Could someone explain how renting points works?

[JennyAnne]

OK, in case you haven't figured it out by my random posts, my sister and I are desperately trying to figure out how to go on a vacation as a family for my parents' 30th anniversary in 2005. We are looking at the possibility of a cruise or of going to WDW. The only problem is, there will be 6 adults (mom and dad, Jeremy and me, EmilyKate and BF) so I am thinking the most economical way would be a villa, I guess 2 bedroom.

So my question is, how does the point-renting process work? First of all, can you only rent if you are already a member? I know what I would love, and that is to stay at BCV or Boardwalk Villa. Our problem is that my sister doesn't make a ton of $$, and with me not working right now, neither do I. :wink: In addition, mom and I will both be teachers at this time next year so we are very limited in when we could go. I see from Tagrel's handy point charts that it looks like we would need 350 points to rent in June. Where would I go about finding people who would be interested in selling points and how much do these points cost? Does it vary by person or is it a set cost per point to rent?

I'm sorry for all my questions lately, we are just trying to figure something out and soon. Mom and dad's 29th anniversary is in April and we would like to let them know of our plans then so we can save and everyone can take the appropriate days off.

Thanks in advance!!

[Tagrel]

Stole this from something I posted in another thread! :D

A couple additional points to directly answer your questions above:

ANYONE can rent points from a DVC member
Point costs can vary depending on the member renting the points. $10 per point just seems to be the typical current going rate. So for 350 points it should be in the neighborhood of $3500 - and a 2 bedroom sleeps 8. To save some money - cut off the weekend days - or try to pay cash for the weekends. At $750 a night those weekends are EXPENSIVE buying points. We like to move offsite for the weekend - say a couple days at Universal to enjoy those parks.
Use the DIS link below to find a renter. You could decide on the BCV or BWV and then find someone who can make you an 11 month reservation. With that you could even lock in a Boardwalk View room if you'd like. BCV is beautiful too!

Good Luck! Planning way in advance will give you time to work this out, AND understand the process before you are in a big rush! Reservations can't be made before the 11 month mark.

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A great resource for learning about Renting from a DVC member can be found on the DIS site. They have an entire forum dedicated to this. There is an FAQ at the top to help you come up to speed on both the process and how the site should be used.

DIS DVC Rent/Trade Forum (http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=29)

Basically is works like this.

Each DVC member uses points to 'purchase' time at a DVC resort. Per night point costs vary depending on resort, unit type, day of the week and time of year. To look up point costs at DVC resorts, you can use Tagrel.com DVC Point charts (http://tagrel.com/Points/chartFrame.html)

Looking at the point charts, is easy to see that Fri and Sat nights typically cost around double (or more) points as compared to a weekday night. This is to keep local DVC members from filling up the weekends. Makes us stay from Sunday - Thursday if possible! :)

Sometimes DVC members can't use their points, so they decide to rent them. Costs average around $10 per point, but they are sometimes higher or lower. Be VERY careful if they are too low. That may be too good to be true. There is a certain amount of trust that is necessary to do this. And many DVC members will come up with a rental agreement to help clarify how it will work. There is never an additional adult charge, nor is there any tax to pay when renting. Both these things can really add on to the cost of a room.

AliciaG has rented points before, and might have some great insight... I have never rented (buying or selling). I use up ALL my points, no problem! :)

[JennyAnne]

Thanks for the great response Tagrel! I am going to do some more research and see what we can work out. One more quick question for you though:

To save some money - cut off the weekend days - or try to pay cash for the weekends.

How does paying cash for the weekends save money? I briefly looked over the Dis site and couldn't figure that part out. Something we might be able to do for that weekend is stay at the Swan or Dolphin. Since my mom and I are both teachers we could get the discount rate there.

Anyway, thanks again for your help!! :D

[Connears]

We rented our points this fall for the first time. We posted on the disboards.con dvc rent forum and got multiple inquiries. We rented to the first to confirm they would definitely take them. They happened to be dvc members themselves and it was very easy. we charged the average ($10/point). Because they were dvc members, they had already decided not to stay a weekend night and it worked great. We made the reservations for them including their name on ressie. They sent us the payment and we sent the confirmation to them. It was pretty close to the date of arrival, if it had been earlier, we would have asked for 1/2 money then and 1/2 30 days prior to arrival. We used the money to stay at the Swan club level for NY 2004. Nice change from dvc, but really do miss the space! Hope this helps.
Connears

[JennyAnne]

Thanks Connears! The more reading I do, the more I think I am starting to understand everything! Thank you so much for your help!!

[AliciaG]

Hi JennyAnne! I rented points off the DIS rent/trade board for our family vacation in May 2003. We had a studio at the BCV for one week, and we loved every minute of it. As a matter of fact, we bought into DVC one month later. :lol:

Start out by just becoming educated on how it all works. I agree with Tagrel about reading the FAQ there, and then just follow the posts for a while. There is a certain level of trust on the part of the renter and the rentee, so just make sure you feel comfortable with the person you rent from. You can ask for a rental agreement, or even see if you can pay by credit card using Paypal. I did that just so I'd feel better about it. There were absolutely no problems whatsoever though. :D 99.9% of the renters are just DVC members who have points they won't be able to use that year. As a matter of fact, we are considering renting ours in 2005 to help pay for a Disney cruise.

You will fall in love with a two bedroom unit. We stayed in one at Hilton Head, and it was awesome! I think it would be a great place for a family to stay while celebrating such a wonderful occasion.

You'd have a master bedroom with a king bed and a huge split bathroom with a big jacuzzi tub and a seperate shower. The second bedroom has a queen bed and a sofa sleeper, - I believe dedicated units may contain two beds - and it's own bathroom. There is a sofa sleeper in the living room, a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and lots of closet space.

If you love the Epcot area go for BCV or BWV. If you'd like to save a little money and get an even larger unit you can look at OKW. It's a beautiful resort too.

Good luck, and let us know if you have anymore questions. I'm a DVC newbie, but there are plenty of veterans here.

[Joe]

Lots of great advice JennyAnne, I hope you have what you need. I will reiterate Alicia's comment about the trust factor, but I will say that I have never heard about a rental deal going bad. After all, you are dealing with folks that are as hooked on Disney as you are. How could that be a bad thing? :lol:

I will point out that the 2 BR at the OKW is larger than the 2 BR at any of the other park resorts, so if size is a consideration I would recommend there. And the OKW resort is a really relaxing place to unwind from the rigors of a day at the parks. Either way though, I 'm sure you will have a great time whichever resort you wind up in.

Keep asking questions and we will do our best to help with the planning.