F&W dates!

 

[Lakegirl]

I agree with the renting theory. People are discovering very quickly they can rent and get far more for there dollar than booking regular cash rooms. I see posts popping up all the time about it.

 

[Bing Showei]

My two penneth:

1. Always see people posting buy where you want to stay in response to these posts. That could be poor advice for anyone wanting a 1 bed in DVC off season mid Jan to beginning Sept excluding holidays. Those rooms can easily be booked and it can be an extremely good strategy to buy cheap and save thousands and buy where you don't mind staying. I never have a problem booking any room any category save BLT standard, AKV club and often value 7 months out.
2. The occupation is near 100% year round, but demand is way higher with very early booking required Oct to December. A points reallocation would take the foot of off the gas. Summer points should be lowered.

While this is absolutely true today, many people who buy into DVC should be in it for the long haul... or at least that should be the intention on the outset for buying a timeshare to make sense. So this sound advice comes with a couple of caveats:

1) The more resorts open, the more people will be buying in with exactly this mindset. The more people who buy SSR, the more competition there will be at the 7 month mark.
2) Over time your travel needs change. Suddenly you're interested in F&W or really want to see what the hoopla is with Disney in December.

To point 1), over the last few years, I've seen more and more people commenting on the threads that it's getting more and more challenging to book at 7 months when that was not the case when they first bought their OKW contracts. Some even throwing in the towel to sell a contract and buy where they want to stay.

To point 2), it's important for a traveler to ask themselves that if they had to stay at their home resort, would that be a problem. I would guess for most people, SSR is gret and they wouldn't have a problem. For others who may have had their heart set on BWV, VGF, or AKV, the extra cost may be worth it.

 

[crisi]

I agree with the renting theory. People are discovering very quickly they can rent and get far more for there dollar than booking regular cash rooms. I see posts popping up all the time about it.

They can only rent points from owners who own the points. Everyone - renters looking to rent points and members are getting savvier about booking early to get what they want. In the fifteen years I've been a member, short notice reservations - like the one in the OP - have always been hit or miss - and usually miss. It used to be things got really tight about three months out - even before SSR opened (it used to be you'd be staying at OKW, if you could find anything at all - three months out) - I think that has moved back to maybe more like four or five and the resort most likely to be open is SSR.

I suspect that the changes in availability have more to do with technology changes - adding online reservations and the ability to see availability means people can book and cancel trips much easier. So you can book a tentative vacation, taking that room out of inventory, then release it if you decide not to go. That used to be two phone calls with potentially long hold times. And when a lot of people are doing that, and the rooms aren't checked against waitlists, but are grabbed by people checking three or four times a day and piecing together a reservation, availability is going to be much more volatile.

 

[Judyat]

We did go with a few extra points each night to get a prefer area at SSR. It wasn't a lot so figured why not. We like to be close to the walk to Disney Springs and it's really lovely at night just looking across at the Disney Springs lights.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I did just get one night at SSR in a preferred one bedroom for Dec 7 for the Annual DVC meeting. We live closer now and thought it might be nice to attend one after 20 years of owning. Stalked the RAT for a few days and found the SSR one bedroom for that one night. That was less than 60 days out.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I also think that the technology and online room availability is the main factor in the tightening up of availability. Prior to that one had to call in and just give a date for MS to check. And if that wasn't available give them another. And I think many people didn't bother going much past their first request. Now people can check a range of time, see what's open and if they are flexible book a room they see open. I know when I first was on the boards so many people were always saying such and such wasn't available at 7 months......and others saying they weren't even going to call because they knew there was nothing available. I got several reservations that people said they wouldn't even bother trying. Once online started the availability became visible.

 

[Greg36]

I have had my membership for close to a month now and I have been checking the online reservation tool probably once to twice a day. Just for fun I tracked studio availability for my dates (Nov 25-Dec 9 2017). I have a cash stay but was curious what it would look like trying to get a DVC stay with such short notice. I was able to cover all my dates as of yesterday. Now, there would have been multiple resort changes in those two weeks, but I was able to find studio availability for each night...

