Why Is Home Resort Priority So Important?

Ask any Disney Vacation Club Member and they’ll tell you to buy where you want to stay.   Over the years, DVC Members have seen it become increasingly important to have an 11 month Home Resort Priority booking window to book a reservation at their favorite resort.  

You may be wondering, if Disney Vacation Club keeps selling memberships, won’t there be so many DVC Memberships that it becomes impossible to book a reservation in a Disney Vacation Club Villa?  The short answer is “No”.  There is a limited number of points that may be sold at each resort.  In order to keep selling DVC Points, Disney Vacation Club has to continue building new DVC Resorts.  Although, this growth can make it more difficult to book unless you have Home Resort Priority.

With Home Resort Priority, you have an 11 month booking window at your Home Resort.  This is a 4 month head start over DVC Members who own at a different resort.  No matter how many members join Disney Vacation Club, you’ll have this 11 month priority.  For example, if you owned at Animal Kingdom Villas after it was considered sold out in 2014, today you are in competition with the same number of members that owned there in 2014 to book during your 11 month booking window.  If you were booking at a DVC Resort in 2004 within 7 months of your check-in date (the booking window for non Home Resort booking), there were fewer than 100,000 DVC Membership families competing with you.  In 2014 you were competing with approximately 200,000 member families, and today in 2020, we believe that number is closer to 250,000.  This is where you feel the impact of availability issues due to Disney Vacation Club’s growth.  

There are 15 DVC Resorts, 11 of which are at Walt Disney World.  4 Disney Vacation Club Resorts are located away from Walt Disney World, which leads to these availability issues.  Let’s use Aulani as an example.  DVC Members that have visited Aulani will likely agree that it is THE most incredible Disney Resort, period.  Aulani, one of DVC’s largest resorts, is consistently ranked as one of the best resorts in the United States, best family resort, and best in service.  Many DVC Members who own at Aulani will frequently use their points to book a Villa at a Walt Disney World DVC Resort.  There are several reasons for this.  For a time, DVC was only selling Aulani, so if someone bought direct during that time, Aulani was their only choice if they wanted to become a member.  Some DVC Guides also push Aulani, as the DVC direct incentives to purchase make it more attractive than other available resorts.  Many of these members live in the eastern part of the US and flights to Hawaii for a family are very costly, so it’s much more affordable to use their points to book DVC Resorts at Walt Disney World, only booking Aulani every few years.  The ability to use your DVC Points at the other resorts is a great DVC Membership perk, yet it does create availability issues at Walt Disney World when members owning at Aulani, Hilton Head, and Vero Beach are using their points at Disney World more frequently than at their Home Resort.

So, as DVC builds and sells more resorts, it won’t impact your ability to book a reservation, it will however, make it more challenging to book at the resort you’d prefer unless you have Home Resort Priority.  If you’re a member that’s flexible and you enjoy staying in different resorts, you should be fine, however if you’re considering DVC Membership and you want to stay in your favorite resort during a specific time of year, you’ll want to own at that resort.

Here’s a chart that details every Disney Vacation Club Resort and their room count: