How to Rent Disney Vacation Club Points
These money-saving tips for renting Disney Vacation Club points will get you Deluxe hotel rooms at Walt Disney World for much cheaper prices. DVC rental is safe, convenient, and less expensive than standard resort reservations. It’s also a great way to test drive DVC before buying.
Disney Vacation Club (DVC) point rental is the one-time use of a set number of a points to book a Deluxe Villa room at a Disney Vacation Club Resort. It’s a fairly easy process, and you can do this on a person-to-person basis via forums, or via one of the established point rental companies that we recommend.
This post offers our info and tips for the best ways to rent DVC points, including what to know if you’re planning on renting Disney Vacation Club points next year. If you’re thinking of doing a Halloween, Food & Wine, or Christmas 2020 trip to Walt Disney World, now is the time you need to book…
Let’s start with the basics of DVC rental. Here’s how it works: the owner of the points agrees to “rent” the points out to a rentee, and in exchange for payment to the owner of the points, the owner makes a room reservation for the rentee in the rentee’s name. The amount of the payment is determined by the number of points needed for the booking, with a per-point cost being agreed upon by the parties.
For example, if the agreed upon price is $16 per point, and the rentee wants to stay book Animal Kingdom Lodge for December 1-7, 2020, that will require 60 points, for a total cost of $960. Contrast that with booking directly from DisneyWorld.com, which would cost $2,451.38. That’s over 60% off by renting DVC points for that December 2020 stay! As you can see, the big advantage of Disney Vacation Club point rental is saving money over booking directly with Walt Disney World.
In addition to saving money on hotel rates, the newest benefit of renting Disney Vacation Club points is free parking. Walt Disney World is now charging for parking at its hotels, but this does not apply to guests staying on DVC points. There is no charge regardless of whether the person using the points is a member or not–it’s based upon the use of the points (parking is not a “perk” since lot maintenance is paid for via annual dues).
Meaning, if you were otherwise going to drive or rent a car at Walt Disney World, point rental now saves you another $24/night in that you won’t pay for parking. It’s not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, but definitely something to consider.
Okay, now on with the normal DVC point rental tips…
In recent years, renting points has gone from relatively uncommon to a bit more mainstream practice. There are individual owners who rent points because they either aren’t going to be able to use their points or need a way to offset some of the considerable cost of membership, and there are companies that exist solely for the purpose of renting Disney Vacation Club points to savvy Walt Disney World and Disneyland guests.
The two main places to rent Disney Vacation Club points are DVC Rental Store or David’s Vacation Club Rentals. The two are pretty comparable–both are reputable businesses that can be trusted. DVC Rental Store has a few advantages. First, they do not require a deposit to search for availability. Second, they offer point protection (basically, insurance).
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, at the time of reservation only 60% of the payment is due, as opposed to the full amount, and the remaining 40% is not due until 45 days prior to check in. The obvious advantage here is that you’re not paying in full up front, but the other advantage is that it provides some flexibility when canceling an uninsured reservation.
Note that you can also use this free tool for non-DVC members to search for resort availability so you can see which resorts are sold out and which are not before even hassling with contacting DVC Rental Store or David’s. We compared the results in that search to our DVC Member search feature, and the results are accurate (the display of that tool is actually better than DVC’s own search function!).
Although we are Disney Vacation Club owners, we have a relatively low number of points, so we’ve actually rented points ourselves a couple of times in the last few years. In attempting to rent points, we’ve contacted both the point rental businesses and individuals on forums about rental, and have opted to go with the point rental businesses (despite paying a bit more) for simplicity and peace of mind.
How you go about renting Disney Vacation Club points, and whether it’s safe, is probably the most common reader question we’ve received in response to our Disney Vacation Club Buying Guide, so I figured I’d put together this guide based on our experiences and research, along with my thoughts about the pros and cons of each method of renting points.
Let’s start with the pros and cons of renting DVC points in general to determine whether it’s right for you…
Pros & Cons of DVC Point Rental
The biggest benefit of renting Disney Vacation Club points is saving money. The example of Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas above is a good one. If you wanted to book a stay August 19-23, 2020 in a value view studio, that’s exactly how many points you’d need, and how much it would cost if you rented points through one of the point renters.
For a stay December 2-6, 2020 it would be even cheaper! Other nights throughout the year would cost more, but you get the idea. You couldn’t even stay in a Moderate Resort for the rates you can get by renting Disney Vacation Club points, let alone a Deluxe.
