Hi,
I have just submitted a request for October 2017 at Daves vacation club (I know a bit keen but want to be top of the pile). I know I won’t find out availability until November this year but was just wondering what people’s past experience is of getting the right first choice request when going through a broker?
TIA 
We just used DVC Rental Store to rent points for the Poly for the end of January and I got our first choice. I waited until June 28th (7 months out) and had no problem. It might be different for a more popular time of year.
We rented from dvc-rental.com for our trip coming up in 19 (!!!) days. We got points for the Polynesian, which I was told from several companies would be difficult to get because the DVC roomsat Poly are new. But he got them for us within 3 or 4 days after the request at about 10 months out from our arrival.
FWIW, we decided to put down the initial deposit for DVC-Rental, as well as Dave’s (dvcrequest.com) and dvcrentalstore.com and had them all look for us. As soon as Scott from DVC-Rental found points for us to rent, we cancelled the other 2 and got full refunds of those deposits. We really wanted to stay at Poly, so took the risk of putting down 3 deposits. If you’re risk averse, though, don’t go that route.
At DVC Rental you don’t have to put down a deposit for them to check availability, fyi.
Do you mean check availability, as in, “Is there a lakeview studio at BLT available for 5 days beginning Jan 15”, availability? I think each of the 3 companies I mentioned told me rooms were available for my stay, but they didn’t have any points available when I first asked (10 months out).
But you do have to put down a security deposit when you are ready to book with all three of the places I mention, IIRC. Meaning, you give them $100 or $120 and they will search for points that can be used for your reservation.
Again, though, I was looking for points for Poly, and all 3 companies mentioned that it could take them several weeks to find points that could be used for my reservation. Maybe it’s different if you are within 7 months of arrival, or you are looking for a resort where rental points are easy to come by.
They told me that there were points available for that stay. I asked at 11 months, but they charge less for 7 months, so I opted to wait and asked again at 7 months, and there was still availability.
We used David’s in 2015 and got our 2nd choice of rooms at BLT. We requested a standard view and they only had lake view available. We made the request in late December 2014 for a stay in June/July 2015. This year we requested a split stay for BLT and BCV in Aug. 2016 for a June 2017 stay. We got our first choice in BCV, but were again closed out of a standard view in BLT, instead getting a lake view. Truth be told though, I do like the lake view because there are certain BLT lake view rooms that have a view of the MK fireworks.
I’ve used DVC Rental Store twice and can’t say enough good things about them. I honestly doubt I would ever book a Disney trip any other way.
On both occasions, I booked BLT at 7 months out (for a cheaper rate) and had no issue getting a room. (I didn’t care about a view so requested the cheapest but ended up getting a lake view each time - which we were very happy with.) We have traveled at a relatively slow time of year but I’m sure you will find something that meets your needs even during peak times - assuming you book 7+ months out.
One thing you may not know about renting points is that when you submit your request has little effect in terms of ‘being on top of the pile’. At least with DVC rental store as long as there is availability they post your request to their renting members and then it’s up the members to select which rental they want to book. The renters don’t receive the bulk of their money until the actual check in date so many members will rent to the one that is closest to check in. We put in a request in February for early November at AKL and waited two months without someone picking it up. Since it overlaps W&D half weekend the availability dried up and we ended up having to book a mod.
we submitted a request with Dave’s DVC place thing and they weren’t able to fulfill it… we submitted the same request at the DVC Rental Store and got it–and I’m so glad we did. We got a 1bedroom standard view at Boardwalk Villas for cheaper than a regular hotel room at BWI OR a suite at Art of Animation! It truly is the most cost effective way to get a lot of space for your family if you want it!!
We just rented points with DVC rental store for April, about 7.5 months out. I paid the $100 deposit on Friday, and they secured our reservation by Monday afternoon. We only wanted Beach Club, and I was afraid to wait until the 7 month mark as the trip is the first week of April, during a busy time in WDW. I have been very impressed with Katrina, she gets back to me with every question quickly. I am very happy with the price- Disney is currently listing the studios on the website for about $550 a night- spring break prices are high at all the resorts- and we got the rental for $313 a night.
I would think getting your first choice at 11 months out would be fairly easy, although you are limited by DVC rules to only members who own at your first choice. The pool of people who can rent their points is much higher at 7 months, but of course availability may not be as good. Good luck!
Thanks everyone for their feedback I really appreciate it! Might put in a request to dvc rentals as well to increase chance of reservation (especially as no deposit to place) hoping someone wants to went points close to 11 month, too much of a planner to have to wait to 7 months for reservation !! 