No Points Availability: A common question from some new DVC members occurs when they try to book a DVC resort – typically less than 7 months in advance – using their DVC points through Member Services or DVCMember.com and they find no availability.
However, when they go to the Walt Disney World reservation web site, they’ll see the same room available for the same time.
So we hear comments like this from some DVC Members:
My wife and I are trying to book a DVC stay in October. It seems that every single resort in the entirety of WDW is completely blocked out. We’re on a waiting list right now in order to find a room. Oddly enough, I go on wdw’s website and do a search for cash and every single place is available. I don’t understand how this could be. What kind of BS is that? A DVC MEMBER can’t get a room there because they are all “full” but if I want to pay cash I can? I can’t wait to get through to DVC and see how they try to explain away that one.
Or:
I’m trying to make a reservation for the end of January, and there are basically no rooms available. I call Member Services today, and they tell me that there is a cash room available for a discount at BWV (where we want to stay), but there are no DVC rooms available. How is that possible and how is that even fair?
I called MS on Saturday…. Nothing available for point stays at either BLT, BCV or BWV during my time period…BUT…IF I want to pay “rack rate” on the Disney web site…there’s plenty of availibility for villas and at ALL 3 resorts…studio,1, 2 bdrm. Boy….does that make my blood boil!
I am FUMING!! I have been trying to get into the BWV from 10/4-10/10 for awhile now, waitlisted and calling DAILY to check availability only to be told that there is nothing available at ALL and I just went onto the WDW website to (out of curiosity) request a room only reservation at the Villas. To my extreme shock I saw that they not only had studios available but one bedrooms as well!!! What is going on?? Does Disney block off a certain number of DVC rooms to give to the public when PAYING members are waitlisted for the same rooms? How is that right? I think it’s incredibly unfair that my family will not get our choice of resort when we’ve paid thousands of dollars to join DVC while someone else can just go online and book the exact one bedroom villa that I want.
This leads the member to question what is going on.
Why can’t I book a DVC room that is clearly available – using my points?
Is Disney unfairly holding back rooms to rent via cash?
In a nutshell, no, Disney isn’t breaking any rules or cheating us. Well then, what is going on?
Separate Room Inventories
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.
What are the sources for inventory for cash reservations?
Again, the vast majority of cash reservations come from members exchanging their DVC points to book outside of DVC.
