confirming reservation

[Deb & Bill]

The Villas at Wilderness Lodge are a bit more rustic than the Wilderness Lodge itself. That is because according to the Resort History the Villas were built as a railroad builder camp before the Lodge was built next to it.

I have some pictures from our stay last october:

https://picasaweb.google.com/brandis.org/201010WDW?authkey=Gv1sRgCM26mPCg_feQwAE&feat=directlink

I think the resort history may be a bit confusing because the villas were built after the lodge was built. But they may have been built to resemble the camp that might have built the lodge. Not really though. The villas are much smaller than the lodge.

 

[ccgirl]

No, it does not. If you, as a renter, trashes out the room, or it you leave a bad credit card on file for room charging, who do you think has to pay the bill?

DVC does not allow owners to use their points unless any outstanding issues are cleared. There have been occasional reports of owners getting stuck with a room charge tab.

Fortunately, the vast majority of people, both owners and renters, are honest folks...but there are very few bad apples. So to say an owners worry end when the payment is received is not correct at all. It is just like renting out your own home. If the renter trashes it, the owner winds upwith the bill to repair it.

This. I remember reading a story on the DIS where a renter left a bad card and charged a good deal of items to the room. The owner had to pay the bill so they could use their points then try to go after the renter.

OP - did you check the renter's referrals/references?

 

[HookdonWDW]

OP - did you check the renter's referrals/references?

OP is the renter

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well I am going to go with it. We could never afford the resort if we went through disney and my family is sooooo due for vacation. Its been a rough couple of years. You'd have to be a real slime ball to screw a family out of this knowing they are flying all the way to disney and counting on this vacation.

On a side note, anyone have any good info on VWL that they can share? Been to the wilderness lodge back in the 90's but never stayed in the villas. Is it much different? (probably on the wrong thread now, right?)

Did you try checking the confirmation on the link that erionm provided in the second post?

Here are a couple of threads for you to check out on VWL: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2714808 Feel free to ask any questions that you think of and someone should be able to help you out.

And here's another thread on WL/VWL from the resorts board that has lots of information. You'll find the VWL info further down in the initial post and then posts thru out the thread about it:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2319081

 

[Disneyfan1977]

One thing that also concerned me that I just realized is that he had availability at VWL when no one else did. I had a few DVC Renters checking for me and everyone else came up with the same availability. Maybe I would be better off renting through disney directly.....

 

[dandave]

Disneyfan, This rental seems to be stressing you. You have to decide how much your health and peace of mind are worth. The moderate resorts are very nice and will cost you about the same as the VWL studio.

 

[Chuck S]

If you have checked out the owner, via posting history on the boards, etc. AND if the confirmation number you were given shows up in the link erionm gave you in post #2, I personally would be comfortable continuing with the transaction. BUT as others have said, rental transactions are mostly a matter of trust on both sides. Not everyone is comfortable with that...and rentals just aren't the right thing for everyone.

Go with what your intuition and "gut" tells you to do, continue or cancel, what ever you are the most comfortable with. Vacation planning isn't supposed to be stressful.

 

[Sammie]

Or use a service such as David's Rentals or Timeshare Store, they both rent DVC reservations.

But as others have said, there is always some element of risk, hence the savings.

With Disney you pay more, but you are sure of what you are getting and can cancel if you need to.

 

[crisi]

There is another side here. The person you are renting from is probably trustworthy. They have gone through the effort to make you a reservation. They've had a few phone calls with you. Pulling the plug on them at this point frankly seems a little unethical on your part. Not that you aren't within your rights, but this is the reason I'd avoid renting my own points - all that work, points tied up for a week or so and then "I don't feel comfortable?"

You can't be certain, but you should have done your research and recognized this as a failing up front. And chances are very good you'll be fine.

 

[ccgirl]

OP is the renter

Sorry, meant the rentee.

One thing that also concerned me that I just realized is that he had availability at VWL when no one else did. I had a few DVC Renters checking for me and everyone else came up with the same availability. Maybe I would be better off renting through disney directly.....

I forget your dates of travel. But, owners at VWL have the availability to book at 11 months out. Those that don't own there can only book at 7 months out.

You have multiple owners checking availability for you? You really should only work with one owner at a time.

Did this owner already make a reservation for you? What were the terms of payment? I know with mine payment had to be received in 10 days (via check) or the reservation was cancelled. Different owners have different terms though. Do you have a contract?

Yes, you could rent straight from WDW but it would be much more money to do so.

I have rented and while I was nervous at first, it all worked out. There was a contract, the people renting had rented in the past, and I felt comfortable working with them. Personally, I wouldn't rent from someone who hadn't rented before but that's just my comfort level.

Good luck.

 

[CarolMN]

There have only been a handful of problems with rental transactions here on the DIS. Virtually all the transactions via the DIS R/T Board have been successful.

I think some of you are going a bit overboard with your warnings of possible fraud situations. If the OP has a confirmation that checks out on www.MyDisneyReservation.com/DVC and knows that the owner has a reasonable history here n the DIS, there is only a very, very, very, very small chance that it's a scam.

 

[Disneyfan1977]

There have only been a handful of problems with rental transactions here on the DIS. Virtually all the transactions via the DIS R/T Board have been successful.

I think some of you are going a bit overboard with your warnings of possible fraud situations. If the OP has a confirmation that checks out on www.MyDisneyReservation.com/DVC and knows that the owner has a reasonable history here n the DIS, there is only a very, very, very, very small chance that it's a scam.

Thanks for the link but when I tried it, it said that it didn't match their records. I put everything in correctly. Now I am really worried...does it have to close to check in/arrival time for this link to work????

 

[Sammie]

Thanks for the link but when I tried it, it said that it didn't match their records. I put everything in correctly. Now I am really worried...does it have to close to check in/arrival time for this link to work????

Nope this link should work as soon as the reservation is made. Just to make sure I checked mine and the link is working and I just made a change to mine within the last hour or so and the changes are showing up.

 

[Disneyfan1977]

Well that worries me. Also when I asked for references the gentleman quit communicating. And, I think its kind of funny that I had several dvc members checking availability and the only person who had exactly what I wanted was this renter........

 

[dandave]

Mine showed up yesterday, and our names were just put on the reservation yesterday.

 

[Disneyfan1977]

Mine showed up yesterday, and our names were just put on the reservation yesterday.

Well...just tried for the 8000th time and its not working. So upsetting....

Not sure what to do now. We haven't mailed the check yet but my kids are going to be sooooooo disappointed.

 

[Disneyfan1977]

Guess its time to start over again. Maybe I should just book through disney and go with a more affordable moderate resort......

 

[dandave]

Disneyfan, I looked through your recent posts. Did you just agree to rent this on the 20th, then start having second thoughts on the 21st? No one here knows all the details but you. You're obviously uncomfortable with this rental, though.

 

[Disneyfan1977]

Disneyfan, I looked through your recent posts. Did you just agree to rent this on the 20th, then start having second thoughts on the 21st? No one here knows all the details but you. You're obviously uncomfortable with this rental, though.

I'm only uncomfortable because I can't confirm it. Tried calling, they won't speak to me cause I'm not the owner, now I can't confirm through the provided link....when everyone else can...maybe I am over paranoid but I don't know if I want to take the chance.....

 

[dandave]

How did you get/see a confirmation number from DVC so quickly, if the ressie was just made on the 20th? What did the owner send you?