First time renting DVC points...

[peaches0313]

Planning 1st trip to WDW for next September. Am just learning about renting points to stay in a deluxe villa. We were looking at staying at one of the deluxe resorts, but would be great to have the extra space at a cheaper price! If we do this, how do we go about getting trip insurance? Also, would we then book theme park tix, dining plan, and airfare from disney.com, then get travel insurance from Disney on that stuff? Is this not a good idea to rent points for our first Disney vacation? Thanks!

 

[princessap]

Planning 1st trip to WDW for next September. Am just learning about renting points to stay in a deluxe villa. We were looking at staying at one of the deluxe resorts, but would be great to have the extra space at a cheaper price! If we do this, how do we go about getting trip insurance? Also, would we then book theme park tix, dining plan, and airfare from disney.com, then get travel insurance from Disney on that stuff? Is this not a good idea to rent points for our first Disney vacation? Thanks!

We are debating the same thing! Will be following this thread!

Happy planning

 

[aaarcher86]

Planning 1st trip to WDW for next September. Am just learning about renting points to stay in a deluxe villa. We were looking at staying at one of the deluxe resorts, but would be great to have the extra space at a cheaper price! If we do this, how do we go about getting trip insurance? Also, would we then book theme park tix, dining plan, and airfare from disney.com, then get travel insurance from Disney on that stuff? Is this not a good idea to rent points for our first Disney vacation? Thanks!

You would get travel insurance separately, on your own. Lots of companies offer it (never done it myself so I can't give examples! Sorry!). Same with flights.

The dining plan can be added by the owner of the points and will need to be paid in full at the time you have them add it on for you. DVC is one of the exceptions that allows for ticketless packages. You would then get your tickets on your own (either through Disney or Undercover Tourist, etc). You will NOT be able to apply any discounts Disney offers to a reservation like this (free dining, room discount, etc). It's a great way, however, to get into a deluxe resort for a smaller cost than a cash booking. I would encourage you to decide and be ready to book/rent at the 11 month window to have the best chance of snagging what you want!

I think renting points is fine on your first visit as long as you educate yourself and go in knowing the pros and cons. As a first timer you might want to look into going through a point broker like http://www.dvcrequest.com/ until you get a bit more comfortable with doing it on your own. Cancellations and policies are different with DVC and individual renters so make sure to understand fully what you can/can't do!

Enjoy your stay!

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Planning 1st trip to WDW for next September. Am just learning about renting points to stay in a deluxe villa. We were looking at staying at one of the deluxe resorts, but would be great to have the extra space at a cheaper price! If we do this, how do we go about getting trip insurance? Also, would we then book theme park tix, dining plan, and airfare from disney.com, then get travel insurance from Disney on that stuff? Is this not a good idea to rent points for our first Disney vacation? Thanks!

I wouldn't get airfare from Disney, or travel insurance. You can get travel insurance from any private writer (I use Allianz Global Assistance and get quotes right on their website). Generally, though, travel insurance is only available for the non-refundable portion of your trip, so I don't think tickets would be covered since you can use them in the future even if your trip is cancelled.

I have rented points many times in the past, including on our first trip. The DVC owner you rent from has to set up your dining plan, and you pay the owner directly for that (not Disney). Park tickets are bought from Undercover Tourist. Airfare is priced separately and bought from whereever I can find it cheapest (for our next trip, I bought through Southwest's website). Once you have all the pieces of your vacation put together, you can price out the travel insurance, which can be purchased any time prior to leaving on your trip. The last Disney trip I went on, in June, Tropical Storm Andrea was threatening and I bought travel insurance approximately 18 hours before our plane was set to depart. It ended up not being needed, but it was nice to have it.

