I've heard renting DVC points is cheaper than going through Disney, but...

[Princess Katelet]

Is a regular hotel room at a place like WL still cheaper than a one or two bedroom WL DVC villa??

A friend gifted me a two bedroom villa at SSR last month with her DVC points. Before that I'd only ever been in normal hotel rooms (one room with beds, bathroom, and no kitchen of any sort). Now I'm hooked! I prefer MK resorts so I thought maybe I'd rent points for WL villas, but will just a regular WL room still be cheaper than renting points for a one or two bedroom WL villa?

 

[Brett Wyman]

It’s a tough comparison as DVC points are fixed for the year. The only variation is season and how much you’re paying per point. Regular resort rooms rates also vary by season but often have large discounts and other promotions tied to them. For a rack rate room though, yes DVC will always be cheaper.

Before we purchased DVC we stayed on rented points frequently. I found the room discount usually had to be in the 35-40% range before it could match DVDs price per point. Once you reach that level it may be a better deal to go cash room since you have cancellation and rebooking flexibility, not to mention room cleanings each day.

Also that’s DVC studios vs resort rooms. 1 bedroom suites on the hotel side are exorbitantly priced. If you need a 1-2 bedroom, DVC wins hands down. BUT you can frequently get DVC cash rooms from Disney with big discounts. Something to look out for before booking on rented points.

 

[Princess Katelet]

It’s a tough comparison as DVC points are fixed for the year. The only variation is season and how much you’re paying per point. Regular resort rooms rates also vary by season but often have large discounts and other promotions tied to them. For a rack rate room though, yes DVC will always be cheaper.

Before we purchased DVC we stayed on rented points frequently. I found the room discount usually had to be in the 35-40% range before it could match DVDs price per point. Once you reach that level it may be a better deal to go cash room since you have cancellation and rebooking flexibility, not to mention room cleanings each day.

Also that’s DVC studios vs resort rooms. 1 bedroom suites on the hotel side are exorbitantly priced. If you need a 1-2 bedroom, DVC wins hands down. BUT you can frequently get DVC cash rooms from Disney with big discounts. Something to look out for before booking on rented points.

How do you get DVC cash rooms? What do you plug in when looking at rooms to bring that up?
If the hotel is full price, is a regular room still more expensive than a one or two bedroom rented DVC villa?

 

[JCornell]

If using points for DVC rooms, the prices are fixed for the season. You can get point charts all over the place. As a simple example, I'll use WL CCV. In Jun 11 to Aug 15, a Studio is 17 pts per night, a 1-Bedroom is 36 pts per night, a 2-Bedroom is 47 pts per night. Pts are weekdays. Weekends are a little more but let's keep the math simple. Now, where I rent, they charge $19 per pt so that makes it Studio $323/nt, 1-Bed $684/nt, 2-Bed $893/nt. If you were to use Disney's site to book any of those rooms, they would be much more, though occasionally you might get a discount. A normal Std View Room at WL is about $418/nt. In my experience for the last few years, it's hard for even a deluxe discount to beat the price of renting points.

Also keep in mind if you have any situations that come into play. For instance, my kids are now considered adults and you pay a hefty premium for each adult over 2 when you get a room but this doesn't apply when using DVC points so that ends up being huge for us. Also the DVC prices I quoted are total, whereas the WL room at $418/nt gets 12.5% tax added.

When renting DVC points, you'll generally pay full price up front when booking (may vary with some other points-rental places but the rates may be more too). For a room, you put 1 night deposit and can cancel anytime and don't have to pay until check-in.

 

[Princess Katelet]

If using points for DVC rooms, the prices are fixed for the season. You can get point charts all over the place. As a simple example, I'll use WL CCV. In Jun 11 to Aug 15, a Studio is 17 pts per night, a 1-Bedroom is 36 pts per night, a 2-Bedroom is 47 pts per night. Pts are weekdays. Weekends are a little more but let's keep the math simple. Now, where I rent, they charge $19 per pt so that makes it Studio $323/nt, 1-Bed $684/nt, 2-Bed $893/nt. If you were to use Disney's site to book any of those rooms, they would be much more, though occasionally you might get a discount. A normal Std View Room at WL is about $418/nt. In my experience for the last few years, it's hard for even a deluxe discount to beat the price of renting points.

Also keep in mind if you have any situations that come into play. For instance, my kids are now considered adults and you pay a hefty premium for each adult over 2 when you get a room but this doesn't apply when using DVC points so that ends up being huge for us. Also the DVC prices I quoted are total, whereas the WL room at $418/nt gets 12.5% tax added.

When renting DVC points, you'll generally pay full price up front when booking (may vary with some other points-rental places but the rates may be more too). For a room, you put 1 night deposit and can cancel anytime and don't have to pay until check-in.

Wow, that was so helpful!! Thank you for explaining that all so well. Sounds like I need to win the lottery though .

 

[JCornell]

Wow, that was so helpful!! Thank you for explaining that all so well. Sounds like I need to win the lottery though .

