Pros and cons for renting DVC points

[Leigha]

I wanted to get the Budget Boards views on renting points to stay at the DVC resorts. It sounds like a good deal when you compare how much it would cost to rent the points to how much Disney would charge you for the same room but I'm wondering if I'm missing something. I realize you have to trust the person you're renting from but what else do I need to consider? I'd like to hear from someone who's done this before, please!

 

[CarolMN]

Let me help get your thread started.

You will not get daily housekeeping service when you rent points. On the 4th day of your stay (check in is day one), you receive Trash & Towel service. That means your trash will be removed and you will get fresh towels. On the eighth day (if you stay that long), you will get a full cleaning service. If you stay longer than that, the cycle repeats. Some consider the limited housekeeping a con - I like not having a "stranger" in my room while I am gone and like not having to schedule naps or room time around a housekeeping schedule. All the DVC rooms come with a vacuum and the 1 bedroom and larger units include a washer & dryer right in the room! (Some people do consider those items as "decorative, though).

You already know about the "trust" factor. It's very important for renters to understand the individual DVC member's cancellation, refund and payment policies before sending any money. DVC members are not Disney and policies between members can and do vary. Member policies are generally NOT as liberal as Disney! Expect to prepay totally before arrival. Many members will not refund any money after a certain time, but most will allow you to reschedule your trip (subject to room availability and the expiration dates of their points).

On the bright side, the DVC accomodations (IMHO) are so much nicer than the "standard" WDW hotel rooms. The 1 bedroom and larger units are just wonderful. Did I mention the washer/dryer (less to pack), the fullly equipped kitchen (save on meals and snacks) and the jacuzzi tub (heaven after a long day in the parks). Even the studios include kitchenettes (under counter refrigerator, toaster, microwave, coffeemaker, sink and equpped with paper plates, plasticware and mugs). Renting from a DVC member allows you to experience those great accomodations at a significant savings over rack rate. In some cases, a stay in a DVC studio will be less than a discounted room at one of the moderates.

Hope you get lots of replies. I am a DVC member but have never rented out any of my points - need them all for myself!

Best wishes and good luck!

 

[Leigha]

Thanks for the reply! Two questions - how do you get more towels or is the room stocked with enough for 4 days? # 2 - From what I've read it should be about $10. a point and I need 13 points a night. How can it be cheaper to come out less than a moderate at a discounted rate? Thanks in advance!

 

[karebear1]

CAn you tell us when you are planning on going? Also- DVC resorts are Deluxe Resorts- you cannot compare cost to a Moderate- the moderate will be less expensive...maybe. It depends on the size room you want and when you go.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Leigha
Thanks for the reply! Two questions - how do you get more towels or is the room stocked with enough for 4 days? # 2 - From what I've read it should be about $10. a point and I need 13 points a night. How can it be cheaper to come out less than a moderate at a discounted rate? Thanks in advance!

1. Re towels. The rooms are stocked with a bath towel, hand twoel and washcloth for the stated max occupancy of the unit, plus a bath floor mat. For a studio or 1 bedroom, that is 4 people. A 2 bedroom would be 8 people. If you want/need more, you can order an extra set for $6/set. You can also wash towels if you prefer that to paying for more. Those staying in studios may use the laundry - it's free. You do have to provide your own detergent and softening agent, however. I usually bring my own as the on site prices are $1/box (one load).

2. At certain times of the year, a studio at OKW can be had for $80/night (or even less if you can find points for sale at less than $10/each). There is no tax on DVC points. I don't think you can find a moderate for $80/night at any time of the year even if you have a discount, especially if you include the 11.5% or 12% resort tax required when booking through Disney or a TA.

I haven't been following resort discount rates lately. Can you get a room at a mod for the time you are going for less than $130/night? (Don't forget to include tax in your comparisons). If so, you'll have to decide if the convenience and amenities of the DVC resort room outweigh the difference in price.

Good luck!

 

[CarolA]

Keep in mind that the number of points goes up dramatically on the weekends. It looks to me like you are looking at a studio at either BCV, BWV or WLV. Those would be comparable to a deluxe room. However, the Fri/Sat points would be 23 points a night for that same room.

The other thing to consider is lead time. If you want a popular time you need to make your arrangements well in advance.


