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Renting My DVC Points
This page exists to help you in renting some of my Disney
Vacation Club points. There are always many questions associated with
renting points, and in most cases many fears about the entire rental process.
Hopefully, the information here will help you through the process, answer most
of your questions, and put to rest many of the fears you may have.
Some suggestions for making successful transactions and reservations
Point Charts
Good Reference Links for Renting Points
(I can't guarantee the above links will work, they did the
last time I checked.)
My Terms and Conditions
Q. Why are you renting your
points?
A. My wife and I have been a DVC member for
19 years now and wouldn't trade it. The realities of life are however that
my company saw fit to relocate me to Florida and I now live 25 miles from the
resort and my wife Debbie works there. We're not burned out on Disney but
staying on property makes little sense for us at this point, we do however
frequent the Vero Beach resort when our schedules permit. This leaves us
with an abundance of points that would likely go unused. By renting out
our points we now use them to help fund other vacations (mainly cruises) or use
them for family and friends when they come to visit.
It is not a business for us or any other commercial enterprise, we simply have
more points than we can use at this time. No, I'm not interested in selling them.
Q. Can I provide references?
A. Yes, I will provide them upon request, you may
be requested to also.
Q. What if I need to cancel my
reservations?
A. This is always a difficult issue, here's why:
1. Disney has a
reservation cancelation policy that is time based and it determines how the
points can be used again, if you cancel within 30 days the points can now only
be used in a window 30 prior to arrival. These policies can make
re-renting the points extremely difficult. Disney's policy for
cancelations is posted on-line at various web sites.
2. Quite a bit of
time goes into renting out points to make sure the reservations are successful
and everybody is happy, work nobody wants to repeat.
3. Most
importantly, I've already spent the money! I've made and paid for my
vacation with the money I receive from renting my points, and I'm not canceling
my vacation for you or anybody else. I will try to re-rent your points if
something happens (see Cancellations on My Terms and Conditions
page) but there are no guarantees and absolutely no refunds.
I've had only one attempt to cancel a
reservation, the person asked to be "wait listed" for an additional day and
agreed to automatic confirmation of the reservation, meaning the points were
used and the reservation confirmed if the requested accommodations became
available. After being notified they got the extra day requested they
decided they didn't' want it after all and did not want to pay for it. A
quick trip back to the Terms and Conditions
and the emails previously exchanged, payment was made as previously agreed.
I'm not a mean person and I really didn't want to go that route as they seemed
like nice people, but we had an agreement and I held up my part, and expected
them to do likewise. The bottom line here is to make sure you will be able
to take your vacation when you plan it or you may loose out.
Q. Where is your contact
information?
A. For privacy reason I don't publish it on the internet.
I will provide you with full contact information via email when we move forward
with the reservation process and discussions.
Q. How do I contact you know now?
A. Use this
LINK to start, or send me an email at
rentingpoints@disneygoldwing.com
Q. What are your terms and conditions for
renting points.
A. Please see the My Terms and Conditions
page.
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Communications are key
to a successful transaction.
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Always know and demand
the terms and conditions up front.
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Pay nothing until you
get the confirmation number. Those asking you to pay before they will
call Disney and make the reservations either have unrealistic expectations
or may not be 100% honest, use someone else.
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The exception to
#3: there is one case where you may be expected to make an exception
to pay nothing first and that is when you are making reservations less than
30 days in advance of your stay. This is because of the 30 day holding
account rule which can make it next to impossible to re-rent the points.
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When you pay,
ALWAYS use a
secure 3rd party service like PayPal, this can help to protect
yours and the renter’s rights and interests. Be prepared as the buyer to pay the
service’s transaction fees (usually 2-4% of the total transaction). If
the discussion turns to bank checks, personal checks, Western Union, or some
other unusual form of payment, look someplace else, you are probably going
to be scammed.
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Unless you are really
asking for something special, like to FedEx the confirmation letter, you
should not agree pay any kind of service fee for the transaction other than
the price per point agreed to.
Disney does not charge a service fee for making reservations regardless what
the person on the other end of the phone is telling you.
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DON’T give me or any
other person renting points
your credit card number, checking account number, or Social Security Number!
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Be prompt with payment
based on the agreed to terms.
