cash nights for renters?

[jnrrt]

I'm renting points to a friend this fall, and have enough points to do it, but would rather not use up so many points for her Friday and Saturday nights. I've never rented before - we've just brought people with us, but I'd like to help her out and still not wipe out all my extra points. Can she pay cash for Fri. and Sat. the way I could? How does this work (paying for it and cancellation), as we've never used cash nights? I assume she wouldn't get the member discount, but I don't think she'd care since it's pretty close anyway, and I'm letting her use my points for the rest. Is there any other problem with this that I don't know about?

Thanks for your help.

 

[dianeschlicht]

The problem is that she might have to change rooms for those two nights, and no, she can't get the member discount. Only the member can get that discount, and the member must be the one staying in the cash discount room.

 

[CarolMN]

I know that the member has to be staying in the room to get the 25% member cash discount. I don't know if that applies to rack rate cash reservations made through MS, though and have not yet seen this particular situation addressed on the boards. I also do not know if rack rate cash nights reseved via MS come from points inventory, but I assume they do. In either event, there could be an availability issue.

Of course, your friend can always reserve the Friday and Saturday nights through CRO (if available). The CRO reservations can be cross referenced with the DVC reservations and vice versa. That would minimize the chance of having to change rooms between cash and points reservations (although she would almost certainly have to check out and then back in again) If you can reserve the cash nights through MS, your friend would not have to change rooms.

If you call MS to ask about reserving a cash night at rack through them for your frined, please let us know what MS says. Thanks.

Best wishes -

 

[Pa@okw95]

I'm renting points to a friend this fall, and have enough points to do it, but would rather not use up so many points for her Friday and Saturday nights. I've never rented before - we've just brought people with us, but I'd like to help her out and still not wipe out all my extra points. Can she pay cash for Fri. and Sat. the way I could? How does this work (paying for it and cancellation), as we've never used cash nights? I assume she wouldn't get the member discount, but I don't think she'd care since it's pretty close anyway, and I'm letting her use my points for the rest. Is there any other problem with this that I don't know about?

Thanks for your help.

The problem with that is she will be paying a lot more for the room then I assume you are renting the points for. The rack costs of these rooms are not cheap, these are top rate rooms and costs run high.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Yes, you can book cash nights through MS for your friend. These nights will be secured by your credit card, but that is only a problem if your friend is a no-show for the reservation, and your card would get billed. The cash nights will be paid by your guest when they check-in. Be sure to request the cash nights be linked to your points nights. That way, the reservation is viewed as a single reservation and your guest will not have to move. As mentioned, you will not be able to secure the member discount unless the reservation is for you. Depending on how you value your points, most times it is "cheaper" to pay cash for the weekends than to use points.

 

[jnrrt]

Thanks for all the replies.

I just called to try and figure this out, and here is what they told me.

The reservation is the weekend before Thanksgiving, so it's choice season for DVC, but regular season for cash rooms. I was able to get the entire reservation for her through MS, but she cannot get any discount. If a discount she can use does come up (she gets an AP or a code or whatever) she'll have to rebook those 2 nights through CRO to get the discount. In that case they can link the reservations, but they will not guarantee that she won't have to move.

Because it's choice season for us, renting points is a really good deal for her. She was quoted about $130/night at ASM with taxes (rack rate).

I reserved OKW for Thurs on points (8), Friday and Sat on cash ($289+tax x's 2), Sun-Tues on points (24). So if I rent them for $10/point she'll pay me $320, and Disney about $640 for a total of $960. ASM would have been about $780. OR, if I rent her points for Friday and Saturday too, it'll be $420 which saves her another $220 for a total of $740 - less than the ASM.

So, how good a friend am I? Do I rent the Friday and Saturday points too? Do I wait and hope she can get some sort of code (I'd have to borrow some points to get her Friday and Saturday, and don't really want to use them if she could get a comparable deal with a code - but I don't want to make her move either!)? What to do, what to do...

And does this whole point thing make you feel so much better about owning DVC? I know it does for me.

 

[jnrrt]

Sorry, double post.

 

[lizziepooh]

You could rent points for her from another DVC member and have them transferred to your account so you could make the complete reservation. That would conserve your own points.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

If your friend is good with numbers, she will know she's making out well on the deal. If it were me, I'd have her pay the cash for the weekend so I'd have the points to use for myself later. 42 points is another 5 night stay (S-Th).