On a budget... why wouldn't you rent DVC points?

[KBinCO]

Looking into renting DVC points, I know NOTHING about it. It seems like a no brainer... so what's the catch? Risks? Am I missing something?

 

[NancyDVC]

I have rented my points in the past using the Rent and Trade Board here. I had no problems.
Currently many people use one of the DVC rental sites because they feel more comfortable with a third party facilitating the rental.
I think renting points is a great way to get the advantage of a DVC Villa at a lower cost than paying for a reservation through Disney for a DVC villa. Since I have been a DVC member I have been spoiled and it is very hard for me to stay in a regular hotel room. It is also a great way to try out the DVC experience if you are considering becoming a member.
We are here at Aulani now and being able to eat some meals in our villa has been more economical.

 

[pepperandchips]

Looking into renting DVC points, I know NOTHING about it. It seems like a no brainer... so what's the catch? Risks? Am I missing something?

We rented points through a major broker and had a great experience. The only downsides I can think of are these:

- no flexibility. At the time, there was no cancellation protection plan so I was unable to move my dates even though I found out my nonrefundable trip was going to cause me to miss a very close friend's wedding.
- no guarantee of availability. The room category I wanted was unavailable at 7 months (and this broker did not have a member with home resort priority to make the 11 month booking for me), so I wound up in a more expensive 1 Bedroom villa instead of the studio I wanted.
- DVC reservations do not receive complimentary daily housekeeping. We didn't end up really missing it but we did do laundry (towels) in between check in and our trash & towel day. You could always pay for housekeeping if this is important.
- element of unknown/trust required. I had zero problems with my reservation and had a completely smooth process, but there is some factor of the unknown here. You can confirm the reservation online to make sure it exists once you have the booking number, but the member retains control of the reservation. The member renting to you needs to be current on their dues, honest, and not make any changes to their membership that would affect your stay. You do sign a contract but my remedy for breach by the renting member was limited to a refund of my payment, which would have essentially ruined my trip if they breached and caused me to scramble for a room.

Those were very small drawbacks in the grand scheme of the savings I enjoyed. As with all things, you'll have to decide if any of those potential downsides impact your willingness to rent. Of course you know the major upside: huge savings versus renting through Disney directly.

And of course there's the largest risk: I'm now a DVC member and that first rental stay was my entree into the vacation club (and apparently it really does sell itself).

Let me know if I can answer any questions for you! Happy planning!

 

[MightyDuck001]

I told my sister to use the DVC rental store instead of paying rack rate last year to stay at the Boardwalk--she had a great experience and it went smoothly for her. I'm a DVC member and will say availability is often an issue. It's the kind of thing you'd need to plan 7-11 months in advance, not the best for a short notice trip and I would definitely say budget for a higher price room since the cheapest ones tend to be unavailable pretty quickly.

 

[nkereina]

The risk is that you're dealing with and trusting another private citizen, a total stranger to you, to make your reservation and communicate with you. Even if you use a broker like David's, they are relying on the honesty of their owners as well. They're just facilitating the process and communication, they aren't making the actual reservation. Only the owner can do that. It's kind of like buying a car from someone - do your due diligence and you will be fine. But the risk of running into some kind of scam is present.

That being said, 99.9% of owners who rent their points are honest and would not do anything to harm or scam the renter. But it's something to be aware of and worth checking references, if you're very concerned. Most owners will require at least a portion of the total amount before the reservation will be made. We rent points all the time and have not run into an issue, and always dealt with great owners/brokers.

PP has the other cons covered. You do have to book well in advance - 10-11 months in advance if you want your best shot at the room type you want. You do have to pay in full when you book, and you can't cancel or change your dates. So you have to be certain of your travel plans when you book. There is one broker who does offer travel insurance that would help you recoup the funds if something happened. You also don't receive daily housekeeping, so you'll need to re-use towels, make your own bed, take out your own trash, etc. You do get trash & towel service on day 4 of your stay, and a full cleaning on day 7. But you're on your own in between.

The pro is obviously the cost savings. Not only in the cost of the room, but other costs as well since those staying on DVC points get free parking (savigns of $37/day) and free laundry tokens. To us, the cons are minimal and well worth the pros!

 

[abbiep]

I have rented 2 studios and got them for about a third of the cost of cash plus we will save on the parking. This is my first time renting points and if it goes smoothly, I plan on trying this when I go to Disney next time. We went through a 3rd party, and I checked them out thru the BBB etc. We were a little over 6 mos out and I did have to wait about a week or so to see if they could locate an owner with enough points. I will find out in April if it goes as smooth as I hope it does.

 

[brimorga]

The only other thing I was told that is not noted already is that you won't be able to upgrade your room with cash. If you book with points, you need to upgrade with points. So book the room you want from the get go.

 

[KBinCO]

So the pros are the savings, free parking, and laundry tokens. Any other perks? Again, this is all very foreign to me.

 

[catmegs]

For our upcoming second trip to Aulani I really debated the whole cash vs. renting points dilemma. We've ended up paying cash and I'm super happy we did. If we had rented points we would have had to book so far in advance and had little flexibility. Instead I booked cash three months out, took advantage of their fall discounts (30% off, free airport shuttle roundtrip, one day car rental, and 1 daily meal at Ulu) and then price watched flights daily until I got an amazing deal and saved major $$. Obviously the timing is everything (go in the off season!). Also, we're only doing 1 day car rentals with the Alamo desk, so no parking fees to consider. At the last minute my father in law has decided to join us, so we've booked a second room. Calling reservations it was easy to link him to our reservation and on the same airport shuttles etc. (actually I've called Disney reservations about 3 times already for various things- it's a huge piece of mind having a cash reservation rather than dealing with a point broker or DVC owner).

 

[DieHardJoe]

We rented points a few times before buying into DVC in 2009 with BLT as out home resort. Never had problems renting, but as others have said, there is certainly an element of risk not knowing the party you are renting from. As far as other benefits, for us the biggest was when we've moved up to a 1-BR. Granted it's usually about double the points of a studio, but to get the full kitchen and being able to comfortably eat in is great. We also tend to go to bed and wake up at somewhat different times, so having that separate bedroom is a big benefit. The jetted tub is nice as well, and my wife likes to do the laundry before packing to go home so having the washer-dryer in the room is great. Good luck!

 

[JCornell]

We're currently looking to book for next summer and the point rental seems like a no-brainer:
Pro's:
- definitely the best price you can get at Aulani, even better than a 30% off offer which is about the best I've seen (even when we added in daily room cleanings)
- if you're getting a car (we are), the free parking is a big plus
- free laundry tokens
The main con's, as I've seen so far:
- This takes a fair amount of planning and patience. We're currently looking through a couple different point brokers. First, they have to find room availability. This changes frequently. Then, since we're more than 6 months out, they need to find points where Aulani is the owner's home resort. This is a much smaller pool of points to pull from and currently, they don't have any for that timeframe. So, we've been waiting a few weeks so far. In that time, we've had to change our dates a few times. This means we can't really book anything else (flight, Waikiki hotel for a split stay, any excursions, etc) until we get this nailed down. Like I said, patience. Hopefully we'll get what we want, when we want (fortunately, we're fairly flexible on dates - just want to focus on weekdays since we hear the weekends are busier). We're also far enough out that I'm not too worried about those other things yet. It would actually be a little cheaper to rent points within the 6 month window when points availability goes up but I'm guessing room availability goes down by then, too. It's a little trickier than WDW where you have more resorts to choose from.
- Lack of room cleaning and towels. Like others mentioned, you can pay for it and that's our plan since we're used to hotel rooms more.
- The risk factor of renting from unknown people. I believe this is very, very small though.

