Tired of SSR being blamed

[Marionnette]

If Saratoga Springs wasn’t the least expensive, some other resort would be.

If not for SSR, we’d probably see more people buying OKW and AKV points just to stay elsewhere. Or Vero and Hilton Head.

I agree. It’s not about SSR at all. And SAPs are not the only contributing factor to the 7-month issues. SSR gets the bum rap because right now it is the best value on the market and people are purchasing contracts there with no intention of using the points to stay there. Heck, if I were in the market for more points, I would consider adding on there, too.

 

[Jenniebee]

people are purchasing contracts there with no intention of using the points to stay there. Heck, if I were in the market for more points, I would consider adding on there, too.

I guess when it is put this way it sounds like they are doing something tricky or sinister. But in reality, they are just people who do not care where they stay. I am buying at SSR becuase I honestly do not care where I stay as long as it is on property, and the MF's that I will be paying every year there are low compared to some others. For me there is no incentive to pay more in MF's because I genuinely have no preference on resort. I will try to stay in different ones just for the experience and variety. And if it works out that I can only get SSR that is perfectly fine also. I am still at WDW so it's all awesome.

 

[Brett Wyman]

I would never feel the slightest guilt at booking a non-home resort at 7 months, nor would I ever complain about anybody else doing so. We all knew the rules going in.

Right??? Who the *&$% is complaining about this? Its literally a feature of ownership.

 

[CarolMN]

It's not about a particular resort. It's about individual choices - anyone who doesn't want to always stay at a home resort contributes to the 7 month competition.

You could just as easily blame the 7 month difficulty on the owners of the near-park resorts (like me) who only want to stay at their home resort and usually do . If we were willing to stay elsewhere more often, there would be more availability at 7 months.

Keep in mind that those who are currently buying contracts at those near-park resorts are almost always doing it to stay there. They book at 11 months and stay put. IOW, they are steadily decreasing the supply and those owners contribute to the 7 month "problem" just as those who want to move around.

If you move around at 7 months, you must be willing to accept that you won't always get what you want. Again, that's the system! The only way to consistently beat it is to buy where you want to be - or at least where you don't mind staying.

 

[Pooh12863]

Isn't that ALL points though? I mean the entire idea is to be able to stay at lots of places. That's the entire draw to DVC, and really all timeshares for that matter. No one wants to buy a timeshare and only be able to stay at one hotel. Hence why Riviera will be so unpopular as a resale... but that is another whole discussion.

No, I bought my three contracts exactly where I want to stay, because I don't want to do the 7 month tango.

 

[Pooh12863]

So as a SSR owner I am so over everyone jumping on us for having SAPs. We love staying at our home, and do yearly, but every once and a while we do try out new resorts. All the people who complain about us at the 7 month mark, that means most of you are looking at booking your non-home resort as well. What makes your moves more important than ours? Buy where you want to stay as everyone has as their motto. We did, but sometimes we try others. Recently I have fell in love with OKW. Stayed here my last 2 trips. We even booked a last minute 7 days in July, 2 weeks out. There were other resorts as well that had availablility , but the whole family really liked OKW, and my girls still wanted to go back to the pools at SSR.
We have been able to stay at most resorts, but dont blame SSR point holders for no availability at 7 months. Yes we may have more points and more of us doing that, but the ones complaining about not being able to are trying to sleep around as well. So book you home before 7 months, be happy, and if you want to try other resorts roll the dice like we do. Its all fair and equal.
Now back to my happy planning for March break trip where we will be staying at BLT for our 2 nights close to MK, but then relaxing at home for the last 7 nights.

If it makes you feel any better I think Vero Beach, HHI, Aluani and the bungalows and cabins at Poly and CCV put more strain on the 7 month window than SSR. SSR has been there awhile, it seems the problems at 7 months is a fairly recent phenomenon.

 

[Marionnette]

I guess when it is put this way it sound slike they are doing something tricky or sinister. But in reality, they are just people who do not care where they stay. I am buying at SSR becuase I honestly do not care where I stay as long as it is on property, and the MF's that I will be paying every year there are low compared to some others. For me there is no incentive to pay more in MF's because I genuinely have no preference on resort. I will try to stay in different ones just for the experience and variety. And if it works out that I can only get SSR that is perfectly fine also. I am still at WDW so it's all awesome.

You're reading a lot in to what I wrote. I never said that they are doing anything wrong. I, in fact, said that I would be right there with them if I wanted more points.

