Anyone Ever Bought DVC Points

[pammy_su]

on the buy/trade board here on the boards. Plan on doing this for an upcoming trip to BWV in June and was looking for feedback. Who did you buy your points from and would you recommend that person. Any drawbacks, pros or cons. Will we have any troouble checking in since we are not DVC members. Thanks!

 

[Mary Ellen]

Welcome to the DIS Boards!

I'm assuming that you are interested in renting points from someone who already 'owns' them. I know, the 'lingo' is confusing.

There is a thread on the DVC board (A question for point renters...... ) while actually from the DVC owners point of view, does have some posts from people who have rented points from an owner. You could try PM-ing them for their opinions. [PM = personal/private message. You'll notice a 'PM' box at the bottom of each post. You can click on that to send a message to that individual poster.]

The main thing you should be aware of is: housekeeping (maid service). Since as DVC owners, this is our 'home away from home' we (and you as a renter from an owner) do not get daily maid service. On the 4th day of your stay you will get 'trash and towel service' - the trash removed and the towels replaces with clean ones. If you stay longer, on the 8th day there is complete housekeeping service. This pattern repeats for longer stays.

We actually enjoy not worrying about the maid service. If you have a 1-br., or larger, there is a washer and dryer in the unit. There are also laundry rooms for the studios to use. Each unit has a vacuum if the need for it should arrive (we've never needed it, but we don't have kids).

Whomever who rent through will (or they SHOULD) provide you with a confirmation from the resort. I've never heard of anyone having problems checking in as a renter.

Good luck!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Read the FAQs on the Rent/Trade Board. You don't actually rent points. You rent a reservation. The points are worthless to you unless you are a DVC member.

The FAQs should give you some information about what is available. Studios and one bedrooms hold 4 plus one infant. Two bedrooms hold 8 plus one infant. Three bedroom holds 12 plus one infant. Three bedroom units are very limited.

 

[Madmother]

How do you know how many points you will need for a stay at a DVC location?

Just suppose, I want to stay for 8 nights at the Beach Club. How many points would I need to "rent"?

I have done timesharing, but find the points system a little confusing.

 

[zurgswife]

Points are an exchange system....The point system is divided into 5 seasons....with the slower times require less points to rent a room vs holiday season which requires the most.

If you are interested in a certain time of year and would like to see how many points it would take feel free to PM me or email me and i'll look it up for you....I as a DVCer have both rented points from other members and rented my own points out....

 

[jgates]

I am interested in more info on this too. I have decided that when dd & I go back, we definitely want to do an Epcot resort again. We fell in love with the Swan, but I need to have other options open in case it is not available.

(And it will be at least 2 to 5 years money wise!)

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We have rented points 3 times and haven't had any problems. Usually the DVC member will require a deposit once the reservation is made (and you have confirmation of the reservation) and then payment in full is due about 90 days prior to arrival.
There is some risk involved. If you happened to rent from the wrong sort of person they could take your payment and then cancel your reservation. I always make sure I have the DVC member's full name, address, home phone #, and DVC membership #. Also I always talk to the member at least once on the phone.
If you need to know how many points you need feel free to PM me. I have a program on my computer that calculates the DVC points for each of the DVC resorts for 2002 and 2003.

 

[inky dinky doo]

There's also a calculator right here on this site that you can use to find out how many points you will need. Just go to http://www.wdwinfo.com/resort/dvcpoint.cfm

Sometimes it's fun to just play around with the dates and resorts yourself to see what you come up with.

Inky

 

[Madmother]

That's exactly what I was looking for. Now all I have to do is resort hop these places on my upcoming Thanksgiving trip and then convince DH to let us go again.

 

[zurgswife]

Beware DVC resorts are addicting.....if you stay once you will have to stay again....so heck you might as well buy in the DVC at that point...

 

[nisiemouse]

Madmother: I would do all the things TigrLvsPooh suggested when renting points except for asking for the renter's DVC membership number. I personally would not want to give out my number for security reasons. Just my opinion but I wouldn't hold it against the renter if they didn't want to give this information out. Have a great time resort hopping. We'll be there Thanksgiving too.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by TigrLvsPooh
...(snip)...If you happened to rent from the wrong sort of person they could take your payment and then cancel your reservation. I always make sure I have the DVC member's full name, address, home phone #, and DVC membership #. Also I always talk to the member at least once on the phone.
....

There is risk on both sides. With all due respect, I find it very hard to believe that a DVC member would give out his/her membership number. I definitely would not give out mine. (I'm not saying the poster didn't get the number. I'm just saying that he/she dealt with either a VERY trusting person or a very naive person). With all that information, a dishonest person has all the info needed to pretend to be the member and deal directly with Member Services. The DVC Member's name, address, and phone number and a written agreement should be sufficient.

FWIW, I have not read of any renter losing his/her $$ or having any check in problems. For those who decide to rent points, be sure you talk about cancellation deadlines ahead of time. Find out when (or if) you can get money back if you have to cancel and be sure you understand the payment deadlines. Renting a reservation from a DVC Member is NOT the same as dealing directly with Disney. If you are willing to accept the differences, you can get ultra deluxe accomodations for a very reasonable price.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Oops... that should say DVC reservation #. I've never had anyone's member #.