Help me understand (and feel less nervous) about DVC rentals

[Minniesgal]

Renting DVC points will get a much nicer room and quieter resort than AOA for the same price or less. aOA can be very busy loud and noisy a very different experience from AKV

 

[maryj11]

Yes. The owner will have to make the request for you though.[/QUOTE

Ok thanks

 

[Deb & Bill]

I have been wanting to know about this also. We were thinking of renting points for AKL. I was wanting to know when you rent points can you make a room location request, like request a certain building ?

If you book AKV, you will definitely book Kidani Village or Jambo House. That is not a request, but a booking category.

 

[smidgy]

Renting DVC points will get a much nicer room and quieter resort than AOA for the same price or less. aOA can be very busy loud and noisy a very different experience from AKV

you are correct there. jsut didn't know if they were aware of al the option.s I thought a 3 year old would love AOA.
this april we stayed 6 nights at AOA and then 6 nights at BWV. we are just 2 adults, and believe me, by day 5, we were SO ready to transfer over to BWV!

 

[glaserjm]

In November we will be staying at OKW for the fourth time on rented points. Each time has been with a private renter and I've never once had a proble

 

[glaserjm]

In November we will be staying at OKW for the fourth time on rented points. Each time has been with a private renter and I've never once had a problem. We enter into a written contract and use PayPal to exchange funds, which offers some protection.

I will say that working with private sellers is usually cheaper (I've always paid $10-11 per point) and the payment terms have been good (50% up front, 50% 60 days out) with no money exchanged until a reservation number was given to me so I could independently with Disney.

If I hadn't tried to do DVC rental I never would have discovered OKW... my favorite place in the world! Good luck!

 

[emilyclaire]

you are correct there. jsut didn't know if they were aware of al the option.s I thought a 3 year old would love AOA.
this april we stayed 6 nights at AOA and then 6 nights at BWV. we are just 2 adults, and believe me, by day 5, we were SO ready to transfer over to BWV!

We totally considered AoA when we first started planning this trip. You are right, I think my son would love it. My biggest hesitation though was the sleeping arrangements with the 5 adults. Grandparents would be together, my husband would bunk with my son, and I would take the sofa bed with my (adult) sister. That just seemed a little overcrowded in double beds for 7 nights, lol.

I definitely will consider AoA for a different trip though--- my son LOVES Cars. Luckily though he is as equally crazy about zoo animals, so I think he will love AKL too if we can get it!

 

[emilyclaire]

In November we will be staying at OKW for the fourth time on rented points. Each time has been with a private renter and I've never once had a problem. We enter into a written contract and use PayPal to exchange funds, which offers some protection.

I will say that working with private sellers is usually cheaper (I've always paid $10-11 per point) and the payment terms have been good (50% up front, 50% 60 days out) with no money exchanged until a reservation number was given to me so I could independently with Disney.

If I hadn't tried to do DVC rental I never would have discovered OKW... my favorite place in the world! Good luck!

Did you find the private renter in the DIS forums? I have been hanging out on the rent/trade forum just to get a feel for things. My gut feeling is that you have to be so quick on the draw over there to jump on a post before the points are all snapped up! I am amazed at how fast people respond over there! I will keep my eyes open though and definitely keep it in mind. It would be fantastic to save a couple bucks/point.

 

[cheesemouse]

Did you find the private renter in the DIS forums? I have been hanging out on the rent/trade forum just to get a feel for things. My gut feeling is that you have to be so quick on the draw over there to jump on a post before the points are all snapped up! I am amazed at how fast people respond over there! I will keep my eyes open though and definitely keep it in mind. It would be fantastic to save a couple bucks/point.

Yes, exactly! You pretty much have to stalk the rent/trade board and jump on one that matches what you are looking for. Be sure to ask the appropriate questions and make sure you are comfortable with the person you are renting from. I recently turned down an opportunity to rent with someone because I just didn't get a good gut feeling about the way she wanted the transaction to be handled. But, I kept on looking at a week later I was able to find a renter that was able to book our split stay. Points were $13 each (so $1 less than the brokers). I would check the R/T board dozens of times a day. I actually responded around midnight of the Memorial Day weekend - lame I know but I got the points I needed!

I also wanted to mention one other reassuring aspect to renting. Once I received my confirmation numbers from the renter, I was able to link those reservations numbers to my account on the My Disney Experience website and see that yes indeed, the reservations were made and that they are exactly what I asked for. So, it gives me extra peace of mind to be able to see the actual reservations. Good luck!

 

[disney2014plan]

I guess that I feel a little nervous (and being a cynic) about what happens if you go for a DVC property and then after booking and paying, for whatever reason, the deal falls through. Where do you get your money back from? My nightmare would be the rental company saying "No, the money has gone to the owner, you have to chase them for it". Would that be what happens?

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Emilyclaire. We own dvc but this year as we went twice so we rented for one trip. It went great but I was nervous but would def do it again in a heartbeat! We did it through the disboards. We went to AKV which is not our home resort but loved it! If it helps I can check availability at SSR at 11 months as this is my home resort and other resorts at 7 months and others who have AK as their home might be able to check at 11 months for you. What I have discovered being DVC is all resorts are nice. There are benefits to them all!

 

[emilyclaire]

I guess that I feel a little nervous (and being a cynic) about what happens if you go for a DVC property and then after booking and paying, for whatever reason, the deal falls through. Where do you get your money back from? My nightmare would be the rental company saying "No, the money has gone to the owner, you have to chase them for it". Would that be what happens?

