I finally get why people walk reservations. Disappointed.

[tidefan]

We don't necessarily disagree on your assessment. I haven't been tracking availability nearly long enough to compare with the time before BPK. It doesn't look too bad to me now and people keep complaining about decreased availability at other resorts as well so maybe there is something else at play as well (e.g. demand shifting to different seasons).

I just don't think that a day with no availability of deluxe and availability at resort studios is a case in point because of the huge difference in numbers. Your comparison with previous years is a valid argument, though and I'm happy to concede that.

Happy holidays!

P.S. The walkers seems to have moved one day forward, again. For both types of studios.

VGF owner since 2013. I 100% agree with @Sandisw that the Deluxe Studios are harder to get since the addition of the hotel rooms to the association.

IMHO, it would have been much better if DVD had at least diversified by making some of the hotel rooms have a King bed instead of 2 queens.

 

[tx911]

There is no one stopping you from walking an important reservation the next time .

This is the way. Apparently.

 

[bakerworld]

I've gotten to the point now where I just wait a few days to see if the walkers have passed on and this is what usually happens. I think some people start walking like a month before. Conversely, I have been in a situation where my vacations have changed by a day and have moved our DVC villa reservation to accommodate the change.

My next goal is to stay at the CC Cabin and the PVB Cabana. We've a cruise in 2025 where I'm hoping to make that happen . Both will require us to wait for the 7 month booking window. Neither are a 'need'.

 

[crazywig]

There are only 30 of them, so even if not walked, its hard to get.

In comparison lake view has 101.

On top of that, they are all lockoffs, meaning if a 2br lockoff is booked there goes a studio with it.

Not true, there are dedicated 2 bedrooms at BLT in the standard category. I have booked them.

But if you mean there are no dedicated studios, then yes.

 

[stevehudd]

Just checking yesterday, it seems like most rooms at GF are being walked for the holidays vs none at beach club. I would strongly suggest owners buy a mix of points so they have multiple home resort advantages.

I bought in at GF last year exclusively for one and two bedrooms so I certainly contributed to the problem

 

[jodifla]

Once upon a time, when we joined back in 1996, holidays were blocked out and by lottery system only.

I would never ever expect Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's studios to be easily available, even 11 months out.

 

[tx911]

Just checking yesterday, it seems like most rooms at GF are being walked for the holidays vs none at beach club. I would strongly suggest owners buy a mix of points so they have multiple home resort advantages.

I bought in at GF last year exclusively for one and two bedrooms so I certainly contributed to the problem

One disadvantage of owning a small number of points at multiple resorts is you are kind of locked into those studios with lower point values. If you own a larger number of points at one resort, you can afford the more expensive view types and larger units that tend to be more available.

Of course, if you happen to own a large amount of points at multiple resorts, the world is your oyster

 

[Nabas]

We keep going in circles. If you were to argue, that the BPK addition increased competition for 1BR, it would be highly likely because BPK did not add any. If only one new VGF owner prefers 1BRs (quite likely), the addition made matters worse for existing owners. No doubt here.

But the fact that some days there are still resort studios available while there are no more deluxe available by itself does not prove that the booking situation for deluxe studios was made worse (could be true or not): there are 4 times as many resort studios now. Even if people hypothetically actually preferred resort studios by a ratio of 2:1, we would still see deluxe studios fully booked first as there are only 50 of them. It's quite likely that they would also be fully booked at the same time or even earlier without the addition. It's quite possible that resort studios offer additional (resort) studio availability to original owners at times when deluxe studios would have been fully booked anyway.

I have read the argument on these boards frequently enough, that everyone prefers the deluxe to the resort studios. But this is not true for everyone. I for one do not. I don't have any use for a kitchenette while on a one week vacation at WDW and find the resort studios more appealing (location, views, design).

We really thought we’d prefer the Deluxe Studios at the original VGF over the Resort Studios at the new BPK.

However, after staying at BPK, we decided we like it more because it’s next to the courtyard pool that we normally use, and closer to the food court.

With all the reports of poor soundproofing at BPK, we expected that to be a problem but, so far, haven’t experienced it on any of our stays.

 

[Nabas]

The standards at BLT seem to be walked year round! I’ve owned there for 4 months and only seen availability pop up once!

AKV Club Studios definitely are!

We’ve only been able to stay when we spot a cancellation in the 8 to 11 month range.

 

[Nabas]

As someone who had a reservation for WDW in March 2020… I can say that life happens and you never know when/why you might need to modify.

Having a spouse who frequently changes their mind, life happens a lot!

 

[tx911]

We really thought we’d prefer the Deluxe Studios at the original VGF over the Resort Studios at the new BPK.

However, after staying at BPK, we decided we like it more because it’s next to the courtyard pool that we normally use, and closer to the food court.

