Talk to me about renting points...

[Ms.Mouseketeer]

hello

I'm in the early stages of planning a disneymoon and would like to rent points for our stay. This will be the first time renting. Have you used a service or gone directly through a renter? Tell me the good bad and ugly of both please. Any tips, comments or concerns are helpful. I don't want to be scammed but I'd like to save a few dollars if possible by going through a person directly.

Also how does dining work? Does someone make my reservations or can I do that myself?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

When you "rent points" you are actually renting a reservation at a DVC resort made for you by a DVC member.

• The member will control the reservation until you check in.
• Your booking is generally non-refundable and cannot be cancelled for refund due to the restrictions of a timeshare booking by the owner.
• You will often need to pay in full up front, versus the $200/first night's stay deposit on a booking with Disney.
• Any changes, special room requests or adding the dining plan have to be done through the owner. Dining plans must be paid in full at the time that they are added to the reservation because that's the way that DVC works.
• Tickets, FP+ and ADRs are your own responsibility.
• DVC units are not the same as staying in a hotel room. Aside from not getting daily housekeeping, you will not get 2 beds in a studio unless you're staying at OKW. What you get in a studio is a queen bed and a full sleeper sofa. Some studios will also have a Murphy bed that is smaller than a twin bed that will accommodate a 5th person. Most 2BR units are a 1BR+a studio, so if you're looking at a bigger unit for a larger group, know the bed set up.
• You will have all of the advantages that any Disney resort guest gets (like EMH, access to the resort's theme pool, ADRs at 180+10, FP+ at 60 days prior to arrival, MBs) but none of the benefits that DVC members have (such as member discounts or events or Top of the World Lounge).
• You will not qualify for any additional Disney discounts. You also are unlikely to get any kind of upgrade (and should not ask for one, as the owner who made the reservation for you may be charged for it).
• Demand for DVC rental far exceeds the number of available units and owners willing to use their points for a rental. DVC is designed to be at or near 100% occupancy all year long.
• Your chances of getting exactly what you want are much greater if you have lined up someone, who owns at the resort that you are interested in booking, at least 11 months in advance of the day you wish to arrive. The probability of success goes down from there.
• A broker is a go-between between a renter and an owner. To meet your reservation request, they need an owner, with the right number of points, in the right use year, at the right resort -- AND the unit needs to be available. This can be a challenge to get alignment on.
• In general, as a renter do not expect to book Boardwalk Standard Studios or 2BR, BLT Standard Studios or 2BR units, Grand Floridian studios, or Animal Kingdom Value or Club Level units. You can ask, but have backup plans (and budget, in the case of the Standard/Value units).
• DVC "busy season" does not align to what people think of as high season at Disney, and starts in late September and runs through marathon. Epcot resorts and near-park can be hard for owners to book during Food & Wine.
• Renting from a DVC owner can get you staying at a deluxe resort, in a villa-type room, for less than a standard room at that resort would cost from Disney. But it is non-refundable.
• If there is any issue, Disney will not be a part of any fix, as your transaction is not with them.

David's DVC is a sponsor of the DIS and highly reputable. DIS also has a Rent/Trade board where owners may list points for rent.

 

[chalee94]

for the first time renting, I'd go with David's since he provides a bit of a safety net.

as she said, dining reservations are your responsibility. but if you want to use the DDP, you'd have to add that (and pay) in advance through the DVC owner.

a lot of us use undercovertourist or mapleleaftickets to save a few bucks since there is no requirement to buy tickets directly from Disney to book the DDP or whatever...

 

[spencerbomar]

for the first time renting, I'd go with David's since he provides a bit of a safety net.

as she said, dining reservations are your responsibility. but if you want to use the DDP, you'd have to add that (and pay) in advance through the DVC owner.

a lot of us use undercovertourist or mapleleaftickets to save a few bucks since there is no requirement to buy tickets directly from Disney to book the DDP or whatever...

for the first time renting, I'd go with David's since he provides a bit of a safety net.

as she said, dining reservations are your responsibility. but if you want to use the DDP, you'd have to add that (and pay) in advance through the DVC owner.

a lot of us use undercovertourist or mapleleaftickets to save a few bucks since there is no requirement to buy tickets directly from Disney to book the DDP or whatever...

 

[Dawn68PA]

Before I bought in, I had a private DVC member I rented from on 3 occasions and I had no issues. Now that we own, if I rent, I use David's. It's effortless.

 

[alldiz]

I would definately go with Davids rental.
Biggest negative with renting is being solid with your dates you can't change.... being it's your honeymoon your dates are probably set.

I have used his service once, but I rented my points. Within 24 hours I made a reservation for someone. I was shocked and very happy how fast and easy. With waitlists I can see why it happened so fast.

I would pick your top 3 resorts that you love and ask them which is more likely and go with that.
BTW leave that wedding money at home.... before you come home with a Dvc contract
Happy planning
Kerri

 

[DVC Doctor]

Fortunately scams are rare and they usually happen with people with single digit post counts or a new DISboard member.

If someone is active here, then that is generally a good sign.

Most non-brokers will gladly allow changes and modifications to a rental, but do not refund deposit money for a cancellation.

 

[Maavernon]

We are hoping to book Aulani for Spring Break. We have enough points for the standard grand villa, but I wanted to know how would I go about getting an additional 139 points if I want to book the ocean view grand villa? I have rented points before so I'm familiar with that experience, but we weren't DVC owners at that point. The confusion now is adding the points into my account? We have 600 points already. I would have considered booking a 2BR and a studio, but sadly none of the studios are available during our dates.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We are hoping to book Aulani for Spring Break. We have enough points for the standard grand villa, but I wanted to know how would I go about getting an additional 139 points if I want to book the ocean view grand villa? I have rented points before so I'm familiar with that experience, but we weren't DVC owners at that point. The confusion now is adding the points into my account? We have 600 points already. I would have considered booking a 2BR and a studio, but sadly none of the studios are available during our dates.

Most point rental brokers will not do point transfers. They will book a room for dates working with another owner.

If you want a points transfer, you will need to find a DVC owner with 139 points for transfer. You only get one transfer per UY.

 

[Maavernon]

Thanks! So I need to look for points transfer. And the one time per UY isn't an issue since we have banked and will be borrowing from next year to get the 600 we have.

 

[GotLabradors]

We rented points for our last vacation. We initially went through David's for a rental at the end of September. We were looking for a 1 bedroom villa. The only thing David's had at that point were available at Old Key West and Saratoga Springs. Since I am a monorail girl, we started looking for an owner that could rent at VGF or BLT. (Poly had not opened yet.) We found an owner here on the Dis. It does take a leap of faith to do a private rental, but I think scams are the exception and not the rule. We had a contract with the owner. We could see the reservation in MDE. We ended up getting a 1 bedroom villa at VGF for about $450/night. We did not do the dining plan since there is no way my family would eat that much food. I had the owner lined up so that the reservation could be made exactly at 11 months out from our vacation. It was well worth it. We're not the kind of people who need the beds made and room cleaned every single day. Even walking down the hall at VGF, the mousekeepers would ask us if we needed anything for our room. We really enjoyed our stay at VGF with our kids. Our vacation was fantastic.