This is apt to be long. And you'll probably end up with several variations, from various people.
Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is a subsidiary company of Disney. (The actual name of the subsidiary may be different; I don't have access to my legal documents and it's been 16 years since I bought in and I just don't think about it that much.) It's a timeshare, which means that people technically "own" some part of the resort they buy into (their 'home resort'.) I once figured I might own about a one square foot area in one bathroom, somewhere in the Boardwalk Villas resort.
Instead of a more traditional timeshare, DVC sells "points". You buy a certain number of points for a set price and, if you keep up your maintenance fees and don't try to destroy the rooms you stay in, you are considered a member in good standing and you get your points 'refilled' every year at the beginning of your "use year". For example, my "use year" is June, so the points I purchased 'refill' again on June 1st. You use points to make a reservation at a DVC resort. Each type of room, as is normal in a hotel, costs a different number of points. A 1 bedroom is, generally, going to cost more points per night than a studio room would. And, just like a regular hotel, the time of the year and the view you have will also directly influence the number of points that it takes to make a reservation.
Some people, for whatever reason, may not want or be able to use all the points that they have in their account during their use year. They have some options in terms of pushing those points to the next year ("banking" them) or putting them into another option entirely, other than Disney (putting them into the RCI system,) but many people will consider "renting their points". The term renting is used, mostly I think, to make explicit the fact that they are not actually selling their timeshare, only selling some small portion of their total points (a DVC contract will last at least 40 years - that's at least 40 years of the same number of points available to the owner each year, so one reservation is just a fraction of the total points an owner technically owns.) And, honestly, what happens is that they are selling an existing reservation to the 'renter'.
The process is generally as such: Owner says to self "hmmm, maybe I should try to rent some points this year". Renter says to self, and then to Owner (via various methods, discussed below) "hey, I'd like to go to a DVC resort for a night or many nights - how about we negotiate something." The Owner needs to know what resort the Renter wants to stay at, what nights the Renter wants to stay, what size room the Renter is interested in, and what view the Renter wants to get at that specific resort. That will allow the Owner to determine how many points that specific reservation would cost. (Many Renters can also figure this out on their own and probably do, if only to get an idea of their potential cost before they actually spend much time trying to find an Owner able and willing to work with them.) Since the Renter cannot (literally
cannot) make the reservation with the Owner's points by themselves, the Owner and Renter come to some agreement over how much the Renter will pay the Owner for the reservation (usually expressed in $$$ per point) and the Owner makes the reservation, gives the Renter's name as the person who will be staying on the reservation, receives the money from the Renter (or ends up cancelling the reservation) and the Renter shows up to the resort and enjoys their Disney vacation.
You, as a potential Renter, can use various methods to find an Owner. You might know someone personally, you might use the Rent/Trade boards here on Disboards, or there are at least two 'middleman' services that you can go through. There are various and minor differences with each method, but you basically will end up paying someone for the reservation that's been made in your name.
Most of the people that frequent this board are likely Owners. Some will have rented prior to buying in, but you may find a larger pool of people who've rented on the regular Resort boards. You can get an idea, however, of cost by simply determining what kind of reservation you're interested in - what resort, what dates, what type of room and what view - and calculating the number of points needed yourself. I believe that at least one of the 'middleman' sites will also give you an idea of total cost based on the factors I just listed. Then you can enter basically the same data into the regular Disney site to get your comparison.
Be aware that there are significant differences between a 'regular' Disney reservation and one made via a 'rental of DVC points'. When you go through Disney, even if you are reserving a DVC resort room, Disney will treat it like a regular hotel room. The timeframe for what you'll owe, the penalty for cancelling (if any), and the service you'll get will be different than you'll have if you 'rent' from a DVC owner. Generally you'll owe more earlier, though of course that's up to the Owner and you to decide in the contract you sign with them. Also, the ability to cancel is usually far more restrictive with a rental contract. And, since you'll be treated as a timeshare member, not a hotel guest, you'll find that housekeeping services are far less frequent (instead of them coming daily, it's basically every 4 days.) Finally, the price for a reservation made via Disney will be (or should be, otherwise why would you rent a DVC reservation?) significantly higher. As well, there are certain perks such as 'free dining' that you will not be able to take advantage of if staying via a
DVC rental reservation.
and would really LOVE to make that happen for my family (read "ME"!!!).