Another benefit of renting Disney Vacation Club points, for some people, is getting the Disney Dining Plan without purchasing park tickets. This means that you can save money by purchasing tickets from an authorized ticket broker rather than buying directly from Disney, thereby saving even more money. These savings can be small or huge, depending upon the size of your party and the tickets you get, this could amount to another $800 or more in savings!
The biggest downside to renting Disney Vacation Club points is that you don’t have total control over the reservation. Someone else books the reservation for you, and someone else has to make any changes to the reservation for you (such as adding Disney’s Magical Express or the Disney Dining Plan). Disney Vacation Club won’t discuss the reservation with non-members, so even if your name is on it, you’re at the mercy of the person who booked it if you need changes.
Another downside for some guests is that, since the unit rented is a villa and not a hotel room, housekeeping service is not daily. Most stays will only have one visit by Mousekeeping. This isn’t a problem for us (we always have the “do not disturb” sign up), but for some people, not having the full hotel experience might be a fatal blow to renting DVC points. On the plus side, the villa room means a kitchenette and greater ability to prepare food and do laundry!
The final downside is cancellation and refund policies. While it’s possible to purchase travel insurance for DVC point rentals, the cancellation policies are not nearly as lax and forgiving as booking directly from Disney. This is because of the strict policies surrounding DVC point usage–meaning that even in the event of hurricane or some other ‘Act of God’ scenario, the member who is renting out the points may not be able to reuse them if the guest cancels. For this reason, we highly recommend travel insurance (something of which we aren’t typically huge advocates) for those traveling during peak hurricane season.
How To Rent?
If you’re convinced that renting Disney Vacation Club points is right for you, the next question is who to use. There are a couple popular choices here, including the DVC Rental Store and David’s Vacation Club Rentals. The advantages to renting through them are that both are accredited by the Better Business Bureau, both have a team that does this as its full-time business, and both have a sterling reputation. The other upside to renting from the DVC Rental Store or David’s is convenience.
They have “home resort” inventory for every Disney Vacation Club resort. This means that if you want a popular resort, you can book with him at the 11 month mark. If you want a hard-to-book resort and plan on booking through an individual, you need to do so 11 months out and find an owner who has the resort you want as a home resort. That can make the whole process of booking through an individual more time consuming and tedious.
The alternative to renting points from DVC Rental Store or David’s is renting from individuals. The two main places to do this are Disboards DVC-Rent/Trade Board and MouseOwners’ Rent/Trade/Transfer Board. Of course, if you have friends who are DVC members that are willing to rent out their points to you, that’s another route, too.
The advantages to renting from individuals is that you save money. The average per point price on these boards is $15-18, with the lower end of that spectrum being if the owner is desperate or the points are about to expire. These prices have steadily increased in the past couple of years, and now some rentals on these forums are as high as $18/point for popular resorts.
The downside to renting from individuals is that you have no guarantee that you aren’t going to be ripped off, or that the owner will be available to assist you if something goes wrong with the reservation. You’ll have a bit of uneasiness until the moment at the check-in desk that your reservation pulls up.
Basically, it comes down to how risk averse you are and how much more you can save by going through an individual. Last minute rentals can be as low as $12 per point on the forums with normal rentals being around $15, which amount to a few dollars in savings over the DVC Rental Store.
Unfortunately, each of the owners who have responded to my postings was a “New Member” on the forum, with only a handful of posts, which made me uneasy. Anyone can rip you off, but my thinking was that someone with an established reputation on the forum would be less likely to do so. We ultimately ended up not needing to rent because we bought into Disney Vacation Club ourselves.
For what it’s worth, in my time researching rentals, I heard of very few instances of people being ripped off by individuals on the forums. It does happen, but it seems to be very, very infrequent. When we rent in the future, I’m not sure how we’ll do it. It largely depends upon prices.
If it’s a short weekend trip and the DVC Rental Store is charging ~$16/point versus $14/point on the forums, I can’t see using the forums to say what will amount to $30 or less. The possibility that we could be scrambling at the last minute to find an alternate hotel room for such a short trip wouldn’t be worth it. Given how significantly Disney has increased their prices in the last few years, these rentals are still a good deal.
I’d prefer to just pay the bit extra for the peace of mind. If it were a 10-day trip in a Grand Villa, I’d probably be more likely to go through an individual because the savings are greater, but then I’d be concerned that such a big purchase were risky. I really don’t know what I’d do, it’s a tough call.