I am another DVC owner, but I also manage to use all my points so I don't have much other advice on renting!

 

[Leigha]

The Beach Club is looking more attractive all the time!!! I'm sorry to ask again but is that one towel per person for 4 days or a towel for each day per person? And the washer and dryer are free for studio guests?! Wow - that's a savings in itself! I would like to go the first week of June and really like the looks and location of the Beach Club. I suppose most rentals turn out with no problem and am in the "information gathering" stage of trip planning. I think I've read that people can sell points 7 months out when it's not their home resort so I'm studying hard. I don't know whether to book the first points available or wait for a better deal. The points I've seen either go for $9 or $10 which isn't a lot of difference for a 4 night stay. Do they ever go lower? How do you know who to trust, besides references? Thanks for helping!

 

[CarolA]

You do NOT get a clean towel every day. You get one set of towels for the number of guests in the room. So a studio will have 4 sets of towels total.

Laundry is free for studio guests, but the machine is not in the studio.

 

[karebear1]

I've never seen points go for under $10.00/point- especially in the prime vacation season there. But, I fsomeone has to cancel their trip last minute and can eother lose their points or try to sell them- they'll try to sell them no matter what they get for them. However- for taht to happen, it'd have to be a very short notice situation.

Besides the towels not coming daily- you also do not get daily housekeeping. If your stay is for less then 8 nights, you'll recieve trash and towel service on day 4. At that time, housekeping will come into the rom and empty trash, provide fresh bathroom linens, replace tissues, paper towels and toilet paper, replenish coffee, sugar, cream and sweetners.

Also- if you would like daily housekeeping- you can get it for an additional charge of $25.00/day for a studio roomor, if you want yttrash and towel service before day 4- you can get that for $10.00/day.

Hope that helps you some- even adding on extra$$$$ to pay for daily housekeeping it's still a GREAT deal for a Deluxe!

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by Leigha
I think I've read that people can sell points 7 months out when it's not their home resort so I'm studying hard. I don't know whether to book the first points available or wait for a better deal. The points I've seen either go for $9 or $10 which isn't a lot of difference for a 4 night stay. Do they ever go lower? How do you know who to trust, besides references? Thanks for helping!

DVC members can reserve 11 months out at their home resort and 7 months out at any other DVC resort. However, bear in mind that availability is not guaranteed. In order to guarantee you can get a BCV studio for the time fram you're looking at, I'd suggest looking for a DVC member who has BCV as his "home", and start making plans immediately. As soon as the 7-month window opens up for your June stay, the rooms may get snatched up quickly. BCV is one of the more popular DVC resorts due to the fantastic pool and proximity to EPCOT

Once the rooms are all reserved, the only alternative is to waitlist, and I'm not sure how many renters would be willing to go that route.

Points will run in the $9-11 range, with $10 being the most common. DVC members have to use or bank their points within a pre-determined "use year", which is why you may see some owners discounting points in desperation.

References are about the only way to check out a DVC member. Ask for references and check them out if it will make you more comfortable.

Realistically you're looking at a $13,000+ investment to own DVC, so members are typically not the fly-by-night type. I've never heard of someone being cheated on a point rental, but that's not to say it hasn't happened at some point.

As others have said, each point renter will have his/her own terms. Most will want some down-payment up front (because the DVC owner is committing his points to the use year when the reservation is made), with the balance due at some point at least 30 days prior to the stay. After the reservation is made, the DVC member will be sent a one-page confirmation letter which should list the reservation as being in your name. Most of the time DVC member services will not discuss the reservation with anyone by the member, so you're back to the "faith and trust" issue. A couple of days before your stay you should be able to confirm the reservation with the resort itself.

