DVC Rentals from David's

[okienick]

DISers, I'm considering a trip for 2014 with extended family and looking at the possibility of utilizing Davids for a DVC rental. I've never done this before and would most likely want to add the dining plan and get discounted tickets from some place other than the one they promote on their website. What do I need to consider? Pros/cons of utilizing Davids, or just a DVC rental period (I don't know if there are other providers...Davids is the only one I've researched)? It seems like you could get a really great discount at a deluxe location by renting the points, but I realize you are limiting yourself to only that discount since you have to basically pay in full and can't cancel. I would no longer be eligible to book a promotion through Disney if it was a better deal overall. Is the savings worth it to utilize Davids? Just trying to figure out if there is something I haven't considered. Any tips, pros/cons you can provide would be great! Thanks in advance.

 

[Deb & Bill]

DISers, I'm considering a trip for 2014 with extended family and looking at the possibility of utilizing Davids for a DVC rental. I've never done this before and would most likely want to add the dining plan and get discounted tickets from some place other than the one they promote on their website. What do I need to consider? Pros/cons of utilizing Davids, or just a DVC rental period (I don't know if there are other providers...Davids is the only one I've researched)? It seems like you could get a really great discount at a deluxe location by renting the points, but I realize you are limiting yourself to only that discount since you have to basically pay in full and can't cancel. I would no longer be eligible to book a promotion through Disney if it was a better deal overall. Is the savings worth it to utilize Davids? Just trying to figure out if there is something I haven't considered. Any tips, pros/cons you can provide would be great! Thanks in advance.

You can purchase your tickets any where you like. They just offer their vendor as a suggestion.

As a DVC timeshare reservation, you get limited housekeeping. If you stay eight night or more, you get a full cleaning on day four (day one is check in day) and on day eight you get your towels replaced and trash removed. If you stay seven nights or less, you get trash and towel service on day four, no full cleaning. You can't just ask for more towels, more shampoo, more coffee, more laundry detergent without paying for those items. You can get extra toilet paper, trash bags, dish washer detergent (one bedroom or larger), liquid dish detergent just by contacting Housekeeping.

You can pay extra for additional cleaning if you want more than the limited services offered for free.

Your biggest problem may be your guests going with you. If they don't understand the lack of cancelation, you may get stuck with the villa and full payment to the member.

Sometimes you get a better response by making family members make their own reservations, buy their own theme park admissions, transportation.

David acts as a broker for a member who wants to "rent" their points. He matches up a non-member with a member who has the points needed to make the reservation. Sometimes he doesn't have any members with the points needed to make a reservation at 11 months out. Members can reserve at their home resort from seven to 11 months out. At seven months, all points are equal. But if you want a hard to get reservation, you might be out of luck. There are a lot of reservations that require the member making the reservation as soon as booking opens exactly at 11 months out.

Good luck on your decision.

 

[okienick]

You can purchase your tickets any where you like. They just offer their vendor as a suggestion.

As a DVC timeshare reservation, you get limited housekeeping. If you stay eight night or more, you get a full cleaning on day four (day one is check in day) and on day eight you get your towels replaced and trash removed. If you stay seven nights or less, you get trash and towel service on day four, no full cleaning. You can't just ask for more towels, more shampoo, more coffee, more laundry detergent without paying for those items. You can get extra toilet paper, trash bags, dish washer detergent (one bedroom or larger), liquid dish detergent just by contacting Housekeeping.

You can pay extra for additional cleaning if you want more than the limited services offered for free.

Your biggest problem may be your guests going with you. If they don't understand the lack of cancelation, you may get stuck with the villa and full payment to the member.

Sometimes you get a better response by making family members make their own reservations, buy their own theme park admissions, transportation.

David acts as a broker for a member who wants to "rent" their points. He matches up a non-member with a member who has the points needed to make the reservation. Sometimes he doesn't have any members with the points needed to make a reservation at 11 months out. Members can reserve at their home resort from seven to 11 months out. At seven months, all points are equal. But if you want a hard to get reservation, you might be out of luck. There are a lot of reservations that require the member making the reservation as soon as booking opens exactly at 11 months out.

Good luck on your decision.

The AKL and the WL are both on the top of my list of places to stay the next time we are ready to book deluxe. What are the chances of being able to get either of those?

