Tips for renting DVC points

Chris Hamm

butterflyology
Joined
Mar 21, 2019
Hi,

My wife and I would like to try DVC before we buy and have tried to rent points a few times without success. I think the terms of my request may be the issue and would like to ask for some tips to improve our chances of renting points.

How far out should we book?
How many nights are ideal?
What type of room we we aim for?

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much!
 
Choose when you want to go, and the type of accommodation, then contact a broker to hook you up with an owner. It's best to start a year out. I wouldn't plan a whole week in one resort if you are considering multiple resorts. 3-4 days should be enough. My wife and I did a week at BCV and another week at BLT, but we were in absolutely no hurry to buy. For 2 people, your decision for accommodation is either a studio or a one bedroom. Best to look at floor plans and video tours online to make that decision.
 
Hi,

My wife and I would like to try DVC before we buy and have tried to rent points a few times without success. I think the terms of my request may be the issue and would like to ask for some tips to improve our chances of renting points.

How far out should we book?
How many nights are ideal?
What type of room we we aim for?

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much!
Knowing the “terms” of your requests might be helpful. Are you trying to lowball the price? Do you expect the owner to allow you to pay in installments? Are you trying to book high-demand studios at the last minute?

How far out should we book? 11 months is advisable for some time periods and for studios. At minimum, 7 months if you aren’t picky about which resort you can get.
How many nights are ideal? There isn’t an ideal number, although some owners will require a minimum number of points per rental
What type of room we we aim for? Aim for what suits you. No need for a 2BR if there are just 2 people, but 5 in a studio will only work at select resorts. Don’t expect to rent club level villas at AKV or Value Views at AKV. BWV standard view studios are a tough get and some owners won’t even make the effort for renters.
 


My suggestion is to decide what resort you would like to own and then make a reservation 11 months in advance. Choose a length of stay and accommodation that is most like what you will want. Remember that studios will go quickly, so if that is what you want the 11 months in advance part is critical. Also, certain times of year such as marathon weekend and other holidays may also be difficult to book (especially studios) other than at 11 months. Also, consider that if you plan on including others in your vacation plans over time it may be worthwhile to look at a 1 bedroom.

Use a reputable broker and your all set.
 
How far in advance are you typically trying to book? When are you traveling and trying to stay?

Are you trying to get a studio?

We have rented three times. All three times our request was in before the 11 month window opened. All three times we were looking for 2 bedrooms. Our Bay Lake Tower requests were fulfilled quickly (traveling in Oct and May). Our Spring Break request for Beach Club eventually came through before the 7th month window opened but it did take a while to find an owner with enough points.

If you can not put in the request at 11 months I would consider trying a 1 bedroom if a studio is not available.
 


i used a broker in January of 2018 (same one i had used 3 times prior) to request a 2br standard villa and a value studio at Jambo House. this was more than 11 months so i was hoping to get the requests. on my 11 month day, the broker emailed and said i got both the 2br and value studio. We upgraded to annual passes and returned April/May of this year. We did a DVC tour and now we are NEW owners at our favorite resort (Animal Kingdom Villas Jambo ). Now, I can book my own rooms at 11 months out.

My point is this... if you really want sought after villa category then you will have to book 11 months out and going with a broker is so easy. Yes, you will have to pay the ENTIRE balance in full if they secure your room type and no refunds-so get insurance. good luck
 
When purchasing a DVC reservation from an owner (renting points), don't plan on booking AKV Concierge or AKV Value Villas. It probably won't happen.
 
Realistically, if you cannot regularly plan 11 months out, DVC may not be a good fit in general.
We've been members for 15 years and this has never been an issue for us. You have to be flexible with where you're willing to stay. (For those that despise OKW and SSR that could be a problem.) We never plan more than 7 months out and even then end up changing everything around until flights are booked.
 
We've been members for 15 years and this has never been an issue for us. You have to be flexible with where you're willing to stay. (For those that despise OKW and SSR that could be a problem.) We never plan more than 7 months out and even then end up changing everything around until flights are booked.
I still would not recommend this for a new purchaser, especially one who might wish to stay in fall.

6 months out from now, there are no studios. None.
 
I'm going to be dead cold honest....

If you do not have a good $30K in CASH, in a liquid savings account? DVC is not likely to be a good deal for you. FINANCING DVC is death on a stick. As one does not own real property? NO BANK will finance you. Disney will: at Credit Card rates (10% plus).

So - please? Consider all the other stuff.... cars, mortgage, kids education? We LOVE DVC.... but we never touched it until every thing ELSE was taken care of :(.

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.
 
I'm going to be dead cold honest....

If you do not have a good $30K in CASH, in a liquid savings account? DVC is not likely to be a good deal for you. FINANCING DVC is death on a stick. As one does not own real property? NO BANK will finance you. Disney will: at Credit Card rates (10% plus).

So - please? Consider all the other stuff.... cars, mortgage, kids education? We LOVE DVC.... but we never touched it until every thing ELSE was taken care of :(.

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.

I agree. If you want to think of DVC as saving money on accommodations over the life of the contract, pay cash.
 
When we owned DVC we owned some contracts outright, and financed others.
I have looked at the costs quite carefully, and although not as good of a deal as paying cash, financing still beat most every discounted rack rate.
That was many years ago so things may have changed.

ETA: I just noticed this post does not really belong in this thread. I now see I got suckered in by previous posts.
 
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