 

[crisi]

I have had my membership for close to a month now and I have been checking the online reservation tool probably once to twice a day. Just for fun I tracked studio availability for my dates (Nov 25-Dec 9 2017). I have a cash stay but was curious what it would look like trying to get a DVC stay with such short notice. I was able to cover all my dates as of yesterday. Now, there would have been multiple resort changes in those two weeks, but I was able to find studio availability for each night...

Which is another issue with these discussions - how do you define success? If success to you is having to check twice a day, and switching resorts for your trip - yes! You would have been successful. If success means that you go on a waitlist, and it comes through, all at one resort - you'll be much less satisfied with short notice reservations. And that is something each person needs to define for themselves. But its also something you have to be aware of when someone else talks about their success or failure in securing a reservation.

 

[Greg36]

Which is another issue with these discussions - how do you define success? If success to you is having to check twice a day, and switching resorts for your trip - yes! You would have been successful. If success means that you go on a waitlist, and it comes through, all at one resort - you'll be much less satisfied with short notice reservations. And that is something each person needs to define for themselves. But its also something you have to be aware of when someone else talks about their success or failure in securing a reservation.

Absolutely. I can't imagine what I found would be defined as a 'success' by very many people. Sure, maybe for a short trip. Two weeks though with likely 3-5 switches would be a lot of moving around, especially with young kids.

 

[kboo]

One solution to even out the seasons would be to make Flower and Garden a Food and Wine clone. It’s already going that way a bit. Would be cool!

Noooooooo!!! We love the relatively chill vibe for Flower and Garden.

My two penneth:

1. Always see people posting buy where you want to stay in response to these posts. That could be poor advice for anyone wanting a 1 bed in DVC off season mid Jan to beginning Sept excluding holidays. Those rooms can easily be booked and it can be an extremely good strategy to buy cheap and save thousands and buy where you don't mind staying. I never have a problem booking any room any category save BLT standard, AKV club and often value 7 months out.
2. The occupation is near 100% year round, but demand is way higher with very early booking required Oct to December. A points reallocation would take the foot of off the gas. Summer points should be lowered.

We couldn't get BLT 1br std at 9 months, and BWV 1 br std at 7 months + 2 hours (I had something that morning and couldn't be online right at 8am!) We normally vacation in the summer, so reallocating to lower summer points would be a good thing!!!

Absolutely. I can't imagine what I found would be defined as a 'success' by very many people. Sure, maybe for a short trip. Two weeks though with likely 3-5 switches would be a lot of moving around, especially with young kids.

That was our problem - we could have pieced together a split stay in BLT+BWV std 1br for that trip above, but the thought of moving a toddler and all her stuff... even just once... nope. Maybe in a a few years, after naps and potty training are a thing of the past. The nice thing about DVC is you can always look forward to another trip with a different style and feel.

 

[zavandor]

I also think that the technology and online room availability is the main factor in the tightening up of availability. Prior to that one had to call in and just give a date for MS to check. And if that wasn't available give them another. And I think many people didn't bother going much past their first request. Now people can check a range of time, see what's open and if they are flexible book a room they see open. I know when I first was on the boards so many people were always saying such and such wasn't available at 7 months......and others saying they weren't even going to call because they knew there was nothing available. I got several reservations that people said they wouldn't even bother trying. Once online started the availability became visible.

Good point. The RAT may have increased this phenomenon even more. Before you had to check resort by resort, room type by room type, now you can check 3 months across all resorts with a few clicks.

Many point to SSR, but it is not responsible in any way to the increase difficulty of booking at 7 months in the last 2-3 years. SSR has been sold out for years and the latest additions are VGF, Poly and CCV which are all above average requested resorts. If it's getting more difficult to book at 7 months, it's something else.

 

[crisi]

Many point to SSR, but it is not responsible in any way to the increase difficulty of booking at 7 months in the last 2-3 years. SSR has been sold out for years and the latest additions are VGF, Poly and CCV which are all above average requested resorts. If it's getting more difficult to book at 7 months, it's something else.

They are also expensive resorts - point wise. Which isn't taking as much stress off the BWV/BCVs of the world as it could.

Another factor is that each year more people "buy where they want to stay" - people aren't paying a premium at BCV for fewer years to stay at the Poly or OKW. People don't invest in a VGF contract because they want an VAKL Savannah room.