Renting DVC Help

[thornton0511]

Just an FYI...Davids rentals require you to pay the entire amount up front once the reservation is made for you.

Yeah I kind of hit a stopping point there because I am right now just figuring it all out and not necessarily ready to jump in. That is why I posted here cause I know you guys would be a great help

 

[thornton0511]

One thing you can do is ask the person you are renting points from to tell Member Services that you need a "Travel With" number on your reservation. That means they will try to place your studios as close as possible to each other because you are "traveling with" the other people in your party. Many studios are lockoff portions of a 1-BR or 2-BR villa, so it's sometimes difficult to get studios right next to each other, although we have done it.

Of course, you can try requesting connecting or adjoining studios first, but since they can't guarantee that, also request a "travel with" number. Good luck!

P.S. David is a very reputable owner/broker.

That is good to know thanks

 

[thornton0511]

I attempted to rent DVC points for Animal Kingdom a few days ago for essentially the same dates (Nov29-Dec6). The Value Studios were unavailable, but at that time, there was availability at a Standard Studio. (May be gone now though). The problem I ran into was that neither service I was going to use to rent the points had the points available. I decided to stop looking at that point.

Anyway, good luck and I hope you get what you are looking for.

I am sorry to hear that you had such a hard time . We would love to get AKL but really any studio that has two rooms available would be okay. Thanks for the heads up and good luck with your planning too

 

[Sammie]

Think of it as being similar to Priceline, you get a great value but with that comes restrictions.

Almost all will require some money up front to check availability for you. Almost all will have no cancellation or very limited. Pay in full prior to arrival.

No daily housekeeping, you will get trash removed and towels replaced on the 3rd day of your stay.

Whether you book privately with a member or use a broker the semantics are the same. You still are booking through someone you do not know, in fact with the broker you will have no contact with the actual member, the broker will.

The member will be the one that has to make requests, any dining plan if you want that, which has to be paid in advance also.

So reading the sticky notes on the Rent/Trade forum is really a necessity so you know what is involved. The rooms that require the least points such as value studios are some of the first to get booked and the 11 month is a must for those rooms.

There are no studios at DVC that connect to other studios. You might get near each other but due to the way studios at AKV connect to one bedroom villas, it prohibits getting connecting.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...Of course, you can try requesting connecting or adjoining studios first, but since they can't guarantee that, also request a "travel with" number. Good luck!

P.S. David is a very reputable owner/broker.

You can request connecting studios all you like, but they do not exist. Anywhere. Studios only connect to one bedroom villas to make two bedroom lockoffs. There are also very few adjoining studios.

 

[Lynne M]

Just an FYI...Davids rentals require you to pay the entire amount up front once the reservation is made for you.

You'll likely need to do that no matter who you deal with.

There's risk for both sides in a rental transaction, and one of the ways that owners mitigate their risk is to require payment as soon as the reservation is made.

Look at it this way.....if the owner agrees to let the renter make payments over time, and suddenly the renter stops sending payments (believe me, it's happened)...now what? Sure, the owner can just cancel the reservation and try to find someone else to rent to, but what if there's no longer any availability? Now they're stuck with points they can't use and can't rent, which means they're likely going to lose them. DVC cancellation policies are more restrictive than just making a hotel reservation.

It's important to remember that the source of these rented points isn't some giant hotel company....they're just regular Disney-lovin' folks, who can't use their points for some reason. Whether they rent their points through a broker like David, or on their own, they're not doing it to make a big profit, they're just trying to cover their DVC maintenance fees and/or loan payments.

 

[Tikihula]

You can request connecting studios all you like, but they do not exist. Anywhere. Studios only connect to one bedroom villas to make two bedroom lockoffs. There are also very few adjoining studios.

You're right about the connecting studios, and I should have caught that. We did have standard view adjoining studios at Kidani in November, so I guess we were lucky with that one.

 

[pamkat1820]

Silly question- we are planning on renting points soon. After we have secured a reservation with a member will we be able to see it on the Disney website like a regular reservation threw Disney. It would make me feel better being able to login and see it in black &white

 

[tourguide81]

I've rented from David several times and only have wonderful things to say. I think there is a chat feature on his website and it tells you if someone is available or not. I might try to ask some questions that way first. I will say the process is easier now that you don't have to call into Disney on a 3 way call together, that was kind of odd.

