RIviera: Standard vs Preferred

[skier_pete]

As someone who doesn't book studios, it isn't as easy to get 2BRs as everyone thinks. Is it easier than studios? Absolutely. However, the cheapest room in every resort will always be the most sought after.

Should they then just build a resort that is 70% studios, 15% 1BRs, 14% 2BRs, and 1% grand villas? If they did this, then I would never buy into such a resort. I prefer 1Brs and 2Brs. If they built a resort with this breakdown, it would effectively turn away those of us that purchase a larger amount of points because we like to stay in bigger rooms.

No - my suggestion is the ideal would be to have roughly twice as many studios as 1-bedrooms and dedicated 2-bedrooms when you combine with lock-offs. So something like
150 dedicated studios
50 dedicated 1-beds
100 2-bed lock-offs
150 dedicated 2-beds
10 GV

Which could turn into
250 studios
150 1-beds
150 2-beds


Honestly, I think Riviera did a pretty solid job with the ratio, too many 1-beds but overall a fair ratio of Studios to 2-bedrooms. (Below with lock-offs split up.)
TS: 24
DS: 186
1Bed: 177
2Bed: 90
GV: 12

However,CCV did NOT ratio properly with ANY of them because there are too many cabins. Overall, the ratio to studios/1-bed/2-bed is fine - but the cabins absorbing 35% of the points is the problem here.

VGF (47 2-beds and 47 lock-offs) and BLT (148 2-beds and 133 lock-offs) both don't have enough studios. The resorts don't need MORE 2-beds than studios.

Poly being only studios is a course correction I hope that helped the overall system somewhat

If we ignore the non-WDW resorts - and we SPLIT every lock-off into studios and 1-bedrooms, WDW has on site:
2184 Studios 42%
1770 1-beds 34%
1237 2-beds 24%
The percent only splits up these 3 ratios.
BUT - I would argue that this is clearly not ENOUGH studios if members are unable to get studios ANYWHERE while 1-bedrooms are available EVERYWHERE.

Ratio at Riviera is 44% / 37% / 19%. So I would argue that there are STILL too many 1-bedrooms at this resort. Studios are probably fine though or maybe should be a few more. 2-beds are probably a little low too.

 

[jerseyduke]

As someone who doesn't book studios, it isn't as easy to get 2BRs as everyone thinks. Is it easier than studios? Absolutely. However, the cheapest room in every resort will always be the most sought after.

Should they then just build a resort that is 70% studios, 15% 1BRs, 14% 2BRs, and 1% grand villas? If they did this, then I would never buy into such a resort. I prefer 1Brs and 2Brs. If they built a resort with this breakdown, it would effectively turn away those of us that purchase a larger amount of points because we like to stay in bigger rooms. That means that it will result in generally having to sell more contracts for less points. Instead of selling 1x 200 point contract to one person (or even breaking it down into multiple smaller contracts but for one person), they would have to sell 4x 50 point contracts to 4 different people, for example, who are only looking to book studios. This is a tremendous amount of extra work for them, and the customer acquisition cost is now times 4 instead of 1 which means less profit. We never even considered Poly, same as many others, because it is all studios. They tried the studio-only model, and it was considered a failure by many. The resort isn't a failure as I know many love it, but DVC has repeatedly said they would never do this again because it wasn't well received to do a studio-only DVC. Let's just ignore the bungalows because they are silly points-wise.

My point is that not all of us want to stay in studios. Extremely studio-heavy resorts will result in having to find more customers and encouraging those who only want studios to buy there. People who only want studios don't typically buy as many points. People who want larger accommodations are turned off if they put down all that extra money for more points but are in heavy competition for a limited amount of larger villas. I am just trying to explain the reasoning which would be mine as well if I worked there.

When you give your percentages are you talking in terms of percentage of rooms, or percentage of points that make up the system, there is a difference. (15% 1 bed rooms and 14% 2 bedrooms in terms of number of rooms is, more or less, equal number of each type, but if you mean percentage of points then it means there are 2X the number of 1 bedrooms as there are 2 bed rooms).

Grand Floridian Sales started May 2013
Poly Jan 2015
CCV March 2017

The Polynesian is 4 Million points, VGF about 2-2.5 Poly sold faster than the VGF, despite being more expensive and studio only.


