Do you "rent" points to family and if so, for how much $?

[Dyefrog]

I'm currently in ROFR on my second contract in as many years primarily because my family and close friends appear to appreciate the deep discounts I can give them. I've been giving DVC the side eye since 1996 when my kids were small, knowing that it just wouldn't work for us. I only had 2 weeks vacation/year and we weren't local so the cost/time was a hard no. Fast forward 26 years and the stars have aligned. As newer grandparents, freshly retired, it's been a great source of enjoying my childrens inheritance to their benefit. To that end, without some sort of control or governor, it could become a free for all with its own thorns.
So I've set a price of $10/point with subtle variations depending on who gets the master suite vs the pull-out in the living room. Extremely easy to manage and keeps a handle on fiscal resposibility (theirs, not mine).
How do others handle sharing your points with friends and family?

 

[Sandisw]

If I am going with family or friends, I do not charge, even if I have to get a larger room.

If I book a trip for someone and not going, then I currently charge $7/pt. More often than not I am going so it’s been a few times only that I got reimbursement.

Most recently, my friend and hair dresser went. We are trading services with the equivalent of the $7/pt.

 

[DonMacGregor]

If it’s family, no charge. Friends I charge the price of dues.

 

[Pens Fan]

We have never charged family / friends when we all were there together. So far, we've never had enough leftover points to completely give any away (our son and his friends take care of those ), so I can only guess how we'd handle it. It would depend on the situation and who it was. I can certainly imagine just gifting them to certain people in our life, while others I might try to recoup our dues I guess.

 

[KeriBlujeans]

I currently can’t afford to just gift points, so I’m asking for reimbursement of my annualized cost + dues. (Total is $11.50 pp). This is still a good deal for my friends, and I hope that long term I can be in a position to gift points.

 

[RoseGold]

That's way, way below market. I guess I would either charge something close to market or nothing at all. I don't really get why you would charge in the middle.

 

[intamin]

I’m too poor to give points away for free :x sorry friends but also its been kind of nice to receive some reimbursement from them because they get to go on the dates they want and they don’t have to worry about going through some rando. We go at about market rate and it helps us break even faster and tips DVC into being more financially feasible. Just what we received from our friends during our last 2 trips its paid for our dues this year.

 

[tom1944]

That's way, way below market. I guess I would either charge something close to market or nothing at all. I don't really get why you would charge in the middle.

I actually saw that as being very generous to family. You allow them to take a trip at a nice discount.

Currently I only have 180 points so not enough to give away or rent cheaply. Maybe if we get to around 400 points and have gone multiple years, I can take family or let them use my points.

 

[jo-jo]

I’ve never charged when the kids/ grandkids come along. Don’t have enough points to worry about charging others. However, I’d probably fall in the $10-12 range.

 

[Dyefrog]

That's way, way below market. I guess I would either charge something close to market or nothing at all. I don't really get why you would charge in the middle.

That's an easy one.
If I charged market rate, most wouldn't go. My end game is sharing good times with friends and family and that would sabotage the effort. It's not a business venture.
Charging nothing could invite abuse as there are 3 children on the deed along with about a dozen other in-laws, cousins, etc. There's a limit to my generosity when a vested interest equates to an appreciation, real or imagined.

The rate is reasonably close to actual costs assuming break even at +10 years including something for time value of money. I happen to be in a fortunate position to fund the "investment" with occasional reimbursement of which they are all extremely grateful, thus the addonitis.

Net financial outlay for me is ~break even (less my stays). Our family gets vacations they wouldn't otherwise.

 

[Dyefrog]

I actually saw that as being very generous to family. You allow them to take a trip at a nice discount.

Currently I only have 180 points so not enough to give away or rent cheaply. Maybe if we get to around 400 points and have gone multiple years, I can take family or let them use my points.

I anticipate I'll need about 500 points of which I'm at 365 after closing this one. Once the novelty wears thin or grandkids hit high school, it may slow down. Will probably need to rent points from Dave on their dime if I can't keep up with it.

 

[Sandisw]

That's way, way below market. I guess I would either charge something close to market or nothing at all. I don't really get why you would charge in the middle.

I charge that because I would never charge market rate so I came up with a figure close to MFs. In 2022, it’s was $6/pt and in 2021 I asked for $5/pt.

I have gifted them as well for a night or two for free but most often, my friends wanted to give me something since I wasn’t coming.

 

[DonMacGregor]

I charge that because I would never charge market rate so I came up with a figure close to MFs. In 2022, it’s was $6/pt and in 2021 I asked for $5/pt.

I have gifted them as well for a night or two for free but most often, my friends wanted to give me something since I wasn’t coming.

That’s exactly how I look at it. I’m never going to charge my family for points (and it wouldn’t be a recurring thing anyway because they know what the points cost me, and they respect that), but I will charge close friends for at least the MF’s (if I have the points). Beyond close friends, I don’t see any reason why I would want anyone else using my points.

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

We've always used most of our points until recently and then we sold our smaller contracts. As a result I've really only rented to two friends and the rates I charge differ. One friend rents us his condo in the Keys and only charges us a bare minimum so I charge him ~ $10 a point. The other friend will give us a 25% discount if we ever use one of his timeshare weeks somewhere else so I charge him ~ $17 point. We all know what each person charges and everyone is satisfied with the arrangements so it all works out.

Edit - if people come with us and share a room we don't charge at all but they typically pay for groceries or a couple of meals.

 

[RichVIII]

I put this in the “it’s not an issue till it’s an issue.” It’s too easy when people don’t have something on the line to not easily flake out. 29 days out…hey…sorry we can’t go…thanks anyway. Now you are out points since they are sitting in holding. Immediate family is even different than distant family, let alone friends. Bare minimum is dues costs.

 

[davidhr]

If they're coming with us, no charge. If I'm using points for a trip we're not going, we charge them annual dues. If we don't like them that much then annual dues + the purchase price per point (per year)

 

[intamin]

If I were more well established I'd probably consider giving some points to friends but even then I'd likely charge at least MFs, I probably wouldn't charge my family with the caveat that if they cancel within 31 days they'll pay me back for the extra points I wouldn't have used had it not been for them being flakey

 

[MsChristy12]

We just became members, so we haven't rented out any of our points yet. However, I had thought about it before and it depends on which family & friends I will be renting to, I'll have different rates.

Closest friends, probably $12/pt, regular friends $16/pt (it's about double of my MFs). Family...well that's a bit tough for me personally because I had been burned before with Wyndham points so I'm a little more cautious now. They were for sure going with us (wasn't going to charge them at all), then they cancelled 3 months prior because a "better" vacation opportunity came up and they wanted that instead of Disney. It all worked out at the end, I didn't have to pay extra points, but I had to stalk the site daily for 1-bedroom availability and it took me weeks, which was stressful and a big hassle. With that said, I am not sure if I wanna give it out for free anymore to specific family members. I'll probably charge them $12/pt too.

 

[MsChristy12]

That's way, way below market. I guess I would either charge something close to market or nothing at all. I don't really get why you would charge in the middle.

Because they are family/friends....you scratch my back and I scratch yours....or at least I hope that's what happens! To me, it's not always about making the extra bucks.

 

[jo-jo]

I put this in the “it’s not an issue till it’s an issue.” It’s too easy when people don’t have something on the line to not easily flake out. 29 days out…hey…sorry we can’t go…thanks anyway. Now you are out points since they are sitting in holding. Immediate family is even different than distant family, let alone friends. Bare minimum is dues costs.

Yeah, sometimes you hear people think you pay so much to join and that's it, so since the points are free, no biggie if they cancel two weeks ahead.