 

[cleophus12]

Deb and Bill's post is most enlightening. I rented from Dave for our Aulani stay, but knew Disney wouldn't offer any better rates and there was no chance of our cancelling. I have thought of renting from them again for a WDW property, but it never occurred to me that once booked, I would not be able to take advantage of a better rate should Disney offer one. Thanks for the very informative post. BTW, we had nothing but a positive experience with Dave.

 

[Annie78]

I wouldn't do a DVC points rental with extended family unless they gave me their share upfront and confirmed they understand there is no ability to cancel/get a refund.
If you need a big villa but don't want to commit all the money 11 mos ahead, you could consider renting at Wyndham Bonnet Creek through Vacation Strategy. When I booked with them, I think the cancellation policy was that they would keep your deposit, but it could be applied to a future trip. So, if you need to reschedule, or if part of the group bails, you could roll your earlier deposit into a new booking. Disclaimer: I haven't made use of their cancellation policy myself, this is just what I was told last year.

 

[Sammie]

I agree with the others that doing this with extended family can be problematic, due to no refund, no cancel.

And as someone said, if you book you are locked into that agreement. If Disney should offer you a discounted rate or free dining, you would not be able to take advantage of that.

Sometimes others just don't understand how that works.

 

[serene56]

i have done the math upside, dowside even backwards

looking at staying delux'the only way we can do'it by renting points.
i used the 35 discount and its about 1400 more

am i missing something by looking to rent instead of the 35% its not even close.

by reading everything i can about renting points.. it sounded so easy.
we are going dec 8 thru the 15 first choice was'boardwalk, and then we worked our way down. each resort was not available to rent through the online brokers.

we are now waiting to hear if old key west is available

 

[Sammie]

i have done the math upside, dowside even backwards

looking at staying delux'the only way we can do'it by renting points.
i used the 35 discount and its about 1400 more

am i missing something by looking to rent instead of the 35% its not even close.

by reading everything i can about renting points.. it sounded so easy.
we are going dec 8 thru the 15 first choice was'boardwalk, and then we worked our way down. each resort was not available to rent through the online brokers.

we are now waiting to hear if old key west is available

The time frame you picked if\s very popular with DVC members, many book at 11 months and the broker has to have a member with points to rent, so sometimes you can't find what you want.

As to cost, it depends, you are going at a time frame that requires fewer points. At other times of the year the discount might work out to be very close.

 

[TX Momof2]

We're trying to rent points for the first time through David's also. Right now, we're in the queue waiting to find out if they have the points a stay in January at VWL (it's our first choice). I'm hoping the points will come available, but if not we're doing Art of Animation. I hope your experience goes well!

 

[Lynne M]

i have done the math upside, dowside even backwards

looking at staying delux'the only way we can do'it by renting points.
i used the 35 discount and its about 1400 more

am i missing something by looking to rent instead of the 35% its not even close.

by reading everything i can about renting points.. it sounded so easy.
we are going dec 8 thru the 15 first choice was'boardwalk, and then we worked our way down. each resort was not available to rent through the online brokers.

we are now waiting to hear if old key west is available

It normally is easy, but the thing about timeshares is that their owners book much earlier than hotel guests do in general. Adding to that, December is the busiest month of the year for DVC members to visit. If you want December, you really need to have an owner ready to book before the 11 month window opens.

 

[khaoskat]

There is another place, besides Davids. One of the timeshare resell places is now having people broker point rentals through them. I have seen points for as little as $10 to as much as $13 (what David's charges)...

Give me a big to dig it out of my mail and I can tell you what place if you are interested. You have to get on their mailing list.

 

[mom of princessx2]

I will just post regarding the value and it is absolutly worth it. We rented points several years ago at the AK for the week after Thanksgiving. We had a savanna view studio, paid for our tickets and bought the DDP out of pocket. At the same time our friends stayed at POR with free dining and we still paid less than they did. IMO we had a much better room and resort for less $.

However, the one downfall in renting is that we quickly became DVC owners!

 

[weswife]

This is our 1st time renting points with david! We are going in Oct, staying at BW 6 nights and OKW 4 nights! I am super excited! Anyway, we had to wait for a few days but it happened! BW was our 1st choice! I can't wait to see it all play out