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Descibe Your DVC Rental Experience Here!

Posted: Jan Thu 21, 2010 2:54 pm
by MW1218
Good afternoon everyone. My family is looking to take a trip down to WDW either later this year, or next year, and since it's a big group (6 people) and it would be asking a lot to have everyone in each other's business for a week, we are looking at a two bedroom villa for accommodating everyone. As you know, these can get pretty pricey, so we were thinking about venturing into the unknown (to us) waters of DVC points rental.

I was wondering if anybody here had ever done it before, and what their experience was like. I know of sites that facilitate this kind of transaction, but I was looking for some first hand accounts to see if it would be a good idea for us. If you have any experience or advice, please let me know.

Thanks!

Posted: Jan Thu 21, 2010 3:13 pm
by theBIGyowski
My friends and I did this for the 2008 WDW Half Marathon.

I found the DVC Rent/Trade board online and was able to find someone to rent from on there. We stayed in a studio at SSR. It was a little cramped for 3 guys in their 20s, but it was nice having the other things like the wet bar and microwave.

As far as the renting process, it was a breeze. It might depend on who you are renting from, but it was easy for me. I paid the person via PayPal, so simple there. Adding the dining plan was simple as well once I got there.

My fiance and I thought about renting for our honeymoon coming up in August, but we decided on sticking with PO Riverside because we liked the theme.

Posted: Jan Thu 21, 2010 5:16 pm
by 99Soulz
I had a friend use a rental site for last October and they said it was a breeze too. I am not sure if this is how all the sites work, but they sent in a form that requested the dates and resort and when a time can be arranged to have a 3-way call between the DVC points owner, the DVC member services, and the person renting. That way, everyone involved was on the phone together and if the dates weren't available they could easily check another resort or change the date. After they booked it, they had various options to pay as well.

The site they used charged $13 per point (if you are not familiar with how many points you need visit www.dvcnews.com and they have links to the resorts and points charts).

Good Luck and let us know how you make out!

Posted: Jan Fri 22, 2010 10:57 am
by Mamabaminjamin
We were part of the unlucky crowd. WE bought into a timeshare in Vail when we were young. We thought all was lost. We had a crappy timeshare and all we wanted to do was spend time at WDW. then we found out DVC trades with other timeshares. Until this year they were trading with Interval. Now they trade with RCI. I'm not sure how hard it is to trade with RCI but with interval it was erally easy. This may be an option if anyone in your group has a timeshare.

Now all I need to do is get rid of the crappy(Only b/c we don't ski vail) Vail timeshare and buy DVC. ANyone want a timeshare CHEAP?LOL

Posted: Jan Fri 22, 2010 11:08 am
by theBIGyowski
Hmm...my parents have a timeshare with RCI. I wonder if they could look into this. Could make for a more affordable big family trip sometime down the road. Both me and my sister are getting married this summer, so a big family trip to WDW next year for our anniversaries could be a lot of fun. The DVC resorts would make that a lot easier.

Posted: Jan Fri 22, 2010 12:50 pm
by Mamabaminjamin
It works out really nice. We have done this for our last 3 trips. The only problem is it really makes you want a DVC membership. Our timeshare is not worth anything. We can't even sell it for $500 but DVC membership holds its value. Well I guess we will kepp being wanna be for a few more years.

Posted: Feb Fri 19, 2010 10:45 am
by heaven2dc
I have rented from 3 different DVC owners (2 of the trips in 2008 were from the same owner) and I rented points for a friend at work for his trip in May from one guy and rented points from another owner for our trip in late November this year. It was a breeze, I felt totally comfortable with the process and feel like I've found some new found friends to boot! There were a couple glitches on my behalf in the payment process (car trouble, etc) which delayed payment schedules but they were understanding. I found all 3 through the Disboards rent/trade thread and even though I was offered references, I didn't feel I needed them.

What was most important in my experience is they were able to get boardwalk views at the BWV on 2 different occasions which isn't always possible.

One thing to keep in mind if you rent points is the housekeeping comes only on the 4th day (I believe). Plus you get the same benefits of the DVC owner in extra perks (altho I don't know what they are cuz I didn't use them lol). Only difference I could say is you can't get free dining when offered thru Disney but the savings on the rooms outweighed any package deal I could come up w/Disney even if they offered the dining plan for free (unless I wanted to stay at a value resort). The average price per point is $10 so we got a one bedroom villa on our last stay with boardwalk view for $120/night and you can't beat that!!