People on these boards have been so helpful so here I am again asking for help and information! I am needing to book two villas (1 bdrm and 2 bdrm) for a week at both AKL and Beach club for May 2022. I was so excited to see bookings open up today but crashed to earth later when I found out through my TA that the villas cannot be booked until about 11 months out. I understand this is because of DVC owners and that they get first dibs on the villas at their home resorts at the 11 month mark. So how can I find out when they are available to book? I would hate to miss out on a possible booking by not knowing when they are available. Disney seemed to be saying to check every day as they sometimes “dribble in” slowly. Not sure I understand the whole thing. Any experience booking villas at either of these locations and how far out was it? Thanks so much!
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How to book a villa!?
- Thread starter Wendylet
- Start date
NelleBelle
Well-Known Member
Are you planning to book with Disney directly?? Or are you going to rent points through a broker (eg Dave’s DVC rentals)? Werented points through Dave’s a couple years ago and saved a TON over booking directly with Disney. You can put your requests in and an agent will work with you to find what you need. There are other brokers out there but I haven’t any experience with them.
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Well because of a lot of uncertainty in the world right now I was hoping for a refundable option for now. What I planned to do was book directly with Disney (hoping to hit a 25% discount) but then if things start looking good I would also put in a request with David’s Vacation club and if any of the weeks came through then cancel the Disney direct booking. I did book successfully with David’s for last year but had to cancel for an insurable reason so I was lucky to get all my money back!
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nickys
Premium Member
If you have a TA then they should be able to book for you as soon as the villas are available. However if you then plan to cancel last minute if you can rent points that’s rather a kick in the face for the TA.
Essentially you can book a Villa from Disney exactly 11 months out. I know UK travel agencies sometimes take bookings earlier, but the small print states that availability is not guaranteed until 11 months before the check-in date, which is because that’s when a villa can be booked.
Availability of the DVC rooms through Disney or TAs is limited. DVC rules allow home resort booking at 11 months. When someone books through Disney, then Disney are using their own 2-3% of points to book and can only do so following the same rules as a DVC owner. Once they’ve used all their own points in direct bookings they can’t then book more rooms until within 60 days of check-in. And any bookings through a TA will reduce the availability to anyone trying to book direct with Disney.
If you want to rent points you can contact a broker in advance of the 11 months so they can have an owner ready to book for you. Or you can take your chances nearer the time.
Essentially you can book a Villa from Disney exactly 11 months out. I know UK travel agencies sometimes take bookings earlier, but the small print states that availability is not guaranteed until 11 months before the check-in date, which is because that’s when a villa can be booked.
Availability of the DVC rooms through Disney or TAs is limited. DVC rules allow home resort booking at 11 months. When someone books through Disney, then Disney are using their own 2-3% of points to book and can only do so following the same rules as a DVC owner. Once they’ve used all their own points in direct bookings they can’t then book more rooms until within 60 days of check-in. And any bookings through a TA will reduce the availability to anyone trying to book direct with Disney.
If you want to rent points you can contact a broker in advance of the 11 months so they can have an owner ready to book for you. Or you can take your chances nearer the time.
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Thanks for that. Actually my TA is a good friend and she is fully aware of what I would be trying to do. She is great to work with. She understands the amount of money that I could be saving by using point rental. However I may not go that route anyway, perhaps opting for the ability to cancel if required.
I was just was just wanting a bit of direction as I found the statement that the villas are available to be rented at the 11 month mark vs the statement that they come dribbling in from time to time to be confusing to me. Just wanting to confirm they are only available at 11 months and not sooner so I don’t risk missing a booking opportunity. I really have no experience booking a villa so your help is much appreciated.
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Rob562
Well-Known Member
There's also a best-of-both-worlds option where you could rent DVC points through a broker and then buy cancel-for-any-reason travel insurance. I don't know if Covid has messed with the pricing of the travel insurance market, but pre-Covid it was only a couple hundred dollars.
Insurance plus the DVC rental will still be cheaper than booking directly from Disney, so it might be a trade-off to consider.
-Rob
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Thanks for that Rob and you make a great point. Unfortunately the CFAR insurance only nets a 75% return at best and goes down from there as you get closer and closer to the departure date. I had previously booked this trip renting points and I did take the CFAR coverage on top of the regular coverage. Fortunately we could cancel as a group due to an insurable reason or I would have been out a large chunk of money using the CFAR. Perhaps there is better “any reason” coverage out there. That may be something to look into for sure!
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