With all the reports of poor soundproofing at BPK, we expected that to be a pool but, so far, haven’t experienced it on any of our stays.

I have only ever stayed at standard hotel rooms at GF so far, and have found them wonderful. I have yet to experience any of the DVC villas there.

 

[stevehudd]

One disadvantage of owning a small number of points at multiple resorts is you are kind of locked into those studios with lower point values. If you own a larger number of points at one resort, you can afford the more expensive view types and larger units that tend to be more available.

Of course, if you happen to own a large amount of points at multiple resorts, the world is your oyster

This is certainly all true! Someone made a good point somewhere else about simply buying cheap points for expensive views home resort owners don't necessarily want to spend for. There are plusses and minuses to every strategy, ultimately things get easier the more points you own

 

[AstroBlasters]

One disadvantage of owning a small number of points at multiple resorts is you are kind of locked into those studios with lower point values. If you own a larger number of points at one resort, you can afford the more expensive view types and larger units that tend to be more available.

Of course, if you happen to own a large amount of points at multiple resorts, the world is your oyster

This Is The Way

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Either we were lucky for the first 10-12 years of owning or things have become much harder the last couple years. We try book at 11 months and exactly the booking time, but never had a problem. The last 2 years every reservation we have made has been a challenge.

I've found the same to be true... Somehow the volume of sales, LLCs, walking, breakage/cash sales & demand for studios has created a different DVC animal than before...
I understand there are reasons for all of it (except LLCs & probably probably tech bots that reach in at 8am, which DVD should prohibit), but none of it delivers the 11-month advantage Home Resorts once did.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

I get your disappointment. I would be too! But I’m not sure we should expect the Guides to give reasons why someone should not buy points.

Agree. But I think a more honest acknowledgement such as "And of course the most popular accomodations are often those with lowest point values, especially at the most popular times of year, so be sure to consider that when deciding your contract size & Use Year."

To me that's not unreasonable....May even result in more upselling.

 

[DebbieB]

I’ve read VGF sold a lot of fixed week contracts, could be part of the issue there.

A friend and I are planning the first week of December, staying separately. I want BWV boardwalk view studio, she wants Boulder Ridge. I’ve been trying to jump in to a walk for the past week, we both hit it yesterday morning. So perhaps there are many 11/24 checkouts. I’ve gone first week of December at BWV many years since 2000, it’s always been difficult. I don’t think it’s LLC’s.

 

[whiteness]

What is Walking? Aside from what I do at EPCOT every time I visit.

 

[grahf1234]

I definitely wouldn’t have bought in had I realized how difficult it would be to book popular rooms at 11 months.
Math already not great compared to renting which worked great for us in the past.

Definitely agree with OP that this might not be as obvious to potential new buyers as some might think. I thought I did my homework, thought the whole buy where you want to stay would solve any potential issues, of course that’s not necessarily always true.

Will have to do my own booking for our annual mid December visit in a couple of weeks. This time member services’ “welcome home” scheduling bailed us, this time we’re on our own!

 

[robinb]

What is Walking? Aside from what I do at EPCOT every time I visit.

It's when you book a reservation before you really want it and modify it until you get to your desired dates. You essentially hold your room and block others from booking it at the 11 month (or, lesser so the 7 month) window.

For instance, tomorrow is the 11 month window for 11/26/24. Let's say that you *really* want a reservation starting on 12/5/24. You log in tomorrow and grab 4 days, 11/26, 11/27, 11/28 and 11/29, checking out on 11/30. When someone logs in on Wednesday 12/27 and tries to book 11/27, they cannot book YOUR room since you're holding it in your reservation. The same goes for 12/28 & 12/29. On 12/30, your room is open for booking 11/30 and later. BUT wait, instead on 12/29 you "walk" your reservation and modify it to be from 11/26-11/30 to 11/29 - 12/2. On 12/30 when someone logs in to book YOUR room they can't because you now hold a room for 12/29-1/2. Rinse and repeat until your check-in date of 12/5 is within your walked reservation and eligible to book as a check-in date and modify one last time to encompass the dates you really want.

People talk about picking up crumbs from the waitlist. In the first "walk" mentioned, the dates 11/26, 11/27 & 11/28 were released by the walker.

This can also work at the 7-month window at other resorts you don't own, but only blocks out people like you. Owners at that resort can book ahead of your walking reservation and thwart you.

 

[tx911]

Agree. But I think a more honest acknowledgement such as "And of course the most popular accomodations are often those with lowest point values, especially at the most popular times of year, so be sure to consider that when deciding your contract size & Use Year."

To me that's not unreasonable....May even result in more upselling.

100%
And also that there are some home resorts that don't really have this problem as much because of higher inventory.