Originally Posted by
Fangorn
I am by no means an expert here, but based on my research and the 16 pounds of dead tree that DVC provides to it's members, this is one of the factors involved here - but not the most important one. Most of the factors are regulated by State laws, though.
Timeshare developers are required to have some units (2-5%) held in reserve for maintenance/refurb/etc. Those units can be rented for cash if they're not needed for that purpose at a given time. They cannot be rented on points as they are not "declared" inventory in the condominium association.
Developers cannot declare all the units as part of the condominium association - only a percentage based on the number of units sold to date. So for the Poly, since not all the points have been sold yet, not all of the rooms are technically yet part of DVC. Those rooms that are "undeclared" are owned by Disney and they cannot rent them as DVC units - only as cash rentals. Only "declared" inventory can be booked with points.
At the 60 day mark, any unsold DVC units can be turned over to Central Reservations for cash sales.
Any points that Disney buys back via ROFR or acquires via foreclosure belong to Disney as a member, not to DVC's inventory. Disney can rent those points for cash just like any other DVC member can.
Anytime a DVC member uses their points for something outside of DVC (cruise, non-DVC property, Adventures by Disney, etc. it reduces the number of DVC rooms. Technically, when this happens, DVC inventory is being used to pay for that non-DVC trip. DVC sells the inventory for cash to pay DCL, Adventures by Disney, or whomever. That inventory cannot be booked with points, since it technically already has been. Exchanges happen a lot and apparently is the primary source of cash DVC rooms for Disney.
I may well have some of this not quite right, but you get the idea. There's a lot going on here. It's not that Disney is taking advantage of DVC members, it's the way the system has to work. If Disney couldn't sell rooms for cash, prices and dues would be even higher than they are.
In the specific case here, we're dealing with the hottest property in terms of demand (Poly) and the time of the year (Fall) when DVC is used the most (fewer points needed, nice weather and lots to do). No real surprise there are no DVC rooms available. (BTW, there is availability at PVB for Jan and Feb right now.)
Steve