If we did end up going through an individual, I would do a few things to protect myself as best I could. First, I wouldn’t rent from any new members or individuals with only a handful of posts. I’d want someone with an established reputation on the forums. Second, I’d ask for references. Third, I’d pay with an American Express credit card rather than any other form of payment.
Which DVC Resort?
Finally, you need to figure out which Disney Vacation Club Resort is right for you. We’ve stayed at every single DVC resort at Walt Disney World, most several times. It’s tough to declare a definitive “best” Disney Vacation Club resort, as each has its pros & cons, and is a good option depending upon your priorities.
We have a post that Ranks the Disney Vacation Club Resorts at Walt Disney World and shares the strengths and weaknesses of each. To be honest, though, we love just about all of them. That list does give you a good basis in terms of theme, location, amenities, and other things to consider that will help you make an informed decision, though!
Finally, there’s the newest property, Disney’s Riviera Resort, the new Disney Vacation Club property will open on December 16, 2019. Disney’s Riviera Resort has already proven difficult to book, which is largely because so few points have sold for it thus far.
Once more points sell, Disney will declare more points, which means more bookable inventory. Right now, most room categories are already sold out for every single night until July 2020. Suffice to say, your chances of scoring a Riviera reservation between now and next fall are minimal, so don’t even both with rental if you must stay at Disney’s Riviera Resort–book directly with Disney, instead.
Ultimately, Disney Vacation Club point rentals is a great way to save tons of money without making the long term commitment to joining. If you’re currently booking Moderate or Deluxe Resorts directly from Disney, it’s definitely something to consider. Most of the time, renting Disney Vacation Club points will be cheaper than booking a Moderate, and it will ALWAYS be cheaper than booking a Deluxe (even with the best discounts!).
Renting from individuals is the best way to maximize your savings, and renting from the DVC Rental Store or David’s Vacation Club Rentals is the safest way to rent–plus they’re full service companies with great customer service that can help you through the process and answer all of your questions!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know. If you’re considering joining DVC, first be sure to read our Ultimate Guide to Disney Vacation Club. If you still can’t decide whether membership is right for you, “try before you buy” and rent points from DVC Rental Store. If you are convinced a membership is for you, check out the discounted options at DVC Resale Market.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you agree or disagree with our recommendations for renting DVC points? Any firsthand experiences you care to share? Which DVC resorts do you recommend for a first-timer renter? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I agree with the other opinions about the DVC Rental Store. Run! Do not walk or pass GO with this company. RUN AWAY as fast as you can! This outfit knows full well what it is doing and renters WILL sign away all rights to a refund or changes once they agree to their rental agreement and pay the 50% up-front fee to reserve the DVC room. And if problems develop, you know …. like you change your mind, die, or Disney closes it’s DVC Resorts as it did this year, the renter is out the money with no vacation. The DVC Rental Store narrowly defines their job to just obtaining a room reservation. Once they do that, it is over. Buy trip insurance to protect your self like I did? Good luck. As I painfully learned, no conventional plan like that covered me. Buy Cancel for Any Reason insurance? Sure, but be prepared to fork out 15% more upfront, and possibly get as little as only 50% of your money back. And then be prepared to treated like a dumb child and not being told all the truth. When I asked my DVC Rental Store rep to see if my stay could be re-rented, she initially said no, and then copy and pasted sentences from my renters contract. Later when I asked if the reservation could be moved to an open date that the DVC Rental Store’s very own Availability Tool showed was available, she copy and pasted sentences from my renters contract once again to say no, but also misled me by saying it would require different points be used by the owner. She was right. The new date required fewer points even though I was still willing to pay for the higher requirement. When I finally told her we would not be going, she suddenly offered to re-rent my reservation (their infamous “Effort B”) but failed to disclose that they would jacked up the new price 25% over what I paid. Their effort B was bogus. When I did not make the last payment she sent me a final email saying that “by reading this email, you agree to no refund” with a sneaky “read receipt” encoded in that email. By the time I discovered that, she had her legal documentation neatly put together in case I might object to what she said. Despite all I say, I am still the one responsible for this financial loss. I am after all the one who made the stupid decision to use the DVC Rental Store knowing full well the risks. Learn from my mistake. Disney’s (refundable) rack rates are a roaring bargain compared to renting DVC points.
