Travel agent - will they help with renting DVC??

[Deb & Bill]

First of all, a DVC Broker will probably not have a single owner with enough points to book a BLT GV exactly at 11 months out. If you wait until they find an owner with enough points, it may be too late. The Polynesian Villas do not have any GV. The GFV has six, BLT has 14. VWL has zero at this time as well. So that means you are probably going to be staying at BLT if you want a DVC monorail resort. You will probably need to have a BLT owner (not a broker) with enough points to book that BLT GV at 11 months out. You will be working with an individual, not a broker, more than likely. You'll probably pay at least $16 a point for an 11 month reservation and possibly have to pay in full right then.

You also mentioned the flaky couple. DVC rentals are not flexible. You rent, you pay, you go. You don't change dates, you don't change sizes, you don't change resorts. DVC is a timeshare. That also means, you only get housekeeping services every four days. If you stay seven nights or less, you get your trash removed and towels/supplies replaced on day four (no turn down service, no bed making, no extra towels from the housekeepers, no extra shampoo, conditioner, soap). If you stay eight night or more, you get a full cleaning on day four and trash removed and towels replaced on day eight. You can get full cleaning on all days, but you'll pay extra for that - at least $75 a day for a full cleaning on any days you are already scheduled (with seven nights that is none).

As for the magical TA finding that hard to get ADR, it's probably not going to happen unless they have insider information with Disney. If they do book your ADRs, they will need to book them at 180 days out and you still might not get them with the large size of your party.

Finally, I seriously doubt you will find a TA or broker who will make your decision for you based on every bit of information available. You either go with a TA and book the King Kamehameha Suite or you go with a single DVC owner with enough BLT points to book a BLT GV for you at 11 months out. The owner will not do anything other than take your money for the rental, add Disney Magical Express or the Dining Plan if you need them (you'll pay for the dining plan in whole when it is added to the reservation) and you'll find your own tickets and ADRs. The TA may make your dining reservations or flight reservations and add the tickets and dining plan and DME. A broker won't do anything other than get you the reservation - if they can get it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...Is this not what a broker would do, then?....

A broker is just a middle man between an owner who doesn't plan to use the DVC points they own and a person who wants to stay in a DVC resort. They are nothing but a matchmaker who takes the payment from the guest and
holds out some of the payment to the owner of the points until the guests check in to the DVC resort.

 

[Planner49]

Well, this progressed quickly from me doing some preliminary planning, to me needing to have all my ducks in a row to book TODAY lol.

I will work on contacting both a travel agent and a broker in the upcoming weeks, in hopes I can get a better sense from both sides and compare my options. As always, if anyone has further recommendations of someone who does both, please do message me.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well, this progressed quickly from me doing some preliminary planning, to me needing to have all my ducks in a row to book TODAY lol.

I will work on contacting both a travel agent and a broker in the upcoming weeks, in hopes I can get a better sense from both sides and compare my options. As always, if anyone has further recommendations of someone who does both, please do message me.

I suggest you contact the Travel Agency that is owned by the owner of this board, Dreams Unlimited. They would have the best information from both sides of the equation, DVC rentals and DVC booking through Disney. Like I said before, a broker is just going to pair you up with an owner who has points to rent. And if they don't have anyone with enough BLT points to rent at 11 months out, you will probably be out of luck. A TA should be able to provide most of the services you want. A broker or individual owner will not come close.

 

[Nancyg56]

Well, this progressed quickly from me doing some preliminary planning, to me needing to have all my ducks in a row to book TODAY lol.

I will work on contacting both a travel agent and a broker in the upcoming weeks, in hopes I can get a better sense from both sides and compare my options. As always, if anyone has further recommendations of someone who does both, please do message me.

It progressed to that level of urgency because your "must have" options ae extremely limited given your family dynamics. I am not at all sure you will be able to have all of your non negotiables met, but I wish you good luck. To be honest, I travel with family and I am the planner. There is no way I woudl want to be esponsibelresponsible for this trip.

 

[goofy4tink]

I would seriously reconsider staying in two different 'rooms'. That would allow you to book a two bedroom villa and either a studio or one bedroom villa. No, you all wouldn't be in the same villa, but you may be able to get the two villas close to each other. And it will open a lot of options for you.
But, your group may not want to do that.
For your ADRs, I would book those right at the 180 day window! With the size of your group, that's going to be very important!

 

[terri33inne]

If money is not a concern all monorail resorts have a 'presidential type' suite as posted previously at the Poly, and can have connecting rooms booked with them. Again, that is something a Disney TA can assist with & answer your questions regarding a 'guaranteed' connecting room at that suite level.

 

[DvF Diva]

Maybe late to the game since this is an old thread, but it is totally possible to make a DVC rental through an owner and separately *hire* a Disney Travel Specialist to do all the planning. There is usually a fee involved in that scenario (unless you end up buying tickets or airfare through said TA, who may then offer you a discount on planning fee since they can earn commission on that piece of the vacation), and I know only a handful of travel agents that would even offer this service, but that's a great way to have your cake (cheaper DVC rental) and eat it too (not have to do the planning!!)

 

[tinka-belle]

There are some TA's who would do this for a fee to cover their time. An experienced Disney agent can make suggestions and help in your planning, you are paying not only for their time and help but for their expertise.

Normal everyday airline tickets pay exactly zero commission (except in certain circumstances and those are generally custom contracts and not very common for the average Disney trip) and the commission on tickets outside of a package is fairly small. Although they may have a passion for Disney and are good at their chosen career of planning and booking Disney trips, they do have to make a living.

 

[kaytieeldr]

There is usually a fee involved in that scenario (unless you end up buying tickets or airfare through said TA, who may then offer you a discount on planning fee since they can earn commission on that piece of the vacation),

Unless things have changed, Travel Agents generally charge a fee for booking airline reservatios, because the airlines don't pay any commission.