 

[rlduvall]

Even though I am not the op, thanks for all the great information. We are renting points from a DVC member - BWV studio for September 27 through October 1 and I understood the housekeeping and towel issue, but wasn't sure about trash, etc. When they said day 4 I wondered when that was as we are only staying 4 nights. Now I know you count your day of arrival and light housekeeping will be the day before we leave. I will probably only need to buy one towel set. Regarding trash: is there anyplace we can dump it prior to the 4 day light housekeeping? Honestly, I almost prefer no housekeeping. I always leave my room immaculate as I am embarassed to have someone clean up after us (my mom taught me that, lol). The only thing housekeeping ever has to do for me is make the bed. Now we don't have to worry about when we come back to the room; we always break about noon. I just wondered about trash and stuff. If we run out of toilet paper, can we request it early? Thanks

 

[welovedis]

Yes, even though I'm not the OP I appreciate the info! I learned something new-didn't know that since we are staying in a studio we'll be able to go somewhere (on property I assume?) to do our laundry for free (as long as we bring detergent, etc..). That is great--we will be there for 11 days in January & I don't want to have to pack too much so that will be great.


To the OP--as someone who is renting points for the first time, I can relate. I checked out the DVC boards for a long time and read lots and lots of posts on renting points. Use the point calculator to determine what your point need is and make sure you know what you want as far as resort, room type, and even view. I used a spreadsheet to determine the cost effectiveness of renting the points.

For example, we are vacation from 1/7-1/18 2004 (11 nights). We had reservations at a moderate (CSR) and AKL concierge. The cost we were going to pay was so much higher than what I am paying per night for a BWV standard view studio. I figured that even with the best discount available for AP holders (40%), I would break about even ($7 per night difference). And that would be IF I was able to get an AP rate. Now I know what my rate will be ($1430 for 11 nights or $130 night) and I know I am getting an excellent deal on a HAFH resort.

Good luck with you decision!

 

[Ursula]

I rented points last May and stayed at BCV in a studio. Yes, you can use the washers and dryers for free, but I think there are only two of each so you may have to wait around until they are available. I had to go back several times before I could get my laundry done because there were too many people waiting ahead of me.

I didn't like not have housekeeping, and "trash and towel" day consisted of the maid knocking on the door and handing us a bunch of clean towels and asking us to give her the dirty ones. She never did take the trash, but there was a place to dump trash at the end of the hall so we just did it ourselves.

I felt the person I was renting from was trustworthy by the # of posts he had and he was willing to give references. To make it more cost effective, we only stayed Sun.- Thurs. at BCV and switched to AKL for Fri. & Sat. night with a code.

Now that I know what it's like, I would not hesistate to rent points again. We would never be able to afford a resort like the Beach Club otherwise. I do think the studios are too small for 4 people (we had two adults & two children), but next trip will be just me and DD so a studio would be fine. It seemed like the AKL room was bigger than the BCV studio, but it may just have been the way it was set up.

Any other ?'s

 

[jmminarik]

Just a few random thoughts...

Most of the DVCers around here _seem_ to prefer the limited mousekeeping. As many of us are 'long-term' WDW visiters, we'll often take breaks during the day (or not even go to a park!) and not having someone annoying us is nice. It also helps keep down the maintenance fees (and therefore our dues since we are effectively the employers of the staff).

The towel situation is either acceptable or horrendous depending on which camp you fall in. We're in the 'use it more than once' group, while it seems many people aren't.

Since you're apparantly looking to rent points for a studio, you should be ok. Just be warned that if you ever wind up in a One Bedroom, you may find that you'll never want to go back to a regular hotel room again.


-Joe

 

[Leigha]

Your replies have given me confidence and super information - just what I was looking for! Our plan is to go for BCV, Studio, Sunday - Thursday then moving on to Vero Beach where I assume it will be cheaper to rent an Inn room than points. The only thing I wonder about is the towels - but it isn't a deal breaker for me. I think I've read where towels are available at the pool. Can we just bring a clean towel back from the pool with us each afternoon after we swim?

Should I just post a request on the rent/trade board for the first week of June?

Already getting excited!

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by rlduvall
Even though I am not the op, thanks for all the great information. We are renting points from a DVC member - BWV studio for September 27 through October 1 and I understood the housekeeping and towel issue, but wasn't sure about trash, etc. When they said day 4 I wondered when that was as we are only staying 4 nights. Now I know you count your day of arrival and light housekeeping will be the day before we leave. I will probably only need to buy one towel set. Regarding trash: is there anyplace we can dump it prior to the 4 day light housekeeping? Honestly, I almost prefer no housekeeping. I always leave my room immaculate as I am embarassed to have someone clean up after us (my mom taught me that, lol). The only thing housekeeping ever has to do for me is make the bed. Now we don't have to worry about when we come back to the room; we always break about noon. I just wondered about trash and stuff. If we run out of toilet paper, can we request it early? Thanks

First of all, you can reuest to change the day you receive T&T service. The day for T&T is listed on your confirmation letter so you can see if it would make sense to ask for a change.