Please do NOT use DVC Rental Store. I would highly recommend renting direct from an owner if you can. I rented through DVC Rental Store for a vacation this past July and we were completely left high and dry due to the pandemic. We cancelled our trip, due to obvious reasons, but DVC Rental Store refused to do anything to work with the owners on rescheduling our reservation. We live in California and traveling to Florida during a global pandemic was just irresponsible (as far as we were concerned). In the end, they kept all of our money and we got nothing. So, beware if you think you’re providing yourself more protection from a potential Scam situation – we were scammed.
As an owner, I never recommend anyone go to the rental stores.
Their whole claim is your vacation is safe with us…… And they charge between 2 and 3 dollars per point more than you would pay to an owner, while paying the owner 2 or 3 dollars less.
I understand brokerage and everyone needs to make money but these companies average 750 dollars per rental and when it comes down to it don’t protect the renter at all.
If someone was looking to rent points currently I would send them to mouseowners.com.
Please read the sticky notes, do you due diligences, ask all the questions and if it sounds like to good of a deal walk away.
I’m sure there are a lot of honest good deals on the market right now, because DVC has lots of availability and COVID has everything still in a trail spin, but make sure the deal you have been offered makes sense and look up the owner on the registry of deeds. https://www.occompt.com/services/records-search/
If you are willing to do your own legs work you can save yourself a lot time of money.
I’m calling BS. I just checked three of the top sites and each are charging (on average) $20.00 a point. Unless things changed dramatically due to COVID, when I previously browsed the mouseowners site, owners were charging that same amount, IF NOT MORE! They argued they had points at in-demand resorts, whereas the 3rd party brokers didn’t, so they could charge $20-22 a point. And if you are new to the site, good luck getting a “veteran renter” to contact you. I have read countless threads where individuals with low post counts are considered scammers and owners will not rent points to them due to the risk of being ripped off.
I agree that brokers handled the pandemic poorly, but to say that going direct to owners through mouseowners is cheaper, is simply a false statement.
I would go look at mouseowners again.
The first three ads I just look at were between 12 and 15.50 a point.
I charge 15 for SSR and 16 for BLT
I have seen people with confirmed reservation for sold out times like Christmas and New Years ASK 18$ for the Florian or Poly .
I have also never told anyone no unless I was out of points .
But if it make you feel better call bull shit and pay full price, and I’m sorry you feel that way.
Ok, Robbie. I’ll admit I was wrong. I do see plenty of posts going for the rates you mentioned. Mea Culpa.
But correct me if I am wrong, this price drop is due to COVID? I can’t recall seeing $12-15 a point in… forever. I presume our current situation is forcing DVC owners who rent their points to sell them cheaper than they did before the pandemic, or lose the points completely? I predict point prices will rise again once people feel safe about travelling and vacationing. Thoughts on that? And while we are on the subject, what were your rates in 2019?
TPG,
I have not seen the number you were siting ever.
Most owners that did not lose there points this year banked them for use next year.
The only time i see fire sale rates on points is when owners waited to long to cancel or Bank their points.
What i have seen as normal average pricing On mouse owners is:
SSR OKW run around 15 per point
BCV BWV BLT WL run around 16 per point
GF and Poly run around 17 18 per point because they are new
If someone need to get out of expiring points you can find them for 10 to 12
I don’t expect The points to jump up any time soon….
Disney just open a new resort and they are giving owners a discount just to fill the rooms until they can sell it.
Again, if an owner has booked a reservation on speculation for a busy time, you might see a little higher…
But also keep in mind that DVC point rent from owners at about 1/3 of what the cash price of calling Disney direct.
If you have other questions you are welcome to contact me directly
Robbie/Tom,
I’m just hearing about this DVC rental, VERY interested. I turned 50 this summer, so was totally screwed on a vacation. We were scheduled to take a cruise, clearly that didn’t happen. We’ve moved the cruise to next June 2021, AND I want to hit up DisneyWorld after the cruise for 4-5 nights, ideally Beach Club Villa Me, my wife, and 3 sons; 20, 18, 13 by June). Is it too early or too late to try booking that with someone like you, Robbie? As it sounds like the rental companies are too busy protecting themselves right now, might be better to go directly with a DVC owner? I am TOTALLY unaware and just now learning about this process, so bear with me. Where are the forums to meet DVC owners directly, if not Robbie?
Tom, I’m planning to book for the first time through DVC Rentals, the Cascade Cabins and it is a good sum. I am planning to use Travel Guard Insurance, as it is half the price as the PPP DVC Rentals offer, and appears to cover more. Travel Guard says they cover the DVC rentals, but it has been suggested otherwise from some individuals. In your experience, can other insurance companies cover DVC rentals??? Please advise.