Personally, I'd get two studios before I'd consider a 1-Bed or 2-Bed if I had too many people.
Also, you can do a bit cheaper in the off-season (as low as 14 pts/nt ($266) and even less at OKW which is still a nice resort.

We didn't stay at WL for the first time until we had a 35% off discount. Now that the kids are grown, renting DVC is more attractive for us than the bigger discount due to the premium that's added on. It's awesome but bad you were spoiled by a 2-Bedroom villa. That's hard to compare anything on-site to and be affordable. If you really love the extra space, I'd also consider off-site but nearby townhomes for rent. We love Windsor Hills area and you can get an amazing place with its own pool for much less.

 

[lanejudy]

How do you get DVC cash rooms? What do you plug in when looking at rooms to bring that up?

In the WDW booking system, you look at the resorts with "Villas" in the name. These are the DVC resorts.

For Wilderness Lodge, look at "Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Wilderness Lodge" or "Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge" for the DVC rooms. Just looking at "Disney's Wilderness Lodge" will give you regular resort rooms - though you may want to check these to see the price comparison.

 

[Marionnette]

Is a regular hotel room at a place like WL still cheaper than a one or two bedroom WL DVC villa??

A friend gifted me a two bedroom villa at SSR last month with her DVC points. Before that I'd only ever been in normal hotel rooms (one room with beds, bathroom, and no kitchen of any sort). Now I'm hooked! I prefer MK resorts so I thought maybe I'd rent points for WL villas, but will just a regular WL room still be cheaper than renting points for a one or two bedroom WL villa?

A regular WL hotel room will always be less expensive than renting a DVC 1BR or 2BR villa. But you're not comparing apples to apples. A 1- or 2-bedroom villa is going to have a full kitchen, a washer & dryer and a living room area to spread out it, as you've had the luxury to experience. You really cannot equate that to a regular hotel room.

However, there are studios in the DVC system which can be less expensive to rent than booking a hotel room. The studios have a kitchenette (toaster, coffeemaker, small sink and dorm-size refrigerator). All but OKW have a queen bed and some sort of sofa bed. OKW studios have 2 queen beds.

There will be times, especially during the summer months, when Disney's discounts and DVC's high point requirements make it more affordable to book a cash reservation for a regular room than to rent a studio reservation. You need to crunch the numbers. DVC rentals also tend to come with no cancellation/no changes restrictions and full payment at time of booking unless you're dealing directly with an owner who sets their own terms.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Is a regular hotel room at a place like WL still cheaper than a one or two bedroom WL DVC villa??

A friend gifted me a two bedroom villa at SSR last month with her DVC points. Before that I'd only ever been in normal hotel rooms (one room with beds, bathroom, and no kitchen of any sort). Now I'm hooked! I prefer MK resorts so I thought maybe I'd rent points for WL villas, but will just a regular WL room still be cheaper than renting points for a one or two bedroom WL villa?

I think the PP gave you great feedback on the points system and cost of renting DVC.

I have always toyed with renting DVC because we do like having the kitchenettes and the pull down murphy beds under the TV and sleeper sofa so my girls don't have to share a bed anymore but we've not moved forward on a one bedroom since many of the one bedroom villas don't necessarily provide any better sleeping options than a DVC studio and for me, only having two kids, can't see the benefit of paying that much more just to have a full kitchen, laundry and a little more space. I don't cook on vacation at WDW and so it would be a waste for us. Now I see a lot more benefit in a two bedroom for sure and renting DVC points will definitely almost always save you money vs a DVC cash reservation via Disney. However, a studio will always be less than a 1 or 2 bedroom so we always go that route.

We've only done DVC cash reservations via Disney and the added benefit there vs renting points/owning, is that you can on occasion get a potential upgrade, which has happened to us on a few visits and you also get daily housekeeping (in normal/non Covid times). But you also are charged for parking, whereas a DVC rental or owner would not pay for resort parking. Many times renting points for a studio is a little less than paying via disney, but it's less hassle going directly with disney since there are a few more hoops to jump through on a DVC contact rental so that's why I never pull the trigger on renting points. Of course, for a longer stay, the dollar difference can really add up but if it's within a few hundred dollars, I'm not renting points.

 

[cgattis]

I think the PP gave you great feedback on the points system and cost of renting DVC.

I have always toyed with renting DVC because we do like having the kitchenettes and the pull down murphy beds under the TV and sleeper sofa so my girls don't have to share a bed anymore but we've not moved forward on a one bedroom since many of the one bedroom villas don't necessarily provide any better sleeping options than a DVC studio and for me, only having two kids, can't see the benefit of paying that much more just to have a full kitchen, laundry and a little more space. I don't cook on vacation at WDW and so it would be a waste for us. Now I see a lot more benefit in a two bedroom for sure and renting DVC points will definitely almost always save you money vs a DVC cash reservation via Disney. However, a studio will always be less than a 1 or 2 bedroom so we always go that route.

