Other DVC Rentals COVID-19 policy compared to David's DVC?

[ILovePixieDust]

I've rented several times through David's and have referred friends and family who have used them as well. It has worked seamlessly in the past. Obviously, now there are a lot of issues following the pandemic and cancellations and I have been following the other thread regarding David's response to this crisis and there seemed to be a lot of unhappy people. It makes the whole prospect of renting points in the future a lot more questionable for sure.

But I haven't seen any threads about other DVC rental companies and how they are handling this situation as they would be in the same boat as David's.

Does anybody have any experience with the other companies and what resolutions they are offering? Are their offerings way better than what David's is doing right now? Curious as to why it seems to be all about David's approach to this and nothing about other companies who do rentals as well.

 

[Sandisw]

IMO, it is because Davids is one of biggest brokers used by both renters and owners here on the DIs.

 

[stitchsnk]

Does anybody have any experience with the other companies and what resolutions they are offering? Are their offerings way better than what David's is doing right now? Curious as to why it seems to be all about David's approach to this and nothing about other companies who do rentals as well.

I am curious about this as well. I am an avid David's renter and was looking forward to using him for my January 2021 trip, but now I'm hesitant.

 

[Noodlez]

I have been looking at the terms offered by a couple of brokers, as per the policy on their website. One is offering credit notes, which is very similar to how David's (https://dvcrequest.com/) is handling it. Another states that they will try to reschedule, based on point expiry, holding and availability. This method seems more restrictive as they seem to be trying to reschedule using the same owners points. I don't know more details as I haven't used them myself.
I haven't seen that anyone is handling it in a better way than David's, so I think they may be discussed more due to size (as mentioned) and because they can be directly referenced on these boards.

Edit: I've just checked a third broker and they are offering a credit to be used by 30th November this year, for bookings from yesterday until the end of June. That seem a really small time-frame to try to rebook in. Booking prior to yesterday have to use the credit by the end of October!

 

[CarolMN]

Please remember to post a link to any specific business you want to discuss. Some businesses are in the DIS site filter and !sit not be discussed here. For more info, see

https://disboards.com/threads/a-wor...-to-any-business-you-wish-to-mention.3044151/
Thank you.

 

[Marionnette]

I've rented several times through David's and have referred friends and family who have used them as well. It has worked seamlessly in the past. Obviously, now there are a lot of issues following the pandemic and cancellations and I have been following the other thread regarding David's response to this crisis and there seemed to be a lot of unhappy people. It makes the whole prospect of renting points in the future a lot more questionable for sure.

But I haven't seen any threads about other DVC rental companies and how they are handling this situation as they would be in the same boat as David's.

Does anybody have any experience with the other companies and what resolutions they are offering? Are their offerings way better than what David's is doing right now? Curious as to why it seems to be all about David's approach to this and nothing about other companies who do rentals as well.

There’s a discussion about bookDVC.com in this thread. It’s not a large broker, from what I can tell.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/rented-dvc-points-expiring—any-hope.3799666/

 

[Noodlez]

Please remember to post a link to any specific business you want to discuss. Some businesses are in the DIS site filter and !sit not be discussed here. For more info, see

If this is in reference to my post, sorry! I should try to summarise my point. I haven't seen any evidence that others are handling this better than David's (https://dvcrequest.com/), in fact some seem to be worse. One of the reasons David's could be getting all the flack is the fact that we're allowed to talk about that business and not the others!

 

[MichelleB]

David's is getting flack because they are also asking the Members to return their pay. The top 2 rental companies are now offering credits but David's is asking the Members to return their payment and only offering credits to the Guests (not a refund) while the other is still paying the Members and offering credits to the Guests out of their own pocket.

 

[CarolMN]

If this is in reference to my post, sorry! I should try to summarise my point. I haven't seen any evidence that others are handling this better than David's (https://dvcrequest.com/), in fact some seem to be worse. One of the reasons David's could be getting all the flack is the fact that we're allowed to talk about that business and not the others!

It wasn't your post, which was fine. ( I just know that there will inevitably be some that are not, because most of the time, there are)! David's isn't in the DIS filter.

FWIW, there are several resellers and rental companies that are not in the filter, including our board sponsor, The DVC Store (aka The Timeshare Store) www.dvcstore.com.

If you don't know if a business is in the filter or not, you find out by posting the link.

 

[Cloudy]

I had a booking with www.redweek.com for the week of May 9th through May 16th 2020 (booked rather late around 65 days prior to arrival) at Wyndham Bonnet Creek.

I guess I am in minority that as a renter I knew this was a nonrefundable reservation when I booked it. I know the resort closures throw a wrench into the contract but I was not expecting a refund. DH and I are both essential workers and are still receiving our normal income. I was prepared to lose it.

