Totally clueless need help...

[Jenny in MN]

I am planning a very last minute trip to WDW in April 2010. A friend is a DVC member and she is willing to let me rent her points. Her husband is out of work so she is looking to find cash where she can, I'm sure.

I was planning on staying at a moderate for $120 or so per night (codes). She sent me the following note, but I'm not a DVC member and I need it translated....

Now, on to the fun part! Disney World! Woo hoo! I'm not sure the best way to do this, because the inventory for DVC is separate from regular inventory, so you can't book it one way and then switch it. I think the best thing would be for us to get together, get them on the phone, and see what we can find. From looking at my points charts, it looks like a studio in one of the DVC resorts would be a bit less than a room at Caribbean, Coronado, or POR. A resort 1 bedroom would be a little more. Maybe you could go online and see what the various accomodations would cost, and we could compare notes with what's available through my DVC. I would be willing to sell the points for whatever the room would cost you in dollars. Does that make sense? In order to reserve it for you, I would need to make the reservation, in your name of course, but the confirmation would come to me. I would need to give them names and ages for everyone in your party.


I will have my mother and my 5 year old twins with me. I'd LOVE to stay someplace with quick and easy access to the monorail, but I would guess that the bus is pretty good at all resorts? I believe their membership is at the Key West resort. Can she book at any resort?

 

[delmar411]

I'm a little confused. She wants you to pay retail for a DVC room?

If she means, she'll rent you a studio room for the cost per night of a mod room then that's would work out well.

I think you need to tell her you are willing to pay $120/night for a studio and look up the different resorts and pick a few that you are willing to stay at. Then if she's fine with that payment then she can call MS and setup the reservation. They will either have the room available at one of your choices or they won't.

But I think you both need to clarify what the payment terms are since she's not clear. Points normally go for a price per point and if she can set that then it would be easier for you to choose a resort/room type that you'd want to rent.

Also she can book at any resort, and BLT would be what you are looking for since it has monorail access and walking distance to MK. But the points are really high there and there is no guarantee of availability.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Your problem would be availability. Since April is Easter, there might not be much available. Your friend would have to see what she could get for you.

If you want to stay close to the MK, you could get either VWL or BLT.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

 

[Sandisw]

Just so you are aware, a studio has one queen and a pull out sofa (unless you go with OKW and then it is two queens).

Be sure you are okay with this switch as you will get two beds at the moderates (two queens if it was CSR).

And, DVC does not give you daily mousekeeping that you will with a DRC reservation. It depends on length of stay as to how it works but you would not get a daily cleaning or a replacement of towels.

Just want you to be aware of what you could be giving up to take a DVC room as it might affect how much you are willing to pay your friend.

To be honest, I would not even worry about things until your friend calls DVC see if there is availability for your entire trip. Once you know which resort, if any, you can do then I would worry about the cost as it might not be worth it for you if you have to switch resorts, or end up somewhere that you won't like.

Once you know what resort you can get, then it will be easier to work the deal. Chances are, though, that SSR or OKW are the places likely to still have rooms, as they are pretty big resorts.

Good luck!

 

[Dean]

I am planning a very last minute trip to WDW in April 2010. A friend is a DVC member and she is willing to let me rent her points. Her husband is out of work so she is looking to find cash where she can, I'm sure.

I was planning on staying at a moderate for $120 or so per night (codes). She sent me the following note, but I'm not a DVC member and I need it translated....

Now, on to the fun part! Disney World! Woo hoo! I'm not sure the best way to do this, because the inventory for DVC is separate from regular inventory, so you can't book it one way and then switch it. I think the best thing would be for us to get together, get them on the phone, and see what we can find. From looking at my points charts, it looks like a studio in one of the DVC resorts would be a bit less than a room at Caribbean, Coronado, or POR. A resort 1 bedroom would be a little more. Maybe you could go online and see what the various accomodations would cost, and we could compare notes with what's available through my DVC. I would be willing to sell the points for whatever the room would cost you in dollars. Does that make sense? In order to reserve it for you, I would need to make the reservation, in your name of course, but the confirmation would come to me. I would need to give them names and ages for everyone in your party.


I will have my mother and my 5 year old twins with me. I'd LOVE to stay someplace with quick and easy access to the monorail, but I would guess that the bus is pretty good at all resorts? I believe their membership is at the Key West resort. Can she book at any resort?

I too am confused a little. IF your friend is saying she'll sell you the studio for the best price you can find for a moderate, that's win-win IMO. You'll get a better room, save the resort taxes, get the mini kitchen, etc. You have already been told above about the room set up differences but given OKW and SSR are likely about all that's available, that's where you should consider the room set ups. OKW does have the 2 queens, SSR the one queen and pull out full.

You can look at the points charts above to see how many points it would cost for different resorts. You can look at the rent/trade Board to see what points are going for but if you consider $10-12 a point you should be OK. That will give you two reference points (what you'd likely pay just renting and what the cost of the moderate would be). If your friend is way over on the per point rental, just say no thanks, we'd prefer to stay a moderate.

 

[VTNuke]

I would find out how many points she'll be using and offer her $8 to $10 per point used. She probably paid $3 to $4 per point plus the maintenance fee around $5 per point, so she'll be getting a small profit on $10 per point.

I wouldn't factor in the retail rates at any of the other resorts.