Can't Get into Saratoga Springs

[wirenut2fl]

Can someone explain this to me.
We have been going to Disney for a long time and became DVC
members 3 years ago, we also go camping almost every other month.
We tried to book a campsite for the Dec 28 08 thru Jan 1 09 online and were told they did not have anything available, but we could book Saratoga Springs . So I went into DVC member web site to use our points for the same time period, but were told they did not have any availibilty? How can this be, if I want to pay money I can get in, but not if I use my vacation points? How can this be? This was one of the reasons they use to sell timeshares is the amount of money you save compared to cost of hotel. This does not seem right to me.
Does anyone have an answer?

 

[slappy magoo]

Just guessing, mind you, but I believe Disney keeps a few timeshares, enough to represent some entire units, out of circulation to rent out themselves, just like DVC members can rent out THEIR points (but aren't really supposed to, on a regular basis, since investing in your time-share as a for-profit venture violates some of the provisions of your deed contract). As a result, all the units meant for DVC members are all booked, leaving the ones Disney owns themselves.

Sort of makes me wonder if WDW, as an entity, is supposed to pay annual maintenance fees on the shares of each time-share resort they keep for themselves. :shrug:

The suggestions I'd make first would be to see if OKW is booked - both OKW and SSR tend to have the most units available. While you're at it, feel free to check availability in any of the other DVC resorts as well, but let's fact it, you're going at one of the two most-popular times of the year, picking will be slim. If there's no luck that way, and you still want to go, I'd adopt a "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" strategy: Book a room at SSR at the room rate, pay the one night's deposit, then keep calling DVC, literally, everyday to see if any one cancelled (there are bound to be some cancellations). The other option, which is convoluted and a pain in the butt and a total long-shot which I wouldn't recommend, is to go on ebay and see if people booked SSR for the express purpose of auctioning off the trip to the highest bidder (again, you're not really supposed to do that). Then you can either bid on it yourself (and rent out YOUR points to defray the cost), OR rat them out to DVC, and maybe out of gratitude, they'd give you dibs on what opened up.

 

[DVC Mike]

We tried to book a campsite for the Dec 28 08 thru Jan 1 09 online and were told they did not have anything available, but we could book Saratoga Springs . So I went into DVC member web site to use our points for the same time period, but were told they did not have any availibilty? How can this be, if I want to pay money I can get in, but not if I use my vacation points? How can this be?

Many DVC members wonder why they can call Disney CRO and book a villa using cash, when they can’t book a villa with points. Is Disney unfairly holding back rooms to rent via cash? No, this is not the case.

There are four major sources of inventory for cash reservation:

• Exchanges: The number one source of cash rooms is actually from the Member inventory. This occurs when members exchange/trade outside of the DVC resorts. This includes using your points to book the Disney Collection (hotels at the Disney theme parks and the Disney Cruise Line), Concierge Collection, and the Adventurer Collection. When a member trades outside of DVC, the points used to book the outside reservation are assigned to DVD to rent out. This does not apply to the World Passport Collection.

• Breakage: Another source of cash reservations includes Member inventory that has not been reserved by members using points. Any Member inventory not reserved by members using points is made available to Disney CRO at the 60-day mark for cash reservations by the general public. This is actually beneficial to DVC members, in that the association earns “breakage” income on these rooms rather than letting them sit empty.

• ROFR: Another source of cash reservations is the inventory of declared points owned by DVD. These points are typically acquired by the ROFR process. Since DVD owns the points, they can rent them out.

• Undeclared: These are the units that have been built by the developer that has not yet been declared into the condominium association. Since DVD controls these units, they may be rented out for cash reservations.

 

[dixiegirl]

Many DVC members wonder why they can call Disney CRO and book a villa using cash, when they can’t book a villa with points. Is Disney unfairly holding back rooms to rent via cash? No, this is not the case.

There are four major sources of inventory for cash reservation:

• Exchanges: The number one source of cash rooms is actually from the Member inventory. This occurs when members exchange/trade outside of the DVC resorts. This includes using your points to book the Disney Collection (hotels at the Disney theme parks and the Disney Cruise Line), Concierge Collection, and the Adventurer Collection. When a member trades outside of DVC, the points used to book the outside reservation are assigned to DVD to rent out. This does not apply to the World Passport Collection.

• Breakage: Another source of cash reservations includes Member inventory that has not been reserved by members using points. Any Member inventory not reserved by members using points is made available to Disney CRO at the 60-day mark for cash reservations by the general public. This is actually beneficial to DVC members, in that the association earns “breakage” income on these rooms rather than letting them sit empty.

• ROFR: Another source of cash reservations is the inventory of declared points owned by DVD. These points are typically acquired by the ROFR process. Since DVD owns the points, they can rent them out.

• Undeclared: These are the units that have been built by the developer that has not yet been declared into the condominium association. Since DVD controls these units, they may be rented out for cash reservations.

Oh DVCMIKE, just the guy to ask,
We recieved a DVC mailing the other day about an add on to Animal Kingdom Resort..Such as if we purchased 100 points they would in return( I believe ) match that amount....My question is this just Animal Kingdom or can I add on to my Dvc at SSR??? or can I just purchase a minumum of 100 pts? Am I making sence??LOL

Sorry if not...Have you gotten this DVC mailing or has anyone else??? Thanks for any responce!

 

[DisneyPhD]

Oh DVCMIKE, just the guy to ask,
We recieved a DVC mailing the other day about an add on to Animal Kingdom Resort..Such as if we purchased 100 points they would in return( I believe ) match that amount....My question is this just Animal Kingdom or can I add on to my Dvc at SSR??? or can I just purchase a minumum of 100 pts? Am I making sence??LOL

Sorry if not...Have you gotten this DVC mailing or has anyone else??? Thanks for any responce!

I just got the same ad in the mail today. I believe the advertisement only applies to purchases at AKV. SSR is now sold out which means you either have to go the resale route or pay the full price on points that Disney exercised ROFR. For AKL, you can add on as few as 100 points and get the deals. You can add on as few as 25 points but will not get any incentives.

Mike, feel free to elaborate.:wave:

 

[DVC Mike]

I just got the same ad in the mail today. I believe the advertisement only applies to purchases at AKV.

Mike, feel free to elaborate.:wave:

No need to eloaborate. Your answer is correct.

 

[dixiegirl]

Thank you both for the quick reply, I got another mailing this morning but now its 160pts not 100pts.....Might have to keep the other, just in case we have achance totalk to our guide..

 

[PintoColvig]

Any Member inventory not reserved by members using points is made available to Disney CRO at the 60-day mark for cash reservations by the general public.

So are they permanently made available to CRO or can they/do they open back up for DVC members to use points? I'm looking into renting some points for an October trip and am now wondering if it's possible.

 

[chipndale76]

Can someone explain this to me.
We have been going to Disney for a long time and became DVC
members 3 years ago, we also go camping almost every other month.
We tried to book a campsite for the Dec 28 08 thru Jan 1 09 online and were told they did not have anything available, but we could book Saratoga Springs . So I went into DVC member web site to use our points for the same time period, but were told they did not have any availibilty? How can this be, if I want to pay money I can get in, but not if I use my vacation points? How can this be? This was one of the reasons they use to sell timeshares is the amount of money you save compared to cost of hotel. This does not seem right to me.
Does anyone have an answer?

Hi there. My husband and I are members of the DVC, our home property is Saratoga Springs. We have extra points left over for this year if you are interested.

Thanks,
Becky

 

[disney-dan]

i dont think the OP meant they didnt have the points available but that the rooms werent available to use their points against but if they paid cash they could get a room.