If you want to save up to 50% on Disney hotels, you don’t need a fairy godmother or a magic wand. All it takes is knowing how to rent Disney Vacation Club points.
One of the easiest ways to quickly save a significant amount of money on a Disney vacation — without sacrificing a lot — is to stay in a Disney Holiday Club mansion using rented Disney Holiday Club points.
You can find these villas at Disney resorts like Bay Lake Tower at Disney Contemporary ResortDisney’s Animal Kingdom Villas, Saratoga Springs or even Disney’s Aulani Resort Club Mansion In Hawaii.
The best part? you do not have to Become a Disney Holiday Club owner (or even know one) to rent Disney Vacation Club spots and save money on a Disney vacation. There are services that match those who want to rent with those who have points to rent.
Related: Guide to renting Disney Vacation Club points
Save up to 50% by renting DVC points
Some sizable online companies essentially act as intermediaries between owners of Disney Vacation Club spots and those who want to rent them out for a particular ride.
These companies will link Disney Vacation Club point owners with potential tenants so they can spend less money renting anything from a one-room studio to a three-bedroom mansion or even a wooden house on the water.
When you do this, you still get all the perks of staying on-site, such as early access to the park each morning and the opportunity to purchase individual Lightning Lanes starting at 7 a.m. pay full Disney price.
We’ve rented Disney Holiday Club points many times in the past to save money on our family trips to Disney, both from other Disney Holiday Club owners and from one company. name is David’s Vacation Rental Club.
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The name implies a mother and child store (or at least a pop store). It’s a family-owned business, but the new reality is much more progressive; it has several dozen team members listed on its website and is frequently mentioned on most Disney related sites.
Here’s how it works: Disney Vacation Club owners (Disney’s version of time-sharing) can use their points to book a stay for anyone at one of these resorts:
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Mansion
- Bay Lake Tower At Disney Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Beach Club Mansion
- Disney’s BoardWalk Mansion
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Copper Creek Villas and Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Villa at Disney’s Grand Floridian Hotel
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Villa at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Aulani, Disney Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
- Disney’s Hilton Head Resort
Related: These are the best hotels at Disney World
If owners don’t plan to use all of the points that Disney Vacation Clubs have allotted for the year, they can make some or all of the points available for rental through a service like David’s. David’s Vacation Club Rentals pays a percentage to point owners (usually $16 – $18 per point) and then charges tenants extra (usually $21 – $23 per point). The company’s profit lies in the difference.
The best way to use David’s Vacation Club Rentals, or any other similar site, is to first get acquainted with Disney’s Vacation Club point chart; Also, get to know online room finder to find out how much something costs and if it’s available on your date.
Across Disney Vacation Clubs, rooms start at as little as 7 points per night and go as high as hundreds of points per night, so scoring costs vary widely.
If you pay $21 per point to rent a room that costs 7 points per night, your cost will be $147 for that night. To be fair, rooms with that score are few and far between, but they do exist.
Take a look at an available reservation right now. If you’d like to stay two nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Studio Kidani Village with standard views from December 21-23, that reservation is available for a total of 28 spots. Since that date range was within seven months, the cost would be $21/point, or $588 in total, for a two-night stay if booked with points rented at that rate from the Club David’s Vacation set. There are no additional taxes or fees to be charged while staying at the Disney Holiday Club.
If you book that room directly from Disney, it will sell for $589 a night, which is $1,326 for a two-night stay, including taxes and fees. That’s more than double the cost of renting the spots.
It’s important to know that some Disney Holiday Club rooms, especially the cheapest ones, can and do sell out ahead of time.
You want to book as far in advance as possible. Disney Holiday Club reservations will open 11 months before your check-in date. If you book seven months or more in advance, you can pay a “home resort” premium of $2 a night at David’s, as only point holders at a particular resort will reservations can be made more than seven months in advance. Within seven months, owners can use their points at any of the available DVC resorts (with some caveats).
Related Links: Rent DVC Points through David’s Vacation Club
How to use David’s Vacation Club rental
After you know where you want to stay and verify availability for your date (this is the tool i use), it’s time to ask David’s Vacation Club Rentals to make a reservation. Keep in mind that availability is always changing and you don’t want to delay when you already know what you want.
To rent with David’s Vacation Club, fill out the booking form and deposit $105 applied to your final rental by Visa, Mastercard or Paypal. (I suggest use a card with no foreign transaction fees because David’s is based in Canada.) If they can’t make the reservation you want, the money will be refunded.
Once you submit your request, you wait. This isn’t a direct availability booking process — it’s a manual process.
We waited at least an hour to be notified via email that our request could be accommodated. We were then provided with a link to pay the balance of our booking (minus the $105 deposit), and then the reservation was secured. Within a few hours the whole process was complete and we had a reservation in our name with a Disney confirmation number.
Reservations must be encrypted as travel, so use it as a card Chase Sapphire Reserve That rewards bonuses when traveling.
This Disney confirmation number you will receive is a big deal because it’s what you need to link your booking to your Disney account and unlock the perks of staying at the property.
In all my stays, I have been able to successfully link my booking to my Disney online account and easily check in under my name. Everything about my stay was smooth. We once lived to the fullest in a three-bedroom Grand Villa within walking distance of the Magic Kingdom, thanks to renting out Disney Vacation Club points. You can Read our full Disney’s Bay Lake Tower review here.
Most recently, we rented a two-bedroom apartment in Disney’s Animal Kingdom through David’s Vacation Club for a total of $840. The two individual bedrooms we needed would have otherwise cost more than the points needed to get the whole two bedroom with living room and kitchen. That particular resort is aiming to require a bit of renovation to be on par with some of the newer resorts that have sprung up recently, but that’s true whether you book with cash or Disney Vacation Club points .
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TARAH CHIEFFI/THE POINT
Disadvantages of renting DVC points
My experience and other online reviews show that David’s has a very scientific Disney Vacation Club rental process. However, there are downsides.
First and foremost, cancellations and changes are not allowed. This will be a no-brainer for some. For others, looking into travel insurance or making sure to use a credit card with built-in trip protections can help as a last resort.
Also, know that stays booked through the Disney Holiday Club do not come with full housekeeping (well, “housekeeping”) the way that standard hotel rooms do. (although only Disney luxury resorts booked with cash are guaranteed nightly housekeeping).
Rooms booked through Disney Vacation Club will receive a “trash bin and towel” service on Wednesday nights. If your stay is more than eight days, you will get a full cleaning on Wednesday night. Housekeeping also checks the room daily and may remove trash during that time.
If you want extra housekeeping, you can pay an extra cleaning fee, which ranges from $30 for a studio villa to $75 for a three-bedroom villa.
Look for last minute specials
If you like the idea of renting Disney Holiday Club points to save as much money as possible, keep an eye out Last minute deals where you can save more. These bookings tied to a specific resort and date are available for as little as $16 per point. This can happen when Disney Vacation Club members have spots they really need to rent out ASAP, or risk letting them expire and go to waste.
bottom line
I rented from David’s Vacation Rental Club many times since 2018. The site has a quick live chat option for quick questions during business hours and I have had real success renting DVC points to save money on cash rates at Disney World and more.
Read to your continuation Disney Holiday plans:
