DVC rental site question but don't know where to post

[maxiesmom]

I keep looking at renting thru David's, but the whole not able to cancel thing makes me nervous. I know you can get travel insurance, but do you buy that after they confirm your reservation?

 

[dansdad]

I keep looking at renting thru David's, but the whole not able to cancel thing makes me nervous. I know you can get travel insurance, but do you buy that after they confirm your reservation?

That's when we've bought it.

 

[gatormom2tots]

We have used Davids, dvcrental store, and dvc-rental and have not had any issues at any of them.

As somebody pointed out, while the avaiability is the same, the points in holding at any of the stores is different as it depends on home resort. We have had to check multiple management companies before in order to secure hard to get reservations. This is what ultimately led us into renting privately from owners and even walking reservations at the 11 month mark. I will say Davids is VERY quick to refund money if they are not able to secure the reservation or the points to make the reservation- like 24 hours.

At this point, we usually do use private owners we find right here on the boards-its a little cheaper and having rented in the past so we are familiar with the process. The key is to "check" on the person you are doing the rental from. I have never once heard of an issue from a renting arrangement made here through disboards- not saying it doesn't happen, but it is certainly not the norm. Obviously, you sign a contract and rent from somebody with posting and rental history.

 

[mckenk]

We used David's on 2016 trip at AKV. Everything went great! We are going to the Poly the week before you next year. We submitted requests at Davids and Rental Store, but was waitlisted for both and found an owner on here.

 

[bumbershoot]

Part of the fun for me is planning a year out and booking my own ADR's and Fast passes. The one time I used a travel agent she took a shower before calling disney the morning of our ADR's and I didn't get one of the restaurants.

In case you don’t know, even if you use a TA who will do adrs it doesn’t mean you have to let them. You can still do all the FP adr etc planning you want to.

I only wish AKL was closer to everything .What a beautiful resort but we felt secluded there.

Didn’t you say you’ll have a car? Once you have a car everything is just a car ride away. I think you said your husband wants to be on the monorail, and that’s fine, but then AK is far away.

AKL is my least fave resort that I’ve stayed in at Wdw, but when you have a car it’s fine.

 

[Cloudless Nights]

Have used David's three times for three separate split stays - everything was seamless and easy!

 

[monica9]

In case you don’t know, even if you use a TA who will do adrs it doesn’t mean you have to let them. You can still do all the FP adr etc planning you want to.



Didn’t you say you’ll have a car? Once you have a car everything is just a car ride away. I think you said your husband wants to be on the monorail, and that’s fine, but then AK is far away.

AKL is my least fave resort that I’ve stayed in at Wdw, but when you have a car it’s fine.

We are staying at AoA for a night since our youngest loves the Little Mermaid so we will go to AK that day and then do the rest of the parks once we get to Poly so everything is just a monorail or quick bus ride.
It's not even the distance for AKL that makes it feel secluded, just something about it. Walking out of BC/YC, BWI, WL, CR, GF and Poly you are always seeing the hustle and bustle and views of other resorts/parks. I know AKL's appeal is the serene secluded feel I just like being "IN" the magic so to say.

 

[Dbktmc]

We will be making our first trip this June on DVC rental points. We have paid cash for the past 20+ years but hearing about the savings from people on this board made us quite interested in trying it out. We are working through a private owner... it is a friend of my husband's boss so we feel pretty comfortable with them. For years I wanted to try and rent but could never get over my nervousness. Everything seems to be the same as when I booked through Disney myself so I don't think that we will be "missing" anything.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We will be making our first trip this June on DVC rental points. We have paid cash for the past 20+ years but hearing about the savings from people on this board made us quite interested in trying it out. We are working through a private owner... it is a friend of my husband's boss so we feel pretty comfortable with them. For years I wanted to try and rent but could never get over my nervousness. Everything seems to be the same as when I booked through Disney myself so I don't think that we will be "missing" anything.

What you'll be missing is daily housekeeping. You'll only get limited services every four days. If you are there seven nights or less, you'll only get your towels replaced (and other amenities) on day four. Plus daily garbage pickup (Disney spying). If you stay eight nights or more, you get a full cleaning on day four and your towels and amenities replaced on day eight.

But if you make your bed at home and pick up after yourself, you won't miss anything at all.

 

[Jodi-Lee]

Thanks for posting about the housekeeping info. Last time we stayed at AOA for five nights and got the $50 gift card for declining housekeeping and we thought this would be an option for our second trip at AK renting Dvc points. Good to know! thanks!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thanks for posting about the housekeeping info. Last time we stayed at AOA for five nights and got the $50 gift card for declining housekeeping and we thought this would be an option for our second trip at AK renting Dvc points. Good to know! thanks!

There is no option to decline housekeeping with deluxe or DVC (which are considered deluxe). You could decline if you wish, but you wouldn't get any gift card.

