How to Save Money Renting Disney Vacation Club Points
These money-saving tips for renting Disney Vacation Club points will get you Deluxe Resort rooms during your vacation at Walt Disney World, Disneyland or beyond. DVC rental is safe, easy, and cheaper than standard hotels. It’s also a great way to “test drive” before buying a membership.
For those who are unfamiliar with it, Disney Vacation Club (DVC) point rental is the one-time use of a set number of a points or already confirmed reservation at a Deluxe Villa room at a Disney Vacation Club Resort. It’s an easy process, and you can do this on a person-to-person basis via social media groups, or via one of the established point rental marketplaces that we recommend.
If you’re simply looking for the best and safest way to rent DVC points at the lowest prices, our top recommendation is David’s Vacation Club Rentals. That’s the short and sweet advice for renting DVC points, as you get the cheapest per point cost that is also backed by a buyer protection program. If you want to know more or compare options, this post offers info & tips. Disney Vacation Club point rental can be a great way to save big on your Walt Disney World vacation in 2026, but it can be complicated, confusing, risky and require planning. For that, we’re here to help!
Let’s start with a quick update on a topic that’s been making waves among Disney Vacation Club members: Disney’s crackdown on commercial DVC point renters. This started over 6 months ago and, honestly, we haven’t seen or heard much about it having much of an impact. It seems like mostly a way of appeasing angry owners. Disney’s way of claiming to care about a problem.
This is ostensibly aimed at reducing abuse and misuse of DVC ownership interests that are detrimental to the membership at large. Disney Vacation Club has seen a proliferation of members who only own points purely as a business. They never use the points for themselves, their families or friends. They always rent out their points, and often ‘optimize’ by scooping up speculative reservations that cost the lowest number of points but will sell for the highest dollar amount.
If you’re considering DVC point rental, but are worried about how this could impact you, the safest course of action is simply sticking with the established DVC rental companies. This might seem like an odd recommendation given that Disney is cracking down on commercial renters, but the difference is that those businesses are conduits connecting members with guests.
They are obviously companies, but they are not, themselves, commercial renters. They’re marketplaces or intermediaries. And as large and established businesses, you can look up reviews to see if there are problems with cancellations (we haven’t seen or heard of any). You also have recourse if something goes wrong.
We recommend steering clear of renting via Facebook or other social media, or anywhere else lacking transparency or accountability. What might seem like an individual owner could very well be an LLC that is constantly renting out points. We’d also recommend avoiding confirmed reservations, and this even extends to those marketplace websites. Confirmed reservations are the single biggest red flag of a business making speculative reservations regularly with the intention of maximizing their ROI.
Disney is not attempting to stop all rental activity–occasionally renting out unused points is well within the rules. Disney is cracking down on a small number of owners who have amassed massive amounts of points and exclusively sell reservations for the highest possible profit. (This rule is likely aimed at a dozen or so commercial renters–everyone else is perfectly fine.)
Chances are, you will not run into any issues no matter how you opt to rent DVC points this “crackdown” looks more like a superficial warning than something with actual enforcement. Still, it’s better to be safe than sorry. That’s precisely why we recommend erring on the side of caution and using the DVC rental marketplace businesses. The commercial renters aren’t going through middlemen (it would reduce their profits) and the DVC rental marketplaces offer consumer protection.
Now let’s dig into the basics of Disney Vacation Club point rentals…
Here’s how DVC point rental works: the owner of the points agrees to “rent” the points out to a customer, and in exchange for payment to the owner of the points, the owner makes a room reservation for the rentee in that guest’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 $25 per point, and the rentee wants to stay book Animal Kingdom Lodge for December 1-7, that will require 60 points, for a total cost of $1,500. Contrast that with booking directly from DisneyWorld.com, which would cost $2,451.38. That’s almost $1,000 off by renting DVC points for that Christmas-time stay!
As you can see, the big advantage of Disney Vacation Club point rental is saving money over booking directly with Walt Disney World. Even the biggest and best special offers booked directly through Disney won’t beat DVC rentals in terms of bottom-dollar price if you want Deluxe Resort accommodations. As a general rule, you’re going to pay roughly Moderate Resort prices (maybe slightly more) for a Deluxe Resort via DVC point rentals.
Ideally, you want to make reservations over 7 months in advance. Some popular resorts and room categories will sell out well before the 7-month mark for certain dates. If you’re planning a trip for the upcoming holiday season, you’re already going to find limited availability since we’re inside the 7-month mark.
