So I tried to rent points through David’s for AK and there wasn’t inventory for the type of villa I wanted, so I went to my backup option, Beach Club. There is inventory, but David’s doesn’t have points. I am now on the Wait List. I have booked a backup vacation at Ft. Wilderness Cabins.
I have now planned out three completely different vacations in my mind (actually four if you include the AoA option I had been considering earlier) based on which hotel I get. Where you stay makes such a big difference!
My ideal is still to get Beach Club, but the email they sent me was couched in a lot of “no guarantee” language and not even an estimate of timing. How long have you stayed on a wait list? Specifically asking for Beach Club but other answers welcome.
Well good news and bad news: The good news is that everything at Beach Club currently has availability (actually, everything does). So the bad news is that they just don’t have someone to rent to you. Which is good because it means the wait list shouldn’t be TOO long, because someone is bound to make their points available. The bad news is there’s really no way to tell how long that’ll be in this situation and you might not know or see anything until the 7-month mark (when everyone’s points can be applied to every resort). And by then, availability on the Disney Side of things could get a little dicey.
I’m afraid to get into two different contracts and have bad timing and be stuck with two villas. Is there a way for me to inquire and see if they have members with points to rent?
Yeah, just ask for a quote from DVC Rental. They check everything without any sort of commitment. Only when you agree to everything do they start “locking” things in.
So I did this and they were able to give me a quote, but their email has this verbiage:
Please note we are currently experiencing a high volume of requests at the following DVC Resorts: Polynesian Villas, Beach Club Villas and Boardwalk Villas and an industry-wide shortage of DVC Members renting their points at these locations While we are still processing requests for these resorts, please note there could be a lengthy wait without the guarantee that we will be able to secure your reservation. If you prefer to secure a reservation more quickly, I would recommend other DVC Resort choices.
So it looks like I would be in the same situation of being on the wait list except I wouldn’t be (presumably) toward the front of DVC’s lines as I am at David’s since I submitted there at the 11-month mark.
Any idea which site has more members to get inventory from?
I read on the Disney Tourist Blog that DVC Rental Store pays their members $1 more per point so they may have more renting members.
I recommend calling David’s and speaking directly with someone. I originally requested a Value Studio at AKV for my May 2019 trip (put the request in 12 months in advance like you), but they didn’t have AKV points at booking time. I called them later that day to switch to a different resort. They were able to give me a sense of what they could book that day.
I assume this is true because they charge an extra $1 per point compared to David’s. The quote is a few hundred dollars higher.
I definitely don’t want to put money down on two units and risk getting both, so I’m probably going to stick to my David’s reservation and see what happens since I’m higher on the wait list there. Worst case scenario, we use the backup Ft Wilderness Cabin reservation and have a fabulous time. But I still have time to submit a request at DVC Store if anyone wants to talk me into it.
I have also rented through DVC Rental Store and had excellent experience with them. DVC Rental Store was $1/point more back in 2018 when we did our first rental which is why we went with David’s. However, we ended up using them on the same May 2019 trip when we added on a couple of additional nights at the start and end of the reservation. They handle rentals with fewer than 50 points (David’s does not).
DVC Rentals Store assigns you a specific person to work with for your rentals and you can submit availability requests directly through them for future trips. I am using DVC Rental Store again for my May 2020 trip as we are trying to book some high demand resorts (Polynesian and Bay Lake Tower) and having a designated adviser to work with was worth the extra $1 per point for me. She knows my second choice resorts and can monitor availability for me and let me know if should switch to one of those.
I received my reservation confirmation this morning! After exactly 10 weeks on the wait list, I finally have my 2BR BC villa! My stay is almost 9 months away, so I’m still well ahead of the 7-month crowd.
Now to cancel my Ft. Wilderness Cabin backup package …
ETA: I reached out to David’s a few times during the wait to get updates. Each time they said there was plenty of inventory for my dates, but that they were just waiting on points and were hopeful they’d get some in time. I was close to the front of the wait list for about a month and they told me I was next in line about 2 weeks ago.
Just to clarify (or muddy the waters) about the “wait list” with a broker.
It’s a slight misnomer, because there isn’t a linear line.
Say you needed 150 points, and they didn’t have any owners with that many points to rent out at BCV. But they had 2 owners, one with 100 points and one with 80 points.
For simplicity, you end up as the only person waiting for points at BCV.
After a week, “Brad” enquires about renting points for a studio for 3 nights, which might only need 75 points. The broker emails both owners and asks who would like to make the reservation. Likely the person with 80 points would say yes, so “Brad” gets his rental, whilst you have to wait until another owner with 150+ points registers to rent out their points.
You might still not get a rental if someone registers 180 points and doesn’t want to pick your request up. So it’s possible that several people put in requests after you but get lucky first.
That’s interesting background. I wondered about how that works, and I’m sure David’s has some sort of protocol to determine who gets the next available points based on the number of points needed, how long you’ve been on the wait list, etc.
They told me that they were waiting for someone with enough points, so I was aware that people with studio requests were likely going ahead of me (assuming there were any left). But one thing I’m curious about is if they prioritize people with harder to get reservations - i.e., at the 7 month mark, it would make sense to fill up all the hard to get reservations, then shift to the ones that are unlikely to run out, even if the latter had been on the wait list longer.
When a request comes in, they look to see if they have owners who can book that. They then send out an email to all matched owners, asking them to reply if they can make the reservation. First person to answer gets the go-ahead to book it.
Everyone else gets put back into the pool, once you reply (they want you to reply even if you don’t see the email until the next day, just to confirm you want to continue in the pool). The email tells you “ this will use 143 points, leaving 17 points left to rent”. That way, you can decide whether to say yes. I turned down some because I reckoned I would wait until a request that used at least 150 / 160 points (I also said I could borrow if necessary). But another time I accepted one even though it left me with 50points, because I (correctly) thought there would be a studio request in to use those up.
Between 7 and 11 months out, that means only home resort owners can book.
So pretty much each request is matched with owners who could book it. At 5 months, that means any owner with points still in the pool to rent.
I have no idea if they literally email everyone or just some. If the latter, I imagine they prioritise the owners who have been in the pool for the longest.
So the waitlist simply acts as a catalyst for the emails. If you were on the waitlist and someone comes in with the right number and location of points, their system would match you. They probably run that matching process each night and work from the results the next day.
I guess what I’m curious about is if they ever fudge the reservation wait list and prioritize someone with a harder to get request over someone who has been waiting longer. For example, if two people want to reserve a BC studio and for simplicity, say same number of points needed, would David’s always try to fill the one who has been on the wait list longer, or would they fill the one that is harder to get? Maybe one person (who has been waiting longer) wants a studio for a time for which there is plenty of inventory, and the other person is reserving for a time when inventory is rapidly disappearing.
Probably only David’s and their employees know the answer to that. Just curious though.
David’s can’t fulfill a request themselves, they are totally reliant on owners coming forward and saying yes. If every owner was on vacation and no one replied, there is nothing David’s can do.
So if we take your scenario. Joe wants BCV in May where there is not much availability left. Mary wants BCV in July when there is plenty and has been waiting longer.
Along comes Bob with points at BCV. Are you asking who David’s prioritises? My guess would be Mary, she got her request in earlier. Joe may have to wait a few more weeks and then they can match him with any owner inside the 7 months, if there is availability left.