DVC can say whatever they want, but they will be hard pressed to convince me that the reason the Poly is studio only had anything to do with anything but cost of retrofitting 50 year old buildings.
I dont see how the electric running to those long houses could handle electric stoves, refrigerators, the plumbing, etc. In my eyes, Poly being studios only was in large part, a construction cost decision.(remember its a massive steel structure - probably not very easy to reconfigure)

I dont like that the Poly is only studios either(I was set to buy a fixed week 1 bedroom lakeview, but passed on a studio bungalow view), I just dont see it as a failure business wise at all. plus, the construction costs were way lower using existing buildings and existing infrastructure. My guess is Poly was one of the most profitable DVC resorts because of this. If poly had been new construction, I do not think for a moment it would have been studios only.

But they should try to balance demand in each resort. No property should have more 1 bedrooms than 2 bedrooms, nor be a studio only.

Most people have no clue what percentage of a resort is what room type when they buy.

Of course thats because they are not on here reading our well informed posts

 

[TexasChick123]

When you give your percentages are you talking in terms of percentage of rooms, or percentage of points that make up the system, there is a difference. (15% 1 bed rooms and 14% 2 bedrooms in terms of number of rooms is, more or less, equal number of each type, but if you mean percentage of points then it means there are 2X the number of 1 bedrooms as there are 2 bed rooms).

Grand Floridian Sales started May 2013
Poly Jan 2015
CCV March 2017

The Polynesian is 4 Million points, VGF about 2-2.5 Poly sold faster than the VGF, despite being more expensive and studio only.


DVC can say whatever they want, but they will be hard pressed to convince me that the reason the Poly is studio only had anything to do with anything but cost of retrofitting 50 year old buildings.
I dont see how the electric running to those long houses could handle electric stoves, refrigerators, the plumbing, etc. In my eyes, Poly being studios only was in large part, a construction cost decision.(remember its a massive steel structure - probably not very easy to reconfigure)

I dont like that the Poly is only studios either(I was set to buy a fixed week 1 bedroom lakeview, but passed on a studio bungalow view), I just dont see it as a failure business wise at all. plus, the construction costs were way lower using existing buildings and existing infrastructure. My guess is Poly was one of the most profitable DVC resorts because of this. If poly had been new construction, I do not think for a moment it would have been studios only.

But they should try to balance demand in each resort. No property should have more 1 bedrooms than 2 bedrooms, nor be a studio only.

Most people have no clue what percentage of a resort is what room type when they buy.

Of course thats because they are not on here reading our well informed posts

I was referring to the type of rooms not the points.

 

[maloned]

What's the actual physical difference between the Preferred View and the Tower studios? Room size, location, view?

 

[skier_pete]

What's the actual physical difference between the Preferred View and the Tower studios? Room size, location, view?

Tower studios are going to be mini-studios where there is no kitchette and the bed folds up into the wall. I am not sure of the square feet but let's just say "much smaller" than a regular studio. There's only going to be 20 of them also. They only sleep two.

 

[crvetter]

Tower studios are going to be mini-studios where there is no kitchette and the bed folds up into the wall. I am not sure of the square feet but let's just say "much smaller" than a regular studio. There's only going to be 20 of them also. They only sleep two.

I believe they are 255 square feet. They do have the furnishing of the kitchenette (lacks a toaster and have to use the bathroom sink) inside the same wall system the bed folds into. There are also 24 of them and they should have "preferred" views, especially those on higher floors having excellent views of Epcot. The view is something that DVC is marketing them on (let alone the cheaper points), to make note all 24 are in the same area (3 per floor in the round tower area of the resort).

 

[Pyotr]

I've been looking at Google Earth and I just don't see some of the views that would qualify as preferred. Maybe I'm missing something. It seems that a majority of the resort either overlooks a parking lot or the CBR.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Preferred will be those with a view of the Fireworks/Epcot, and maybe Fireworks/HS. But I'm guessing just Epcot.

 

[ELMC]

This is Disney we are talking about. Any room that overlooks any amount of water whatsoever is a preferred view.

For what it's worth, I think it would be nice to look out off my balcony at a nice lake and the CBR. It's scenic and far better than views of rooftops, HVAC, and a giant tree right up against your window.

 

[maloned]

We got our booking. Preferred view studio. Thank you everyone!

 

[Brianstl]

Agreed- Poly was a fluke at 100% studios but to build a new resort with only 20 or 30% studios (forget the exact #) seems strange. It's clear that demand for studios far, far outstrips any other kind of room. I don't think even 50% studios would be unreasonable to truly balance demand.

This is why I prefer a point set up like BCV and BWV. Even though the price per point is a little crazy for how much time is left, 100 points gives you more options. It is a much more honest way to operate.