I have mentioned here I am in the process of buying DVC. I passed ROFR a week ago and signed and paid on Thursday. I am (in my mind) BEGGING the seller to get their end signed and to get my account set up.
I have a trip planned for October. I have a POP reservation and managed to get and link tickets the day after Disney announced its reopening plans. My plan was to cancel my POP ressie and book whatever DVC was left as soon as I get my points.
Now, it looks like onsite stays will be limited to DVC. Do you think if Disney announces this the DVC resorts will all book up immediately (with rentals, the direct sales, etc.)? I am hoping I can get into the system before this happens, but it doesn’t look good!
I checked a couple of days ago and I could get a room through DVC for June and July. Once you get to October it is challenging at 7 months most years. When will you hope to go?
Disney will be using there cash DVC rooms to move people. In case this confuses someone else, I like this summary:
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I am looking to go from October 21 to 25. Interestingly, I have been following the availability through the DVC Rental store calendar, and it seemed rooms recently opened up for my dates. Maybe people moved October reservations to earlier once the opening announcement was made?
Something I stated poorly in my OP was that I realize that the law requires Disney to hold a certain number of rooms for cash and they can’t book the DVC owner inventory. (Interesting article, I have wanted to know more about this). But if DVC is the only game in town, will the rental market see a resurgence? Thinking it through, I guess this would only happen if those with a booked DVC stay were guaranteed park admittance as people would not risk renting without that guarantee. But if this ends up being the case, I think those rooms will be gone in a flash. Good for people who are in danger of losing points, but I hope I get my points before this happens, if it does.
I was also wondering if, in addition to the challenge of having to honor people’s DVC points, if DVC has a lower density of guests and this is one of the things that makes it attractive to Disney to open first? What is the capacity, or average occupancy, of the BWV compares to BWI? Not that this has anything to do with my OP!
What type of room do you want in October?
I will say, as an owner that fully refunded my renter during this closure, I will never rent my points again. I don’t know how many other owners feel the same way.
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I am assuming only 1 bedrooms will be available and that will be my top preference for cooking options and showing my DH the value of our recent purchase! Any resort! But would love to be in our home resort at AKL, especially if park options are limited.
I am sorry for what you have been through with your rental challenges. It sounds like a nightmare. It also seems you were extremely generous.
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I bought on the timeline you’re on, even including a desired October stay.
I barely got my points in time and the only thing available was a 2BR at OKW.
Now, my contract came with points that were going to expire so I had 300 points to start with (on a contract of 150) so it was use em or lose em anyway. And we LOVED our 2BR stay - it was so amazing! But I share this to say that in a usual year with usual availability I had to spend a lot of points to get a room in October when closing in June.
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Thanks for this! That helps me frame my expectations.
We have 120 points and a September use year with 26 points banked, so will have 146 points for 4 nights. I have a ton of time to use these, I won’t lose any. That is a good perspective to keep, if get cancelled at Pop and can’t rebook DVC. It was a make-up trip anyway, I am not losing points, and there will be many more in my future!
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Maybe this is offset by owners who are now strapped for cash due to furloughs or layoffs and are foregoing a vacation this year? Or who are immune compromised and are choosing to stay home?
I hope so because I am trying to rent for 2021!
After my experience like yours, I made the decision that I would always hold the money from renting points until the renter has checked in.
Other than that I will continue to rent points if I’m not going to be using them.
I was approached on here from someone looking to rent something this year, and I added a clause to a standard rental agreement about refunding if the parks &/or resorts were closed. And again, the money will be untouched until the check-in date. I’m happy with that and it means if I do have to refund I won’t have to find it from elsewhere.
Hopefully all goes well as I have banked points into next year that I’ll be looking to rent out. 
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But you still risk losing points depending on the windows involved and whether or not you can re-rent.
I think that’s where my hesitation would remain. I think holding the funds is quite smart. But it would do nothing to offset my loss.
Who am I kidding - I’m in a borrow situation at the moment. I have no points to rent anyway! 
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Yes, but in my case it’s either rent them or lose them. I can’t just decide to make a quick trip 4 months from now to use them.
For this year I have some left. David’s might find a taker, tho’ I doubt it. My renter might want them for an extra night or two. I could end up losing them, but I always knew that was a risk once I lost the original renter.
And by holding onto the money I don’t see it as a loss. I learnt that lesson, the money ultimately came from savings. Never want to be in that position again.
Gotcha. That makes sense.