Frustrated with availability

With my job, it is sometimes hard to plan a vacation 11 months in advance. Looking to book a 2 bedroom 5-6 months in advance is nearly impossible (only Saratoga is ever available). However, if I was a non-DVC member paying cash, I could go on to Disneyworld.com and get a 2-bedroom in any DVC resort I wanted. This seems extremely unfair. Shouldn't these rooms be available to DVC members if they are open? Why do they block these and hold them for cash payers only? How do people who can't plan so far in advance able to stay where they want to stay?

I do not own DVC, but I do know that per Florida Law a certain % of the rooms at any time share must be held back and made available for general public bookings.

Nanc

I believe it has something to do with declared vs undeclared inventory at the resorts. I'll try to look up the exact wording but basically not all rooms are owned by DVC,

Courtesy of DVCinfo

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There are different, completely separate inventories of rooms – one that can be reserved using points and another that may be reserved using cash. Rooms fall into these different inventories for various reasons.

Especially important for newly opened DVC resorts, there is a distinction between Declared and Undeclared inventory that provides Disney with cash inventory.

• Declared (or Member) inventory can be reserved with Vacation Points. These are vacation homes associated with ownership interests that have been purchased by members and declared into the Condominium Association. Declared inventory is initially available only to members.
• Undeclared (or Developer) inventory can be reserved on a cash basis. These are the vacation homes owned by DVD that have not been declared into the Condominium Association.

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There are 3 things that can contribute to this.

1) Declared vs Undeclared rooms. When a DVC resort begins to be sold, not all of the rooms are declared to be part of the condo association. Only the number of rooms that have been declared can be booked on points. All the other rooms belong to DVD (the developer) and these rooms are booked through Disney's Central Reservations. Legally, DVD cannot make these rooms available to DVC members using points. Currently, only Copper Creek and Aulani have undeclared rooms. The final declaration for Poly was made just last month. Most of Copper Creek is Undeclared at the moment.

2) Out-of-service/repairs. By law, DVD must retain ownership of at least 2% of the points at each DVC property. These points equate to a certain number of rooms and must be held to deal with needed room repairs, or other emergency situations that could arise. This is to prevent an owner, who has booked with theirs points, from experiencing the situation where they cannot be accommodated due to say a broken water line in their assigned room. 60 days out, DVD can turn that room over to Central Reservations (CR) to sell for cash. These cash sales are applied to the DVC resort expenses and directly benefit the members by reducing member dues.

3) Breakage. This is the one that's hardest to understand, but contributes the most to the perception that Disney holds back rooms from DVC members. This too, is governed by Florida law, so it's not Disney doing a money grab. Whenever a member uses their points for something other than a room at a DVC resort (that could be say, a cruise, a room at a non-DVC Disney hotel, a trip through Adventures by Disney or trading into RCI), those points (and the room equivalent) have technically been "used" within the system and cannot be used again as a DVC room. What happens is that room is placed into the CR inventory for sale, and the funds are used to pay for the cruise, other hotel room, etc. Again, by law, DVD/DVC is a separate company from Disney Theme Parks and Resorts, and cannot co-mingle funds or room inventory. "Breakage" (breaking the points/rooms relationship to DVC) has to be removed from DVC inventory immediately, as it technically no longer exists to DVC. That inventory is sold by CR and shows up on the Disney site as available rooms. It's this "breakage" that makes it appear that Disney is holding DVC rooms back to sell for cash. Not really what's happening, but I understand how it can appear.

There are more details and legalities behind all this, but that's the gist. Hope that makes some sense.

Steve

Steve nailed it. It is (as they say) "complicated".

I think as a DVC member it is best to just think in your head that there are a certain number of DVC rooms on site... and they are completely separate from the "cash" rooms on site. And never the twain shall meet. Keeps you sane.

At the precise 7 month window day and time.... everyone looking for a DVC room that is LEFT after the 11 month people have their say is pouncing on them. The more "prime" type rooms.... the faster they go.

Part of being a DVC member is knowing that your home resort is 11 months and then anywhere else is 7 months... and you have to build your "vacation life" around that. If that does not fit your lifestyle........ you are going to get disappointed frequently. (I discovered that the hard way a year ago.)

best,

.................john

One tip I have with availability is thinking about whether you have any flexibility with your length of stay. It has been my experience that it's easier to book a 5 or 6 night stay less far in advance than a 7 night stay. I have had good luck going online at exactly 8 am at the 7-month mark. I've also had good luck with the wait list.

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Originally Posted by DisneyFan1979

One tip I have with availability is thinking about whether you have any flexibility with your length of stay. It has been my experience that it's easier to book a 5 or 6 night stay less far in advance than a 7 night stay. I have had good luck going online at exactly 8 am at the 7-month mark. I've also had good luck with the wait list.

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Agreed.

And while I know the "11-month" mark is important, in reality we have managed pretty well getting rooms at our home resort even 7 1/2 months out - prior to it opening up to all DVC members.

Another thing - if you are even thinking about a time and place for vacation at a DVC location at Disney, it usually doesn't hurt to make the reservation well in advance. If something comes up, you can often cancel without any penalties, as long as you: do it prior to 30 days before arrival, and as long as you didn't have to borrow points to make the reservation. Of course, that won't help if you want to change dates or locations later - but it does make a cancellation easy.

But the DVC units are very popular. There are times of the year it is very difficult. And as mentioned above, those "cash" rooms to have a benefit to members, helping to keep dues a bit more manageable.