If I remember correctly, and we rented a studio in the BCV last December, I got a number from them w/ my paperwork that I could use to look up my reservation and then see it in online as well as make my ADRs, etc.

In my opinion it isn't too good to be true, renting DVC is an awesome option. In fact that is the only way we'll be doing Disney for the forseeable future. At the times we go, we've been getting a similar price per night for a studio as we would for a regular room at a moderate resort. No brainer for me.

 

[MissouriPrincess]

We rented through the DVC Rental Store this past summer. We rented a two-bedroom villa at Kidani. It was awesome! My parents had a section of the villa to themselves, my teenager slept on the fold-out in the living area, and my husband, three-year-old and I slept in the king bed. Also, you get three bathrooms at Kidani in a two-bedroom!

The DCV Rental Store allows you to make two payments on the room. Also, he will check availability for you for free. All my questions were answered within hours over email, and it really went smoothly. We did buy trip insurance in case something horrible happened to make us miss our trip. You do need to be sure that you are going to go otherwise.

It was great! Good luck to you!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Silly question- we are planning on renting points soon. After we have secured a reservation with a member will we be able to see it on the Disney website like a regular reservation threw Disney. It would make me feel better being able to login and see it in black &white

Yes, you can. Although be aware that some things might not appear of the Disney website even though they have been booked e.g. Magical express (At least that's what the broker told me).

I am travelling to WDW for 11 nights next year during the start of the F&W festival. I decided to rent points at 9.5 months out. I contacted Davids first and they told me that they didn't have the points immediately available to book any of my choices. So I contacted DVC Rental Store as well who said they had points and availability for BWV preferred view available. I couldn't afford all 11 nights there, so I booked just the first 5 nights. The very next day Davids got hold of me to say that AKV points had come through (standard view at Jambo), so I snatched these up for the remaining 6 nights. I am so excited about my split stay - particularly since finding out that I was able to get a BoardWalk view studio at BWV. Upon payment and confirmation, I was immediately able to see both bookings on the Disney website.

The service I have recieved so far from both companies had been excellent. Contact with Davids company has been completely professional and comes with the reassurance that he has a good reputation and has been around for years. Meanwhile the woman I've been dealing with at DVC Rental Store has given me the friendliest and promptest service I've ever received from a travel company, and as someone who's travelled quite a bit, that's saying a lot. Obviously, I haven't seen the bookings through to completion yet, but so far I'm impressed.

I could of gone the private route and saved an extra few hundred dollars, but I'm far too much of a worrier to deal with that level of trust.

 

[pamkat1820]

This will be our first trip renting points my problem is in a control freak. So letting it go and depending on someone else to do the work is a big challenge for me. I feel better going with a broker but a cheaper price per point is nice too. We r leaning more towards David's though. We tried to book with them on our last vac but they didn't have any points for where we wanted to stay. This time we have a longer booking window = better chance lol

 

[lync]

We rented through Dave also. We rented at 11 months for a 2 br value at AKL. They didn't have a member with enough points on the first day but they emailed me the second day and let me know they were able to secure the reservation. Everything has gone smoothly so far....our trip is in 23 days!!

 

[meredith1]

My window opened up yesterday to rent from David's for the first week of December. We were trying for 250 points to stay in a two bedroom suite at BLT w/ MK view. It was a no go. He didn't have any members willing to give up that many points.

We ended up getting the room through Disney yesterday. We are going from Dec. 30 to Nov 6. I've only been able to secure Nov. 30 through Dec. 4 because all that has been released to disney at this point.

Oh, and I did notice they don't want to talk to you on the phone...they much prefer the email thing.

 

[stargazertechie]

I have rented from DVC owners now for 4 vacations. 3 were through private parties, once through a broker for a last minute trip. We did have the unfortunate need to cancel one trip (due to a death in the family).

BUY TRIP INSURANCE! Make sure you get a rental agreement in writing. Find out what the trip insurance company needs for a cancellation, and make sure you get that information FROM THE BROKER or MEMBER prior to signing any paperwork. We are out the $150 in cost for the trip insurance, but we got our check in the mail for the full cost of our rental ($1600).