 

[Julie645]

I think as long as you can plan ahead it seems like a great deal.
We are not typically the kind of family that can plan enough ahead
We were late to the show booking our vacation only 6 months out and couldn't get a studio through renting points.. could of got a 2 bedroom and maybe a a 1 bedroom if we switched our days up, but studios go the fastest.
We got a pretty good deal via costco and are staying in a DVC studio which I think is very interesting. NOt as good of deal as if we could of rented points but we basically go the same accomodations... so it is a bit confusing to me how it all works.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

You can book a dining plan without having a tie it to a ticket. So if you have an Annual pass you can make use of that. Or get any type of ticket you like. Or none!

 

[BobNed]

You can book a dining plan without having a tie it to a ticket. So if you have an Annual pass you can make use of that. Or get any type of ticket you like. Or none!

None of that applies at Aulani though...

 

[MouseOfCards]

We rented points from individual owners many times before finally buying into DVC (loved Aulani so much that it's one of our home resorts). We're premium members of the "wish we had bought earlier" club. For our first Aulani stay, we rented enough points for a 1 bedroom so that mom could join us. When she had to cancel, we were a little bummed because we only needed a studio. But, we really enjoyed the 1BR (used the in-room washer/dryer many times, made good use of the full kitchen and dining area for many meals and snacks, and really liked the extra space of separate living and sleeping areas). We loved the DVC benefits of free parking and free DVD rentals to catch up on many Disney movies. It was a huge savings; we probably would not have gone if we had to pay cash - it was just too expensive for us at the time. Really looking forward to our next trip. Hope you have a great time no matter what you decide!

 

[KBinCO]

We're looking at going in February, so just over 3 months from now... is that not enough planning time to rent points?

 

[MouseOfCards]

We're looking at going in February, so just over 3 months from now... is that not enough planning time to rent points?

Really depends on what's available. Just looked and most studios and 1 and 2-BR standard views are gone for February. There's still availability for 1 and 2-BR pool and ocean views, mostly in the first half of the month.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

None of that applies at Aulani though...

Good point!

 

[nkereina]

So the pros are the savings, free parking, and laundry tokens. Any other perks? Again, this is all very foreign to me.

Those are all the perks for someone staying on rented points. There are other DVC perks, but they require proof of ownership such as a membership card, so those would only be available to owners and not renters.

I’ll mention that the savings can be substantial. We were there 9/24-9/30, 6 nights, and originally priced out a standard hotel room paying cash and booked by our TA. The total for the week was around $3200 if memory serves. We ended up renting points for the same dates for a standard studio room for $1400. The free parking also saves us another $250.

 

[JCornell]

Those are all the perks for someone staying on rented points. There are other DVC perks, but they require proof of ownership such as a membership card, so those would only be available to owners and not renters.

I’ll mention that the savings can be substantial. We were there 9/24-9/30, 6 nights, and originally priced out a standard hotel room paying cash and booked by our TA. The total for the week was around $3200 if memory serves. We ended up renting points for the same dates for a standard studio room for $1400. The free parking also saves us another $250.

To give another point of comparison:
We're planning on a hotel room in July/Aug 2017 timeframe

Hotel at rack rate: $554/nt - If we were lucky enough to get a 30% discount, that would be: $388/nt but would require us waiting to book anything until we had that secured (just wouldn't work for us)

Renting DVC points: $308/nt @ $14/pt, $352/nt @ $16/pt (brokers charge a bit more for booking more than 6 months out since the pool of available points is restricted to home resort owners only). If you wanted to add daily cleaning, it's basically $30 more per day so $338/nt and $382/nt

One thing I noticed that applies to my family that swings the points option way in our favor:
If you book direct and have more then 2 adults in a room, they charge an extra $100/nt for each additional adult. Our oldest daughter counts as an adult to this makes a big difference for us since they don't seem to make this same add when you're paying with points (somebody please, please correct me on this if wrong, though).

So, for us personally, it comes down to $689/nt booking direct (also factoring in parking) vs. $382/nt renting on points and booking early. This all assumes we're able to obtain the points, of course.