Disney discounts better than renting

[houseofduck]

We are DVC members. We usually use our points, but have rented to others a few times in the past.

Last year, I noticed, sometimes, people could get a better deal with a Disney discount rather than renting from me (at $12/point). This was true for 1 bedrooms during the summer. The price difference for studios and 2 bedrooms were better as a rental, but I don't know if it would be enough to make up for more restrictive policies (like no refunds and stricter cancellation policies).

Just out of curiosity, I checked a 1 bedroom at SSR for a week in July 2013 and saw that this is true again. At $12/point, I think it would be a little over $100 more than Disney for the same room. Is this something that happens often or does it mostly happen in the summer when point cost is high for us?

 

[Pootle]

I needed 4 nights at VB in January - OVIR including the weekend, so a total of 72 points, which I didn't have.

The member rate was a total of $645 plus tax, which I believe worked out at around $716 - so I would have needed to get points at less than $10 a point to be cheaper than this!

I realised then that when I am short of points, it will pay to check out the member rate before assuming that I should rent points from someone else. I'm sure there are a lot of times when this would not work though.

 

[drusba]

Not sure to which "Disney discount" you are referring or how the dollar cost would compare to the point costs of other resorts or other times of year. However, there are certain factors that would limit the possibility to summer, SSR, and 1BRs: (a) Disney treats mid-July to mid-Aug as a low price season (for all the premium resorts) while DVC points treat it as a high Magic season; there is no other time of the year when DVC's season is deemed higher than Disney's although there are times such as October when DVC is at a lower season point cost and Disney is at a higher season for dollar cost; (b) SSR and OKW are going to have the better bargains, e.g., you are usually not going to get BWV standard view even in mid-summer cheaper through Disney for less than the $12 a point it would cost through DVC; (c) the 1BRs have the highest relative point costs in comparison to studio and 2BR; i.e., 1BR weekly point cost is usually close to 100% higher than the weekly point cost of a studio but a 2BR is only 30% higher than a 1BR, while through Disney the dollar cost increments are more even making the 1BR less costly in comparison to its point cost, i.e., the 1BR is usually about 35% greater in dollars than the studio and the 2BR is about 35% greater than the 1BR.

 

[houseofduck]

I was referring to the summer, room only, 30% off discount.

In addition to the things you mentioned about the 1 bedrooms, I think another thing that raises the cost for the rental is the number of points required for the weekend nights. Without a weekend night, the rental would be less expensive than directly through Disney.

 

[vicki_c]

Notwithstanding ongoing debates about points renting prices, I also think $12/pt is high. We have rented once when we were outof points and I paid $10, which still seems to be the going rate for transactions with individual members. That's all I would pay at this time unless I was booking through a broker like David's for convenience or unless I wanted some very in demand place or time. So if you want to be more competitive with Disney, you might need to lower your price (not sure if that makes up the difference in your examples or not).

 

[houseofduck]

As I mentioned, we don't usually rent our points, we use them.

It was something that I noticed last year and it surprised me. In the past, when I rented, I always checked my prices against Disney's offers. My prices had always been much better than Disney's prices until someone asked for a one bedroom last summer. In that case, I told the person that they would be better off going directly through Disney. When I saw an ad for the summer offer, it reminded me of last year. That's why I checked again.

Knowing that brokers, like David's, charge even more than $12/pt, I was just curious if this situation happens at other times of the year.

 

[Brian Noble]

This was true for 1 bedrooms during the summer.

Summer---or, at least the part from mid-July to mid-August---is an odd time in the calendar. During that period, DVC is in "Magic Season," second only to the major holidays in point costs. But, CRO is in "Value 2" for the Deluxe and DVC resorts, which is the second *lowest* rate category. There might be other times of year with similar imbalances, but I think this is the worst one.

Furthermore, the 1BR point costs are usually roughly double the studio point costs, but the "cash premium" to upgrade from a studio to a 1BR is quite a bit lower.

I've even found the 2BRs to be sometimes better deals through CRO's prevailing discount than as a point rental during this period. What's more, CRO's change/cancel polices are much more liberal.

 

[JWG]

Here's an example that shows the value of renting.
We're going to Aulani 12/21 - 1/2. We have a 2BR 12/21 - 12/28. We have a 5 night problem after that. Currently we have 1 stuido 12/28-12/29 and another 12/28 - 12/31 and nothing 12/31 - 1/2.

We are going to make a cash reservation in a 2BR for 12/29 - 1/1 and then risk wait lists on 12/29 and 1/1 to avoid studio stays.

The 2BR points reservation is an Island Garden View. 70 points per night.
At 12/point, that's $2520 for 3 nights (the length of our cash reservations). The cash reservation is $1095 per night or $3285 plus tax. After taxis (and transient tax on the point reservation) the cost different is about $900 or $300 per night to rent points.

That's high point season with high cash season and no discounts available.
I'd much rather be using points than paying $3,600+. Split between 2 families, we're still paying $1,800 or $600 a night for a room.

Now, I see the value of our DVC.

 

[abner1776]

I agree with just about everything in the PP's...whcih is why renting points can be a great bargain for some...but not always.
Not all DVC resorts are created equal...BCV will always have a higher demand than SSR simply because of SAB and it's location. VWL is small and close to MK so it will generally be harder to book than SSR or OKW.
I also agree that $12/p is on the high side but again, it depends on what resort and when you are booking. Booking BCV and BWV during Oct can cost you $12/p or higher because of F&W while booking SSR in late January could cost you less than $10/p.
Everything is relative which makes planning all that more important when it comes to renting points for stays at DVC resorts.
My best advice to people interested in renting points...find a friend who is a DVC owner and "make 'em an offer"