Booking villas

[poonchkie]

Can anyone give me a summary of how you book a villa thru disney and/or a dvc member, it sounds very complicated. Do you reserve thru disney, then buy points or what? I have no idea how the whole transaction takes place. I need a room for at least 6 people and beginning to think off property may be the way to go. Going in November and really wan't to stay at BCV if possible.

 

[DebbieB]

Disney has some availability through CRO, you make reservations like any other resort.

To rent points from a member, the member has to make the phone call to DVC to make the reservation and then send you the confirmation.

Check here:

http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=29

There's a FAQ at the top of the board.

 

[GlennandAnn]

I amstaying at the BWV for the first time this June. I have never stayed at one before. I simply called CRO in January and booked the room. I have since been able to apply my AP discount to knock off about $150 total of the original price.

Glenn

 

[floridafam]

You can book through CRO or rent points from a DVC member. Take a look at the rent/trade board for more info on that.

You can do it either way. Sometimes CRO doesn't have full inventory available for the Vacation Club resorts because members get first crack at them. Just check for your dates and they should be able to tell you something-something that is not open now may open up later as members change their reservations. A certain amount of the inventory at the DVC resorts is automatically set up for CRO ressies with more added later as it gets closer to certain dates.

Does this make sense.

Make sure to take a look at the rent/trade board. You can usually "rent" a villa from a DVC member for a good price but you will not get housekeeping-you can pay a small fee for this though.

You probably would need a 2br for a family of 6 or a combination of some sort of a 1br/studio.

Good luck.

You may also be able to get AAA, DC or apply a code to a DVC property through CRO. Nothing is guaranteed and the best way to find out is to call and ask. Tell them your dates, where you think you want to stay and any type of discount card or code you happen to have.

 

[JLS]

You have two options - you can call Disney and just book a villa at the regular price using dollars, just like you would any other hotel room or suite (but keep in mind that the villas are very pricey doing it this way). IMO, the best option to get the most bang for your buck is to rent points from a DVC member for your stay. Go to the DVC message board on this site, and then the "rent/trade" board, which has Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the point rental process. Basically how it works is that you figure out when you want to go and what size villa you need and where, and then you can go to the DVC point calculator (follow the link from the message board) and put in your dates and calculate how many points you need (for example, you might need 200 points to rent a 2 bedroom villa for 5 or 6 nights).... then you post a message on the board saying something like "200 points needed for a 2 bedroom villa at Beach Club in January 2004" and then wait until someone responds.... also look through the messages of people looking to rent their points - if they have available the number of points that you need, email them. The general going rate for points is $10 per point (so 200 points would be the equivalent of $2000). There is no tax on point rental. Once you agree with someone to rent their points, ask that they make a reservation for your desired dates in YOUR NAME. Usually you will send them a deposit right away ($100 is standard) and in return they will send you the written confirmation of your reservation. Then you agree with the person when you are going to pay the balance in full (usually 30-45 days before your stay, but you can make whatever arrangments are agreeable to both parties). Point rental is a private transaction that involves trust on both sides. I have done this 3 times now and had terrific experiences and great values. I highly recommend point rental.

***A word of caution, the points necessary to rent a DVC villa DOUBLE for Friday and Saturday nights.... if you want to rent points, your best way to get a good value is to plan to arrive on a Sunday and stay until Friday.... Try to minimize the number of friday and saturday nights in your stay, because it is literally double. If you want more nights than just sunday through Friday, I would recommend splitting your stay so you don't pay a huge markup. Stay Sunday through thursday nights at the villa, and then reserve a room somewhere else for the weekend nights.

 

[GlennandAnn]

I amstaying at the BWV for the first time this June. I have never stayed at one before. I simply called CRO in January and booked the room. I have since been able to apply my AP discount to knock off about $150 total of the original price.

Glenn

 

[peachgirl]

We booked our OKW 2 br villa through CRO just like any other resort. If you didn't know better, there's nothing that happens that would lead you to believe that the DVC resorts are any different than the other resorts.


Renting points can be cheaper, but if you're staying on a Friday or Saturday, the points are terribly high. Through CRO those days are the same price as any other night.

Because of that and a really good discount, we paid less to reserve through CRO than to rent points! Plus we get daily housekeeping ( I think the charge for housekeeping when renting points is $30, but I could be wrong). Also, the cancellation and payment policies are more generous than what I found when looking into renting points.

Lots of people feel perfectly comfortable about renting points, I just didn't. Even if the price had been higher, I still would have gone with WDW.

At any rate, be sure and check it both ways...sometimes renting points isn't always the least expensive way.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you really want to stay more than Sun through Fri, go ahead and do it. If you average the points out over the entire stay, they aren't so much. We are DVC members and never book only Sun through Fri. We often arrive on Fri and stay through the next Sat. We hate to move out.