There’s a reason the holiday season is such a popular time to visit Walt Disney World. You can read more about why we love this time of year, dates & details, what’s happening, and more in our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World. Without question, this is the best time to visit Walt Disney World–we highly recommend making reservations immediately so you can get a good resort!
While this is the best time to visit Walt Disney World, it’s just one of many times that Disney Vacation Club Members tend to prefer, which book up quickly as a result. Other popular times of year include all school breaks, long weekends, the start of EPCOT festivals, and any ‘cheap’ dates when a lower number of points is required to book rooms.
The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, Polynesian, BoardWalk, Beach Club, and other resorts in close proximity to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios always book up over 7 months in advance for the most popular travel times. That’s doubly true when it’s a combination of the above–such as the start of an EPCOT festival that’s also a low point season.
This brings us to lesson #1 about DVC point rental: book as close to 11 months in advance as possible. It used to be the case that booking at least 7 months in advance was sufficient, but that’s no longer true.
If you’re planning a Christmas 2026 trip to Walt Disney World and considering DVC point rental, you should make the decision ASAP for the best availability. That’s doubly true for the off-peak dates that make our list of the 10 Best Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026 & 2027. If you wait until the 7-month mark rolls around, you’ll have far fewer options.
At that point, the only option for the most popular resorts will be confirmed reservations. And as we mentioned above, we strongly recommend avoiding confirmed reservations. That’s in part because they’re more likely to be speculative reservations booked by businesses, subject to the crackdown.
It’s also because they offer worse value for money–confirmed reservations are more expensive than their per-point counterparts. You might as well just book directly from Walt Disney World via a discount as opposed to doing a confirmed reservation.
In the past, confirmed reservations were rare. They were often bargains that were available because a DVC Member had to cancel a trip at the last-minute, and was hoping to recoup some money. In the last few years, confirmed reservations have exploded in frequency.
Now, it’s rare for confirmed reservations to be owners in a pinch offering a last minute deal. Confirmed reservations are almost exclusively commercial renters. Owners who operate as businesses attempt to maximize their profits by finding the ‘sweet spot’ when the cost in points is lower, but the price people will pay in cash is higher.
While the amount varies, it’s common for confirmed reservations to charge $30+ per point. Our hope is that confirmed reservations become rare again soon as Disney’s crackdown on commercial renters continues. In the meantime, we’d implore you to avoid confirmed reservations as the risk-reward calculus just isn’t worth it.
On a positive note, DVC has been doing a ton of room refurbishment projects in the last ~4 years after many of these were deferred due to COVID. This game of catch-up is finally more or less finished, and the fruits of it are fantastic.
Every resort that has recently received a soft goods refurbishment has included installation of the new pull-down sofa bed and couch combo (like the one pictured above). And for good reason, as member satisfaction surveys give these rooms very high marks and satisfaction scores have increased by 20% among guests who have stayed in new rooms.
This pull-down bed is a colossal upgrade over the pull-out couches, and has been one of several functional improvements that have really improved the ‘quality of life’ of DVC rooms–Imagineering has done a fantastic job weaving themed design into the upgraded units.
The new rooms have made a big difference for the average guest, and most resorts have been redone in this style (Old Key West, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the Treehouse Villas are the only rooms being refurbished in 2026–the rest have already been redone in the last few years.)
In terms of other updates, there are a few big benefits of renting Disney Vacation Club points.
That’s because guests staying in Walt Disney World resorts have access to a couple of perks. First is Early Entry, which gives all on-site resort guests a 30-minute head start at any Walt Disney World theme park, every day before normal operating hours begin. Learn more strategy in our Guide to Early Entry at Walt Disney World.
Second, there’s Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. This benefit is exclusively for guests staying at Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villas, or other select hotels. This includes Disney Vacation Club resorts and those renting DVC points are eligible. This second perk is incredibly advantageous, as crowds are usually low during these nighttime hours. See our Guide to Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for taking advantage of this perk, eligibility, and more.
New for 2026 is that Kids Eat FREE All Year at Walt Disney World. Throughout all of 2026, guests staying at one of Walt Disney World’s on-site resort hotels will get a Free Disney Dining Plan for their kids (ages 3 to 9 at the time of travel) when purchasing a Disney Dining Plan as part of their package for the other members of their party (ages 10 and up at the time of travel). This even applies to DVC, which is normally excluded from the so-called Free Dining promo!
Finally, there’s the Free Water Park Day in 2026. Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests can enjoy admission to Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach on their check-in day. Room-only reservations, vacation packages and Disney Vacation Club stays on points will all be eligible–but all guests must be on the reservation. Unlike last year, this perk is only available for summer visits, valid for arrivals from May 26 to September 8, 2026.
