Please Explain Renting Points

[RJake1]

How does the renting of points work? Do you rent only to other DVC members? Can non-members in effect circumvent membership costs by renting whenever they want to go WDW? That doesn't seem fair.

 

[Richyams]

Sure they can, just like non-car owners can rent a car to circumvent car ownership.

People can rent homes to circumvent home ownership.

Please explain what it is that doesn't seem fair about any of these things.

 

[RobDoc]

Non-owners cannot rent points, as they can be used only by DVC members. Non-owners can rent a reservation made using the points.

A rental may not always be available when you wish to go. Since all DVC reservations are based on availability, even members can't always go whenever we want to but, with advance planning, most members are able to get exactly what they are looking for- especially if they are flexible with their dates, room type and resort. There are some looking for rentals in late November and early December who may not find any availability.

As already mentioned, renting from a member is similar to renting anything (cars, homes, hotel rooms, etc.). It allows someone an opportunity to do something without the responsibility of ownership. You can also rent DVC rooms directly from Disney.

DVC rentals for point based resevations will not get daily housekeeping and the rental policies are negotiable between the parties involved. Often financial savings can be found with a rental, sometimes there is little or no savings.

Renting is expressly allowed in the DVC documents, with the warning that no assistance will be provided by Disney and that members who wish to rent are competing with Disney in that endeavor.

Just post the resort, room type and dates you're looking for on the Rent/trade Board and see if a member can assist. You can also respond to an offer to rent by a DVC Member.

Enjoy!

 

[DisneyKidds]

Originally posted by RJake1
How does the renting of points work? Do you rent only to other DVC members? Can non-members in effect circumvent membership costs by renting whenever they want to go WDW? That doesn't seem fair.

I have found renting points to be a pretty easy and straight forward thing. I have both rented from people and rented to people. It basically goes like this................

You find someone (via the rent/trade board) who has points to rent that suit your needs. You contact them. Agree on price. Owner makes a resservation in your name. Owner provides you the confirmation. You pay the owner. You save some money (if you've done your research and played your cards right) and show up and enjoy your vacation. There may be dates,, booking windows, rental agreements, and cancellation policies to work out, but the folks on these boards are great and I've found it to be an agreeable process.

I've rented to both members and non-members.

Yes, non-members can "circumvent membership costs" by renting, but I wouldn't see that as a long term solution for anybody. Nothing "unfair" about it. It may represent a savings for the renter for a while, but over the long term ownership would be more cost effective. However, if someone doesn't have the money to buy in or the stomach for financing, renting can be more cost effective than just getting rooms at the regular Disney resorts, depending on when you are travelling and what discounts Disney is offering.

 

[RJake1]

Thanks for all the replies.

One other question, when you check-in is the reservation under the DVC club member's name, or is it in the renter's name?

I didn't mean to imply this was unfair to the parties involved since they negotiate a fair deal; my concern is for other DVC members who might be trying to book a room that particular week but can't because of renters. Dunno, just seems like DVC members should be allowed some priority here. After all, they are taking the risk of the investment, paying maintanence, etc.

 

[jmminarik]

Originally posted by RJake1
Can non-members in effect circumvent membership costs by renting whenever they want to go WDW? That doesn't seem fair.

Only in the same sense apartment renters 'avoid' property taxes. They still pay them, just in the form of rent. Since the renter doesn't have a DVC membership card, they don't necessarily get all of the perks of DVC membership.

$10/pt is the de facto standard for renting.

Using this figure the rentor is covering their maintenance cost and the cost of the point plus a little profit. Of course, this profit isn't much for a typical stay and diminishes even further as the price/pt declines but generally the rentor makes a few bucks and the rentee saves quite a bit over cash rates.

-joe

 

[jmminarik]

Originally posted by RJake1
Thanks for all the replies.
I didn't mean to imply this was unfair to the parties involved since they negotiate a fair deal; my concern is for other DVC members who might be trying to book a room that particular week but can't because of renters. Dunno, just seems like DVC members should be allowed some priority here. After all, they are taking the risk of the investment, paying maintanence, etc.

Reservations are under the name of someone staying in the room...this is true if you rent to a complete stranger or send a family member and you don't go.

While it may not seem fair that a non-DVCer can get a 'cheap' room when a DVCer is unable to do make a ressie, in reality it's still the 'rentor' DVC member who is using the points (and therefore their ownership rights) to make the ressie. Just because the owner isn't there doesn't mean they don't have the rights to make a ressie.

Renting out points is little different than trading points for things like disney cruises...DVC pays for your cruise, then takes you points and 'rents' them to cash paying customers by reserving nights from the pool of points they collect through 'trading'. The cash renter doesn't "know" about the points, but to be legal with the timeshare agreement, DVC must use points they have control over when they make ressies for cash paying people.

Hope this helps,
Joe

 

[RobDoc]

Originally posted by RJake1
Thanks for all the replies.

One other question, when you check-in is the reservation under the DVC club member's name, or is it in the renter's name?

I didn't mean to imply this was unfair to the parties involved since they negotiate a fair deal; my concern is for other DVC members who might be trying to book a room that particular week but can't because of renters. Dunno, just seems like DVC members should be allowed some priority here. After all, they are taking the risk of the investment, paying maintanence, etc.

The reservation MUST be in the name of person who will check in. If it's in anyone else's name you won't be allowed into the room.

The member should make the reservation in your name and send you the confirmation showing your name and confirmation number. You can then confirm the reservation with the resort directly.

The reservation is still made by the member, whether he chooses to use it himself, give it to family/friends or rent it to someone else. The points belong to the member and he may use them in any fashion allowed by the program- including renting. Any priority is provided to the member- not the renter.

 

[Richyams]

Dunno, just seems like DVC members should be allowed some priority here. After all, they are taking the risk of the investment, paying maintanence, etc.

We do have priority. Unreserved rooms only become available to CRO well after the seven and eleven month windows have had a chance. The only exception is traded out points that become Disney's compete against us at our home resorts at the eleven month window.

At least we can feel comfortable that members aren't grabbing desirable, hard to get reservations and scalping them on Ebay. That would be a terrible thing.