 

[Disney mom12]

The first time we rented points we did so from a friend who was a DVC member, this year she didn't have any extra points, but we wanted to stay Deluxe again. I learned about David's through here and decided that was the best route to go. He was very easy to work with and I felt more secure having a middle man. The only thing with David's is once you book it's non refundable so you have to be sure you're going on those dates. The balance is due in full at the time your reservation is secured, and for dinning you would give them a credit card number or but Disney gift cards and the DVC member will book it for you. Tickets you buy on your own.

Overall it was a very easy process and I'm glad we did it. We check in 73 days : )

 

[glaserjm]

We just rented points for the 4th time and each time it has worked out tremendously well for us as we get to stay in a deluxe villa at value prices. As far as trip insurance is concerned, I do not believe that Disney will offer it to you as you are not booking directly with Disney and therefore they will not be liable if there is an issue. As far as tickets are concerned, many DVC members use Undercover Tourist for their Disney tickets so you get them at the discounted rate. You can book the dining plan directly from Disney.

When we've rented points both parties have signed a specific contract outlining the rights and responsibilities of each party. The thing about DVC rental is that once that reservation is booked and locked in, there's very little chance that you are going to find a renter who is going to be willing to let you out of the reservation and refund your money. Sometimes they will agree to basically "hold" your money until you can rebook so long as they are able to either use the points, rent the points out that they had allotted to you. Some individual renters may have an emergency clause which would allow cancellations, but that would be up to them.

I do not know if there is an independent travel insurance company that will work with this type of situation, but in my experience, we've always just used the contract as our guide and we've always been 100% sure when booking that we are good to go unless some crazy thing happens. I think renting points is a great way to do Disney, but we've never had to cancel a vacation for unforeseen reasons so I've never run into that issue.

Good luck!

 

[Pakey]

use insuremytrip dot com. It will give you many different options/companies. I travel a lot and my policy is through TravelGuard. This website will list that company plus several others. Since DVC rentals are usually non-refundable I would definitely get trip insurance at the time you pay the owner for your villa.

I'm a long time DVC owner so doing everything separately will be a little more work but will save you money.

If you are booking a studio room, you should know that they come with one bed and one sleeper sofa. Once you open the sleeper, there isn't much room and if your group includes adults, that sleeper may not be comfortable (I've had some who say it's fine and I've had others who said never again). The one, two bedroom and grand villas are amazing.

I'm not a fan of the dining plans. I have found that with having a villa I prefer flexibility and we eat more in our villa and only do one meal per day outside of that. But if you want it, the DVC owner must book it for you.

For park tickets, sign up for mousesavers dot com newsletter and use the link through their newsletter to purchase tickets through Undercover Tourist and you will save a few dollars per ticket. They can be mailed to you before you leave.

 

[jimandami]

I agree that in most cases, if you rent points for a villa, you probably don't need the dining plan, but some people just like it for peace of mind, so it's up to you. We have rented points many, many times and it has always worked out fabulously! I will only say be careful on your first trip, because once we stayed in a 2 bedroom villa at BWV (our first time), it was very hard to stay in a standard room again!!

 

[Pakey]

OP, I saw another post of yours elsewhere and I see that you are planning to stay at the Grand Floridian. You should know that this is a brand new DVC resort and getting rental points here may be very difficult.

Once thing about dealing with DVC is that you need to be flexible. If your heart is set on one particular resort, and that resort is brand new and very small, you are narrowing your chances of success a great deal.

Either way, good luck. I've stayed at the GF hotel a couple of times and it's very nice.

 

[abner1776]

As a DVC member, I have rented my points on a number of occasions and never had any issues. It is a great deal for the renter and the owner as long as both parties understand all of the terms and conditions.

The most important is to realize that once the owner books the reservation it is final in 99% of the transactions, so be sure of your dates and resorts and make sure your flights will work. Also once the owner makes the reservations, be sure to get a copy of the confirmation so you at least have the confirmation number.

I have read so many posts over the past many years about first time renters worried about "losing their money" but while there are no guarantees, as a renter you are dealing with people who are owners of Disney Vacation Club..what else do I need to say.