To change, just ask at check in or call housekeeping once you get to the room. I've done this on more than one occasion and it isn't a problem.

If you run out of toilet paper - just call housekeeping. Someone will bring you more and there is not extra charge for that. FWIW, you should find at least one (if not 2 or 3) extra rolls in the bathroom, so I can't imagine you will run out, LOL!

As far as trash goes, all of the DVC resorts have a "trash" room or a dumpster area for your trash if you don't want to wait for T&T or cleaning day. IIRC< the BWV has such a room on every floor and there may be more than one. We often dump ours on the way out as I don't like having full baskets in the room, especially if they contain anything that may be attractive to pests.

We do not use a clean towel every day at home, so I don't have any problem hanging mine up on vacation so that I can reuse it the next day. Perhaps if you just change your T&T day (and that makes sense for a 4 night stay), you'll find you don't need that extra set after all.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[TonyS20]

I'm not the OP, but find the information from everyone to be very helpful. My DH and I are planning a 14 night stay in 2004 and have been trying to decide where to stay. I have been telling him about the 1 bedrooms that are available and we may chose to rent points in order toexperience DVC.

I have a question about the "full cleaning". What exactly does that mean? Do they vacuum, clean bathroom, etc or is it less than that? Do they change the sheets? I have created a spreadsheet that outlines some of the info about DVC to share with my DH and this is something I'm still not sure of.

 

[Puffy2]

A word of warning: if someone advertises points too cheap, be suspecious. The going rate is $10.00 a point and that is fair. If a DVC owner is in a jam (points about to expire) you might see them for less ($9.00, maybe even $8.00 at the last minute). I've seen a rare post or two for really low points and there has been some questions around the poster's trustworthiness (sp?) . Ask for references, have a written and signed agreement, confirm the reservation - before you send a bank check or the like. A good way to is to rent from someone who has been around awhile (100 posts as opposed to 2 for instance). Good luck.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by TonyS20
...(snip)....I have a question about the "full cleaning". What exactly does that mean? Do they vacuum, clean bathroom, etc or is it less than that? Do they change the sheets? I have created a spreadsheet that outlines some of the info about DVC to share with my DH and this is something I'm still not sure of.

Below is some additional information from the DVC Members' Guuidebook on the Trash & Towel Service and the Full Cleaning Service.

If you want T&T Service or Full Cleaning Service more often than the standard cycle described in an earlier post in this thread, you may order and pay for it. You may order either service for as many or as few days as you like.


Trash & Towel service is $10 / day requested. For T & T service, housekeeping will:

*Empty the trash and put new liners in the trash bins
*Provide fresh bathroom linens
*Replace facial tissues, paper towels and toilet paper as needed
*Replenish coffee, sugar, cream, and sweeteners
*Replenish dishwashing liquid, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent (not provided in studios) and sponges as needed

A full cleaning for a studio is $25 / day requested. It's $30 / $40 /$60 per day requested for a one bedroom / two bedroom / GrandVilla or Beach Cottage. For a full cleaning service, housekeeping:

* Provides all T & T services
* Changes the bed linens
* Vacuums and dusts
* Cleans the bathroom(s)
* Cleans the kitchen/kitchenette and washes the dishes.

Hope that answers all your cleaning questions - enjoy your trip!

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you are planning a 14 day stay at WDW, you might consider purchasing your own points at Saratoga Springs Resort, the newest DVC resort that will be opening in May. If you purchase now, you will only pay $79/point versus the regular $89/point. You get the $10 discount for a limited period of time because you can't use your points at SSR until May.

And you really shouldn't bring towels from the pool for the purpose of using them in the room. Sometimes they issue you towels at the pool by showing your ID. You could bring your own towels from home, though.

Just remember, this is a "Home Away from Home", so you make your own bed, hang up your towels, take out your trash, etc. But it is so much better than just a hotel room.