Sorry, I don’t know the answer to that!
Don’t rent from DVC rental store, especially during Covid. They will use the “fine print” in their contract to screw you out of your vacation if something happens. When we were forced to cancel our vacation because Disney said we were not allowed on their property, DVC rental store claimed that their contract stated that it was only there responsibility to provide us with a “reservation” and they could care less if we couldn’t use it. They kept our $1000+ deposit and told us to go pound sand. Unless you have an iron clad insurance policy that covers ANY REASON for cancellation, I would be very hesitant to book thru DVC rental store.
Disney itself and the airlines were more than accommodating with refunds. DVC rental store are crooks.
We have almost 600 points that will expire end of November (DVC stopped short of allowing November and December use year people to salvage their points due to the pandemic, but that’s another story). We are in Canada and literally can’t travel to the US so they will expire.
I considered renting, but there is language in the contract re. benefiting “for commercial purposes “ being prohibited. It seems like a fairly common practice, but where can I find info on DVC’s actual policies regarding it?
There are many people renting their points or renting confirmed reservations. There are also facebook groups for it. One I am a member of even has a post with sample contracts and tips. We are looking into a rental before Christmas. It might change. We might stay with my husbands Grandparents then drive to my Dad’s. It might just be my son and I. I’m a teacher who NEEDS to get away. This year has been rough between 6 preps (3 are lab courses) and COVID.
I Had a terrible experience working with David’s Disney Vacation Club Rentals, and would recommend prospective buyers steer clear of this company. Whatever you plan on spending with them, burn half and give the rest to charity (you’ll get more value out of that approach)
When the COVID-19 Pandemic began getting worse, we reached out to the team at David’s to see what our options were are far as rescheduling our trip. They would not even approach the DVC points owner to see if there was anyway we could make arraignments to reschedule or find some common ground. I found it unprofessional that they shutdown their phone lines, and the only way we could communicate with them was via email.
They stuck to their policy and refused to work with us, and honestly I was disappointed but I understood/accepted that they were sticking to a contract.
My breaking point was when they refused to allow me to transfer our booking to a family member who lived in the Orlando area, as traveling to an area of the county seeing a surge in outbreaks was just not an option. The trip went unused and was a complete waste of money.
Hi Robbie,
I am interested in renting points for a trip in February 2021,but now I am kind of nervous renting from Davids or DVC rental store. Can you tell me what your process is?
Sure if you would like to email me at cptrobbie@aol.com I would be happy to explain my process to you.
Robbie. If every DVC owner like yourself and third party rental company like DVC Rental Store treated the customer they way you describe there would be no issue.
In this case, DVC Rental Store is trying to hide behind the fine print of a rental agreement and suggesting that they have done their part by providing my son with a “reservation” , even if Disney says it can’t be used.
DVC Rental Store has even told other people that it’s not their problem if the Disney Parks are closed and expected people to spend their vacations “quarantined “ in a hotel room.
I have had to cancel multiple vacation plans during this COVID-19 crisis. Every hotel (including Disney), airline (Jet Blue and Delta) , excursion company, etc, I have dealt with have bent over backwards to make sure I haven’t had any negative financial impact. DVC Rental Store is the first company that has told me to go **** myself.
I am having the same issue with David’s Vacation Club for Aulani. Resort is closed, island is on lockdown. David’s Vacation Club refuses to do anything for me. All they care about is the money. Very shady and they are not thinking long term
STAY AWAY FROM DVC RENTAL STORE !!!
My son purchased a weeks worth of DVC points from DVC Rental Store (DVCRS) to stay at Old Key West Disney Resort from August 27, 2020 thru September 3, 2020.
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Walt Disney World’s (WDW) official policy from its “Know Before You Go” page is that “Before traveling to Florida, please make sure that you have reviewed any advisories or restrictions that may be in place for travel to Florida…Guests who are under isolation or quarantine orders must not enter Walt Disney World Resort.”
In Section 3 of Executive Order Number 20-139, issued by Florida Governor DeSantis, effective June 5, 2020, it directs all individuals entering the state of Florida from the New York Tri-State Area (Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York) to isolate or quarantine for a period of 14 days from the time of entry into Florida.
On July 7, 2020, with this quarantine order set to expire, Florida Governor DeSantis issued Executive Order Number 20-166, which extends Florida’s state of emergency for another 60 days. By virtue of that extension, the Tri-State Area Quarantine is automatically extended for another 60 days with it. This means the Tri-State Area Quarantine will now expire on September 5, 2020 .
