Heads Up for DVC Rent/Trade Board Users - an open discussion

[The DVC R/T board]

Heads Up Rent/Trade Board Users


Changes to the R/T Board prices, plans and posting requirements are under discussion at this time. The current R/T rules have been in effect since February of 2011. No effective date has been set for any changes, this is intended only as a basis for discussion:

Did you know that:

• Almost 80% of the R/T DVC Members post only ONE rental thread for their rental plan year **
• There were over 300 DVC Members using DIS rental plans since April 16, 2020
• There were almost 40 DVC Members who met the requirements for a fee waiver and were able to use the Rent/Trade Board
• There is no posting requirement or plan purchase for potential renters to use the board.
• There were 1082 R/T threads declined out of a total of 1697 threads (over 60%) during that same time period - due to posters not reading the board posting rules before submitting a rental thread (which made for lots of extra work for the volunteer moderators).
• There were also many warnings issued to DVC Members who altered their approved threads to render them non-compliant with board rules. A few even lost access to the R/T Board as a result of repeated violations.

Changes under discussion:

• SILVER PLAN (this would be new) $29.95 / NOT available for accounts registered less than 6 months. 3 rental threads per year/including ONE existing reservation (30 days or less prior to check-in)
• GOLD PLAN $39.95 ($59.95 for usernames registered less than 6 months) - Allows 6 rental threads , including up to two existing reservations (30 days or less prior to check-in)
• GOLD PLAN RENEWAL (this would also be new) $34.95 - The renewal must be registered and paid before current plan expires
• PLATINUM PLAN – NOT available for accounts registered less than 6 months. $99.95 - 6 rental threads including 2 existing reservations, one of which may be more than 30 days prior to check-in
• PREMIUM PLAN - NOT available for accounts registered less than 6 months. $249.99 - 8 rental threads including up to 3 existing reservations within 11 months of the arrival date

The Silver Plan fee will be waived for posters who meet the following requirements:

• Has had her/his DIS user-name for at least 6 months, and
• Has made at least 8 posts in at least 4 of the past 6 months (months are counted on a daily basis the same as DVC computes 11 month/7 month priorities), and
• Has made at least 50 non-Rent/Trade Board posts in the last 6 months as verified by the DIS 'Search' engine. (Posts made on the DVC Rent/Trade Board will not count towards this requirement).

Comments and questions about these potential changes are welcome.

**ETA - The first bullet point at the top is incorrect. The total number of rental plans and those meeting the requirements was 382 DVC Members. So the true % should be 134 (# of 2nd threads)/ 382 (# of R/T members) which is 35% who have posted more than one rental thread. So, 65% of the DVC Members using the Rent/Trade over the past 12 months have posted only ONE rental thread out of their allowed number of threads for their plan year (instead of the "Almost 80%" reported above).

 

[princesscinderella]

As an owner of a fixed week I would like an option to rent those specifically included. Maybe a special rental category for that which is in between the gold/platinum pricing. It would give the ability to rent the fixed week and maybe 2 or 3 points points rental threads for the year.

 

[CarolMN]

There isn't an easy way to tell the difference between a fixed week and a week from an RCI trade. (Disboards R/T Forum does not accept those).

If you cannot use a fixed week, you can still cancel it and rent the points, though.

 

[princesscinderella]

There isn't an easy way to tell the difference between a fixed week and a week from an RCI trade. (Disboards R/T Forum does not accept those).

If you cannot use a fixed week, you can still cancel it and rent the points, though.

If I got the platinum plan I could rent it though correct? My fixed week is 52 so i could probably get more for it as a fixed reservation vs just renting the points since it’s such a high demand time at all the resorts.

 

[Chuck S]

If I got the platinum plan I could rent it though correct? My fixed week is 52 so i could probably get more for it as a fixed reservation vs just renting the points since it’s such a high demand time at all the resorts.

You may not rent a 7 night reservation on the DIS Rent/Trade Board that begins on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, no matter which plan you purchase.

 

[princesscinderella]

You may not rent a 7 night reservation on the DIS Rent/Trade Board that begins on Friday, Saturday or Sunday no matter what plan you purchase.

Thanks for this information I have never rented my points out but was considering it for years that we can’t use the fixed week. Thanks for this clarification

 

[RivShore]

Realitivly new to DVC and haven't researched the r/t boards yet. Why are 7 night check in days restricted?

 

[Marionnette]

I never used the R/T board until this year. I really appreciate the ability to list my points there. I know that many forums don't allow any rental posts and others are shutting down their R/T forums. If the new rules make things easier for the moderating team then I'm all for it.

 

[Chuck S]

Realitivly new to DVC and haven't researched the r/t boards yet. Why are 7 night check in days restricted?