 

[monica9]

What you'll be missing is daily housekeeping. You'll only get limited services every four days. If you are there seven nights or less, you'll only get your towels replaced (and other amenities) on day four. Plus daily garbage pickup (Disney spying). If you stay eight nights or more, you get a full cleaning on day four and your towels and amenities replaced on day eight.

But if you make your bed at home and pick up after yourself, you won't miss anything at all.

Are the washers and dryers free to use? Wondering in case we decide to want to wash some towels before day 4.

 

[Tess]

Are the washers and dryers free to use? Wondering in case we decide to want to wash some towels before day 4.

Yes! If you are in a studio, however, you will need to bring your own laundry soap, etc.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Yes! If you are in a studio, however, you will need to bring your own laundry soap, etc.

If you are in a one bedroom or larger, you'll get one single use box of laundry detergent each service day. And no dryer sheets. So you'll probably want to bring your own stuff to do laundry. If you are in as studio, there are usually small laundry room near the pools of SSR and OKW or in a single room in the DVC resorts attached to hotels. There will be a limited number of washers and dryer in these laundry rooms and most of them are HE washers. Getting your laundry in the washer might be tough, but you have to watch it because if you aren't there when your load is finished it will be moved from the washer or the dryer is someone else needs it. You can't just leave your laundry while you head to the park (unless you are doing it in your villa).

 

[Miffy]

OP--I know this has already been mentioned, but, to me, the main disadvantage of renting DVC points is that you can't cancel or change anything once you've made the reservation. You're planing for something 7 or 11 months in advance and anything could happen in the interim, or even when you're there. I've had trips I had to totally rearrange the dates of for various reasons--and I was able to move my WDW reservations without a problem. I also once had a trip when I had to leave mid-trip because of illness, and WDW didn't charge me for the days I wasn't there. That was a room-only reservation, btw. For me, the cost of renting DVC points would have to be an amount of money I wouldn't mind losing, which is why I've never rented DVC points.

Yes, of course, it's very possible that everything will work out, that the dates that seem fine when you book will still be fine at the time of your trip. Yes, you can buy trip insurance, but that's another expense and also may not cover some circumstance that would cause you to cancel or want to rearrange the dates for your trip.

For me, these are big considerations. You may not feel that way.

 

[monica9]

OP--I know this has already been mentioned, but, to me, the main disadvantage of renting DVC points is that you can't cancel or change anything once you've made the reservation. You're planing for something 7 or 11 months in advance and anything could happen in the interim, or even when you're there. I've had trips I had to totally rearrange the dates of for various reasons--and I was able to move my WDW reservations without a problem. I also once had a trip when I had to leave mid-trip because of illness, and WDW didn't charge me for the days I wasn't there. That was a room-only reservation, btw. For me, the cost of renting DVC points would have to be an amount of money I wouldn't mind losing, which is why I've never rented DVC points.

Yes, of course, it's very possible that everything will work out, that the dates that seem fine when you book will still be fine at the time of your trip. Yes, you can buy trip insurance, but that's another expense and also may not cover some circumstance that would cause you to cancel or want to rearrange the dates for your trip.

For me, these are big considerations. You may not feel that way.

Yes, it's a big decision. I think with renting points and then buying insurance I will still save us $1200. I can't justify paying that much more for the same vacation. I totally understand where you are coming from. If something was so drastic that we had to cancel completely I'm not even sure I'd be worrying about the $2500 I lost.

 

[belsanti]

There is no catch (in the sense of it being fake). It's cheaper because you're booking it from someone who "owns" it. It's like renting someone's timeshare at another resort, it ends up being cheaper than buying direct.

The only "catch" is that you can't cancel it or change the booking once you book it through David's or another company. You also don't get DVC member discounts (but you do get free hotel parking). Also, you typically need to plan your vacation much further out than originally because DVC rooms get booked up fast.

For example, we booked our two upcoming trips 9 and 10 months in advance.

We've used David's (Polynesian @ $17 per point) and everything went smoothly. You can still control fastpasses, add ADR, do magical express, etc. (You link your reservation to your MDE app.)

We now just book straight from members for a bit cheaper. We create and sign contracts with them, and if you build a good enough relationship with the owner, you can sometimes edit your booking or cancel it last minute. But for a first-timer, I'd suggest using David's or DVC rental because everything is taken care of for you and they do the heavy lifting (hence why it's a bit more expensive).

If you have any questions, feel free to message me. I've learned a lot about this over the past couple of years.

I agree with your recommendation of booking straight through owners. We have planned our last 4 trips through the same person. Unfortunately they have since sold their DVC and I am a bit overwhelmed with all the rental websites. Do you have owners you recommend and trust? Planning a trip in August 2019. Thanks!