Since my son is a resident of Connecticut, and based on Governor DeSantis Executive Order and Walt Disney World policy, WDW has advised my son that he will not be allowed on the property.
DVC Rental Store has refused to give my son a refund, credit for use at a future date, or allowed him to change his reservation to a future date.
To be fair renting DVC points is not a conventional way of booking a vacation. All the Caveat Emptor clauses are in both this article above and on the websites that we rent the points from. I have rented points several times and there is always a tingling of doubt as you check in because you are not really a DVC member but are booked on someone else’s account.
Hi Millenial,
The part you forget is that booking direct from DVC cost 3 or 4 times what is does to rent DVC directly from an owner. My average rental is $4000 dollars. Would you like to pay $16,000 dollars for the same room, in the same resort, on the same week?
I am a DVC owner and have been renting DVC points for almost 10 years. If you do your due diligence, and work with a reputable owner you should have no issues.
All of my renters have their travel plan numbers with in minutes of me booking the room.
I help them add the DME and get the luggage tags 4 to 5 weeks in advance.
Same thing with the dinning plan.
At every step of the way, the Disney Magical Experience apps shows them that they are good to go.
DVC members are allowed to have guess use their points. I have even had a renter not like the location of his room and DVC went out of their way to upgrade his room. He didn’t even have to call me.
If done right, you can rent from an owner and get a great vacation for a fraction of the price.
Hi Robbie,
I don’t know if you meant to reply to me or James Garner, but I am on the same side as you. I think renting points is great and will definitely do it again. I will likely use Dave’s as I have had good experiences with them in the past.
This COVID-19 period is unprecedented and we can expect businesses to protect their interests. You are right about due diligence, if you use non-traditional ways of booking things there is a bit of a gamble. Will I pay $16,000 for a vacation (room only) at Disney? No. Will I take the gamble for a $4000 stay, probably.
Millennial. I understand your “legal” argument. If we take DVC Store to small claims court or if a class action suit is started, it may hold up in court. But it will be a BIG mistake. It is ILLEGAL for DVC members to “sell” their points. They can only be “gifted” . Disney for some reason looks the other way and allows companies like DVC Store to exist . But if the number of aggrieved people like my son reaches a certain level, and they make enough noise about it, the whole process of renting DVC points may come to an end.
Robbie. If every DVC owner like yourself and third party rental company like DVC Rental Store treated the customer they way you describe, there would be no issue.
In this case, DVC Rental Store is trying to hide behind the fine print of a rental agreement and suggest that they have done their part by providing my son with a “reservation” , even if Disney says it can’t be used.
DVC Rental Store has even told other people that it’s not their problem if the Disney Parks are closed and expected people to spend their vacations “quarantined “ in a hotel room.
I have had to cancel multiple vacation plans during this COVID-19 crisis. Every hotel (including Disney), airline (Jet Blue and Delta) , excursion company, etc, I have dealt with have bent over backwards to make sure I haven’t had any negative financial impact. DVC Rental Store is the first company that has told me to go **** myself.
Hi James,
I agree, i would prefer that no one use the rental stores.
I would also prefer that everyone buy direct from the owners
I was able to reschedule two of my renter for this year and a third im still waiting on getting dates from. In one of those cases the resort were closed and there was no way for me to keep my end of the contract…. for the other two renters, the resorts would have been open for and i did not have to do anything for them by the contract, however, i figured to be fair, since disney made it easier for me to do it it was the right thing to do.
Disney was changing their policies on a day by day basis are this developed.. If i understand your son’s position correctly, depending on when he finally decided that going was not an option, at the very least i would have been able to rebook him later in the year. Or possible been able to give him the whole next year to chose travel dates. Depending on the owners’ use year of the points in question, David’s or DVC rental could have offered the same, it would have required work on their part to rebook, only they can answer why they didnt even try. The owners of the Points they rented got paid their deposit for those points and maybe get to use those points themselves… i agree that is not fair to people like your son.
As far as Disney not letting owners to rent points…… I have a deeded right to use my points as I want. As you correctly pointed out i can gift those points to anyone ….. if some one gives me a gift, i usually respond in kind…. ie you gift me a check and i gift you points to use on your vacation…
I hope your son gets some recovery
I also hope he tried to go again at a later date.
Let me know if he wants to rent points directly from an owner.
