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 2024 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” accommodations before actually buying a membership. (Updated March 20, 2024.)
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 companies that we recommend.
If you’re simply looking for the best way to safely rent DVC points at the lowest prices, our two top recommendations are David’s Vacation Club Rentals (for lowest prices) and DVC Rental Store (for most flexibility). That’s the short and sweet advice for renting DVC points–if you want to know more or compare the 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 2024, but it can be complicated, confusing, and require planning. For that, we’re here to help!
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 $20 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 $1,200. Contrast that with booking directly from DisneyWorld.com, which would cost $2,451.38. That’s over half 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.
Speaking of Christmas, if you want to visit Walt Disney World and rent DVC points for dates in November or December 2024, you really need to book ASAP. Ideally, you want to make reservations over 7 months in advance, which is quickly approaching. Some resorts are already sold out for certain dates.
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. In other words, if you’re thinking about renting DVC points for a Christmas trip and want the best options, you’re already too late.
For what it’s worth, 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, holiday weekends, the start of EPCOT festivals, and any ‘cheap’ dates when a lower number of points is required to book rooms.
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. In searching for DVC availability, there are very few good options for multi-night stays between today and October 2024 for studios or one-bedroom units. Only a scattering of dates at most resorts, with slightly better options for Saratoga Springs and Old Key West.
If you’re looking more last minute, fear not, as there’s another option for availability inside 6 months: confirmed reservations. These are reservations that have already been booked by a Disney Vacation Club Member and are available to be reserved by a guest. Booking a confirmed reservation is quicker and more efficient, but it’s also inflexible. There are no modifications or customized reservations. What you see is what you get.
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 popularity and frequency.
Rather than being bargains, they’re often speculative reservations that are booked for the most popular travel times in the most popular room types. Consequently, it’s often the case that confirmed reservations are more expensive than their per-point counterparts.
To be sure, there are still bargains at the absolute last minute and during less-popular travel times, but as hotel availability has become more difficult to book during peak seasons, confirmed reservations have become more popular among DVC Members looking to capitalize. While the amount varies, it’s common for confirmed reservations to charge as much as $25 per point.
Looking forward to the rest of 2024, we have a few pieces of advice. First is that the Villas at Disneyland Hotel are now open! If you’ve ever debated doing DVC at Disneyland Resort, we recommend doing it now. Due to far less room inventory, booking Disney Vacation Club accommodations is far more competitive in California.
If you’ve ever tried to book the Grand Californian, you’ve likely encountered this problem–that is far and away the most difficult DVC resort to book. It requires booking right at the 11 month mark or getting lucky with a cancellation or the waitlist. The Villas at Disneyland Hotel will end up being a very similar story–but that’s not yet the case!
Now is a golden window of opportunity because the Villas at Disneyland Hotel are brand-new and are still in the process of being sold, so there are not very many members there (yet). That means less competition, which can mean easier availability. Unfortunately, this is already starting to change–but it’s only going to get worse and more competitive from here, so 2024 is a good time to try! For more, see our post:Â Inside the Brand-New Villas at Disneyland Hotel.
It’ll likely be a similar story with both the upcoming DVC Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and New DVC Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Those are slated to open in 2024 at Walt Disney World, with the cabins rolling out in phases from July 1, 2024 until 2025. The Polynesian tower will open later, but all at once.
At first, the Cabins at Fort Wilderness will be very limited, making reservations highly competitive. Reservations for all Disney Vacation Club members–and by extension, rentals–open on April 23, 2024. If you want to book the cabins this year, we highly recommend submitting a request before that date.
The Polynesian Tower has not yet started booking and probably won’t until sometime this summer. However, that new addition is joining the existing condo association (a little inside baseball–but relevant), so it’ll work a bit differently. It’ll also be incredibly competitive because there are already Poly points in circulation that will have priority, even as only a portion of the rooms in the Poly tower are declared into DVC inventory. (Meaning they’ll mostly be bookable at higher cash rates, rather than via points. That’s important, but also beyond the scope of this post.)
