Should there be/is there price inflation for DVC rentals?

[samsp99]

The old guidance used to be for rentals around $20/pt. But both annual dues and contract prices go up each year. Is there a similar pressure on the DVC point rentals to go up?

 

[AstroBlasters]

The old guidance used to be for rentals around $20/pt. But both annual dues and contract prices go up each year. Is there a similar pressure on the DVC point rentals to go up?

IMO, it’s more closely tied to the cash cost of hotels. A renter doesn’t care about our input costs, they are just trying to save enough money over cash prices to be worth the risk of making a large upfront payment that may not have a cancelation policy.

Cash prices definitely go up & down based on inflation and the business cycle.

 

[808blessing]

I have thought for a long time there should be price inflation to align with real costs, especially increase high demand dvc.Dues and hotel stays are going up up up.

 

[Brian Noble]

Rental rates have gone up over the years, though there have been some periods where the prevailing rate decreases for a short while. Have they kept pace with inflation? I can't say.

At the end of the day, the rates is determined by how many owners are willing to rent out their points at some particular price, and how many renters are interested at that price.

 

[Brian Noble]

For grins, I went back to look at what MouseSavers thinks was the "going rate" for point rentals. The earliest snapshot of the discussion in the Wayback Machine is August of 2012. At that time MouseSavers quoted $11pp. Today, that same page suggests the rate is $23. That is probably not right, but let's assume they were wrong by a proportional amount in 2012.

US inflation during that time suggests that something that was $11 in 2012 should be about $15.56 today. So, it looks like rental rates have risen faster than inflation---even if you assume the going rate today s $20. This is not particularly surprising. Dues have also risen slightly faster than inflation, as have rack rental rates. Throw in the huge volume of advertising that a few of the larger brokers have done over the past ten years+ to get the word out on DVC rentals as an option for the infrequent guest, and Bob's Your Uncle.

Whether Iger or Chapek is up to the reader to determine.

 

[Sandisw]

What I can say is that hotel rates and promos play a role in whether potential cash guests will go the DVC rental routes.

A lot who even know about it and find out pros and cons. will end up going with WDW simply because of the generous cancellation policies, unless the price difference is substantial.

So, I’d expect it to always be tied to that

 

[miss0033]

For grins, I went back to look at what MouseSavers thinks was the "going rate" for point rentals. The earliest snapshot of the discussion in the Wayback Machine is August of 2012. At that time MouseSavers quoted $11pp. Today, that same page suggests the rate is $23. That is probably not right, but let's assume they were wrong by a proportional amount in 2012.

US inflation during that time suggests that something that was $11 in 2012 should be about $15.56 today. So, it looks like rental rates have risen faster than inflation---even if you assume the going rate today s $20. This is not particularly surprising. Dues have also risen slightly faster than inflation, as have rack rental rates. Throw in the huge volume of advertising that a few of the larger brokers have done over the past ten years+ to get the word out on DVC rentals as an option for the infrequent guest, and Bob's Your Uncle.

Whether Iger or Chapek is up to the reader to determine.

As a point of reference we rented right at 11 months in 2021 for a 2022 trip (last rental before buying). We paid $18 per point then through a website that had cancellation coverage in their policy (if the owner cancelled our booking that is). Not sure if I can say who it is because they aren't a sponsor. If I recall correctly, they adjust the price shortly after we booked to be $19 per point.
This particular rental cost us just over $1,700, which the cash rate was $528.86 per night at that time (without discount).

Look at that same website, the current price per point for an 11-month booking is $23 per point.

If I use the CPI Inflation calculator, $18 in 2021 has the same buying power as $21.72 today (actually, Sept 2025 as that is the most recent data available). So rental rates, at least through this website, have gone up faster than inflation. Inflation has gone up 20.6% in that time period. While the rental rate has gone up 27.8%. The $19 updated rate would represent a 21% increase and aligns almost exactly with inflation. Rental rates appear to be increasing, on average, a little more than 5% per year over this time period.

We first rented in 2013 for $13 per point, again through the same place. $13 in 2013 has the same buying power as $18.16 today. So again, rental rates have exceed inflation. Inflation has gone up 39.7% and rental rates increased 76.9%, approaching double what inflation has done. Rental rates appear to be increasing, on average, a little less than 5% per year over this time period.
This particular rental cost us just over $1,100, while the cash rate was roughly $1,850 at that time.

So it seems, on average, over a long enough time period, rental rates go up roughly 5% annually, give or take. At least through this particular website, for an 11-month booking at a WDW Resort.

If I look at the cash rate for the same trip in 2026 (from 2022), the current cash rate (booking in 2025 for 2026) at the resort we stayed at is $624.75 per night for that same time window (again, ignoring discounts) compared to the $528.86 per night in 2022 (booking in 2021). That is an 18% increase over that time period, a little under 4.75% per year. Slightly less than inflation, but not too far off either, and prices do fluctuate, so these are just snapshots in time.

EDIT: So it seems dues increases are increasing a little faster than cash rates or rental rates.

 

[TDK44]

Agree with what everyone is saying that private rental prices aren't pegged to inflation directly, but the things that influence them are tied to inflation and business cycle.

I'd say probably the biggest determinant of what private rental prices should be is the spread the brokers are playing with at the time (which they certainly include dues inflation, rack rates, etc. into their pricing decisions). Right now owners can get $18pp to rent out their points through the brokers, and the brokers charge renters ~$23-25 (just checked and some confirmed reservations 7+ months out are listed for $27-28+ per point, which is crazy IMO).

So yes, $20pp for private rentals feels too low at this point -- should be somewhere in the midpoint of the broker spread, so more like $21-22 or up to $23pp.

I think there's a bit of a ceiling factor going on where $20 is such a round number and easy to anchor to, so things are sticking there more than they probably should.