For the most part, the perks of DVC point rental are shared with all or most other on-site hotels. See Walt Disney World’s On-Site Advantage: Perks & Benefits of Staying in WDW Resort Hotels for more selling points.
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.
DVC point rental has become big business, and there are now a number of small mom and pop shops that have sprouted up to rent points commercially in addition to individual members. In our view, the only ones worth considering are David’s Vacation Club Rentals (our top pick) and DVC Rental Store.
The reasons we’d go with one of these as opposed to a newcome is that both are trustworthy businesses that have been around for over a decade, have massive inventories, best availability, and dedicated customer service teams. This isn’t true of most newer point rental agencies, so you really have to ask yourself why you should bother going through a company–just cut out the middleman if you’re not going with one of the big two.
David’s Vacation Club Rentals has one huge advantage: lower prices. This makes David’s the better option if you’re simply looking to pay the least money possible.
Another policy change is their “Deferred Dreams” cancellation policy. This no-fuss policy allows guests to cancel their DVC points rental reservation and receive the Deferred Dreams Travel Credit, which offers the ability to reschedule the magic anytime within 3 years of cancellation.
This was previously the biggest difference between David’s and DVC Rental Store, and the benefit of paying a bit more for the latter was their more favorable cancellation policy. Now that the gap has closed, you might as well book based solely on price.
DVC Rental Store’s strength is flexibility. All reservations include their Stress-Free Cancellation Policy, which basically means paying more for lower risk. Additionally, they don’t require full payment up front–your balance is due 75 days prior to check in. The obvious advantage here is that you’re not paying in full up front, meaning you can cancel your reservation if you’d prefer to just walk away and not deal with credits.
Speaking of timeframes, it’s generally recommended that you rent DVC points at least 7 months in advance or, ideally, 11 months in advance. These are when the booking windows open for Disney Vacation Club resorts, so you’ll have a higher likelihood of success the earlier you contact one of the rental companies.
If you think you’re going to get exactly what you want 5-6 months in advance, think again. Resorts along Magic Kingdom’s monorail loop, EPCOT’s Crescent Lake, and the Skyliner gondola all start booking up more than 7 months in advance.
Although we are Disney Vacation Club owners, we have a relatively low number of points, so we’ve actually rented points ourselves on multiple occasions. In attempting to rent points, we’ve contacted both the point rental marketplaces and individual members on forums about rental, and have opted to go with the point rental marketplaces (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 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 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.
In addition to saving money on hotel rates, another benefit of renting Disney Vacation Club points, for some people, is getting the Disney Dining Plan without purchasing park tickets. And as noted above, this includes the Kids Eat Free promo for 2026, which is huge for families with children ages 3 to 9. The DDP goes from being borderline to a no-brainer if you have multiple kids that age.
Speaking of food, the studio rooms feature a kitchenette and one bedrooms and larger have full kitchens. This means it’s easier to prepare full meals than if you’re staying in a standard hotel room. Not something everyone wants to do on vacation, but it’s nice to have the option. This is especially true for breakfast when you want to get out the door quickly, or for late night snacks after the restaurants have closed. To that point, here’s what we recommend for grocery delivery at Walt Disney World.
Similarly, guests staying in Disney Vacation Club units have access to free laundry rooms. Moreover, one-bedroom units or larger have in-room washers and dryers. Laundry is another thing we hate doing on vacation, but having the option in your room is huge, and the convenience of that cannot be overstated.
Finally, not purchasing a vacation package from Walt Disney World directly means you can save money by purchasing tickets from an authorized ticket broker. 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 the Disney Dining Plan, once that returns). 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, but for some people, not having the full hotel experience might be a fatal blow to renting DVC points.
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 forgiving as booking directly via Disney. This is because of the strict policies surrounding DVC point usage. 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.
We recommend paying close attention to contract when renting, and making sure you’re not agreeing to terms that would not create an undue burden if you need to cancel, because there are no cash refunds. Part of the reason DVC renting saves so much money is that it comes with compromise–there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Whether DVC rental is right for you comes down to your personal risk vs. reward assessment.
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: David’s Vacation Club Rentals (our recommendation) as well as DVC Rental Store.
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 these companies 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 a specific member, 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 person-to-person more time consuming and tedious.
Compounding that challenge, most of the forums that previously facilitated person-to-person point rental have closed, with the exception of the Disboards one. However, several Facebook and other social media groups have popped up in their place. If you have friends who are DVC members that are willing to rent out their points to you, that’s another route, too.
The downside to renting from strangers 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.