Speaking of new, one of the big themes of the last few years has been Disney Vacation Club room refurbishments and reimaginings. You can check out the 2024-2025 Disney Vacation Club Resort Refurbishments & Construction Timeline for what’s on the horizon.
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). This feature first debuted at Disney’s Riviera Resort, and has since spread to every single Disney Vacation Club room (and beyond!) that has been renovated in the last few years. And for good reason, as member satisfaction surveys give these rooms very high marks and guest 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. Point being, we’d recommend taking whether the resort you’re considering has new vs. old rooms when determining where to stay. The new rooms have made a big difference for the average guest!
In terms of other updates, there’s big benefit of renting Disney Vacation Club points this year or the duration of 2024. That’s because guests staying in Walt Disney World resorts have access to a couple of perks. First is Early Theme Park 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.
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.
As indicated above, the two main places to rent Disney Vacation Club points are David’s Vacation Club Rentals and DVC Rental Store. The two are pretty comparable–both are reputable businesses that can be trusted. David’s has one big advantage: lower prices. This makes David’s the better option if you’re simply looking to pay the least money possible.
DVC Rental Store’s biggest strength is flexibility. All reservations include their Stress-Free Cancellation Policy, which basically means paying a little bit 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.
With that said, booking at the very last minute also can be advantageous. DVC Rental Store has confirmed reservations and David’s has dedicated reservations available for rent. As explained above, these are reservations that have already been booked.
If you’re flexible on your travel dates, resort, and room preference–or just happen to get lucky with the stars aligning and exactly what you want already being booked–these existing reservations can sometimes be a better option at the very last minute. Otherwise, we highly recommend renting DVC points at least 7 to 11 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 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 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. Although temporarily unavailable this year, the 2024 Disney Dining Plan can now be booked!
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.
You’ll find no shortage of negative reviews online about the major rental companies following the closure of Walt Disney World for this very reason. While some guests were accommodated with future bookings or travel credits, a lot of people who wanted cash refunds were denied. We’ve explained the why of this in DVC’s Point Pool Problem; the short version is the supply of unused outstanding points exceeds room availability by several millions of points. Someone is going to be left holding the bag, and it’s not going to be Disney.
The good news on this front is that it has resulted in some policy reforms by the rental companies. DVC Rental Store now offers a stress-free cancellation policy that issues you a credit you can use toward a future DVC rental in the event of cancellation. You can utilize these credits up to two years from your original travel dates.
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 v. 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, 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 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. Basically, it comes down to how risk averse you are and how much more you can save by going through an individual.
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 or social media. 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 David’s Disney Vacation Club Rentals is charging ~$23/point versus $20/point from an individual, 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.
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!
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? 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!
this is all totally new for me but looks like an interesting option. I have been compaaring prices with DVC rental and David’s rental. There is like a 600 dollar difference. Any east explination on why so different?
Thank you!
Gloria: “You mention in the article about the non-DVC person can not make their own add-on reservations (i.e. meal plan). Can the non- DVC person make park reservations and dinner reservations on their own?”
Sure. With a DVC rental, you cannot make a room request or add (or drop) the dining plan. The owner of the points must do that. But you can make your own dining reservations, event, park reservations. Once you have added that room reservation number to your MDE account, you should be able to make dining reservations from the start of you reservation, plus up to ten more days.
You mention in the article about the non-DVC person can not make their own add-on reservations (i.e. meal plan). Can the non- DVC person make park reservations and dinner reservations on their own?
Hi there! Thanks for the article. I am going on my first ever trip to Disney with a friend from March 10-14th. I have park reservations and tickets in place but my Airbnb host suddenly canceled my reservation. Unfortunately, it looks like almost every Disney resort is booked during those specific dates. How would I go about seeing if there are any DVC rentals available for those dates? Thanks in advance to anyone that takes the time to get back to me!
Just read on Mouseowners.com that they will be ending the Rent/Trade Board as of April 30. So if you are looking to rent out your points or to rent a DVC reservation, you need to do it before then if you were planning on using Mouseowners.
That is too bad they have been a great resource.
There is also a facebook page for renting points.
