That's not the point. There are people who are current members that are going to buy the VGF2 points, not for the studios, but to book 1 and 2BR at 11 months. Your SSR SAP won't do that and they know it. Whether or not they have to buy the VGF2 points or not is of no consequence, as they are already saying they are going to do it.
The last couple of years, we've tried getting a 1BR for 3 nights together the first week in December booking at 7 mo and couldn't manage. I think didn't even see 2 nights together. But I know that's a busy time for DVC.
We are a family of 4, and although we do use the dining area and like keeping food (fruit, breakfast items) in the kitchen, I'm not sure it's worth the point cost all the time. If we plan to bring friends (especially as our kids get older, if they are teens without their parents), 2 studios might actually be a solid second choice after a 2BR.
Yup. As @Her Dotness pointed out, the main things I'd give up are a K bed and washer/dryer in unit. Our family of 4 occasionally stays in studios anyway, so it remains to be seen what we will do. If my dad comes again, I would probably get 2 studios - he'd have a larger bed and be in a larger, more private space with the kids, who will sleep wherever they are told anyway.
Yes, this! I don't really want to share a bathroom with my dad anyway, and on our last trip, the bathroom situ in the 1br was challenging. (because of my dad being there and taking his time to use the bathroom in the AM ... )
I think this is what we're doing, thanks! Talked it over last night--if we like two things and can't decide between them, we'll should go with the one that makes more mathematical sense. We'll be quite happy and if we ever want to change it up and @RoseGold is right about availability, we can switch to VGF 1BR at 7 months. But we'll be happy either way. Going to wait until Monday or Tuesday to sign anything so the 10 days go into early March, but this is exciting!
I think this strategy will also heavily impact availability across the board. It basically turns 82 resort studios into 41 "super lock-off studios". If owners are consistently taking advantage of the point chart benefit of two connecting studios over a 1BR, then that's going to effectively take 41 of those brand new resort studios out of the mix perpetually.
Even so, I don't think getting a 1 or 2 bedroom villa will be a problem at 11 months. It may certainly change things for 7 month bookers during high demand times, but those larger villas are so expensive, that I just don't see it being a huge issue for owners who use the priority booking window. IMO, we won't know for several years. The pandemic "glut" hasn't cleared out yet and I think it will take at least 2 years for all the new points to get sold. But that's JMHO. YMMV.
This is the question I was getting at above. But, I think there is a lot of room for more 1BR and 2BR demand in the current resort, and that's what I was trying to parameterize.
Looking at the historical availability charts posted elsewhere, there are exactly two weeks per year where a GFV owner booking right at 11 months might have trouble getting a 1BR or 2BR Standard view (the first two weeks of December, the peakest of peak times for DVC, and that's being addressed slowly through seasonal point adjustment). Conversely, there are only nine weeks per year where an owner wouldn't have the chance of some trouble making a Standard Studio reservation. That indicates to me a highly skewed distribution away from the current mix.
I feel like it could easily be complimented as an option for booking. But I wouldn't hold my breath that they'll do that.
I would think they'd need to actually deed rooms under this designation? and it doesnt really sound like they are creating multiple booking categories beyond the different view types. If any of the moonlighting lawyers in here have thoughts lol...
Oh yeah, you mean like the lock offs. But I was thinking of it in simpler terms: have a little checkbox that allows you to request that your two studios be connecting. The system could then gray out the checkbox once the 41 or so bookings have been made. Would there be any issue with this arrangement?
It would make room assignments more complicated and less flexible. It's not like a cruise where everyone checks in on the same day. Were I managing booking, I wouldn't willingly do something like that.
this would be amazing, so you're right its definitely never happening!
I mean, it does and it doesnt, its really just another instance of lockoff booking, which is already a pain point for VGF which has a bunch of them to begin with. Its a complication, but not a new one, just more rooms added to the "problem"
Right. Best just leave it at requests and members will just have to hope
I think this whole discussion is suggestive of how quickly those rooms are going to get gobbled up, and going back to the original question, whether or not it will really affect the demand on the existing 1BR units. It's certainly going to eat into what some would consider an abundance of new studios, and I'm still not convinced that you won't have a huge number of new owners booking two studios at a time and requesting connecting units to avoid 1BR point charts, with some bleeding into existing 1BRs by choice. Heavy competition for connecting resort studios may not allow too many current owners who now book 1BRs purely out of necessity, to jump over to the resort studios either.
Look at current availability for the first week of December 2022. I don't think you will see much available now and we are still 9+ months out.
I mean, booking two of these studios connecting is still going to be a 45-70 point per night investment, its not exactly a bargain, especially with how many new owners will buy the minimum 150. Doing this is going to be more akin to 2BRs, and really not 1BRs at all. So will there be demand for this? yeah, of course, but lets be real that many owners aren't going to have the budget for that.