We're spoiled now, and it's the only way we go to Disney. I don't trust housekeeping staff in hotels to begin with (I've had personal property stolen before) so knowing that over the course of an 8 day trip I'm saving $1,000-$3,000+ off of the rack rate of a similar room in exchange for giving up daily housekeeping and the flexibility to cancel is a NO BRAINER to me IF and ONLY IF I am 99%+ certain that the trip will not change.

 

[Sammie]

Yes, you can. Although be aware that some things might not appear of the Disney website even though they have been booked e.g. Magical express (At least that's what the broker told me).

I am travelling to WDW for 11 nights next year during the start of the F&W festival. I decided to rent points at 9.5 months out. I contacted Davids first and they told me that they didn't have the points immediately available to book any of my choices. So I contacted DVC Rental Store as well who said they had points and availability for BWV preferred view available. I couldn't afford all 11 nights there, so I booked just the first 5 nights. The very next day Davids got hold of me to say that AKV points had come through (standard view at Jambo), so I snatched these up for the remaining 6 nights. I am so excited about my split stay - particularly since finding out that I was able to get a BoardWalk view studio at BWV. Upon payment and confirmation, I was immediately able to see both bookings on the Disney website.

The service I have recieved so far from both companies had been excellent. Contact with Davids company has been completely professional and comes with the reassurance that he has a good reputation and has been around for years. Meanwhile the woman I've been dealing with at DVC Rental Store has given me the friendliest and promptest service I've ever received from a travel company, and as someone who's travelled quite a bit, that's saying a lot. Obviously, I haven't seen the bookings through to completion yet, but so far I'm impressed.

I could of gone the private route and saved an extra few hundred dollars, but I'm far too much of a worrier to deal with that level of trust.

I have heard nothing but good about both services and you have used both and were pleased.

After using both, what level of security do you actually achieve by using a broker versus dealing direct with a member. I mean both brokers are contacting members to get the points for your reservation that you have no contact with, that member still controls the reservation until check in and must make all requests etc. The brokers are not able to do this.

What am I missing, it seems to me with a private transaction at least you know the member and have contact with them.

I understand the convenience of using a broker but have not understand how it increases security of the transaction.

 

[Dean1972]

The advantage of using a broker such as David's is that he holds back 50% of your payment which is not paid to the DVC member, until the renter checks in to the DVC resort( he holds in escrow ) which ensures a valid booking is made & held until guests actually check in. Ie if DVC rental owner cancels they do not get the remainder of ther rental payment .

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I have heard nothing but good about both services and you have used both and were pleased.

After using both, what level of security do you actually achieve by using a broker versus dealing direct with a member. I mean both brokers are contacting members to get the points for your reservation that you have no contact with, that member still controls the reservation until check in and must make all requests etc. The brokers are not able to do this.

What am I missing, it seems to me with a private transaction at least you know the member and have contact with them.

I understand the convenience of using a broker but have not understand how it increases security of the transaction.

Like Dean said, they hold back part of the payment.

Also, they have contracts written up for both parties. I know you can write up contracts doing it privately, but I wouldn't be knowledgable enough to do this properly.

Because I was going through a broker, it was much easier to use a credit card. Credit card companies usually provide some back-up in cases of fraud.

Lastly, these businesses have a reputation to uphold. They don't want people coming on here saying that the points holder cancelled their reservation and the broker did nothing about it. Call me naive, but if something went wrong, I like to think that the broker would try to do something to sort it out.

I realise that even using a broker comes with risks. But IMO those risks are less than sending a whole heap of money directly to the points owner (aka stranger).

 

[Sammie]

Like Dean said, they hold back part of the payment.

Also, they have contracts written up for both parties. I know you can write up contracts doing it privately, but I wouldn't be knowledgable enough to do this properly.

Because I was going through a broker, it was much easier to use a credit card. Credit card companies usually provide some back-up in cases of fraud.

Lastly, these businesses have a reputation to uphold. They don't want people coming on here saying that the points holder cancelled their reservation and the broker did nothing about it. Call me naive, but if something went wrong, I like to think that the broker would try to do something to sort it out.

I realise that even using a broker comes with risks. But IMO those risks are less than sending a whole heap of money directly to the points owner (aka stranger).

Thanks that makes it clearer.

 

[Dean1972]

Well said Wanderlust NZ

It is for the reasons you outlined that I will be using a broker. Points may cost slightly more but peace of mind is worth it IMHO.