I did nothing to contact RedWeek, the resort, or the resort owner. On 4-6-20 I received an email from RedWeek stating they were notified the resort would be closed through May 15th and that they had contacted the owner on my behalf to request a refund. On 4-7-20 I received another email from RedWeek that said my refund had been approved by the owner. It since has been refunded to my credit card.

On Friday I received the following in an email from RedWeek:

We have now implemented a significant update that allows owners and renters to communicate directly with each other on the site. If they reach an agreement on changes to the rental terms, they can then notify the rental team to amend the agreement. While this resolution may offer little consolation for the problems experienced over the past month, we hope this will greatly improve customer experiences moving forward. Also, since the extent and duration of the pandemic is still unknown, we modified our standard rental agreement on April 8th to require renters to acknowledge and accept the pandemic risk. In other words, a renter’s inability to travel or occupy the unit on the given check-in date due to the pandemic will be treated according to the normal cancellation policy. Of course owners are still free to offer more lenient terms or to work out other alternatives with their renter; we just think it’s unfair to owners to not have any visibility into the state of their rentals.​

Ongoing the risk with be assigned to the renter.

 

[CarolMN]

Seems redweek is doing things right, as is the owner that rented the stay for you.

IIRC, redweek does not include any kind of escrow service & the owner pays a fee to redweek to list the property. That's a very different business model than the ones many of the DVC brokers use.

 

[ILovePixieDust]

I have been looking at the terms offered by a couple of brokers, as per the policy on their website. One is offering credit notes, which is very similar to how David's (https://dvcrequest.com/) is handling it. Another states that they will try to reschedule, based on point expiry, holding and availability. This method seems more restrictive as they seem to be trying to reschedule using the same owners points. I don't know more details as I haven't used them myself.
I haven't seen that anyone is handling it in a better way than David's, so I think they may be discussed more due to size (as mentioned) and because they can be directly referenced on these boards.

Edit: I've just checked a third broker and they are offering a credit to be used by 30th November this year, for bookings from yesterday until the end of June. That seem a really small time-frame to try to rebook in. Booking prior to yesterday have to use the credit by the end of October!

Thanks for sharing. Good to know! I was wondering if there was something I was missing in regards to the other companies and would it be good to look into using other ones but it sounds like it's not much better in this situation at all.

Wonder what this will mean for the DVC rental business at all in the future. It's sad because I have been so happy with it in the past as a renter.

 

[ILovePixieDust]

David's is getting flack because they are also asking the Members to return their pay. The top 2 rental companies are now offering credits but David's is asking the Members to return their payment and only offering credits to the Guests (not a refund) while the other is still paying the Members and offering credits to the Guests out of their own pocket.

Do you know if the credits have long expiry time or not? I saw someone mention one had to be used by November 2020? So that would be worse.

I guess I am just thinking for the future would another company be better or maybe it's just a book direct through Disney only...

 

[Omrso]

I have been in contact with Dave’s since it was announced Disney was closing in March. My family was scheduled to arrive this coming week for vacation. The only response that I can obtain from Dave’s is a generic email stating that they are working thru reservations starting with the month of March and then will go to reservations in April. They then go on to say that they are all working for home Which I’m sorry to say means nothing to me. I am a front line worker who is not fortunate enough to work from home. Each time I send an email to ask for an update I get back the same generic email with no details. To say I am dissapointed in Dave’s Is an understatement. I’ve used Dave’s several times in the past with no issues but sadly this will probably be my last. On a plus side Delta has refunded my entire airfare effortlessly. Just a side note...I did not ask for a refund I just wanted to reschedule for the fall

 

[CastAStone]

Wonder what this will mean for the DVC rental business at all in the future.

Hard to imagine it's not hurt by this, but at the same time, hard to imagine it doesn't rebound eventually. I think one thing you'll see for sure is an explicit call out in giant letters that you have to click separately saying the reservation is non-refundable even if the parks and/or resorts are closed.

I think you'll also see companies offering pandemic-specific travel insurance - the chances of another pandemic in our lifetimes aren't huge, so someone will absolutely print money offering that option.

 

[BrianMcG]

I posted my experience as a renter with an upcoming August DVC Rental via The Timeshare Store (www.dvcstore.com) in another thread, but will summarize here as well.

I reached out via their website chat functionality to ask about their policy for DVC rentals effected by closures. I was told that if Disney was close on my trip dates that I would be issued a refund or if I would like to try to reschedule, they would help facilitate, depending on the expiration of the owners points.

Unfortunately I can't provide any information about their policy regarding impacted owners renting out points.

I also still need to reach out via e-mail and confirm their renter policy in writing, but I am very relieved!