Did anyone have a bad experience Renting?

[McDISer]

Wow, I didn't think I would get this many responses.

I'm not going to quote questions posted to me, but I'll explain a little more of my situation.

I am working now with 1 person. He provided me with his cell. He called me. He will sign a renter/rentee contract before he even tries to make my ressies in 2 weeks.

I am going at one of the busiest times of the year. I want to stay at BWV's so I am able to walk to Epcot and MGM, plus I've read the area is a really great place to go and relax and get away from the crowds. I requested a Standard View, studio, non-smoking. I am not expecting any perks-never did.

I paid my dues chaperoning twice groups of h.s. kids performing at the MK. I just want to stay somewhere really nice and relaxing this time. I have 3 kids in college and I haven't been on a vacation in 4 years. I've been saving a long time to stay somewhere nice. Some posters make the value resorts sound like that is my level. I don't even want to go there with that one. I've read some great TR people staying there. If I can't get into the BWV, I will be calling CRO,


I believe that there has to be 2 sides of trust. Believe me, I would be crushed after paying an owner $800 after everything was said and done and getting to WDW and to BWV and finding out that my renter cancelled the reservation and I am without a room and out $800. He told me he will supply me an 800 number to call and I can check my ressie anytime. If that is a perk so be it, but I'll call it a "peace of mind".

I hope I didn't miss anyone, thanks moderator for stepping in.

I am going solo too, but there will be many families there I will be meeting with. It's my husbands busiest time, but he will be joining me only 2 days. I am staying 4 days at BWV and I am going to book something too for my first 4 days.

 

[Timmbco]

I have rented twice from this board. The first time was 2 nights at BWV. I wanted standard but wasn't available so I agreed on preferred. There was no problem with the process but when I got the room I highly doubt it was preferred as it was ground floor looking at driveway. The room (studio) was very nice and I was pleased but if I was a member I would have complained about the location being preferred .
The second time was at OKW. I wanted 7 nights in a studio. Member said there were 6 nights but I would have to move to a 1-bedroom for one night. I agreed but I think I was hoodwinked a little because when we moved from the studio to 1-bed, we checked out and back in to the adjoining one-bedroom and no one ever checked into the studio we just left. Now I realize things change all the time and I wouldn't have been suspicious except the amount of points we wound up renting were the exact amount the Member needed to rent out. Also, The Member never sent me the confirmation paperwork, although I did have a conf.# I could not get in touch with her so I was nervous. I was very happy to have member services phone # from my previous rental in order to confirm. The reservation was legitimate. Communication was poor.
Both of these rentals were paid for in advance when I received the conf. #. I am very appreciative that Members will rent their points.
While I consider both rentals successful, I wish I was myself a Member for the control. I am renting two more times in June and don't anticipate any problem. One of them I had to sign a contract...whatever, he already has my $$.
BTW- The One Bedroom @ OKW was awesome!!!

 

[Chuck S]

While I consider both rentals successful, I wish I was myself a Member for the control. I am renting two more times in June and don't anticipate any problem. One of them I had to sign a contract...whatever, he already has my $$.
BTW- The One Bedroom @ OKW was awesome!!!

Perhaps you should have used the $$ you paid for the rental of points as a down payment on your own membership. While yes, there is $$ required up front, and a monthly payment, in the long run it will save you money if you travel to WDW regularly.

I would not be so quick to judge the owner who said you needed a one bedroom that last night, studios are the first rooms to be booked up, it is quite possible when the owner made the ressie that no studio was available for that night, then they could have had a cancellation. I've had something become available while I was on the phone with Member Services that I previously was told wasn't available. Status changes minute by minute.

 

[Timmbco]

Chuck- I don't believe I was quick to judge the owner. I acknowledge that things change all the time and surely this could have been the case, but I did list several other reasons why I was suspicious. I had a phone # and several different e-mails to communicate and after she gave me the conf. #, I could not get in touch with her. Anyway, I wasn't complaining I was just reporting my rental experience.

 

[willidc]

We have rented from owners a total of five times with a sixth reserved for 2006 Food and Wine Festival in October.

We have rented everything from a studio to a two-bedroom. I have used two different owners: one at BWV and one at BCV. We usually stay about 8 nights each trip.

One of 'my owners' is actually from Scotland in UK. Aside from sending a check in the mail which was slow in arriving, no problems.

EVERY rental has gone smoothly and without incident. I admit to be being very nervous the first time until we checked in, but now we don't even give it a second thought. And we have not used contracts. I do have the owner fax me a copy of the reservation which I verify before I send money.

Good luck!

PM me if you have specific questions.

 

[rinkwide]

...Personally, I'd like to see MS not talk to anyone who can't provide a member number and the last four digits of thie SSN...

...I am opposed to "Member Services" becoming or acting as an alternate CRO for other owners. You rent your points, you deal with your clients, or share your proceeds...