For whatever it’s worth, even amidst the current crackdown, I’ve heard of very few instances of people being ripped off by people on the forums or social media. It does happen, but it seems to be infrequent.
It’s not a risk I’m personally willing to take, but I also don’t want to scare anyone into believing that a high-percentage of Facebook transactions are scams. They are not. Probably less than 1% have a risk of having problems. Basically, it comes down to how risk averse you are and how much more you can save by going through an individual as opposed to an institution.
If it’s a short weekend trip and the David’s Disney Vacation Club Rentals is charging ~$23/point versus $20/point directly via a DVC member, I can’t see going the person-to-person 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.
If we did end up going through Facebook or an individual member, I would do a few things to protect myself as best I could. First, I wouldn’t rent from any new members 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.
Similarly, this is why we use David’s as opposed to newer, smaller point rental companies. The former are well-established with deep roots in the Disney community, years of positive reviews, and a history of doing the right thing for customers. You’re paying a premium for all of that, and understandably so. With the new businesses, you’re still paying a premium over an individual…but for what? Are they really any more trustworthy than dealing directly with a DVC member? To each their own on that, I suppose, but the answer for me is “no.”
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 listing Ranking 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!
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 one-on-one from specific members is the best way to maximize your savings, and renting from David’s Vacation Club Rentals is the best and safest way to rent. It’s a full service company with great customer service that can help you through the process, answer all of your questions, and offer protection against potential problems.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
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!
Sad to see so many people get screwed by one company. As DVC owners in Canada, we cannot even get across the border at the moment. So we have had to resort to renting our points. We went with Davd’s as the Rental Store had so much red tape for owners. We hav successfully rented 2 years worth of points with David’s without any issues. A couple of reservations had to be cancelled because of whatever family emergency. The folks were smart and bought insurance. All I had to do was cancel and provide David’s with proof. They in turn passed it over to the renters and they were able to process their refund. Another on was cancelled because of the closures. We worked with David’s to get those folks their money back.
Both of the big rental companies have “dedicated reservations” for set dates at deep discounts that I’m guessing are due to other guests cancelling. We’ve already taken advantage of these 3 times since reopening and have had wonderful experiences.
Granted, we live in Florida and can work remotely. But if you want a great value on a last-minute booking (the only way we’d do DVC right now), that’s a fantastic option.
Owners have some leverage by threatening to pull their business, regardless of what a contract says. DVC Rental doesn’t have a business without them .
You have to file small claims actions in the state where the company does business. I am considering doing that if my air miles I had to cancel come close to expiring. I am also hoping that an attorney takes up the cause to file a class action lawsuit when Covid is all over with.
I think you can always sue in you home county and state. It called a long arm statute that allows you to sue a company in any place the have done business…. I E if you have done business with them from your home they have done business from you home…. once you get attorneys involved they get most of any settlement you might get….
If the owner cared anything about the renter they could force DVC Rental to do the right thing .
JG
Next time rent direct.
The owners have a contract with the rental companies also. I m sure it clearly states that the owners must also agree to the rental stores rules or the owner will be sued.
Has anyone tied to file a small claims case in there home county and state.
Maybe you could win on default when the rental company doesn’t show up??? Just a thought
Just to illustrate how much my previous rant about how bad the DVC Rental Store is, I thought I’d update it to let you know that a couple of days before my cancelled DVC rental was originally scheduled to take place this month, my DVC Rental Store sales representative accidentally sent me an email wishing me a “magical time” when I’m at the DVC villa. What an insult! First, they threaten their customers with legalese-notices when you have to unexpectedly cancel due to COVID, and then after they keep your money they still say “have a good time.” Oh, and she promised to sent me another note after our now cancelled vacation doesn’t take place to see how things went. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!
Hello all,
As previously noted I am a DVC owner and I may have some availability starting June 1, 2021 if anyone is interested please drop me an email.
They all just sales people.
Once the sale is in their computer, it auto sends everything.
When you rent from an owner you should get one one service
I agree, DVC Rental Store is THE WORST!! We too booked through them and had to cancel due to COVID. They refused to give us a refund and even refused to try to work with the owners to work with us. They never even notified the owners of our cancelled trip because we received welcome emails, etc from
the resort itself – so the resort still thought we were coming and then we were just no-shows to them. So embarrassing. My suggestion is to find a work with an owner directly – DO NOT use DVC Rental!!! Seriously, research it yourself and you’ll find case after case of people who had to cancel their travel due to COVID and DVC Rental kept their money. They must have made a fortune off of this pandemic.
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 [email protected] 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.