I am a
DVC owner and am planning a trip with friends in December and don’t have enough points of my own. can I rent just the points I need to make up the difference and if yes, how does that work
You’d probably need a transfer. But before you pay for a transfer, you need to check to see if the nights you want are available. December is booking up quickly with all the owners have a glut of points because they couldn’t book for a long time. If you “rent” points, you are just purchasing a reservation from another member that they made with their points. A transfer makes the points yours to use. But you need to be careful about those transferred points. You can only get one transfer in or out per UY and you cannot borrow transferred points. You can bank them. Any points you transfer into your account will maintain their UY and resort, so if they aren’t the same resort as yours, you couldn’t use them until seven months out. And seven months out might not get you the reservation you need for December.
I really think availability might be a problem booking this late for December. You can “rent points” and use your own points to book as many nights as you can and then purchase a reservation to add to your reservation to extend your trip. If you need a small number of points, you can purchase one time use points from DVC for $19 a point (up to 24 points) to add to your points at seven months out (one time use points can’t be used until seven months out).
Deb is spot on.
You can rent or transfer. Transfer are final as soon as Disney does the transfer.
Good luck
So if I transfer points, I do this through one of those rental sights?
Mouseowners would be my first stop
They have a forum just for points transfers….
Basically you and the other owner have a deal in place you would both need to call disney and arrange the transfer. You would both need to be on the line. Once disney completes the transfer you are done, so expect the points owner to want payment in full prior.
Good luck, if you need more info email me directly. I would be glad to help.
Most of the rental sites do not offer transfers. You may need to find an individual owner from somewhere like The DIS Rent/Trade Board or Mouseowners.com. Make sure you purchase your transfer from a regular renter on these boards and never respond to private messages you get that you did not initiate. That is the way many people get scammed. Purchase your transfer from an owner with experience in doing transferred so they can assure you that you will be able to use those points for the reason you want. You will have a better chance of booking by getting points that match your home resort and you plan on booking your home resort.
would using points for a mom and her son vacation be a good idea rather than trying to stay in one of the moderates? It will be our first time coming and I want to make it special not just for him but also myself by staying in a resort.
That depends on what you are looking to do and what you are happy with. I for one do not enjoy the value and the moderate resorts. It would also depend on what deal or package Disney is running at the time you book. If you can find a last minute DVC reservation that someone backed out of I have seen them as low as 12 per point .
You can use any of the rental sites to get an idea on the number of points your vacation will require. Depending on the resort you want you can plan on anywhere between 14 and 20 dollars per point. I recently rented Saratoga point for 16/point bay lake for 17/point.
If you are looking for more details you are welcome to email me and I’ll do my best to explain.
Hope this helps
DVC rentals can be confusing. Depending on when you plan to go, you might or might not have problems getting the reservation you need. It might be easier to just book your stay directly with Disney instead of renting points for your first trip.
Can you do DVC rental and still work with a travel agent or do take advantage of this, do you have to do all the planning on your own? Thanks.
You can book DVC villas with cash reservations through Disney Reservation Center using a Travel Agent if you choose to use a TA. You don’t get the discounted price of points booking since that must be done through a DVC member. There are sites on the internet where you can find owners renting their points either by themselves or through a broker who links up owners with renters. An owner of a specific resort you want to book can book their home resorts at 11 months out, non-owned resorts at seven months out. That’s why you might not see many villas on the DRC site and most resorts are sold out to owners with only a very small amount of points maintained by DVC (about 2% of the points). But when DVC owners book non-DVC Disney vacations like DCL or ABD using their points, the inventory that represents those points is given to DRC to sell so DVC can pay fot that member’s trip.
Hi Stacey,
A few years back a had a travel agent that would routinely rent points from me. She would then tack on a 3 or 4 dollar per point surcharge.
I don’t see why your travel agent would not still want to handle the airlines and rental cars and leave the resorts to you but I have never worked with on.
I would be happy to discuss the process in greater detail. So at least you understand the process better and can make a more informed choice.
Thanks for the tips on this – looks like DVC is good if you are set on when you want to travel and do not plan to cancel but if you are on the fence, as we are, on dates and if we may book but then push it out bc of restrictions not being lifted to the level we are content with – then its better to just book regular reservation. We are also a family of three, do not really need a kitchen (small fridge will suffice) and this may be our one big trip to Disney. Thanks all.
