Advice on renting from two DVC Members

[JasonCFamily]

I'm a first time renter of DVC points. Lets say I rent a 2BR at VWL for 5 nights, and then a month or two ahead of time I find a member willing to "fire sale" some points that allow me to rent 3 more nights in the same type of room on the front or back of my current reservation (assuming room availability). Will the resort make me switch rooms? Or can they connect the reservations when I arrive? Thanks for the help!

 

[erionm]

If both of the members that you rented from were to contact DVC, those two reservations could be linked. Under the current system, you would need to check-out and then check-in but you would not have to change rooms.

 

[Tamar]

Though you may have to check out and check back in, that doesn't mean you'll have to switch rooms (though you may). I think the best bet might be to call the resort directly 2-3 days in advance...by that time they have probably slotted you in to your first room.

 

[robinb]

Frankly, I don't think that you will find availability for a 2BR at VWL 2-3 months ahead of time.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm a first time renter of DVC points. Lets say I rent a 2BR at VWL for 5 nights, and then a month or two ahead of time I find a member willing to "fire sale" some points that allow me to rent 3 more nights in the same type of room on the front or back of my current reservation (assuming room availability). Will the resort make me switch rooms? Or can they connect the reservations when I arrive? Thanks for the help!

Fire sale points doesn't mean there is any availability. It just means poor point management by the owner.

 

[mjc2003]

Frankly, I don't think that you will find availability for a 2BR at VWL 2-3 months ahead of time.

I just found one 6 weeks out.

 

[Missyrose]

Though you may have to check out and check back in, that doesn't mean you'll have to switch rooms (though you may). I think the best bet might be to call the resort directly 2-3 days in advance...by that time they have probably slotted you in to your first room.

You can't "call the resort directly." If you call, you'll get a call center and likely whatever answer the call center gives you won't mean much come check-in time.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Though you may have to check out and check back in, that doesn't mean you'll have to switch rooms (though you may). I think the best bet might be to call the resort directly 2-3 days in advance...by that time they have probably slotted you in to your first room.

The OP doesn't own either reservation until the moment she/he checks in. He/she can't do anything about the reservation until that time. The owners of the points must make any requests, link the reservations, etc.

 

[supersuperwendy]

Good luck finding someone who wants the hassle of linking reservations for you. I did that once... I rented one nights worth of points to someone who already had a booking with someone elses points. She asked me to help her link them. Let me tell you this was a nightmare and I would never do it again. I played phone tag with her and DVC over and over...finally we had to do a three way call with me and the other owner. never again!!!

 

[crisi]

From Wendy's post, if you were lucky enough for this to happen (and I think that would be unlikely), I'd take it upon yourself to make all the arrangements - set up a time for the conference call when DVC is open and both members are available.

One problem that a lot of renters have is that once the reservation is made, ME is done, and dining is confirmed, if the person you are renting from is a casual renter with a busy life, they sort of think that their job is done. It can be hard to get them to return phone calls and make changes. For most members, DVC reservations are "fire and forget" - we don't call MS once the reservation is made.

But I think your bigger problem will be lucking into that room for any of these problems to even be an issue. Its one thing for a member to find a specific room at short notice, we have the luxury of checking the website every day and calling every day and sometimes, something happens. You need to find a renter with distressed points, then, on the day he calls, a room needs to be available at VWL at either the beginning or the end of your trip - the odds are not in your favor for this idea at all. An owner with distressed points is looking for a renter who will take any reservation they can make - they need to move the points - they don't want to spend time on phonecalls that are likely to be fruitless.