We've only done DVC cash reservations via Disney and the added benefit there vs renting points/owning, is that you can on occasion get a potential upgrade, which has happened to us on a few visits and you also get daily housekeeping (in normal/non Covid times). But you also are charged for parking, whereas a DVC rental or owner would not pay for resort parking. Many times renting points for a studio is a little less than paying via disney, but it's less hassle going directly with disney since there are a few more hoops to jump through on a DVC contact rental so that's why I never pull the trigger on renting points. Of course, for a longer stay, the dollar difference can really add up but if it's within a few hundred dollars, I'm not renting points.

You touched on it, but I’d also say a little more explicitly that there’s more risk from renting in the event of an unexpected cancellation. I saw what happened with points rentals during covid, and I’m not personally comfortable renting again until I see some updated refund policies. And I haven’t been looking since then, so some of the rental companies may have done that already. I’d just say do your research on cancellation policies.

 

[JCornell]

You touched on it, but I’d also say a little more explicitly that there’s more risk from renting in the event of an unexpected cancellation. I saw what happened with points rentals during covid, and I’m not personally comfortable renting again until I see some updated refund policies. And I haven’t been looking since then, so some of the rental companies may have done that already. I’d just say do your research on cancellation policies.

Great point and so far they've taken the opposite approach and say all sales are final etc. since I imagine they were also hurt over the last year and aren't sitting on extra cash for refunds.
We added one night to our upcoming stay in July so I rented points for just that one extra night and are doing a split stay. I figured one night is low risk. I'm not quite ready for a longer stay on points yet, but might change my mind if the right deal came around. Our next stay is Thanksgiving and by the time we made that choice all DVC's were gone so that made our choice easy, too.

So that's another important point - if you want DVC, you will have to book far in advance. You will not get a room on short notice.

 

[sarahrdh]

I booked a rental through dvc rental store (DIS sponsee), and their cancellation policy can’t be beat. If you cancel, you basically have a credit with them to use another time. Pre covid, you had the option to pay extra for this protection plan, but now they increased their fees about $1 per point and include it, which I’m perfectly happy with! So I felt super comfortable renting. I think there may still be a tier of how many points get credited based on when you cancel, but still. Other companies do nothing, so this is huge.

alao they only require 25% of total down to secure. So I put a little under $600 down to secure my BWV studio for 6 nights.
We stayed at CBR in Feb and it was around $2200 for the week. I’m spending about $2500 for 6 nights at BWV this upcoming Feb. So yes it’s still more BUT I felt it was a small enough difference, the value is there for us. We have 5 people, so it can be tough to find something with a good value when we still have tickets for 5 to buy as well

anyway- I just wanted to say that about DVC store. I have personally never booked a deluxe option through Disney at all, so I can’t say for sure, but I’d def need a good 35% discount to consider it. And it would depend on the resort too. Some of the regular resort rooms are hideous (I’m looking at you GF.....) compared to the DVC studio rooms

 

[meliscan]

I have booked a few times with rented points and have come out ahead as far as price. We were able to get a deluxe cheaper than the moderate I had booked through Disney. Do your research and make sure you rent from a reputable company though. As another poster said you are locked in and can't cancel the room. I have travel insurance for the trip just in case we have to cancel we can get our money back. I have someone I use but I am not sure I can post it but I am happy to share if you message me.

 

[Deb & Bill]

OKW studios have two real queen beds. Riviera and Saratoga Springs both have a murphy bed for the second bed (so either queen or double). All the rest have terrible sleeper sofas (except for BLT and AKV in the studios). Where the resort doesn't have studios with a bunk sized murphy bed, they usually have a twin sized sleeper chair in the one bedroom that is more comfortable than the sleeper sofa. Those studios only sleep four. AKV value one and two bedrooms are limited to four or eight guests. Copper Creek is a hard four in the studio and in the one bedroom (hard eight in the two bedroom).

It is possible to book a DVC villa for cash, but most of the resorts are sold out to owners with only a very small percentage of villas maintained by DVC. Except for Riviera which still has lots of unsold units.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

The real savings are the studios, once you move up to the 1 or 2 bdrm, it doesn't save you $$ but you do get added space. Also, the 1 bdrm still only gives you 1 real bed (except OKW).

 

[Deb & Bill]

The real savings are the studios, once you move up to the 1 or 2 bdrm, it doesn't save you $$ but you do get added space. Also, the 1 bdrm still only gives you 1 real bed (except OKW).

Nope, OKW one bedroom only has the one real king bed and a queen sleeper sofa and twin sleeper chair.

 

[CarolynFH]

The real savings are the studios, once you move up to the 1 or 2 bdrm, it doesn't save you $$ but you do get added space. Also, the 1 bdrm still only gives you 1 real bed (except OKW).

SSR 1BR now have the queen-size Murphy and a bunk-size Murphy in the living room, in addition to the king-size bed in the bedroom. The queen-size Murphy mattress is very comfortable - it's a "real" mattress, not a sleeper sofa mattress.