How to succeed at renting points?

[Mmw37]

So, two years in a row, I've done research on DVC properties and planned a trip in January. The first year I tried to rent points at 6 mo out, classic rookie mistake. Contacted two online brokers, and only SSR was available through both. This time I tried 10 mo out with the same result. Both times we've been traveling in January when most schools are in session, and we're a small family so looking to rent smaller standards/studios only. How do people actually do this? Is it a stay up until midnight 11 mo out and make an immediate request kind of thing? Are there some properties where it will never happen if I or a personal friend don't own there? I'm sure we'll go again in 2018, so maybe if I start planning now I can figure this out...

 

[_auroraborealis_]

There are multiple issues here.

1. The broker must have an owner ready to rent who owns at the resort you are requesting, with a Use Year that matches up for January use.
2. The room type you're after needs to be available. Even at 10 months, there are rooms/types that will be hard to get.

It is hard to find Poly points via rental brokers, for instance. VGF studios book up at 11 months and are rare-isn in the brokerage market. AKV points don't get a premium rate for 11-7 months, so there's no motivation for most AKV owners to be raring to go at 11 months. Certain room types require an owner ready to book at 8AM.

The points availability is a huge one, to be honest. Demand for DVC rental is higher than the points available in the broker market.

 

[BillPA]

In January you are competing with the marathon runners. This is a fairly busy time for DVC.

 

[cvjw]

If you are trying to book standard view at bwv or value view at akv, those routinely book at exactly the 11 month mark. 10 months out will be too late.

If you are trying to book during marathon weekend, demand for dvc villas is very high.

The broker has to have an owner willing to rent at the resort you are wanting to stay at for the reservation to work out. Does not always work out.

I am in the process of renting out a bunch of my points with a broker - over 1000 points. I would not be interested in making a small studio reservation. I want large reservations that use up a bunch of my points at once. I get my money sooner and have less chance of problems happening with 3 big reservations vs 10 smaller ones. That is just me though.

 

[Mmw37]

See, this is all helpful information. When is a better time to go? What locations should I look at? We aren't wedded to one resort or one time of year, although we'd want to get closer to the action (Epcot/MK) if we were going to go this route. I do need to make my vacation requests at work 6-12 mo in advance, and holidays and summer are still not guaranteed. If you've been successful renting points for a single family, what did you do? Or if that never really happens, it's okay too, I'd just like to know so I don't waste time on it again. Thanks!

 

[loves to dive]

I've been successful renting OKW studio with a broker and even then had to do a split stay with a moderate because I could only get 3 nights. In all fairness it as probably only 3 months in advance, at best since I don't even make up my mind I'm going until then. I have rented BWV and AKV through Disney for cash so no discount other than the general discount being offered at the time.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Truly, a lot of it comes down to points availability. At a broker, there are multiple pieces of this:

• owner with the right home resort
• proper number of points
• appropriate use year

And it can be unpredictable when that will all fall into place.

October-December is high season, and any runDisney events are also rough at near-park resorts. Summer is low season.

Once you have dates, if you aren't wedded to using a broker, you can try looking for an individual to rent from. The Rent/Trade Board here is generally active, and you can look for people with the right points and Use Year.

 

[bonjovi]

I have never rented points until today but I was able to secure two studios , standard view, at the Poly via a broker a few hours ago. I tried a broker yesterday who told me my dates showed availability (1/27/17 check in for 7 nights). they did not have a seller with enough points (or even two sellers with enough points to get me a reservation for each room) This morning, I tried a different broker. was told the resort had those dates open (which I already knew), paid their deposit and was matched within 4 hours. Both rooms came from the same owner. the second broker was $.50 more per point but I didn't care. just happy to get the reservations.

 

[HatboxHaint]

I started the process to get BLT with dvcrentalstore about 12 months out so they would have their owner lined up by 11 months.

 

[Love2Cruz]

I just tried a broker tonight for the first time. I am looking for mid october for 3 nights...I thought if the villas/room type was offered then it is available...as cost was listed I guess I don't stand a reasonable chance as I asked for 1. GF 2. BC 3. BWV and 4. AKL in that order. I requested standard studio.

I guess I'll know within 24 hours.

Edited to add: Do they get last minute (or in this case 2 months) owners wanting to rent?

 

[cvjw]

See, this is all helpful information. When is a better time to go? What locations should I look at? We aren't wedded to one resort or one time of year, although we'd want to get closer to the action (Epcot/MK) if we were going to go this route. I do need to make my vacation requests at work 6-12 mo in advance, and holidays and summer are still not guaranteed. If you've been successful renting points for a single family, what did you do? Or if that never really happens, it's okay too, I'd just like to know so I don't waste time on it again. Thanks!

You will have better luck at 7 months out for a non-busy dvc time of year at a bigger dvc resort. At 7 months out, any points are good at any resort. That opens up the reservations to be booked by all dvc owners who have their points for rent with the broker. The brokers won't have to wait for a certain owner to want to rent their points to you - any points will work.

Avoid traditional busy times for dvc to increase your booking chances. Traditional dvc busy times are late September thru marathon weekend in January. Easter is usually also busy.