Stacey,
You are correct. Most owners book their Disney trips between 11 and 7 months out and don’t change.
In fact between the way the points work and how far in advice the resort book up, it is very hard to change last minute…. or towards the end of a use year.
I’m not particularly comfortable with the comments section here hosting an unregulated DVC point trade. If you want to buy/sell points and not use the businesses mentioned here, I’d HIGHLY recommend using the Mouseowners or Disboards trading forums (links in the post). Those vet buyers and sellers, which is something I cannot do here. Some people want to rent directly from an owner, and I totally understand that desire. Those are the safest conduits for doing so–safer than the comments section of a blog post can be.
I’m not going to delete any past comments regarding this as I didn’t make this clear previously, but will delete new ones going forward. Thanks for understanding! 🙂
Just figured I would make it easy for people
Any one interested in going to Disney and Staying at DVC
I currently have 98 point for BLT and 155 SSR, these are June 21 use year points.
They can be used at there home resort 11 months out and any resort 7 months out.
You can book now for food and wine, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years
I have been renting points for almost 10 years.
Contact me and ill be happy to explain anything and everthing
Robbie
Do not book with DVC Rental Store. They have robbed so many Americans from their money and I am currently working on complaint with the BBB on them. Davids seems to be a much better option and is basically the same business. I do not think DVC rental store will survive treating customers the way they have.
I recommend that people rent directly from the owner, due your own due diligence and cut out the middle man.
One thing you don’t want to do is respond to uninitiated offers of points or reservations. Some might be good hearted individuals trying to rent out their points, but some of them will be the scammers out to get your money. When they offer you a reservation for less than most, or the resort you haven’t been able to get from anyone else, that’s a big red flag. When they ask for payment by postal money order, that’s a red flag. And some are just offering the same as everyone else, but they will run off with your money. It’s happened many times that I am aware of. Plus scammers now days are much more sophisticated. They will give you the name of a real DVC owner that they found on the Orange County comptroller’s website or change their email address to something just a letter or two off from a respected owner. RCI trades are not permitted to be sold, only gifted. So if you see a reservation (especially on ebay or other sites that sell stuff) that is a Fri to Fri, Sat to Sat or Sun to Sun reservation with a fixed price, not per point, plus a payment due when you check in, that is usually an RCI trade. If RCI or Disney finds out, the reservation can be cancelled and you are out the money you paid. Finally, you have to remember that you are renting a timeshare reservation. If you try to modify it at check in, you mess with the owner’s points and they could request you pay them for the extra points you used. There have been times when owners I know have had a renter request for a better view, got an upgrade for extra points (that the renter did not pay for) and the owner was out of those extra points.
Tom’s example of 60 points for Dec 1-7, 2021 at AKV is just an example since there isn’t any category that gets you six nights (or seven nights) for 60 points. You can log onto the DVC member website, select “Plan a Vacation” and choose “Points Charts” to see the points charts for 2021 and 2022. Remember that the villas that require fewer points for your stay may get booked up at 11 months out by members.
The biggest problem with DVC in my opinion is that it’s not very conducive for a family of five. Both the studio and 1 bedroom come with a bed and pull out sleeper sofa vs a regular room that has two beds and a Murphy style bed. My older kids are not comfortable in a sleeper sofa so it makes more sense to us to just go with a regular room. A two bedroom unit is way too expensive even renting the points from what I see.
I completely agree. Even with my family of 4 with two growing teens. Plus, the full kitchen is nice, but who wants to cook and clean on vacation?! A 2BR is simply too expensive. I’m better off getting a regular room (or 2!)
Exactly Scott S. We definitely don’t need a kitchen. And we have also gone with 2 rooms before. That way it’s 4 beds and plenty of room since we mainly only use the room for sleeping only.
Tom, this post covers all the pros and cons beautifully.