Can anyone tell me about the actual booking process ? if I get my booking dates confirmed and pay the deposit to either the owner or a broker , whichever I decide to use, am I then able to see the booking on the DVC website ? DO they send a booking reference linked to the website ?
When i book a reservation i send the travel plan number with a screen shot of the confirmation page. With the travel plan number you can go right in and link it to your MDE. And see everything you would like.
I would rent points ethically and honestly. I would forward the confirmation to you. Would not require so much money until 50 days prior, depending on the deadline for the particular points used. Right now i have to use some up before september, 2021 ( because we had to cancel due to covid alarmists) so would NOT like to promise a person and reserve a big vacation, and then have the renter cancel before paying me. I own at boardwalk, copper creek, and saratoga . If you contact me, we can talk on telephone after that. I have much knowledge of all resorts
What are the DVC rental places saying?
I know I as an owner was aloud to rebook my renters in the same use year the points came from. Are the rental stores not offering the same?
Hi Robbie,
At least Davids is not allowing them. In my case, I asked many times to rebook with the same owners since that seemed like the fairest solution to all involved but I was told no. The reason they are giving is that, according to them, this would not be an option for all the people affected so because it’s not an option to all, they will not offer it to anyone. However, I have many reasons to believe that that’s not true and that they simply can’t be bothered. Honestly, their decisions seem to be fueled by greed more than anything.
The DVC Rental Store is not exactly what I’d call a reputable company. Their shortsightedness in their business model has left them not only liable to provide refunds due to the pandemic (even to those not purchasing their scam PPP), it has also left them providing the absolute worst customer service…ever.
Their business model has them providing 75% payment to the renting member up front. Why is this an issue? With the resorts closed for the pandemic, all reservations were cancelled by Disney…with the renting member receiving their points back. Now they have your money, and their points. The DVC Rental Store has no recourse to get the money back, yet they are also not upholding the terms of their contract with the renters…as there is no longer the reservation the renter has paid for.
They’ve attempted to push their shortsightedness onto the renter, causing more financial hardship for many families. Additionally, they refuse to put you in contact with the member you rented from – which they also state they will do in their contract.
All around, just really terrible service and an absolute refusal to act with any sense of decency. BUYER BEWARE!! THE DVC RENTAL STORE MAY NOT PROVIDE THE VERY THING YOU ARE PAYING THEM FOR, OR EVEN ACT AS THE INTERMEDIARY THEY CLAIM TO BE.
I’m also having issues with Davids and their response to this pandemic has been atrocious. In my case (high risk and around immunocompromised people), I’ve been basically told that I either risk my life and travel when I don’t feel comfortable doing so or let them just keep my money. I urge you and everyone else who is having issues with them to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. If enough of us are vocal, they won’t be able to keep getting away with such atrocious behavior.
And to Tom, I would highly suggest not promoting David’s in any way going forward. They’ve proven themselves to not be a reputable company. I would amend this article seeing how they have treated customers during this crisis.
I too have experienced the same horrible service and situation with DVC Rental Store and the need for my family to cancel our reservation made for July. I notified them at the end of March my family would no longer be traveling due to COVID and they refused to work with the owners of my reservation to make any accommodations. I contacted them again in June after finding out we are pregnant, with twins, and due to my high risk pregnancy, medically I am unable to travel. They still would not accommodate us. We had a Disney cruise booked out of Florida which is why we wanted to travel to the parks a few days prior. We had ZERO issues canceling our cruise reservation with a full refund from Disney. DVC owners had ZERO issues canceling their reservations with the parks and receiving a full refund. DVC Rental store users had EVERY issue with their reservation and they have kept our full payment. They never even bothered to notify the owners we weren’t traveling so we still received our magic bands and continuous e-mails from the resort regarding our upcoming stay, a welcome e-mail, and a survey to collect feedback on the stay we never even had. They are frauds, thieves, and have unethical business practices. I’ve filed a formal complaint with the BBB and my claim is still unresolved after over a month…please, DO NOT rent through DVC Rental Store. If you have had an issue, please file a complaint through BBB and perhaps they will receive enough to actually refund people. I can’t even begin to imagine how much money they have scammed out of people…I’m sure hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Hi Robbie,
I’m interested in talking with you. How do I contact you?
Thank you, Nathan
Let’s start with an email
Cptrobbie @ aol.com
Renting DVC points is how we will stay in a Bay Lake Tower One-bedroom villa in August. There’s no way we could have afforded it through Disney. But we were lucky and the owner of our points was willing to rebook for us in March. Many people were not as lucky, some got credit, and many more got nothing and lost thousands of dollars.
