As you research all the booking options of Disney Vacation Club, you may come across some mention of renting points to stay at the DVC resorts. You may be surprised to learn that any guest, owner or non-owner, is eligible to rent points to book DVC reservations. So why purchase if you could just rent? Below, we’ll compare renting versus buying DVC.
Renting DVC
DVC owners are allowed to rent their points each year to other owners (who have presumably used up their allotment of points because they just can’t stop traveling to Disney) or non-owners.
To book a rental reservation we always recommend working with a reputable rental service like DVC Shop Rentals who will make sure that the rental process is smooth, simple and fair for both parties. DVC Shop takes care of all the money transfers, bookings and confirmations.
Cost of Renting
When renting points through DVC Shop you will pay rental rates of $16 to $20 per point, depending on which DVC resort you’re booking.
Example
You’re looking to book a Deluxe Studio at Copper Creek in the month of October for 4 nights to enjoy Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival as well as the Halloween festivities. This reservation will require a total of 62 points. The total reservation cost will be $1,116 ($18 x 62 points) if you rent points to book your stay. This is a significant saving from Disney’s cash rates which would cost approximately $2,000 for four nights in a Studio unit at the Wilderness Lodge. Renting is a great way to save money if looking to stay at a DVC property without being an owner or if you’ve run out of points.
Buying DVC
If you’ve mulled it over for a bit and think buying into DVC might be a better option for you, you might be right. Let’s check the numbers.
Cost of Buying
The cost of purchasing into DVC varies greatly depending on which home resort you purchase and whether you buy resale or direct. Direct pricing currently starts at $188 per point while there are resale contracts available starting from $92 per point.
For our comparison purposes, let’s say you decide to purchase a Copper Creek contract for 75 annual points on the resale market. This will give you enough points for the reservation above, plus a few extra for another night stay or to book a larger unit.
On the resale market Copper Creek sells for approximately $159 per point. Therefore your 75 point package would cost $11,925 plus your annual maintenance fees of $7.43 per point ($557.25 annually).
As Copper Creek has an expiration date of 2068, your contract is valid for another 48 years. To calculate the true cost of your DVC contract over its lifetime we will divide your purchase cost by the remaining contract years then add in the annual maintenance costs.
$11,925 / 48 years + 557.25 annual dues = 805.69 total annual cost
The sample reservation above only required 62 points so let’s find out the true cost of each point in our resale contract so we can calculate the cost of booking a similar reservation as an owner.
$805.69 (total annual cost) / 75 points (total annual points) = $10.74 per point
$10.74 (cost per point) x 62 points = $665.88 total reservation cost
That’s over $400 in savings compared to the sample reservation above!
There you have it, when comparing renting versus buying Disney Vacation Club, buying is ultimately the best option when you crunch the numbers. However, renting is still a great option if you haven’t committed to purchasing a DVC contract just yet or have run out of points in a given year.
DVC Shop’s resale and rental representatives are available 7 days a week to help you find that perfect resale contract or book the perfect vacation for your family.
Contact us here for more information about Resales
Contact us here for more information about Rentals