We have rented DVC for all three of our Disney vacations through David’s, including our most recent trip in December 2020. We have always been really happy with it, including our most recent trip. David’s would have given us a credit because of the land border closure between Canada and the US but we decided to use our rental because we didn’t want a credit hanging over our head given all of the future uncertainty with DVC. Who knows what availability will be like in a year or two – there could be a ton of owners scrambling to use up their points after a year of cancelled trips.
We want to plan another trip for May 2022 but are hesitant to rent another DVC through David’s because of lack of a cancellation policy. It’s an intriguing development that DVC rental store is offering this stress-free cancellation policy. We had been considering the Swolphin because we are concerned there are no more to staying at a Disney Resort for the time being. I would say that the DVC Rental Store cancellation policy puts DVC rental back on the table. (maybe). 120 days out for 100% credit towards a future reservation is very reasonable.
My partner would be happy anywhere but I just can’t stand the Moderates and I can’t abide the costs of the regular hotel rooms. I have been ruined by the three Deluxe resort stays, I’m afraid. Overall, I think there are more pros than cons to renting DVC. (The parking! the pools! the balconies! and hopefully soon to be returned Fastpasses). We would also not be likely to return to a Disney resort without some sort of restoration of the fast pass.
In any event, your posts are so helpful with wading through the quagmire of Disney planning before COVID and now.
Hi Amanda,
I currently have points available for rent at SSR…. if you are interested please contact me [email protected]
We are a family of five (kids 21, 11 & 9) who live in Canada and travel to Disney World about twice a year for stays typically between seven and ten days. Generally we rent a one or more often two bedroom villa. We love being able to prepare breakfast, do laundry, and have “bed snack” in the room.
Our last six trips or so we have booked by renting points through the DVC Rental Store and have had fantasitc experiences each time. We have booked chosen resorts and dates as well as picked up last minute canceled vacations through them. Our stays are typically at Beach Club Villas though we have also stayed at BLT, AKL Kidani and Saratoga each and every trip has gone off wth out a hitch and we cannot reccomend them enough.
Our last DisneyWorld trip Sept 2020 we made the mistake of booking through DVC Rental Store. I guess given a normal year things would have been much better but would advice to go directly through Disney in times like Covid. Our one and only trip not using Disney and things quickly went south once Covid hit. Lost money with DVC Rental Store but likely not as much as others because we made the choice to keep one of two booked rooms. DVC Rental Store made no effort to resell the room we chose to drop and we lost a good chuck of money even though we did buy the extra insurance. They had a added cost insurance with a step tiered refund – losing money with any tiered you exit contract. Appears as Tom noted above they have a new stress-free cancellation policy as of Jan 2021. Not interested – not going through DVC Rental Store again – live and learn
To add another layer of comfort when booking directly through an individual, a three-way call can be set up with the renter, owner and DVC member services when booking the reservation. This lets the renter know everything is legit. Also, renters can now see their reservation online after it is booked. Tom makes booking thorough an individual sound a lot more risky than it is, or at least just as risky as it used to be. IMO, it’s not as risky as it used to be. There is also risk associated with using the brokers he mentioned in this article. A lot of renters who used those brokers were left holding the bag when things shut down last year. If you want zero risk, go through Disney and pay a lot more for the same room. If you want to save a lot of money, rent DVC points for that room via an individual. I definitely do agree with Tom that you want to rent from individuals who have a good history of activity on the rental forum site. But if you do your research on that individual and are involved in the booking process everything will be fine.
Intriguing, I love to save money. However, I really don’t see savings if you have a family of 4 (w/ 2 teens). I’d have to upgrade all the way up to 2BR villa to have 1 extra bed which is a pull out couch vs. a standard room in the hotel with 2 Queen beds. That said, I don’t think you can put a big teen on the “bunk style” pulldown in a studio, correct?
Having a kitchen and washer /dryer isn’t needed either. Who wants to clean and cook on vacation?!
We were a little surprised to see that DVC rental prices for our upcoming trip in March were not really all that different from the discounted prices for the same DVC studio directly from Disney. It looks like the deals are better for last-minute bookings in February, but I would have expected more of a discount further out into 2021 given the risk you take on having to cancel. Might check again closer to our trip, but I’m surprised they don’t feel the need to discount more given the circumstances.