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Renting DVC points
- Thread starter Bama14
- Start date
kasey1988
Well-Known Member
We looked into this before but chose not to because I was not comfortable with someone else having complete control over my reservation. The dvc member has to book everything including dinining plan for you. This person could cancel the reservation and then what would we do when we arrive with no room.. This being said there have been members here who have had excellent experiences. We may look into it again down the road, I just need some guarantee that we have. Room/package when we get there!
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Disvillain63
Well-Known Member
We've used dvcrentalstore for four bookings this past year, and we have two bookings through them for 2014. We've never had an issue. In fact, getting the deluxe resorts at such a great price has been wonderful. We've had four great trips, and look forward to 2014.
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ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
If you use a well-known broker, renting DVC points can be a great way to save money while staying at a WDW Deluxe Resort.
Well established businesses such as David's DVC Rentals charge $14/point. That should be considered the top of the market. With careful shopping, it might be possible to get points for a few dollars per point less.
A Standard View Studio Studio room at Animal Kingdom Villas (AKV) is available for a little as 81 points/week. At $14/point, that works out to $162/night, a great price for a Deluxe Resort.
At Christmas and Easter, that same room is 146 points/week, $292/night.
Be aware that AKV has 2 separate buildings with different levels of excitement. Jambo House (the main building) is more active. Kidani Village is quieter. Neither is better, it really depends on what atmosphere you prefer. Do you want to be in the middle of it all or to get away from it all?
When going with a Standard View room at AKV, ask the DVC member to request a "pool view". (Yes, that's considered standard view at AKV.) Much better than looking at a parking lot!
The downsides of renting points:
Well established businesses such as David's DVC Rentals charge $14/point. That should be considered the top of the market. With careful shopping, it might be possible to get points for a few dollars per point less.
A Standard View Studio Studio room at Animal Kingdom Villas (AKV) is available for a little as 81 points/week. At $14/point, that works out to $162/night, a great price for a Deluxe Resort.
At Christmas and Easter, that same room is 146 points/week, $292/night.
Be aware that AKV has 2 separate buildings with different levels of excitement. Jambo House (the main building) is more active. Kidani Village is quieter. Neither is better, it really depends on what atmosphere you prefer. Do you want to be in the middle of it all or to get away from it all?
When going with a Standard View room at AKV, ask the DVC member to request a "pool view". (Yes, that's considered standard view at AKV.) Much better than looking at a parking lot!
The downsides of renting points:
- You need book early, typically at least 7 months in advance, 11 months is best. DVC rooms are not like regular WDW rooms. They fill up quickly, even at a large resort like AKV.
- Cancellation policies for DVC point rentals are almost non-existent. I believe through David's you can buy trip insurance.
- You do not receive daily mousecleaning, only new towels after 4 nights. (Personally, we prefer this. No tipping and no stranger in your room every day.)
- Research who you are renting from. Take care not to get swindled. For piece of mind, you might be better off going through a well-known DVC rental broker like David's.
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lunchbox1175
Well-Known Member
We have used DVCRequest.com a couple of times now, and have not had any issues.
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I'll check into David's also then! And that is good to know about the pool being standard view. I'll definitely see if I can get that! Thank you so much!
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Badger Brent
Active Member
We have our trip in 15 days, and used David's for the first time. Everything has been flawless so far. Room requests, Magical Express, Old Key West reservations... Imagine getting a studio deluxe for LESS than a value!! I think once you take the plunge, you'll never go value or mod again. I want either BLT or Beach Club for our next trip. The people with David's go step by step on how to proceed. DO IT!
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Have an amazing trip!!! I'm excited about doing this. I've never stayed above a moderate, so I'm looking forward to it!
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PrincessNelly_NJ
Well-Known Member
Now you can link the reservation to your WDW account so you have a clear visual of everything. You would now know if they cancelled your trip. But I agree, I like to have full control over everything but knowing I could stay at the VGF or BLT for the same price/sometimes cheaper than moderates is truly tempting!
