Has anyone rented dvc points and if you have, did you add dining plan? I am considering doing this for next year but need tips! I do not like that you can’t cancel once you book
We rented a 2 bedroom using DVC Rental Store last October. It was awesome! We did NOT add the dining plan because there were 6 of us and some sort of additional charge for adding it through a rental that I didn’t quite understand made it pretty pricey so I opted out. Once at Disney I’m like “what budget?”, but for planning purposes I tend to be much more conservative and pay attention to seemingly small additional fees. We did the Disney GCs at a discount trick so we basically had prepaid for all our food in advance without the restrictions of the dining plan. My understanding is that you could add trip insurance to cover a cancellation if you needed to, but we didn’t feel the need to add it for our trip. I will definitely look at renting points again for future trips–we stayed at POR for a short trip in May, but we definitely felt a difference all sleeping in one room compared to being spread out in a villa.
I am a DVC owner but I have rented points. I have added the dining plan when I am using my own points but I have decided not to do it when renting. Part of my issue is I do a private rental. I don’t think I would add it through a rental site either.
I have used both David’s and DVC Rental Store in the past couple of years. I was even able to take advantage of a great last minute deal they had for later this month for $11 a point for an extra night I had to add at BLT which was phenomenal. I’ve had good experiences each time I’ve rented. I haven’t added the dining plan so I can’t help you there. I also haven’t had to cancel any trips I’ve booked.
We went through David’s for our upcoming trip in November if this year. The room is booked and we are ready! I got an email saying if I wanted to add the dining plan I could, but opted not to. We did it last time on a “once in a lifetime” budget but this time we are trying somewhat to watch our finances. Somewhat. I am not sure, but it seemed like there could potentially be a risk since the original owner has to book the dining reservations. Maybe someone else can answer that part.
As far as going through David’s for the room - it was as seemless as it could possibly be. I put in my request a year ahead of time and on the day that the 11 month mark hit, they emailed me and said I got one of my choices and had 24 hours to pay. It was a done deal. Now, all we have left to do is to book a Disney Fine Art Photography session for our resort.
I have rented from DVC Rental Store and while the initial part was a little weird (my “agent” left the job before my window opened to start booking), once things got going though, it was a wonderful experience.
Didn’t add a dining plan because the numbers wouldn’t have worked out in my favor.
The not-cancelling thing is a little off putting at first, but it comes with the territory, I’m afraid. If you are concerned about it, I would suggest investing in trip insurance that’ll cover the cost should you not be able to go.
EDIT: oh i just saw DVCRental store redid their site so it no longer assaults your eyes! WOOOOO!!!
I went through David’s last year and added the dining plan. No extra fees and it was very easy. I just had to call David’s and give them payment info. Also, they ask that you add it more than 30 days before your trip. Let me know if you have more questions- I’d be happy to help!
The dining plan and payment must be added by the owner. Does David’s guarantee the safety of you credit card information? David’s will need to provide that info either directly to the owner, or to DVC member services through a three-way call with the owner?
I think there’s another option of using gift cards and David’s would provide the owner with the gift card number in order to book.
I must admit I’m dreading the possibility of having to do a 3 way call to add a dining plan for either of my renters. The time difference would be awful to try and coordinate. And also I can’t use the free phone numbers, my phone provider doesn’t recognise them! I always use Skype instead. I’m hoping David’s would persuade the renters to use a gift card or CC instead.
There isn’t any additional charge. No idea what the broker told you, but maybe that broker does charge extra to add it? But no extra charge from DVC or Disney.
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I was fine with using my card but yes you could just purchase the amount in a Disney gifts card and use that instead.
You’re right. I just looked at it and it was a 4-5% surcharge from the rental company added to “offset the credit card processing fee”. DVC Rental Store also says that they won’t do it with GC or checking account…only CC. I don’t remember it being a huge amount extra, but enough that I was like “no thanks”. I’m glad we opted out because it’s so hot that food wasn’t as appealing as I thought it would be. We came out way ahead paying out of pocket with discounted GCs.
I will be adding the dining plan to our late October VGF rental that I booked through David’s site (we have a lot of character meals planned). I bought 3 $500 GCs when BJ’s had their most recent deal to cover the cost and will shortly call David’s to arrange the purchase. I will let you know how it goes.
And - I ALWAYS buy trip insurance. About 18 months ago I shattered my shoulder 4 hours after arriving in Rome - covered everything. Made a horrendous experience a bit less horrendous not having lost ~$6,000. And all medical covered.
We booked through David’s for our trip in March and again for our upcoming Feb 2020 trip. I would prefer some kind of ability to cancel but what can you do? You can buy separate cancelation insurance. We also added the dining plan last time, and will again - I’m a bit cavalier about security, I guess, but I had no real concerns about giving out my card number - the hassle of buying all the gift cards outweighed the risk for me. Adding the dining plan was easy, I just called David’s and they took care of it all.
Another person here who rented through David’s and got the dining plan (well, for one room) using gift cards. Not being able to cancel is a risk, but we were lucky enough that it worked out.
A small tip: if you want to make any room requests, the points owner will have to make them for you. Try to let the owner know before they book the room so that they can make the request when they book.