Picking a dvc resort that is a larger resort will also increase your chances of renting points. As will picking a view at the smaller resorts that is more prevalent - pool/garden at bwv and lake view at BLT. Anytime you try for the views that are the cheapest points, you will have trouble. Those are booked by owners at the 11 month mark.

We rented points before becoming owners. We rented pool/garden view at bwv. It cost more than a standard view at bwv, but we took what was available.

 

[cvjw]

I just tried a broker tonight for the first time. I am looking for mid october for 3 nights...I thought if the villas/room type was offered then it is available...as cost was listed I guess I don't stand a reasonable chance as I asked for 1. GF 2. BC 3. BWV and 4. AKL in that order. I requested standard studio.

I guess I'll know within 24 hours.

Edited to add: Do they get last minute (or in this case 2 months) owners wanting to rent?

October has been booked for months for studios. You would have to get extremely lucky to catch a cancellation before a waitlist picks up the cancelled rooms

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

See, this is all helpful information. When is a better time to go? What locations should I look at? We aren't wedded to one resort or one time of year, although we'd want to get closer to the action (Epcot/MK) if we were going to go this route. I do need to make my vacation requests at work 6-12 mo in advance, and holidays and summer are still not guaranteed. If you've been successful renting points for a single family, what did you do? Or if that never really happens, it's okay too, I'd just like to know so I don't waste time on it again. Thanks!

The first week of January is bad, but the rest of January is usually pretty easy. October thru first week of January is harder.

Aim for second week of January thru the beginning of September.
Also, check for runDisney events and avoid any time there is a race there. Holiday weekends may also be a problem.

You definitely want to plan at least 7 months ahead or more.

 

[starry_solo]

Since you know when you want to go, start looking for a PRIVATE owner now that will have points for your expected vacation in January 2018.

My travelling partner has to request her vacation every November for the entire year (so November 2016 for all of 2017). She has two or three people who have higher seniority than she does.

We already made plans for a specific time to go to WDW (renting DVC) in 2017 so in November 2015, she looked to see if those higher in seniority were asking for similar weeks off for 2016 (they have kids so they usually take the same time off each year, including the holidays). She also asked them their vacation plans for 2017 (yup, they also plan in advance and have relatives that might be getting married, etc.) Fortunately most people plan their wedding dates over a year in advance too and no one was going to ask for that time off.

So no one was taking the time off that we wanted to. So I made arrangements with the DVC owner (telling him six months before we were going to book, etc) to make sure he has enough points, following up at three months, etc.

I got all that I wanted (studios at three different resorts) and the owner was kind enough to waitlist concierge for me at AKV (and the waitlist came through a month later).

 

[Minniesgal]

I just tried a broker tonight for the first time. I am looking for mid october for 3 nights...I thought if the villas/room type was offered then it is available...as cost was listed I guess I don't stand a reasonable chance as I asked for 1. GF 2. BC 3. BWV and 4. AKL in that order. I requested standard studio.

I guess I'll know within 24 hours.

Edited to add: Do they get last minute (or in this case 2 months) owners wanting to rent?

October extremely unlikely it has been booked for ages will have pre exiting wait lists and you are asking for the most popular room type.

 

[jpeden]

If you're going to rent (especially at the Monorail resorts) you most likely need to be ready to go by 11 months. Now, I got extremely lucky and got two standard view studios at BLT right at 7 months but that was an anomaly.

 

[steves100]

Not trying to be a jerk but, why wouldn't you post this in DVC-RENT/TRADE forum?

 

[CarolMN]

Not trying to be a jerk but, why wouldn't you post this in DVC-RENT/TRADE forum?

Because the Rent/Trade Form is for transactions only. Questions/Discussions regarding renting belong on the DVC discussion forums - specifically, the Member Services Forum. I'll move this thread over to that forum now.

 

[Love2Cruz]

October extremely unlikely it has been booked for ages will have pre exiting wait lists and you are asking for the most popular room type.

Ah ok...I knew it was too good to be true. I heard that people sometimes score last minute deals so that's why I decided to just give it a try. My deposit gets refunded if they can't match my request. I haven't heard back yet, but I guess I can lower my expectations now.
So for future, I should try 11 months out? or 7 months out? I'm a FL resident so I tend to just make last minute decisions and just drive up.

 

[CMNJ]

Ah ok...I knew it was too good to be true. I heard that people sometimes score last minute deals so that's why I decided to just give it a try. My deposit gets refunded if they can't match my request. I haven't heard back yet, but I guess I can lower my expectations now.
So for future, I should try 11 months out? or 7 months out? I'm a FL resident so I tend to just make last minute decisions and just drive up.

If you are looking for late sept to early Jan you should plan 11 months out or close to it (unless you are ok with SSR, OKW, AK). If you are looking to go other times of the year 7 months out is often fine especially if your dates are somewhat flexible. This however does not always work for small resorts like VGF or BCV. Those resorts and point saving rooms like AKL value BLT and BWV standard are often booked right when the 11 month window opens