DVC Rental Store are crooks! My family booked through DVC rental store to secure a stay at the Poly in Disney World this summer. The transaction at first was smooth and all was well. Then COVID hit and they are refusing to do anything to assist us with re-booking our reservation to next year, giving us a refund, or providing even a credit for a future vacation. They are stating because we didn’t purchase their travel insurance, they are doing absolutely nothing to help us – they aren’t even willing to work with the owners who booked our reservation to try to re-book. Who wants to take their two small children to Disney World for the first time with having to wear masks, wait in long lines, social distance, etc. Not to mention we’re traveling from California and would have to travel through two airports to get there. Not responsible in my opinion given the continued outbreak of COVID. DO NOT BOOK WITH DVC. They are terrible. I haven’t heard of a single hotel, cruise line, airline, etc. who has not been exceptionally understanding with refunds, re-bookings, etc. Even Disney themselves are refunding/re-booking vacations for no cost. We had a cruise booked with them in July (which was the reason for our stay at the Poly) and they re-booked our cruise for next year no questions ask.
Again, DO NOT BOOK WITH DVC rental store. We’re out $1,300 because of their greediness.
Maybe you should have booked the insurance, just to be on the safe side?
We normally use dvcrequest.com which I believe is the one Tom recommends here. Post Covid19 we will be using Dave’s again.
Either get insurance next time or go on the trip. You’re irresponsibility shouldn’t reflect poorly on this organization.
Hmmm. I believe that some of this information is not accurate. I have called some of these airlines, hotels, and found that they are not willing to give up their income. Cruises are also very bad – since a lot of them have sunk costs that they are unwilling to give up payments towards. The forums are full of them. No one could have predicted this novel coronavirus outbreak, and the fact that “flattening” the curve is not going well because people will not do the “right thing”. Well – I guess that lost income to all is a fact of life. I feel for you, but lost jobs, non-compliant people are going to make for a very rough ride. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so hunker down and wait till the world is a safer place. I am.
Hi Tom, My family and I are interested in taking a Disney World trip in May of 2021. We have 6 total: my wife and 4 children ages 2-7 would like to try the DVC Rental Store and are interested in renting the Beach Club villa. If we decide to move forward for May 2021, we would need to put a deposit down of approximately $1,500 by the end of June. That makes us a little nervous for a number of reasons. With all of the recent changes at WDW, limited DVC point inventory, and after reading some of the reply’s on here, do you think it’s safe to rent DVC points this far out? Would you personally have any reservations? Thank you! We really enjoy your blog site!
Hi Nathan,
After personal experience, I HIGHLY recommend you book with Disney directly. We’ve had a TERRIBLE experience with DVC Rental Store and will absolutely never work with them again. They are refusing to assist with our reservation we made with them for Disney World Resort this July. They are refusing to help us work with the owner to either re-book our reservation for next year, refund us, or give us a credit for a future booking. We’ve cancelled the other aspects of our vacation – a Disney cruise which we booked through a travel agent – with no issues what so ever. We were easily able to shift our reservation to next summer. Now we’re out $1,300 and they have zero intention of assisting us.
After my current experience with TERRIBLE customer service though the rental company we chose, and only receiving a partial refund with the purchased insurance (while people who did not purchase extra insurance can receive a FULL credit toward a future booking), I will never recommend renting points. Better to pay the extra money to Disney and be able to get a full refund the next time a life-changing pandemic rolls through town. If you want to risk it and rent points, do your homework and see which company is handling this situation well.. it’s not the one I used.
Hi Kelly, which rental company did you use? We were thinking of renting DVC and was curious. Thanks
Hello All,
For those of you that had a bad experience with the rental stores, may I recommend that you try to renting direct from an owner.
I current have had three of my renter effected from closures due to Covid. I was able to work with the renters and move there vacations for them.
I will say I usually have a very limited ability to change vacations for renters last minute but have been able to in the past, with a little flexibility on both my part and the renters part. I have been renting points since 2010 and have only ever had to move 3 reservations though.
For those of you that want to rent DVC directly from Disney, you can do that. But keep in mind the cash price for the room you will pay to Disney is 3 or 4 times what you will pay a points owner.
If anyone would like to chat about DVC rental, I would be happy to walk you throw how I do my rentals.
Thanks
Robbie