...requests, whether it is regarding the room, dining plan or ME should be called in by the member not the rentee. MS should definitely not be making dinner reservations...

All renters should be required to wear a big scarlet "R" whenever they are on DVC property. Additionally, their entire party should be deloused before being allowed to check-in.

 

[Disneymaniacs]

All renters should be required to wear a big scarlet "R" whenever they are on DVC property. Additionally, their entire party should be deloused before being allowed to check-in.

Ouch!

 

[thelionqueen]

All renters should be required to wear a big scarlet "R" whenever they are on DVC property. Additionally, their entire party should be deloused before being allowed to check-in.

Well put, thanks!!

 

[twinmomplus2new]

I have rented three times.... maybe 4 since 1998.

I have never signed a contract. And I never would sign a contract. To me it's simple. I request a cashiers check in the amount of the reservation value we agree upon. When I receive the cashiers check from the renter I amend the reservation. ( actually in all 3 instances I have done it before money changed hands)

Then I simply forward the slip along with a little Thank you gift for the family involved. I much prefer to trust people are honest.
I know I am. and therefore expect the people I deal with to be so as well. Anyone that was difficult or presented themselves as such, I simply wouldn't bother.

Not all people that rent are in it for a profit and Not all renters are difficult.
Thanks Dennis, Kari and Alison. for being a pleasure to deal with at every turn.

 

[crisi]

All renters should be required to wear a big scarlet "R" whenever they are on DVC property. Additionally, their entire party should be deloused before being allowed to check-in.

Wear it, no. Brand it on their forehead....

No - I don't really mind if people rent. I don't see a qualitative difference between members and renters - I'm sure their are "trashy" members and "classy" renters. However, I do think something called Member Services should be used soley by members, and that if Disney wants to do our guests and renters the favor of providing services to them, they should provide another phone number. For one, then you'd KNOW if there was any real difference between costs for providing services to members and costs for providing services to non-members (or at least, they would know that).

To me, the extra services MS provides are similar to Conceirge. Just because you pay for concerige and say "hey, here is my reservation number - why don't you use it to book dining" doesn't mean I should take advantage of that - or be allowed to.

And I continue to be concerned about the controls in place. My understanding was that the control was the last four digits of your SSN before they even spoke to you....Since the CM can pull up your reservation with just the reservation number, is there any technology implementation to keep him or her from cancelling for a guest? No matter how well the CMs understand the difference (and I doubt they all do - since CMs have in the past shown a lack of knowledge about topics far less nuanced), people make mistakes. I get the feeling that the DVC systems are dated and aren't the best designed things in the world.

 

[brasey]

I asked for a fax of a reservation and they said they had no way of doing it and were not allowed and I am the actual member so if someone actually had that done I can not see how?

 

[Mom24Princesses]

Ok, question. Why does talking about other resorts on property make you leary?

Some people have a lot of points, some have more than one home resort and some still stay at non-DVC hotels even though they own DVC. We still do.

I have been lurking on the DVC threads to learn more. Your statement brings up a few questions.

You can use your DVC points to stay at a non-DVC resort??? i.e.Pop Cen. for fewer points??? How does this work? Can the points be banked for a few years?? What if we only want to use them to take a DCL cruise every-other-year???

 

[diznyfanatic]

I have been lurking on the DVC threads to learn more. Your statement brings up a few questions.

You can use your DVC points to stay at a non-DVC resort??? i.e.Pop Cen. for fewer points??? How does this work? Can the points be banked for a few years?? What if we only want to use them to take a DCL cruise every-other-year???

Yes, you can and you can also use your points to stay at many places around the world, as well as the Disney Cruise Line but it isn't the best use of your points, and I don't know of any resort where it would be fewer points than staying at a DVC resort.

I don't know what the actual point costs are to stay at the non-DVC resorts, but I do know it will cost you more points than a comparable length stay at a DVC resort, with fewer amenities than staying at a DVC resort.

Your points can also be banked but will expire, so they cannot be used forever that way.

The true value of buying into DVC is realized when you use your DVC points to stay at a DVC resort and stay Sunday - Thursday as on weekends the points are considerably more.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...You can use your DVC points to stay at a non-DVC resort??? i.e.Pop Cen. for fewer points??? How does this work? Can the points be banked for a few years?? What if we only want to use them to take a DCL cruise every-other-year???

You cannot use points to stay at value resorts or at resorts that have DVC villas connected to the resort - BWI, WL and BC. It usually takes more points to stay at a moderate or deluxe resort than it would in a studio or even a one bedroom villa. Those points are negotiated every year by DVC for members.

You can only bank one year's worth of points. But you can use up to 3 years worth if you are careful. Bank one year, use the current year and borrow the next years's points.

Cruise points change frequently and they seem to increase every year.

