Considering renting vacation club points? Help.....

[Kimbeachy]

Hello all. I am planning a trip during the first week of December and am considering renting vacation club points and trying to stay at BLT or OKW or BWV or AKV.... Please help! Anyone with experience in this? Good, bad or NEVER AGAIN! lol.... Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tmbacon]

We used David's for our most recent trip, stayed at Villas at Wilderness Lodge. They were great to work with. dvcrequest.com

I think the points value went up to $14 from $13 just recently for dvcrequest. Another broker that we haven't tried is Scott's, dve-rental.com.

The above 2 are brokers - we felt "safest" doing it this way for our first DVC transaction. I know a lot of people use this board to look for points, or rent directly w/ a DVC owner at a cheaper cost. We may try that route in the future but I don't have enough experience to know how that works yet.

 

[CaptainEO71]

We've rented points many times before, mostly from perfect strangers here on The DIS or other websites. One thing to keep in mind is that you can't always get what you want. You listed 4 DVC resorts - that's good - because DVC point inventory is different from cash inventory. BLT is very difficult to get with points unless you rent from a BLT owner at 11 months out, so that may already be a non-option for December.

Go with one of the brokers mentioned above if you want miniman risk. Go direct with a DVC owner if you are ok with the risk & want the lowest price. We never pay more than $10/pt going with private transactions, but there's always risk involved.

 

[JKMJ441724]

I rented directly from individuals several times before I ended up buying my own points. I've coached my co-worker through renting from individuals on 2 or 3 of her trips.

Out of close to 10 rentals all together, we've had zero problems renting from individuals. It saves SOME money. Of course, you have to go with what you are comfortable with. If you decide to go with an individual, I would suggest that you have a pretty good idea of what you are looking for ahead of time. I've only rented for my sister using my points, and I got kinda miffed with her wanting to make several changes. She's my sister, so I did it without a fuss.

 

[goofy4tink]

The first week in Dec is going to be really tough! I own at both BLT and BWV....but waited a week to long to book, and am now on a waitlist!! I wouldn't expect to get BWV, or BCV. But, OKW may be available. I'm waiting for May 3 to see what other resorts are open for me to book. But I know there isn't anything available at BWV from Dec 3-7!!

As far as renting points goes...it's reliable and easy. I've handed over points to David's to rent out to someone else. It all went very well...at least from the vantage point of the person renting the points.

 

[Kimbeachy]

Thank you for the information. Did you enjoy your stay in a vacation club area of the resort? Having never stayed there, I guess I have questions about those areas themselves... do they still feel like you are at Disney?

 

[CaptainEO71]

Thank you for the information. Did you enjoy your stay in a vacation club area of the resort? Having never stayed there, I guess I have questions about those areas themselves... do they still feel like you are at Disney?

Oh absolutely! Many DVC villas are in the same building as the regular non-DVC rooms - such as AKL, and others are in a building attached or right next to the regular room buildings such as BWV, BCV & VWL. The only ones that had a short walk over to use the ammenities of the regular resort were BLT, Kidani & VWL (that we stayed at anyway).

 

[Lynne M]

You're already inside the 7 month window for DVC reservations, and the December is the very busiest time of year for DVC resorts. Most members planning trips for that period book at 11 months out. I think you may have a shot at OKW or AKV if you move quickly, but I wouldn't hold out much hope for BLT or BWV.

 

[Missyrose]

If you're talking about December 2013 then you need to adjust your expectations. The first week of December has become one of the hardest weeks to get at the DVC resorts.
If you're talking about this December, you will probably have SSR, OKW or maybe AKV to choose from. There may be a couple of nights available here and there at the resorts closer to the parks. So if you're willing to do a split stay, that may be an option.

The thing people tend to forget that timeshares operate much differently than regular resorts. Many owners book 11 months out to ensure they get the villa they want. And timeshares are designed to be fully booked at all times.

Good luck with your search!

 

[spiceycat]

Oh absolutely! Many DVC villas are in the same building as the regular non-DVC rooms - such as AKL, and others are in a building attached or right next to the regular room buildings such as BWV, BCV & VWL. The only ones that had a short walk over to use the ammenities of the regular resort were BLT, Kidani & VWL (that we stayed at anyway).

first of all VWL and BCV are NOT in the same building as WL and BC - the walk is about the same from BLT to CR.

OKW and SSR are like the Polyn, moderates or values - so they have several separate building.

would go with your favorite park - if MK - then BLT you can walk to it or VWL you can boat or bus to it.

Epcot - BCV (bwv works too) walking
Studios - BWV (bcv works too) walking or boat

the only park that nothing is near is AK - since AKV is like OKW and SSR bus transportation only - put them in the same place (my opinion)

if you plan on Epcot for 3 days - but only a day or even less at the other parks - would definitely try for an Epcot resort.

agree with others - you are several months too late for Dec unless you would like OKW or SSR - if you want Dec in BLT, VWL, BCV or BWV - then you need to make the reservation in Jan.

now cancellations happen all the time - so your might get luck - but don't count on it. then be disappointed that your resort of choice was not available.

 

[cheesemouse]

I also had the high hopes of renting dvc points. However, none of the brokers I tried had any points available to use. Apparently they are very hard up right now. So you can give it a try but will probably have better luck with renting from an individual if you don't care what resort you are at. If you do care, well then don't get your hopes up to high. Check out the DVC Rent/Trade board.