DVC policy - Can't rent points?

[dianeschlicht]

I am a member, I rented points to add on one night. The reservations are linked and they asked about that. I said that i rented the points for one night.

Her comment was something like don't let anyone know, its not allowed.

SO did you have the other member make the reservation for that one night and link them to your existing reservation, or did you have the points transfered into your account? If you "rented" points and had them transfered in, that might be what caused the comment. If you rented a reservation that the other member made for you....the MS castmember was blowing smoke.

 

[OhioDVC]

I've rented out extra points before (less than 2-3% of total points over 17 years) and on occasion I get an inappropriate comments from MS. I always ask them to have legal call me if their is a problem with me making a reservation in a guest's name. Usually an apology follows and legal has never called

 

[paeskie]

There is certainly a lot of gray area in the terminology used here. Renting seems to be used by some to define transactions usually referred to as Transfers. The term "rent" also carries a strong implication of money changing hands in exchange for the use of someone else' property. If MS knows you paid someone for a transfer of points into your account, then they would consider that "illegal" as it is specifically forbidden.
If you rented a reservation from another owner, you are certainly within your rights. I suspect, as others have suggested, that MS is trying to discourage it. They are told it is "bad" for DVC and they start using terminology that says it is "wrong".

 

[smangan10`]

I've made plenty of reservations to rent points to non-members and the DVC never mentioned I couldn't do it.

 

[OhioDVC]

I've made plenty of reservations to rent points to non-members and the DVC never mentioned I couldn't do it.

I totally agree. I believe that the DVC by-laws state no commercial renting which is different then an occasional rental when a member has extra points

 

[JimMIA]

A couple of years ago, DVC did a mild crackdown on people they considered to be "commercial renters." Just for reference, some of these people apparently owned tens of thousands of points under numerous registrations and were engaged in high-volume rentals for profit.

The distinction that the DVC lawyers came up with was they considered anyone who made >20 reservations in a single year for persons other than the account owners to be potential commercial renters. Those owners received letters from DVC cautioning them, and possibly requesting additional information on their activities.

I'm sure very, very few DVC members would ever reach 20 rentals in a single year.

 

[DVCGeek]

you can probably avoid any issue of being challenged on an actual transfer of points by simply phrasing the contract to have the payment made to you in exchange for your transfering your right to reserve the amount of time in your home resort that is represented by a certain number of points and then as part of that contract agree for no additonal payment to transfer the applicable number of points.

Interesting idea and excellent point about "points" having no intrinsic value; I never looked at the legal meaning of that relative to 'renting' a transfer...

 

[jolia]

I think what MS does not like is the 3 way call that sometimes get done for "rented points" (Not that I would do such a 3 way call..). I just finished with one.. she was not pleased...! I should have selected 1 for the quick survey about the call!!

 

[bumbershoot]

I think we see too many anecdotal accounts of members being told stuff like this for it to be the accidental misstatements of uninformed CMs. I'm sure MS management has let the CMs know that DVC wants to discourage renting whenever they can, because rentals are direct competition with inventory that DVC owns.

Since the POS allows it, I find it very difficult to imagine MS telling their reps to say something that goes against the POS, which lawyers drew up...

I find it far more likely that people are getting the same rep or two...if people would start using names it would be easier to determine (but I think that's against Dis rules).

 

[locodemickey]

I think what MS does not like is the 3 way call that sometimes get done for "rented points" (Not that I would do such a 3 way call..). I just finished with one.. she was not pleased...! I should have selected 1 for the quick survey about the call!!

I thought that I was one of the special ones to always get chosen for the MS survey I get chosen every time I call! I wonder if they just do that for every single caller...

 

[Debbie & Bill]

Just rented points today, it's part of your rights...check your documents from when you bought. As long as your not in business your good to go. It's a great way to share the magic and offset expences

 

[cm8]

Ok, so if you post the least little thing around here that is against Disney's policies it get censored, uh removed, and you get warned, but they have a sponsor who is renting out points commercially, which is against Disney's rules and that is ok? I mean, don't get me wrong, I think it is great that you can use a company to rent points from, I may do that in May of next year, from this sponsor. But, ewwww if I were to post tips on how to get around some of Disney's rules I will get a scolding! This seems like a double standard here for the DIS. Maybe I am missing something.

I'm sure someone will be along soon to clarify this!

 

[CarolAnnC]

Just to clarify here - we do not have a sponsor who is "renting out points commercially". We do have a sponsor who acts as a matchmaker matching folks to others who do want to rent out reservations with their points. That is not against DVC policy.

And these DIScussion Forums do have some Posting Guidelines which most folks enjoy since it keeps us from becoming a Free For All here. There are many other websites anyone can visit on the internet if they do not feel they can remain within our Guidelines, of course.

Now back to our DIScussion topic of "renting DVC points"..