If you're fine with your home resort. Or if you don't care where you end up or have to do a split stay to cobble something together then that's fine. I'm sure that you're not one of those who is complaining that "there's nothing available" when what they really mean is that they can't get what they want, when they want it and for every night that they desire right at 7 months. But you using SAPs and me not budging from my home resort are among the factors that affect 7-month availability.

 

[jerseyduke]

The 7 month 'issue' has a lot of contributing factors. Im not sure how much HHI, VB et al are, because I would never buy off property for SAPs, as I would be fine staying at SSR. The bungalows and Cabins certainly contribute.

However, most rental agencies offer a "premium" for points that use the 11 month window. PPl are probably getting that premium. When high demand resorts are getting rented at the 7 month mark it may very well be SSR points. There are a lot of points in that sucker. the bungalows are a million. SSR is 14 million.

The system is what the system is. 7 months is a nice possible perk.

But honestly, who cares if someone blames your resort???

Blame my home resorts, I dont care.

 

[AdamsMum]

Certainly not all points, We bought ours purely to stay at home resort, tend to book at 11 months and leave it.

But the system needs people swapping out at 7 months to work. If everyone stays at home nothing will be available for anyone.

I also bought where I wanted to stay, although I've stayed in a few other resorts when I was unable to book early enough to get what I wanted at BW. I know whatever happens with bookings, I'll always be happy staying there. The OP has a point about lots of people trying out other resorts at 7 months, but that's the system. One of the main benefits of DVC is being able to book at so many other resorts without having to pay any fees.

 

[mort1331]

So I do hear what eveeyine is saying. Im glad we are keeping it nice. My main point was I read on a lot of posts that Ssr is a big reason of lack of availabilty at 7months. When really i have been able to book other resorts even as short as 2 months out for a full week without having to hop around. So if your flexable having points at any resort within the 7 months is doable. Its nice to see other resorts to appreciate whhat we have as our home. Or for others to see where we would like to go. Helli OKW addon.

 

[keishashadow]

All the people who complain about us at the 7 month mark, that means most of you are looking at booking your non-home resort as well.

Not necessarily. Al long time ago, in pre SSR days...

typically I found myself able to book a standard studio at one of my home resorts, BWV, after the 7 month mark.

SSR introduced a large number of folks looking to explore at 7 months. Their right to do so, book away Conversely, I’ve been able to book SSR a month before major holidays when nothing else is available.

will deem this a trade off, of sorts

However, when you factor in professional renters & walking, I see no upside for me

Last few 11 month reservations, walkers appear to have commenced their reservation process months in advance for BWV & AKBJ -V. no Such issue at WLV

I was going to say the same thing. That's the nature (and some of the draw) to DVC in the first place. Sleep around and have great, guilt-free time doing so.

lol not sure that’s what marketing had in mind when they rolled out the tag line ”the best kept secret”

 

[Novatrix]

I wouldn't use the word "blame", but I do attribute to Saratoga Springs, Aulani and the rental market the fact that it's a lot more difficult now to book an OKW studio at two or three months notice like we used to.

We've owned OKW since '92 so you can't say we knew what we were getting in for when buying in!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So as a SSR owner I am so over everyone jumping on us for having SAPs. We love staying at our home, and do yearly, but every once and a while we do try out new resorts. All the people who complain about us at the 7 month mark, that means most of you are looking at booking your non-home resort as well. What makes your moves more important than ours? Buy where you want to stay as everyone has as their motto. We did, but sometimes we try others. Recently I have fell in love with OKW. Stayed here my last 2 trips. We even booked a last minute 7 days in July, 2 weeks out. There were other resorts as well that had availablility , but the whole family really liked OKW, and my girls still wanted to go back to the pools at SSR.
We have been able to stay at most resorts, but dont blame SSR point holders for no availability at 7 months. Yes we may have more points and more of us doing that, but the ones complaining about not being able to are trying to sleep around as well. So book you home before 7 months, be happy, and if you want to try other resorts roll the dice like we do. Its all fair and equal.
Now back to my happy planning for March break trip where we will be staying at BLT for our 2 nights close to MK, but then relaxing at home for the last 7 nights.

Well, the people complaining about the competition are looking to stay somewhere other than their home resort at 7 months too.

Pot->Kettle->Black

OR - maybe it's the reverse. They should be complaining about all the owners who are now buying where they want to stay and not moving at 7 months.

