DVC Rentals

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Smallywood1

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Hey everyone! Ive been working on booking our honeymoon trip, and I keep getting tempted to use one of the DVC rental web pages. A few of them are showing a cheaper cost for staying with the rental than any of the value resorts on the main page. Has anyone used any of the rental websites? Were there any you would recommend, or any that you know are considered "safe/trusted". We would love to stay at a DVC room for the same price as a standard room, but obviously want the transaction to be legit. Let me know if you have anything!
 
I'll talk some more about this. My family stayed in a Boulder Ridge suite for $264/night.

Rack rate for the room was $544-$554 depending on the night. If I'd booked the room with an annual passholder discount it still would have been around $380/night. I think it's a good deal, but no it's not as cheap as a Value. It's more like getting the discounted rate for a Moderate.
 


I'll talk some more about this. My family stayed in a Boulder Ridge suite for $264/night.

Rack rate for the room was $544-$554 depending on the night. If I'd booked the room with an annual passholder discount it still would have been around $380/night. I think it's a good deal, but no it's not as cheap as a Value. It's more like getting the discounted rate for a Moderate.
Yeah we were looking at the moderates for this trip. Currently we can book Art of Animation Mermaid room for the same price as the projected Boardwalk rental. It sounds like David's is a pretty strong recommendation.
 
I’ve used David’s and they were not only helpful but very professional. The one drawback is that your room is nonrefundable. So if you go that route look into trip insurance. We didn’t get it initially and when I went to find it, too much time had lapsed. You also pay in full upfront.
 
We’ve used David’s multiple times with no complaints. As long as you are comfortable with the differences between point renting and booking through Disney, I think renting is a fantastic option. On our last trip we paid significantly less per night for our BWV studio than Disney was charging for rack rate for a moderate at the same time.

Even the discounts Disney has don’t come close to the savings you get with renting. Just make sure you read up about the differences that come with renting though, like the inability to cancel or change (usually), the lack of full cleaning daily, etc. Also know that in most cases you’ll need to book further in advance than you would with Disney, with DVC the sooner the better, especially if you have a resort in mind. Members can book for you at their home resort 11 months out and other resorts at 7.
 


If the cost to rent is less on one site over another, that means the owners using the lower priced site are getting less for their points. Why would someone want to sell their points for less than they can get from another broker? The broker charging more usually pays the owners more. Thus, they should have a better pool of owners to rent their points.
 
Depending on the site you're looking at, be aware that if you're looking for the price to get Animal Kingdom Villas - Value or Boardwalk Villas Standard, it is extremely rare a renter gets either unit type, even at 11 months out.

If you're inside 11 months, there is little chance of either.

So be aware that you can't just look at the cheapest unit listed on a calculator and get it as a renter.
 
I used David's, it was great. The only drawback to renting is you have to pay it all up front and it's non-refundable. I would think a honeymoon would be a pretty firm date so go for it! Congratulations, btw.
 
I've used David's several times now, and I've had nothing but amazing interactions with all of their staff. Would recommend 100%.
 
I will say I have ONLY rented direct from owners. I never used a rental agency. I do vet the owner though by looking them up, checking their post history, and all of that.

I rent direct from owners to save money.
 
I think PPs have mentioned some of the issues:
a) make sure you understand how much money must be pre-paid
b) make sure you understand the refund policy
c) you can pay for the dining plan, but free dining is never available for DVC bookings
d) some types of rooms would be cheap, but there are so few of them it is extremely unlikely that you would get one (AKV value, BWV standard)
e) some times of year are extremely popular, especially for certain resorts, and they book up fast (for example, people like Boardwalk and Beach Club for Epcot's Food & Wine festival)
f) owners can book their home resort at 11 months and any resort at 7 months
g) just because a room is available, that doesn't mean that there is an owner who wants to use their points to book for a renter
h) probably not applicable for you if you are booking for a honeymoon, but for others: the bed configuration for DVC is very different from the bed configuration for a regular hotel room. For example, a sofa bed counts as sleep space for 2 people.
 
I have rented from owners here on the Dis at least 5x and every time it worked great.

I would check out the DVC rental forum here
 
Hey everyone! Ive been working on booking our honeymoon trip, and I keep getting tempted to use one of the DVC rental web pages. A few of them are showing a cheaper cost for staying with the rental than any of the value resorts on the main page. Has anyone used any of the rental websites? Were there any you would recommend, or any that you know are considered "safe/trusted". We would love to stay at a DVC room for the same price as a standard room, but obviously want the transaction to be legit. Let me know if you have anything!

We have rented points from an owner on our last 2 trips. I doubt that We will ever go back to regular room rentals. Check out the rental boards, find a listing that works and do your due diligence on verifying the owner as it requires a degree of trust. Have heard good things about David's but never used. We have stayed at Polynesian, AK, VWL, and Boardwalk Villas on rented points, all are places we would have never paid rack rate.
 
DVC owner since 1993. I have rented my points for years. The websites that rent out DVC make it seem like that renting from an owner is a dangerous proposition as compared to renting from them. It's not. You still have to have a level of trust when renting from a site. They are just "referring" you to a renter. You can check to see if someone who claims to be an owner is such by looking them up on the Orange County real estate site. DVC ownership is a real estate interest that shows who owns on that site.
 
DVC owner since 1993. I have rented my points for years. The websites that rent out DVC make it seem like that renting from an owner is a dangerous proposition as compared to renting from them. It's not. You still have to have a level of trust when renting from a site. They are just "referring" you to a renter. You can check to see if someone who claims to be an owner is such by looking them up on the Orange County real estate site. DVC ownership is a real estate interest that shows who owns on that site.
It won’t show up on the O.C. Comptroller’s website if they own at a non-WDW resort such as HHI or AUL. In addition, there are scammers who will pose as an owner, even using an owner’s name to fool renters who take the time to look up the name. Seeing a name on the website is no guarantee.

Dealing with the brokers gives a layer of protection to the renter by guaranteeing that the renter won’t lose their money to a scammer.
 
DVC owner since 1993. I have rented my points for years. The websites that rent out DVC make it seem like that renting from an owner is a dangerous proposition as compared to renting from them. It's not. You still have to have a level of trust when renting from a site. They are just "referring" you to a renter. You can check to see if someone who claims to be an owner is such by looking them up on the Orange County real estate site. DVC ownership is a real estate interest that shows who owns on that site.

We had great experiences renting from an owner! She was a great help to us and allowed for some flexibility that the rental sites will not. We are veteran VRBO type renters as well where I will only deal direct with owners and we have always had great experiences. Rent On!!!
 
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