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kasey1988
Well-Known Member
. That's good that you can see it now! But I would be worried they would cancel it the week before, day before or even while traveling, then what? I'm sure the rental company would refund your money, but in enough time to rebook or what if you can't find affordable accomodationa on such short notice. I was also hesitant because you had to give the dvc member your credit info to book the dining plan for you (we can't buy disney gift cards in canada), I wonder if pre-paid visas would work tho? Like I said, there is a ton of great reviews on here and online, we may look into it again in the future, we would love to stay at blt or akl!
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dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
It depends on the broker. I know that David's does everything they can to ensure that you get a room, even if the member does do something like cancel last minute. There have been several threads on this topic recently, one can be found here -> http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/davids-disney-vacation-club-rentals.870441/ Try doing a search to find some of the others.
The biggest difference is that you won't get daily mousekeeping, as that is not included for the DVC owners. It varies by length of stay, but keep that in mind.
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David's definitely sounds like the way to go with this. Seems to be fairly trustworthy. So grateful for all the help on this!
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PrincessNelly_NJ
Well-Known Member
I do believe David's requires full payment unlike the DVC Rental Store which requires 8.00 per point upfront and the rest is allowed in payments up til 45 days in advance. Both have great reputations.
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Ariel484
Well-Known Member
It does happen. In 2011 I had a studio booked at AKL through David's and was notified a little over a month before our trip that the member whose points we were using had, in their terms, "gone AWOL." There was no way David's could get in contact with them, and the reservation was canceled. If I remember correctly all of DVC was booked by then except for Saratoga (the details are a little fuzzy because they notified me of this fiasco by phone and I was totally freaking out).
They offered to switch us to a Saratoga 1-bedroom villa, with them paying the difference since we'd originally rented a studio and the 1-bedroom would cost more. We'd really had our hearts set on staying at AKL so we ended up booking a regular room there with a passholder rate (this is how I know my timeline above is correct, that we were given about a month's notice...I have the email I sent to them thanking them for the offer to move us to Saratoga but letting them know that we weren't interested). David's refunded our total cost and sent us a $50 Disney giftcard as an apology. I'm still a little torn over how everything went down...really just because of the 1-month notice, because I'd been emailing them quite a bit beforehand to get our flight information added to the reservation so that we could get Magical Express, and they kept responding that they hadn't reached the DVC member yet. So it seems like we could have gotten a slightly more advanced warning, but whatever. Overall I think that they did the best they could in a tough situation (one that they said very rarely happens) and looking back I sort of wish we'd taken the Saratoga room just to try a different place. Plus they didn't HAVE to refund our total amount or give us the giftcard as stated in their terms, but they did both.
Even with that less-than-perfect experience we have used David's since then and have had 2 successful reservations, with 2 more coming up next week.
YES. This is important to keep in mind! You make the booking deposit, and once your room is secured (within 24 hours normally) your entire balance must be paid.
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rudyjr13
Well-Known Member
Book through them for the first time for Feb trip to BLT. So far the customer service has been outstanding. Saved $1500 or so. I'm a little nervous but have seen no reason so far that there will be issues. The reservation is online and linked to my Disney Username. I received the welcome packet Disney sends out. I'll feel even better when the magical express packet shows up.
Let me know if you have questions about them. They searched inventory for free.
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btriple
New Member
I just tried going through Davids for BLT in October but unfortunately no points at BLT right now, so I've been put in the queue so we'll see. Here's hoping it comes through....if not we'll have pick a different location. They have been great at answering questions and letting me know the details.
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Weather_Lady
Well-Known Member
Good luck! We couldn't get our WL reservation at first, even though we got our request in before the 11-month window opened, so we were on David's "waiting list," too. Fortunately, a member joined within a couple of weeks who had the points we needed. I hope you have the same success!
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