As we have no easy way to check if a non-DVC owner is trying to rent out an RCI reservation, and RCI weeks generally start on Fridays. Saturdays, and Sundays for 7 nights this solution was introduced. RCI reservations are not supposed to be rented. 7 Day existing reservations may be offered if they start on other days of the week, within the limits of the respective Rent/Trade board plans.

Another rule we are often questioned about is why not allow existing reservations until the 30 day window. This is to discourage members from booking prime weeks and resorts solely on the speculation of renting them out, preventing other members from booking their own vacations. This is why the relatively high plan prices for the Platinum and Premium plans and limited number of pre-existing reservations allowed. This was considered a big problem when the rules were initially drafted by regular posters on the DIS.

 

[Sandisw]

I think it does seem like a great compromise and an update to the service based on what is happening!

 

[Sandisw]

Realitivly new to DVC and haven't researched the r/t boards yet. Why are 7 night check in days restricted?

I believe because those types of reservations could be an RCI trade There would be no way to know and renting an RCI trade is prohibited by RCI.

 

[RivShore]

As we have no easy way to check if a non-DVC owner is trying to rent out an RCI reservation, and RCI weeks generally start on Fridays. Saturdays, and Sundays for 7 nights this solution was introduced. RCI reservations are not supposed to be rented. 7 Day existing reservations may be offered if they start on other days of the week, within the limits of the respective Rent/Trade board plans.

Another rule we are often questioned about is why not allow existing reservations until the 30 day window. This is to discourage members from booking prime weeks and resorts solely on the speculation of renting them out, preventing other members from booking their own vacations. This is why the relatively high plan prices for the Platinum and Premium plans and limited number of pre-existing reservations allowed. This was considered a big problem when the rules were initially drafted by regular posters on the DIS.

Makes sense. Thanks for the details!

 

[ldo]

it would be good to have a "points transfer wanted" section added.

 

[Chuck S]

The reason we don’t allow reservation wanted and transfer wanted threads is because it is easy to be contacted by someone who does not have a rental thread...a possible way to scam.
This is why we ask those wanting transfers and reservations to reply into existing rental threads and only do business with people with whom they initiated first contact.

 

[Evita_W]

Another rule we are often questioned about is why not allow existing reservations until the 30 day window. This is to discourage members from booking prime weeks and resorts solely on the speculation of renting them out, preventing other members from booking their own vacations. This is why the relatively high plan prices for the Platinum and Premium plans and limited number of pre-existing reservations allowed. This was considered a big problem when the rules were initially drafted by regular posters on the DIS.

I have seen people on various FB groups that clearly have done this, one has something like 10 reservations for Thanksgiving week at Riviera they are trying to rent out. This is very annoying to those of us that just want to book the rooms using our own points, so thank you for doing what you can to combat this, although I just saw one for June at VGC, I believe that is more than 30 days away.

 

[Evita_W]

Might I also suggest limiting to one rental or transfer per thread?

It seems to me allowing multiple kind of skirts the rules mentioned.

 

[JETSDAD]

As we have no easy way to check if a non-DVC owner is trying to rent out an RCI reservation, and RCI weeks generally start on Fridays. Saturdays, and Sundays for 7 nights this solution was introduced. RCI reservations are not supposed to be rented. 7 Day existing reservations may be offered if they start on other days of the week, within the limits of the respective Rent/Trade board plans.

Another rule we are often questioned about is why not allow existing reservations until the 30 day window. This is to discourage members from booking prime weeks and resorts solely on the speculation of renting them out, preventing other members from booking their own vacations. This is why the relatively high plan prices for the Platinum and Premium plans and limited number of pre-existing reservations allowed. This was considered a big problem when the rules were initially drafted by regular posters on the DIS.

What if an owner were to provide a screenshot of their dashboard showing the confirmed reservation? That would show that they have it booked through DVC rather than it being an RCI reservation.

 

[Marionnette]

Might I also suggest limiting to one rental or transfer per thread?

It seems to me allowing multiple kind of skirts the rules mentioned.

I'm not following the logic in this. Are you saying that you would like to see owners limited to either a thread for transfers or a thread for rentals, but not a thread that offers both?

 

[Sandisw]

What if an owner were to provide a screenshot of their dashboard showing the confirmed reservation? That would show that they have it booked through DVC rather than it being an RCI reservation.

Some DVC owners have both types of accounts. I think there would still be the chance that an RCI could slip through. People are creative.

 

[JETSDAD]

Some DVC owners have both types of accounts. I think there would still be the chance that an RCI could slip through. People are creative.

There's plenty of things people could do...they could cancel a reservation....but at some point you have rules, confirm what you can, and the rest is trust between the parties. There's a rule against renting RCI here, you get proof of a legit reservation, and then if a renter shows up and there's the RCI fee they can report the person on here resulting in them being banned or unable to rent anymore.