 

[diznyfanatic]

Thanks Deb, for clarifying that. I didn't realize that. I learn something new everyday here!

 

[rinkwide]

...Those points are negotiated every year by DVC for members...

Yes, but they don't seem to do that very well. It's a good thing they don't "negotiate" for the police or we'd have people jumping off buildings left and right.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Yes, but they don't seem to do that very well. It's a good thing they don't "negotiate" for the police or we'd have people jumping off buildings left and right.

That response doesn't make sense at all to me. WDW hotels are in the business to make a profit. The cost of a WDW resort room increases most every year. Of course what DVC would have to pay to the WDW resort would increase as well. If anyone purchased DVC to stay in a non/DVC resort, they weren't thinking very clearly before that purchase. It's just like trading to ANY non-timeshare facility. Exchanging there costs DVC, and thus the DVC member.

 

[cobbler]

I have been lurking on the DVC threads to learn more. Your statement brings up a few questions.

You can use your DVC points to stay at a non-DVC resort??? i.e.Pop Cen. for fewer points??? How does this work? Can the points be banked for a few years?? What if we only want to use them to take a DCL cruise every-other-year???

As others have posted yes you can. For example I am using my points to stay in the CR tower this year. It is costing me 40 points a night during value season and we are staying Sun-Thurs as Fri and Sat cost more. So my 5 nights at the CR is 200 points. I could stay in a one bedroom villa at SSR during the same time for under 200 for a full 7 nights.

However I chose to use my points instead of renting them out this time because I didn't want to mess with that at this time nor did I know much about renting when I made the reservation.

Next time I want to stay at a non-DVC resort I will rent or transfer my points

 

[kimberh]

I would like to rent points from a DVC owner. I received 2 different offers from DVC owners. One called me on Tuesday and said when the 11th month window opens up, he will try for my dates. If he is able to secure my dates, then I have to pay him the downpayment. I will then receive the contract from him and I have to pay the balance when due. I am just leary about him putting the contract in his name in the beginning, I wish he would put mine on right away.

I also just received a Rental Agreement from another DIS'er that typed one up on a Word document that he uses when he rents out his points. I am going to ask them to sign the agreement and if he refuses, then I know something may be not right. I did go look at his posts and he offered his points to other DIS'ers and other posts he had always talks about other hotels on property, so that made me a little leary too.

I hope everything turns out. Easter week is really getting expensive.

This is what bothers me with renters. They can't possibly understand how points work and the time owners put into dealing with a renter. Trying to get 2 or more people to get them a room and then comparing prices. If a owner pulls points up from a 2006 or 2007 UY depending on his month he just got stuck. I made two reservations for people, without any money down ,that were for sure. right? One I was able to cancel and the other I was able to rerent. I was new and the motto- Never Again. I will go out of my way to get the renter a room and then I will present the offer. I will not book it without money by Paypal because 9 times out of 10 they are still looking for a better deal. These are Deluxe accomadations that are being booked at moderate prices and some still want a value deal.

 

[castleri]

Wear it, no. Brand it on their forehead....

No - I don't really mind if people rent. I don't see a qualitative difference between members and renters - I'm sure their are "trashy" members and "classy" renters. However, I do think something called Member Services should be used soley by members, and that if Disney wants to do our guests and renters the favor of providing services to them, they should provide another phone number. For one, then you'd KNOW if there was any real difference between costs for providing services to members and costs for providing services to non-members (or at least, they would know that).

To me, the extra services MS provides are similar to Conceirge. Just because you pay for concerige and say "hey, here is my reservation number - why don't you use it to book dining" doesn't mean I should take advantage of that - or be allowed to.

And I continue to be concerned about the controls in place. My understanding was that the control was the last four digits of your SSN before they even spoke to you....Since the CM can pull up your reservation with just the reservation number, is there any technology implementation to keep him or her from cancelling for a guest? No matter how well the CMs understand the difference (and I doubt they all do - since CMs have in the past shown a lack of knowledge about topics far less nuanced), people make mistakes. I get the feeling that the DVC systems are dated and aren't the best designed things in the world.

I made a reservation for someone else yesterday and the CM told me to be certain to tell them about DME and DDP and that the person whose name the reservation is in can certainly call and add them if they wish. I don't have to do it for them. I questioned her saying I thought only the DVC member could call - her answer was that as long as the person had the reservation number they could call but that nothing involving points or the making or cancelling of the reservation would be discussed with them. They could however add DME and DDP if they wished and have questions answered about mousekeeping and other issues. I guess it comes down to the member makes the call or the person who will being staying there does. It is the same number of calls either way. The few times I have rented or given points to someone I have made it very clear from the beginning that there is no daily cleaning, only a certain number of towels and coffee packets etc. so they have a good understanding before they commit to the reservation. I also tell them I will be glad to answer any questions so hopefully the only things they might call for are the two items mentioned above.