Renting DVC or Booking directly through agent?

[mousekeeters28]

I have no experience with renting DVC and I would like to know your thoughts for those of you that have done so.

Looking at the price difference for booking the same room on through Disney is quite a difference! I'm seeing around 2-3k in savings. I feel a little torn though since for my past vacations I've used the same agent to book all my travel and I would love their involvement in this one too.

Should I set my attachment aside or is their a benefit to keeping my agent for this trip?

 

[loves to dive]

You aren't guaranteed what you want is going to be available, in most cases you are going to have to pay the total amount up front and you are not going to be able to cancel. I've found that the savings for anything over a studio can be better but if you want a studio, it's not always better. You can always check with David's DVC rentals (a sponsor of this site) and see if they can find you something available for your dates and go from there. I did it once but not being able to cancel is kind of a deal breaker for me since I tend to change my mind on a daily basis.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I think there are a few key questions:

1. Are you prepared to pay at least 50% or perhaps the full payment for your room up front? This is required for DVC rental.

2. Are you booking at least 7 months in advance, more ideally closer to 10-11 months? This is essential for some resorts.

3. Are you comfortable with not being able to change or cancel your booking once made? DVC point rentals are final. In addition, the DVC owner "owns" your booking, so you can't even call in a celebration or room request.

4. Are you comfortable with your transaction being with a private owner? if the owner sells or doesn't pay dues and the booking is cancelled, Disney will not do anything for you because your transaction was not with them.

5. Are you okay with not getting daily mousekeeping, including not getting daily towels or toiletries? Bookings of 7 days or less get trash/towel on day 4.

6. Are you comparing apples-to-apples? For instance, a Polynesian Standard Room will be two queens and a daybed; a Poly Studio will be 1 queen, a sofa bed and a murphy bed. Know the sleeping configuration of the rooms you're looking at.

Also be aware that availability for cash does NOT mean a room is available for DVC points. Different inventories.

 

[Lynne M]

I would have to really, really love my agent to be willing to pay them $2-3 thousand extra for the same room.

That said, there are differences in renting a DVC reservation and booking through Disney.

1) The biggest one is the lack of flexibility. Consider any rental transaction to be final. You will likely not be able to make any changes to the reservation, and you won't get a refund if you have to cancel.

2) Your rental transaction is with an individual, not Disney. If anything goes wrong with the transaction, Disney will not intervene.

3) As a timeshare, DVC has a pay as you go housekeeping system. You'll receive limited housekeeping services if you book through DVC, not the full daily housekeeping you would get if you book directly through Disney. You can pay for additional housekeeping services if you like.

 

[junderwood99]

We used Jeff's Condos for our upcoming trip in August. You do have to pay 100% of your room rate up front. But we saved over $1700 on our stay at Wilderness Lodge Villas

 

[MrsNuke]

Agree with all of the above! That being said, there are circumstances in which it can be TOTALLY worth the limited hassle.

Flexibility is non-existent on a rental, but it's also non-existent for some schedules anyway. We travel with another family, one in each of whom are teachers, and we LOVE Food and Wine Festival. Our fall break week is our fall break week, so we don't need flexibility.

It is essential that you rent from an owner or entity that you trust. There are fabulous owners here on the DVC Rent/Trade board, and they will certainly provide you with references if you ask for them. We found our go-to gal here on this board, and she's done our last three trips, and will continue to do, if she'll still have us...LOVE her!

We like the limited housekeeping...seems like a waste of labor when we do so little in the room, anyway.

All in all, if the pitfalls of renting don't sound like a big deal to you, they're probably not.