Dedicated Reservations for Rent FYI

[JTT]

I am a DVC renter and I am looking for a stay in early March. I have rented points many times and it’s been great.

Lately on DVC rental sites, I have seen Dedicated Reservations for rent. I assumed a Dedicated Reservation for rent would be the same deal or better as one you book on your own.

This is not true. I saw a dedicated reservation for the Boardwalk Villas and it was almost twice the price of a regular rental.

The owner of DVC points, makes the reservation and posts the dedicated reservation on one of the rental sites. It’s the owner that sets the price. They can set it as high as they want.

A DVC owner can make the reservation, set a high price and then cancel if they don’t get the price they want.

 

[nickys]

I think you’re talking about Confirmed Reservations.

It used to be the case that these kind of reservations would be where someone had to cancel at relatively late notice and so wanted to try and get something for it. And it is absolutely still possible to find fantastic deals, especially at very short notice.

However it seems that at least one broker now encourages people who have points to rent out to book something using those points and then put that in as a confirmed reservation. It’s certainly easier for the broker and owner, and makes it easier to “hide” the actual points cost. Plus some are for very sought after resorts and dates, so they attract a higher cost.

You can still rent the more traditional way too though.

 

[CastAStone]

Like Nickys says they used to be an actual deal but now one site uses them as basically a scam. It’s not totally uncommon that just booking the same room directly through Disney is cheaper (and you can cancel those!)

 

[Doberge]

My issue is mostly that it clogs the system when people make reservations like this. If these did not exists then it'd be easier for owners to book without inventory taken by people planning to rent out confirmed reservations. But it's also great for owners wanting to make more more money. It's for sure a system that some win and others lose so whether it's fair or not friends depends on what side one falls, not unlike reservation walking.

 

[i<3riviera]

 

[nickys]

View attachment 680546

What is this graph showing?

 

[nickys]

My issue is mostly that it clogs the system when people make reservations like this. If these did not exists then it'd be easier for owners to book without inventory taken by people planning to rent out confirmed reservations. But it's also great for owners wanting to make more more money. It's for sure a system that some win and others lose so whether it's fair or not friends depends on what side one falls, not unlike reservation walking.

We’re seeing the result of the success of renting vs loosing points when people couldn’t use them.

When we first bought over a decade ago we bought in February and got a December use year; those current year’s worth of points were just lost. It took us 3 years to come back and I knew nothing about the rental market. Same thing happened another year when we had to cancel a trip in the summer and rebooked in December. The points we’d borrowed were stuck and were just not used.

This is exactly what used to happen to lots of owners if they couldn’t use all their points, which meant less competition for rooms, albeit ther’s no way to know what proportion of points went unused.

When we faced the same situation again, for 18 months I rented out my points via a broker. And when Covid hit and our trip was postponed for two years I rented them out myself. Demand is now at an all time high.

The point is, those points would be used to book something. Done through a broker or privately they are probably more likely to be used at the 11 month mark. Confirmed reservations will tend to be done later than that, as people realise they can’t use their points. Either the owner tries to rent out what they had already booked or they book something and then rent it out.

If you’re booking at 11 months renting has almost no impact on what you can book. If you’re booking last minute then it will have more impact.

 

[CastAStone]

What is this graph showing?

It appears to show that half of all dedicated reservations for rent (at least on some site)are priced at $27 / point or higher.

 

[nickys]

Thanks. I couldn’t work out what the y axis was showing.

On the other hand there is some analysis being done by one of the Touring Plans team which shows some amazing bargains, especially for those who can just book and travel within a week. Like $90 a night for Vero Beach next week, and a 2-bed at the Boardwalk for under $300 a night.

 

[i<3riviera]

What is this graph showing?

It appears to show that half of all dedicated reservations for rent (at least on some site)are priced at $27 / point or higher.

the chart is more fun if you consider what reasonable private rental rates are or what other rental companies charge

curious if a reservation aggregation site might be of use?

 

[nickys]

the chart is more fun if you consider what reasonable private rental rates are or what other rental companies charge

curious if a reservation aggregation site might be of use?

Keeping track of them? Touring Plans are already doing that, although I don’t know to what extent it is publicised. Several forums have threads to keep track too.

The data is of interest to some, but not sure exactly of its use except when there’s a bargain to be had - in which case someone would grab it before it was published. The problem is I guess that once a reservation is taken then the data would be gone. Thus limiting the accuracy or at least the completeness of it.