DVC You There! - Now with Bonus Content

[drvillarejos]

@JJT

that the CC 2BR is gone!

That was a very great deal!!! You don’t see many CCs at all. It would be my preferred over BR.

[JJT]

Couple of interesting very last minute 1-nighters:

[JJT]

Note: The GREAT majority of lower priced BLT studios appear right at 11 months.

3-night BLT Studio 12/20 for $416/night or 20% under median

Confirmed Reservation

[JJT]

Might see more Beach Club studios at the price or lower before June, but not likely to be many!

3-night BC Studio 06/11 for $399/night or 15% under median

Confirmed Reservation Form

[ChallahMonster]

This is the same price David’s DVC is charging for a rental at Beach Club where you choose the dates yourself at this time of year, so there’s no cost-savings to go with a confirmed reservation over choosing your own dates.

I love the idea of getting a better deal by choosing a confirmed reservation with a low price, but always check to see if it’s any better than just requesting your ideal dates (assuming it’s available)!

[JJT]

Several early February Jambo studio 1-nighters in the 6PM refresh at 23% and 42% under median if anyone can use them! Use my DVCSeer search engine to find them.

[JJT]

Anyone looking to extend their current trip, this BR Studio for tomorrow had a Bazinga price drop.

1-night BR Studio 01/27 orig $297/night now $222/n or 44% under median

Disney's Boulder Ridge Villas - Reservation ID #498634 - DVC Shop Rentals

[JJT]

Price Drop

7-night SSR Studio 08/30 orig $249/night now $225/n or 22% under median

Disney's Saratoga Springs - Reservation ID #473143 - DVC Shop Rentals

If comparing to longer stays of 5-nights or longer, there was a good batch of them around this price in 2024, far fewer last year.

[JJT]

Another new 1-night BR! This time in March:

1-night BR Studio 03/02 for $316/night or 31% under median

Confirmed Reservation

[natguidry]

Coming from a DVC owner — Beach Club is hard to get, rarely has open availability, so grabbing a confirmed Beach Club reservation might be the only way to get into that resort.

[JJT]

Over the course of this thread we’ve had a few discussions about how points come into play with dedicated DVC rentals, and a few other topics.

I appreciate when people notice that a direct request booking for dates you really want might be the same price as a dedicated listing that is appearing as below median - I’ve always been a proponent of “Always Do the Math” and I don’t tend to notice when that happens as I don’t really look at points or points sites very often at all.

So, just to give a little perspective on my search engine and median calculations, I added a few bullet points to the anchor post at the top of the thread that I hope will clear a few things up.

You can see it quoted below too, but since there are several bullet points I collapsed them into a Summary twisty - anyone wishing to read them can clickety the Summary to expand it.

@JJT

2025: New Dedicated DVC Rental Search Engine:

DVC Search Engine – DVCSeer

This search includes listings from all of the major rental sites, plus analysis of how listings compare to historical listings in the same times frame.

Notes:

Summary

TL;DR: Median is a decent measure. The value you find in any given price is up to you.

• The median price my system crunches compares a current listing to past listings in the same month for the same resort and simple room type. That is not a perfect measure because DVC points calendars can span months and thus do not line up exactly. BUT, IMHO it is still a darn good measure for most periods of the year and even pretty good in crazy times like holidays.
• Just because a listing is “above” or “below” median doesn’t make it good or bad, really.
  Would I book something being listed well above median? Almost certainly not - BUT, if you need a room and are looking for a hard to come by room at a busy time, maybe it works for you. At least you’ll have a better understanding of where you stand when deciding to rent.
• Sometimes you’ll see listings that are just a little below median - BUT the price is still attractive. This will often happen in, say, September when points prices are low, which drives rental prices down. You might see a Saratoga Studio is “only” 5% under median, but is listed at $220. That is still a very nice price for a deluxe room dagnabit - and while you might see sub-$200 listings pop up, they might be grabbed quickly or don’t match your possible dates.
• You might want to compare the rental price to a cash rate after tax. Usually, the savings for any listing near or below median will be reasonably good to significant or even eye-popping compared to a cash rate. But, still good to check Disney’s cash prices just in case.
• You also might want to compare the dedicated DVC listing to what you might be charged for a direct rental request booking for the exact dates you want. A requested rental could be the same or better. You need to decide. This search engine can’t do that for you.
• I always appreciate the advice and information supplied by DVC owners, as I am not one and I started this project because I did not know how to know what a “good” rental price even was.

This next part is not me being hardheaded or intentionally obnoxious. I’m pretty sure everyone around here knows I wouldn’t do that. But it is true.

I don’t have points, I don’t follow points - and in the context of a renter who also is pointless I don’t think Price Per Point is of much consequence when renting, since renters’ comparisons are really analogous to cash rate prices they would otherwise pay.

Of course, after reading that, refer back to the previous bullet point above: if you can request a room for specific dates at the same price, maybe a dedicated listing locked into a slightly less convenient set of days might not be the correct choice for you even if it is priced a little lower.

But still: for the purpose of this search engine, I am mostly “points shmoints.”

[SirGreggLadyV]

@JJT

clickety

I’m totally going to use this in my future tutorials for work.

[f1rstxlas7]

To tack on to the clickety of all this, I like to believe the major value you’re adding is a one-stop overview of Disney vacation room availability. With as many opaque layers of nonsense in the world, and in this niche vacation market, showing exactly what’s available, where, and for how much provides a tremendous consumer advantage for preference.

Analyses, points to cash translations, and discussions around what’s “worth it” or not are great nice-to-haves, but the foundational data alone is what provides us with the most value.

Just another real quick tyvm for the data and the clickety.

[JJT]

@SirGreggLadyV

@JJT

clickety

I’m totally going to use this in my future tutorials for work.

I picture Kramer every time I use it.

[JJT]

Speaking of sub-$200 SSR studios…

1-night SSR Studio 01/28 for $192/night or 28% under median

Disney's Saratoga Springs - Reservation ID #499332 - DVC Shop Rentals

[JJT]

More last minute deals!

1-night AK Kidani Studio 01/28 for $187/night or 40% under median

Confirmed Reservation

1-night OKW 2 Bedroom 01/30 for $437/night or 30% under

Confirmed Reservation

[JJT]

5-night SSR Studio 12/06 for $286/night or 20% under median

Disney's Saratoga Springs - Reservation ID #499580 - DVC Shop Rentals

Fewer 5-nighters, historically, of course:

[JJT]

Don’t see many BLT Grand Villas, so using the chart vs All Dates as opposed to just January - where there have only been TWO listings.

This is the 2nd lowest price recorded.

After mentioning recently I don’t really look at request prices much, I was curious on this one:
Using David’s calculator, this one would go for $2,024/night.
I couldn’t find a cash rate for this room on dates near this, but FWIW a TWO BR Preferred Villa is $1,744 after tax, so is likely a fair bit more than that.

2-night BLT Grand Villa (Preferred) 01/29 for $999/night or 52% under median

Confirmed Reservation

[RhodyMary]

@JJT

Don’t see many BLT Grand Villas, so using the chart vs All Dates as opposed to just January - where there have only been TWO listings.

Someone’s very quick. It’s gone already!

[melcort10]

That’s $11 a point! Great deal.