Villa availability

DisneyDave54321

Member
Original Poster
I’m trying to book a trip for February 2024. We want to stay in a 1 bed villas at GF. I keep getting conflicting messages about their availability. I’m playing around on the site. Some villas are available some aren’t. I can’t tell if that is because they are already booked or if they just haven’t been released. Travel Agent said they haven’t been released. Then I chat with someone on Disney website. One says they haven’t been released yet then another says they are probably booked. Why is it so hard to get an actual answer. I’m sorry to tag you @lentesta but you are the only one who seems to have answers to these types of things. Any idea?
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Disney has released cash inventory for 2024.

1 bedroom villas at Grand Floridan are points inventory. Someone can articulate the mechanics better than I can (if you care), but basically Disney's hotel business has to purchase villa inventory from Disney Vacation Club to be able to rent those rooms to non-DVC guests for cash. This is referred to as "breakage" and is really only supposed to happen with inventory that would otherwise go unused by DVC members. Disney is allowed to use historical usage patterns to estimate breakage ahead of time and make those rooms available before the last minute, but it's not on a normal schedule.

I would seek out alternate accommodation options, whether that means renting points from a DVC member or booking a different room type with Disney.
 

DisneyDave54321

Member
Original Poster
Disney has released cash inventory for 2024.

1 bedroom villas at Grand Floridan are points inventory. Someone can articulate the mechanics better than I can (if you care), but basically Disney's hotel business has to purchase villa inventory from Disney Vacation Club to be able to rent those rooms to non-DVC guests for cash. This is referred to as "breakage" and is really only supposed to happen with inventory that would otherwise go unused by DVC members. Disney is allowed to use historical usage patterns to estimate breakage ahead of time and make those rooms available before the last minute, but it's not on a normal schedule.

I would seek out alternate accommodation options, whether that means renting points from a DVC member or booking a different room type with Disney.
Ok. That is the most succinct explanation I have seen so far. Thanks! It also explains why by some resorts have opened up their rooms and others haven’t. Those must be the ones that generally have more availability and so Disney makes them available earlier
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Ok. That is the most succinct explanation I have seen so far. Thanks! It also explains why by some resorts have opened up their rooms and others haven’t. Those must be the ones that generally have more availability and so Disney makes them available earlier
It's more about the room type than the resort. So Grand Floridan normal hotel rooms should be fully available, but the villas wouldn't be.
 

DisneyDave54321

Member
Original Poster
Yeah, for instance the 1 beds villas are available at the contemporary and Riviera but not GF. And it seems the resort studios in the GF Villas are available but not the deluxe studios and none of the larger rooms
 

lentesta

Premium Member
I’m trying to book a trip for February 2024. We want to stay in a 1 bed villas at GF. I keep getting conflicting messages about their availability. I’m playing around on the site. Some villas are available some aren’t. I can’t tell if that is because they are already booked or if they just haven’t been released. Travel Agent said they haven’t been released. Then I chat with someone on Disney website. One says they haven’t been released yet then another says they are probably booked. Why is it so hard to get an actual answer. I’m sorry to tag you @lentesta but you are the only one who seems to have answers to these types of things. Any idea?

I thought they're not normally released to cash inventory until 60 to 30 days out?
 

nickys

Premium Member
Disney has released cash inventory for 2024.

1 bedroom villas at Grand Floridan are points inventory. Someone can articulate the mechanics better than I can (if you care), but basically Disney's hotel business has to purchase villa inventory from Disney Vacation Club to be able to rent those rooms to non-DVC guests for cash. This is referred to as "breakage" and is really only supposed to happen with inventory that would otherwise go unused by DVC members. Disney is allowed to use historical usage patterns to estimate breakage ahead of time and make those rooms available before the last minute, but it's not on a normal schedule.

I would seek out alternate accommodation options, whether that means renting points from a DVC member or booking a different room type with Disney.

You’re partially correct, but have forgotten a key point here.

Disney owns 2-3 % of points at every DVC resort. They can use those points to take rooms to sell to the general public, but must follow the same rules as other DVC owners - so can only release rooms 11 months ahead.

At a resort like Saratoga or Old Key West, where they own a ton of points, they can offer many more rooms. At other resorts they own far fewer points. Since they have to choose what types of villas to use the points at, spread over the year., at the smaller DVC resorts they can only sell a few rooms. They rarely sell GVs, for example, because they would use up a big proportion of the points. And they don’t always release those rooms until closer to 8 months ahead.

Because of the strange way they value 1-bedrooms, those are harder to get. Points wise they are twice the “cost” of a studio but the cash rate Disney use is more like 150%,(presumably that’s what Disney have found they can sell them at), therefore not as lucrative for Disney to sell.

The “breakage” that @CaptainAmerica is talking about is what is released within the 60 days. They can anticipate the breakage at a specific resort but occasionally get that wrong which can cause them problems.
 

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