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Don’t try to
bargain with the renter on the price, there are plenty of people looking to
rent (in our case last year 67 requests for 1100 points) and they will
normally pass on your request.
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Communications is the
key to success. Give the renter a phone number to contact you with
during the 1st contact. Be available at this phone number,
it may make the difference on getting your reservation. When
information is needed, provide it as quickly as possible.
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Be ready with the
required personal information for your trip: (personal information such as
Social Security Number, Driver’s License Number, and Date of Birth are not
required – if asked for, find someone else to work with!)
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Names
of everybody who will be staying
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Ages of the children
(under 18)
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A mailing address
(PO boxes are discouraged but are sometimes necessary for overseas
military)
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A phone number
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An email address the
renter can contact you at.
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If you want to take the
Magical Express from the Orlando airport, you will need to also provide your
airline and flight information. Disney does not charge for this
service and you should not be requested to pay for anything associated with
this service by the renter. This service and information can be added
later to your reservations but it has to be done by the renter, you cannot
make any changes to the reservations yourself. It should be understood
by the renter that you may not have this information now and that you may be
providing it later and need to have it added to your reservation. You
need to plan this at least 2 full days before your arrival (Disney's rule).
You should try to complete this at least 2 to 3 weeks ahead of time so
Disney can send you the special baggage tags, without these you will be
chasing your own bags.
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If you want to use the
Disney Dinning Plan, let the renter know when you are making the plans so
that it can be added to the reservations. You will have to pay for
this when the reservations are made. Do not pay the renter for this service!
This can be added later to your reservation just like the Magical Express.
I normally do a 3-way call between the renter, Disney, and myself to make
these reservations.
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If you have any special
requests, (handicap room, away for the pool, next to the pool, Magical
Express, Dinning Plan, etc.) let the renter know before making the
reservations. Only the renter can make requests or modifications to
the reservations. These requests may affect the ability to make the
reservations depending on what they are. Making repeated calls to
Disney can be frustrating.
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Expect and request to
have the original confirmation letter sent to you. Emails are also
being sent with a link to your reservation, ask for this.
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Know the type of
accommodations you want in advance and be prepared to be flexible. Not
everything is available all of the time. Know what you would consider
to be not acceptable. Know what you want, what you’ll accept, and what
you absolutely do not want. It is very aggravating to tell someone
that their accommodations they said they had to have, and didn’t want or
wouldn’t accept anything else, was not available, only to have them say they
would have taken something else and ask you to call again. Things to
consider:
Are your dates flexible?
Can you check-in/out one day earlier or later?
Would you consider a different resort?
Would you consider a different accommodation level? (a
studio instead of a 1-bedroom, etc.)
Would you be willing to change room/accommodation
levels/resorts part way through your stay?
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Don’t ask the renter to
call and find out if something is available, and then decide if you want it.
This goes along with the previous comment.
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Think about the dates
you are considering – Food & Wine Festival, Holidays, and Spring Break go very very fast and
reservations are very hard to come by.
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The renter should be
willing to provide references if they have them.
I will provide them when requested.
If the renter won’t provide references, I would take my business
elsewhere.
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Do not be surprised to
be requested to provide references on yourself.
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Communications is the
key!
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If you make a
reservation, don’t expect to be able to change or cancel it. Disney
has many rules about cancellations that can affect the renter’s ability to
use those points for other reservations.
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Don’t be afraid to ask
questions or for suggestions. Most of the people who own at the
Vacation Club are diehard fans and know the properties and parks like the
back of their hands.
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Once you have your
confirmed reservations, keep the renter informed if there are changes.
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If you try to back out
of reservations after they are made or not make good on payment, be prepared
to lose any and all money you paid and have your reservations cancelled.
The renter always holds the final ace in their hand when it comes to the
reservations. There is a huge
element of trust on both parties to make this work, if you aren’t sure,
protect yourself and don’t do it (this goes both ways).
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Communications are key to a successful transaction.
Note: my use year for all my points
starts in April.
Please understand the booking
windows policy for Disney Vacation Club. I can book up to 11 months in
advance for resorts I own at and only 7 months in advance for those that I do
not own at (see point charts below). Please don't ask me to make
reservations outside these windows.
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