[DVC Mike]

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

First off, as background, understand that there are two sets of inventory at each DVC resort – those that can only be booked with points and those that can only be booked with cash.

Declared (or Member) inventory can only be reserved with points. These are vacation homes associated with ownership interests that have been purchased by members and declared into the Condominium Association. Declared inventory is available to members to book using points.

The other inventory is the cash inventory. Anyone can book a cash reservation via Disney CRO, and DVC members can book one via DVC MS at a 25% discount, subject to availability. The following are the 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 (but not trading via RCI). When a member trades outside of DVC, the points used to book the outside reservation are assigned to DVD to rent out.

These rooms cannot be booked using points, as they effectively already have been. If I use my points to book a Disney Cruise, DVC has to pay DCL for my trip. They get the money to pay DCL by sending a room to CRO to rent to the general public. If the room was left in DVC inventory for booking by points, where is DVC going to get the money to pay DCL? This room, in a sense, is being used by a member, even though they're not physically there. It's being used to pay for their non-DVC vacation. This is how we're able to get stays at other resorts on our points, so it's a good thing for members. If DVC didn’t do this, we would have to remove the option to use our points at Disney hotels, Disney Cruise Line, Adventures by Disney, etc. Many members appreciate having those options available to them.

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. Otherwise, our dues would go up.

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, just like we can rent out the points we own.

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.

Unsold: These are the points that have not yet been sold by DVD to members. Since DVD owns the points, they can rent them out, just like we can rent out the points we own.

Again, the vast majority of cash reservations come from members exchanging their DVC points to book outside of DVC.

[tinkerbelle24]

Im still new to the whole DVC thing so I still dont get it but thanks for posting. Once I get my contacts in I can read it a little more better. I just know that when I call DVC I ask for what Im looking for and if its not avail I move on to the next choice.

[Dana]

Excellent info Mike. I made this a sticky thread for reference. Thank you for taking the time to type all that out.

[MissDisney]

This is a really good bit of information! Thanks for sharing -- I had no idea it was such a coordinated effort.

[leslieh]

Excellent information- as members we do sometimes get frustrated when we are waitlisted. Understanding why this happens should calm us down!

[DiZ NeE O8]

thank you very much for this information it was very helpful. Now I know why we get waitl listed! lol!

[wifeofacomic2]

Hi Mike, a ll of this is so confusing... Very " Business Like " I dont get all of the abreviations LOL. So Im going to ask you for some info If I may "pick your brain " I obviously cannot afford to join the Club to do time shares Times are ROUGH. I live in Florida jobs stink the Pay is even 10 times worse. Im trying to figuire out about renting points for May from someone who is renting some of their points. I just wanna stay 3 nights on property but dont or cant afford 140.00 night Whats my best bet or advice you can give me being on a tight budget ?

[leslieh]

Originally Posted by wifeofacomic2

Hi Mike, a ll of this is so confusing... Very " Business Like " I dont get all of the abreviations LOL. So Im going to ask you for some info If I may "pick your brain " I obviously cannot afford to join the Club to do time shares Times are ROUGH. I live in Florida jobs stink the Pay is even 10 times worse. Im trying to figuire out about renting points for May from someone who is renting some of their points. I just wanna stay 3 nights on property but dont or cant afford 140.00 night Whats my best bet or advice you can give me being on a tight budget ?

You can rent points for approximately $10 to $11 per point from DVC members (certain times of year will cost more). For example, a studio weeknight at Old Key West will take 10 points (costing you $100 to $110 per night) - NO tax.

A studio weeknight at Wildrness Lodge is 13 points (costing you $130 to $143 per night) and NO tax. A standard view studio weeknight at Boardwalk will require 11 points per night.

The value resorts are also on property and you can probably get a Florida resident discount. Check out mousesavers.com for some helpful info.

[poohbe66]

That is so funny that you brought this up because i was just discussing stuff like that with my mom a few days ago and that is teh conclusion we came to that they must keep some room for cash.