should I rent my points?

[biohzrd8]

I'm such a newbie, I could really use advice. We're new to DVC, have a Dec. use year, and our first DVC trip planned for July '06. We plan to stay 5 nights(Sun-Th.) at OKW and then we want to stay 2 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge(Fr. & Sat. night). If I'm doing my math right, if I rented or transfered the 140 points(needed for the 2 nights at AKL) at even $9 a point, I would be able to pay for the 2 nights with cash and have several hundred dollars to pocket. I'm sure there's a catch here right? How tough is it to find renters? Do you folks think it would be tough for me to unload enough of them to make renting worthwhile. I suppose even if I could only rent 85-90 of the points it would still pay off and I could bank the remainder. I would like to have the deal done with by my trip in July so I can use the money for my own stay. How badly does that complicate things? What would you do? What are the arguments against trying to rent the points? Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

 

[castleri]

This year I did bascially what you are asking. I went to DL for the 50th anniversary party and used points and got the passes with money from rented points, made a short trip to SSR and OKW in Sept using points but rented out the rest of my points to pay for the cruise I am taking this coming week (not Disney unfortunately) and my AP's. I started looking for renters in the spring and had no problems. It does sometimes require a lot of work and somettimes just a couple of e-mails and or phone calls plus the call to MS. I guess I was not as flexible as some people who rent but I simply said - I make the reservation for you - when I get the confirmation and send it to you I expect payment in full by a certain date because I want to use the money to pay for whatever I am doing with it. I will help if someone needs to change the dates or will change the name on the reservation if they can find a new renter. I will not refund money - I have already used it to pay for my trips etc. A couple of people were very nervous but after I promised not to cancel on them everything went well. I think one family is at WDW now at BCV- hope they are having a great time. Can't remember their exact dates because once I send them the confirmation and they send me the money I look at it as if they had bought an item put it in a bag and I never see it again. There were a couple of times it didn't work out because the people who wanted to rent were so specific as to dates and location I couldn't get the reservation as it was too short notice. Also making a reservation for someone within 30 days of checkin is taking a chance unless you have the money up front as you could end up in a holding situation with your points if they back out. Being able to do all these things is one of the things about DVC that makes it so great. I would rent points again to stay at AKL on a weekend and use the extra money for food or tours rather than use the points to stay there. I stayed there Dec 25-27 2003 paying cash and it was great but would not use the amount of points it would take. Didn't have extra points to rent that year as we had a GV for the Sun-Fri at OKW and then a 2 BR at BCV for a couple of days. Am planning to rent some points to
pay for a weekend stay somewhere when we go to WDW in Sept as we are thing it will include 2 weekends and I won't use points for both. Good luck and hope you have many happy years as a DVC member.

 

[dianeschlicht]

How many points do you have? If it was me, I would bank those points and take a bigger trip next year.

 

[CarolMN]

Since you are new, renting a reservation may be frustrating - especially if you end up with a renter who is also new to the process.

My advice is to offer the points for transfer to another DVC member only. That is a simpler process. Once you and the other owner agree on terms, you'll just need to make one call to MS and then you will be done. No worries about a renter changing his/her mind later and wanting to cancel, no hassle over payment schedules or frequent calls to the renter & MS to add or change requests, add the dining plan, ME, etc.

Best wishes -

 

[Cinderpals]

I did just that. She gave me all of the information that I needed to know. There are rules about transferring points that you should learn about first. You can email any questions to Member Services on the DVC member website.
Carol is right, it's a one time call to member services. Done! Payment paid upfront, paypal or quick MO/cashier's check.

 

[chrome64]

I'm new to DVC to and therefore not an expert but, I do remember seeing in the documents that we signed that it says that you cannot use DVC membership as a means to make money. Just to be safe, I would go back and re-read those documents to make sure that you won't get into trouble for doing that.

But, I understand the concept and would love to do something like that in the future if it is verified that there is a legal way to go about doing that!!

 

[biohzrd8]

Thanks for the responses, it sounds worth the effort. (Diane, I have 270points plus another 100 points bonus from an incentive for doing an add-on.(170pts.+ 150pt. add-on purchased together) I'm getting a 2 bedroom and a studio Sun-Th. at OKW(205pts.) then a dlx. savanna room Fri. and Sat. night at AKL. The 2 nights at AKL would be 140pts. I'll still have 25 points left to bank even if I sell/tranfer the 140pts. I would need for AKL. If I can transfer or rent even around 85pts., I think it would cover the 2 nights at AKL. If that happened, I would bank the rest.) I think I'll go to the rent board later and post. Thanks again.