I'm echoing much of what has already been said. David's is great to work with--very responsive to my emails. Here's a quick and handy guide to what I did first time, thus what you can expect.
1) Contact David's.
2) They'll send you a contract to review and agree to via email. Read it thoroughly so you'll know what to expect. For instance, they require you to be ready and able to quickly book a reservation when requested, and you should be willing to do just that.
3) Along with the agreement, they'll also ask you for an email address associated with PayPal since that's how they transfer funds.
4) Once you've finished all the online/email paperwork, they'll let you know that you're all set. When that happens, begin monitoring your email account routinely.
5) You will get an email notification--sort of a roll call, if you will--sent to members who have qualifying points that match the request David's has received from the renter. As part of that email, you are reminded once again that you will need to quickly book the reservation, as in as soon as possible, i.e., not in the next day or so.
6) If you respond, you will be notified that either it's a go or that they received your email but another owner's points were used, i.e., they were quicker on the response.
*Side note: I received a notification one morning while at work and didn't see it until a few hours later. I responded but David's sent me a note saying the request had been filled but thanking me for responding and that they would keep my points in the queue. Two days later, I received another email roll call--this time, I saw it in time to respond almost immediately. I was quickly contacted (again, all via email) by David's who again asked if I was ready to make the reservation quickly. And so I did.
7) Once you receive the request, David's sends along all the necessary information to book it. In fact, all the information David's sends you about the renter is laid out just as you would fill it in on the reservation page on the
DVC site.
8) Book the reservation. David's email will include a link to click where you can enter the reservation number.
9) You are set. The renters will pay 70% at the time of the booking, though David's gives them roughly 48 hours to do so.
10) You'll see the payment pop up in PayPal when the payment is made.
Again, David's is very responsive to email correspondence, often with minutes of sending them one. I had a question about the payment (one of my first renters hadn't paid after about 36 hours), and they responded within 30 minutes explaining in full how they proceed with securing payments and the timeframe. I thanked them for the information and was sent an almost immediate "you're welcome and thank you so much for using us!" response. So far, I've had no issues with them at all.
