Transfer or Rent

[cruisinalong]

We are new DVC members and wonder about transfer vs. rental of points. From what we have read it appears that

- rental is the only option for non DVC members
- transfer of points is much easier and safer than rental
- there is only one transfer per year

Is this correct and are we missing any important factors.

thanks,

Tom and Diane

 

[RobDoc]

DVC points can only be used by the member who owns the account controlling the points - thus a non-DVC member has no means to use any points.

DVC members may transfer points once per Use Year - either into or out of their account. As for the "safety" of a transfer vs a rental - that may depend on which end of the transaction to will reside.

With a rental - the member who owns the points will make a reservation for another party. Until check-in, the member has complete control of the reservation - including making any changes like adding dates or even cancelling. MS will not intervene with any later dispute regarding a reservation made by a member.

With a transfer - once a member has transferred points into another account, he has no further control of those points since it is an irreversible transaction. MS will not intervene with any later dispute once the transfer has been completed.

With a rental - the renter is at the mercy of the member who controls the reservation and the member is at the mercy of the renter for the condition of the villa during the stay. DVC requires a contract - where the renter agrees to abide by all rules/regulations of DVC and of the resort - and assumes such a contract exists even if no document actually exists. Both parties have some potential risk - but, IMO, the renter assumes the most risk. Fortunately, we have had very minimal complaints about any rental transactions here on the DIS - but there have been a few - so due diligence is highly recommended.

With a transfer - if any monetary payment is involved, the transferring member is at risk until payment ois received and the receiving member is at risk until the points are in the account. Since DVC has stated that transfers will not involve any monetary exchange, MS will not get involved with complaint regarding a completed transfer. Once the points have been transferred, the "new" owner of the points has full control over their use.

 

[cruisinalong]

Thanks Doc,

A couple of questions related to use year and home resort as related to transfers.

Do you have to have a contract with the same home resort as the points you are trying to transfer in ?

Do you have to have a contract with the same UY as the points you are transfering in ?

How do the transfer points show up in your account information on the DVC website ?

thanks,

Tom and Diane

 

[RobDoc]

Thanks Doc,

A couple of questions related to use year and home resort as related to transfers.

Do you have to have a contract with the same home resort as the points you are trying to transfer in ?

Do you have to have a contract with the same UY as the points you are transfering in ?

How do the transfer points show up in your account information on the DVC website ?

thanks,

Tom and Diane

No - you can transfer points without regard to Home Resort status. The points are supposed to retain their original status however - so if you want to make a reservation at BCV and do not own at that resort, you can transfer BCV points into your account and make your own reservation 11 months ahead.

You will need to transfer points with the same calendar Use Year (2007, 2008) but the use month does not need to be identical. Again, the points are supposed to retain their original Use Year status - so if you transfer August 2007 points into your December 2007 Use Year they would expire at the end of this month - but you could also bank them.

I believe that the transferred points will show up in the total points for the account into which they were transferred. They may not appear immediately, as I think the transferred points have to be added manually wich usually takes a few days. Perhaps someone else can make comment about how they will appear on the member site.

 

[cruisinalong]

thanks Doc,

We were able to do a transfer and make our reservation with the transfer points.

The only slightly confusing thing is the fact that the Transfer Points do NOT show up on your Member Web Site account listing.

Perhaps they will show up later.

 

[RobDoc]

...
The only slightly confusing thing is the fact that the Transfer Points do NOT show up on your Member Web Site account listing.

Perhaps they will show up later.

It sounds as though the transferred points are treated much like Developer Points - which do not appear on the member's site either. I suppose it's because of the additional hassle/confusion of tracking those points if the system is not set up in that fashion. That would explain the need for MS to track those manually.

Thanks for the report - I'm glad the transfer went as planned and your reservation was successful.