GF villas booking? How'd BLT work?

[missycj96]

Hi - if the grand floridian is opening in the fall, when do you think booking will open? Does anyone remember how it worked when blt opened (how far in advance of opening for booking?) also, how far in advance of booking did the points charts come out? My family loves the grand floridian.

[bookwormde]

By my best memory or BLT and THV they started booking about 8-9 months out

[tjkraz]

Regardless of when they begin accepting reservations, you can bet that owners will receive a special priority window. They will give new VGF buyers a window of (at least) 2-3 weeks to make reservations before the normal 7 month window applies.

Also bear in mind that only a fraction of the villas will be available for point stays initially with more added as sales progress. Owners only have access to the rooms represented by sold points. So if DVC projects that only about 15 villas' worth of points will be sold by opening day, they will only accept points reservations for those 15 villas.

Depending upon the pace of sales, it could be 2-4 years before owners have access to reserve all 140+ villas.

[Rob S.]

Originally Posted by tjkraz

Also bear in mind that only a fraction of the villas will be available for point stays initially with more added as sales progress. Owners only have access to the rooms represented by sold points. So if DVC projects that only about 15 villas' worth of points will be sold by opening day, they will only accept points reservations for those 15 villas.

I thought that the points just had to be declared, not necessarliy sold, in order to make reservations.
I know that Tim is an expert so I feel awful questioning his statement.
Have I misunderstood this all along?

[tjkraz]

Originally Posted by Rob S.

I thought that the points just had to be declared, not necessarliy sold, in order to make reservations.
I know that Tim is an expert so I feel awful questioning his statement.
Have I misunderstood this all along?

Yes, that is correct. But don't expect them to declare significantly more points / villas than they expect to sell in a specific timeframe.

There's no advantage to DVD declaring an excessive number of points. Declaring points for 2-3 months' worth of sales seems to be about the norm.

[drusba]

Actually when it opens you will have the potential to reserve any of the finished rooms in the resort. The limitation of access is not done by room but instead by applicable reserve time, e.g., if they have sold/declared 10% of the the resort members get 10% of the reserve time and Disney 90% but members and any cash paying guests can be put in any room.

[tjkraz]

Originally Posted by drusba

Actually when it opens you will have the potential to reserve any of the finished rooms in the resort. The limitation of access is not done by room but instead by applicable reserve time, e.g., if they have sold/declared 10% of the the resort members get 10% of the reserve time and Disney 90% but members and any cash paying guests can be put in any room.

Agree. I don't see where any of my comments indicate that members will be limited to specific physical rooms...

[drusba]

As to when and who gets to reserve first, AKV worked as follows: for a July 2007 opening (it was originally announced as August but then opened early), the resort went on sale Feb 2007, first reservations were allowed abiout mid-May 2007 at which time the AKV owners had a two week window for priority booking before they allowed non-owners to start booking with the 7 month window. Point charts for both AKV and BLT were provided when the resort went on sale. That was a major issue for BLT because many purchased between October 2008 and January 2009 based on point charts they were given, and then, before they could ever even stay at the resort, DVD redid the point charts in January 2009 raising the weekday points and lowering the weekend. To add insult to injury, they adopted at about the same time as the point chart change a rule raising the add-on minimum for BLT from 25 to 100 and thus effectively prevented those prior purchasers from even doing a minimum add-on to correct for the point changes. There was a lot of outrage and the 100 point minimum was withdrawn and returned to 25.

[Sur]

How about purchasing GF (for those who know how BLT was initially offered)? Do current members get first offer? I was put on a list for direct, but don't know how that works.

[drusba]

My recall is that both BLT and AKV went on sale to members and new purchasers at the same time but for AKV, members had a better price discount incentive for add-ons than new purchasers. I don't recall that happening with BLT as all purchasers were offered $112 a point minus $5 incentive.

[WebmasterDoc]

Originally Posted by Sur

How about purchasing GF (for those who know how BLT was initially offered)? Do current members get first offer? I was put on a list for direct, but don't know how that works.

My recollection is that in the past current members have usually had a short window of opportunity to purchase before the general public - and that has been tied to a price increase.

Since there is another price increase coming soon (March 20 - already announced for AKV and Aulani), I'd watch for an announcement in the very near future about sales beginning at GFV for existing members at the most recent pricing for BLT ($165) followed by an increase to $170 (or higher) on March 20 to coincide with sales opening to everyone. This, of course, is pure speculation on my part and based.

YMMV

Stay Tuned!

[KAT4DISNEY]

Originally Posted by Sur

How about purchasing GF (for those who know how BLT was initially offered)? Do current members get first offer? I was put on a list for direct, but don't know how that works.

With BLT and VGC (at least those who had access to be founding members) there was a period that current owners could buy before it was opened up to non-members.

But in both cases it would have been more advantages to wait. The prices later were lower. But things have changed since then and there hasn't been quite the same variation of discounts that used to happen back then so VGF may not see that happen.

[bobbiwoz]

Is it important to get on a list with your guide? I figure I will wait to see what the price is before I commit!

[Dean]

Originally Posted by missycj96

Hi - if the grand floridian is opening in the fall, when do you think booking will open? Does anyone remember how it worked when blt opened (how far in advance of opening for booking?) also, how far in advance of booking did the points charts come out? My family loves the grand floridian.

I think we're already behind what AKV and BLT were in terms of announced sales but not reservation dates. Several of the last new resorts did have a short reservation window for owners there even though the reservation window opened at or after 7 months for all that I recall. While this is in violation of the Muti site POS, it is understandable. Unless we have an announcement pretty soon related to sales, I fear the opening date will be pushed back.

[drusba]

^ I have the same thoughts, although I think they are phrasing the opening more as late 2013 rather than earlier. I was there two weeks ago and went to see the construction. It is nowhere near as far along at this point as BLT was by Feb 09 for an Aug 09 opening but if actual opening is more like Nov, there may be a higher probability.