My understanding is that you are able to see the confirmation number on the Disney website well ahead of your trip, to verify that the transaction went through correctly. So I would think that once you arrive, the process would be basically be the same as if you had booked the accommodation directly through Disney (with the notable exception of daily Mousekeeping of course).

Now, if you have to cancel for a personal reason, such as an illness or death in the family, work conflicts, etc., then you would be at the mercy of your private renter. If you went through a broker, it seems from what I have read that they may try to advocate for you with your points owner, but ultimately it is the owner's decision as to whether they will refund or not. Understandably so, as a cancellation would leave them with points that may be expiring soon and therefore be wasted for their use year.

I have read advice that encourages you to purchase travel insurance if you go this route, but make sure you are aware of what it does and does not cover.

 

[DSNY4ever]

I haven't read all the responses, but we have booked a week in October through David's for our upcoming trip and we are staying at the AKL in a Standard Studio Value in Jambo house. We cannot wait! This is pretty much the only way we could ever afford to stay at the AKL. We did book exactly at the 11 month window and we put in our request about a week before the 11 month mark of our trip and they were able to book everything for us right away. We have all the info and the confirmation numbers and I feel very secure. I am certain our two year old will have a blast!

If you want any more info after we get back send me a PM so I remember to tell you how it went.

 

[emilyclaire]

That is so awesome, DSNY!!! That is exactly what I need to have happen. So glad it worked out for you. Can't wait to hear how it all goes. Excited for your two year old too and the great memories you will create! Have fun on your trip.

 

[glaserjm]

I pretty much read everything I could about DVC rentals and then started using the rent/trade forum. Pretty much everyone renting out their points there has done it before and has references available.
If you want to PM me I can give you a sample contract that I use and some names of owners I've rented from before.

 

[stargazertechie]

I have read that as well. Part of what made me a little nervous, as we would really like that extra savings by going the Value route, and love the idea of getting Jambo House guaranteed, because a member of our party has mobility issues. Would like close access to the main facilities!

I guess my big reason for not going private transaction is it just seems like SO much effort to watch all the board postings and respond at just the right time before the points get scooped up. I would really rather sit back and let someone else do that!

We had a value studio (that ended up with a Savannah View ) at Jambo House for our honeymoon. It was our first DVC point rental, and we went the private route. Couldn't have been easier. There are other forums out there that are dedicated to DVC owners that have much more active DVC rent/trade boards. We did book pretty darn close to the 11 month window- and those values do go quite quickly.

We're getting ready for DVC rental #4 right now (BCV) and have gone private 3 of the 4 times. We ended up using the timeshare store for rental #3 as it was a last minute trip and they had points at $6/point that were expiring in a week. Just happened to be able to make it work for us!

 

[stargazertechie]

Now, if you have to cancel for a personal reason, such as an illness or death in the family, work conflicts, etc., then you would be at the mercy of your private renter.

I have read advice that encourages you to purchase travel insurance if you go this route, but make sure you are aware of what it does and does not cover.

Sorry for posting twice in a row, but I wanted to address this.

We had booked a trip with my dad prior to his death for Thanksgiving 2012. Unforutnately he passed April 2012. At first we had planned to continue on with the plans, and even made our final payment to our (private) rental owner after his death. My dad, being the practical man that he is, purchased trip insurance from TravelGuard (don't know if I'm allowed to mention the company). We made sure that we looked at the policies and what would be required as proof of a claim, and had that all written up into the contract and rental agreement.


When we decided to cancel less than 30 days out, we let our owner know that she was free to attempt to re-rent, and that we'd be filing an insurance claim. I don't know if she was able to re-rent the ressie (I sure hope she was!) but on our end, TG came through within 30 days with a full claim check equal to all of all money paid to the owner.

 

[emilyindisney]

I haven't read all the PP but I wanted to quickly share my experience with David's.

I booked BWV through David's for my upcoming trip. Of course, I haven't complete the process yet so I can't speak to everything but so far everything has been great.

At the 11 month mark, I submitted my request to David's. They weren't able to fill it at that time (didn't have the points) but within 4-6 weeks they emailed me back and said they got the points and were holding my reservation. Before they asked for a final payment (I already paid a deposit) they gave me a confirmation number so I could go on the DVC website and view my reservation. Everything went very smoothly and I'm very happy so far.

Once I book my flights, I'll email David's back and they can set my DME up for me.

As a first time renter I felt more comfortable going through a Broker though I did look into going private as well. In the future, as long as I could find some with references, I would go private if I could find someone. Private seems to be a little cheaper, and after doing it once I feel more comfortable with the whole process.

 

[justcruisin]

The DVC owner renting you the points is responsible for any damage to the room caused by the renter. Renting points requires trust by both parties.

Disboards changed their rules a couple of years ago so only frequent (very frequent) posters can advertise points for rent; this change drastically cut down on the points seen on the rent/trade board.

 

[emilyclaire]

We had a value studio (that ended up with a Savannah View ) at Jambo House for our honeymoon. It was our first DVC point rental, and we went the private route. Couldn't have been easier. There are other forums out there that are dedicated to DVC owners that have much more active DVC rent/trade boards. We did book pretty darn close to the 11 month window- and those values do go quite quickly.

We're getting ready for DVC rental #4 right now (BCV) and have gone private 3 of the 4 times. We ended up using the timeshare store for rental #3 as it was a last minute trip and they had points at $6/point that were expiring in a week. Just happened to be able to make it work for us!

Stargazer, would you mind sending me a PM with the links to the other boards you mentioned? Would love to check them out.