 

[SarahInMN]

They should be complaining about all the owners who are now buying where they want to stay and not moving at 7 months

This is us - we bought BCV and VGF to stay there. We book at month 10 or 11 and don’t move. We might someday book 7 nights instead of 9 and try to add on 2 nights at AKV (savannah view) but otherwise have no desire to swap our BCV or VGF 9 nights for a stay elsewhere.

 

[ziravan]

The issue at SSR isn’t any individual owner per se (everybody looking to book at 7 months is looking to book elsewhere), but how big SSR is. More SSR owners are looking to book at 7 months than VGF owners simply because there are many more SSR owners.

And the MK and Epcot resorts tend to attract buyers that are not “sleeping around”.

It’s just a function of size.

In some respects, this is also going to be a big problem for DVC and Riviera. The last three resorts DVC sold were essentially “boutique” resorts of ~ 3 million points (VGF, Poly, CCR). Riviera is more than twice that many points. Selling almost 7 million points at almost $200/point was going to be a challenge no matter what. But. That’s gonna be a whole lot more 7 month seekers, eventually, especially with the mismatch of who can book in/out of Riviera at 7 months.

“Buy where you want to stay” is a strategy. So is “cheapest combination of cost/MFs/end of contract”. There’s no moral indictment in any of these strategies. Enjoy your points and who cares what anybody thinks about how you use them.

 

[Fred M]

I haven't heard of this issue before, but you go Mort! We got your back!

 

[crisi]

Isn't that ALL points though? I mean the entire idea is to be able to stay at lots of places. That's the entire draw to DVC, and really all timeshares for that matter. No one wants to buy a timeshare and only be able to stay at one hotel. Hence why Riviera will be so unpopular as a resale... but that is another whole discussion.

Well, except those of us that do. I mean, we've stayed other places, but at the requests of guest, we like home and would stay there 100% of the time.

And no one blames SSR owners - people blame the size of the resort along with its lack of draw. That isn't the owners fault. Its Disney's for choosing to not factor in balance in their decisions.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

So as a SSR owner I am so over everyone jumping on us for having SAPs. We love staying at our home, and do yearly, but every once and a while we do try out new resorts. All the people who complain about us at the 7 month mark, that means most of you are looking at booking your non-home resort as well. What makes your moves more important than ours? Buy where you want to stay as everyone has as their motto. We did, but sometimes we try others. Recently I have fell in love with OKW. Stayed here my last 2 trips. We even booked a last minute 7 days in July, 2 weeks out. There were other resorts as well that had availablility , but the whole family really liked OKW, and my girls still wanted to go back to the pools at SSR.
We have been able to stay at most resorts, but dont blame SSR point holders for no availability at 7 months. Yes we may have more points and more of us doing that, but the ones complaining about not being able to are trying to sleep around as well. So book you home before 7 months, be happy, and if you want to try other resorts roll the dice like we do. Its all fair and equal.
Now back to my happy planning for March break trip where we will be staying at BLT for our 2 nights close to MK, but then relaxing at home for the ]

Agree

Agree!

 

[bwvBound]

No one wants to buy a timeshare and only be able to stay at one hotel.

We've owned many different timeshare products over the years. Of these, one was most certainly purchased and used "exclusively at the one property." That property was my Camelot until it succumbed to a death spiral. It changed my life. I'm still living in its glow and visit the property often as it struggles to reopen under new, non-timeshare, ownership and management. Sigh. Sure miss that one property timeshare. I'd trade all my DVC to have that one location restored "as it was." Oh, well ... can't roll back time or its changes, I s'pose.

In related news, a horse landed in my yard on Tuesday. I've had this horse in my heart, from that one-property timeshare, since 2011. God worked a long journey, an 8 year plan, to bring that horse to me this week. I'm humbled and stunned. What a curious blessing and gift.

 

[chalee94]

And no one blames SSR owners - people blame the size of the resort along with its lack of draw. That isn't the owners fault. Its Disney's for choosing to not factor in balance in their decisions.

Yes. SSR was the first DVC resort to be sold specifically with the line, "you can buy here but you never have to stay here." I've been trying to tell people for years that line of thinking isn't mathematically sustainable.

And as has been discussed, Poly and CCV have added to the imbalance. I think Aulani also, but it's hard to say for sure.

But I bought where I was happy to stay and try to book early. If the current system isn't working for you, complaining won't change it but fortunately, prices are still up and it's a good time to sell.