How renting a DVC reservation works

What you’re renting

Disney Vacation Club members own points, which they spend on stays at DVC resorts. A member who won’t use their points can book a stay and rent it out instead. Brokers stand between the two: they list the reservation, take your payment and pay the owner, and the owner puts your name on the reservation as the guest.

Confirmed reservations and requests

A confirmed reservation already exists: an owner has booked it, so the resort, villa, view and dates are fixed, and so is the price. With a request, you name a resort and dates, the broker looks for an owner with enough points, and nothing is booked until Disney has a villa for those dates.

ResortMath lists only confirmed reservations. Every listing on the board is a stay that exists, at a price you can book while it’s listed.

How it’s priced

Disney’s point charts set how many points a villa takes each night. It takes more in busy seasons, more on Friday and Saturday nights, and more for a bigger villa or a better view. Brokers price a reservation from those points: the median live listing works out to $30.57 a point, and the median studio to $488 a night. What a DVC rental costs breaks it down by resort and room size.

How it compares with Disney’s price

Disney rents the same villas for cash. For each listing, ResortMath looks up Disney’s published cash rate for the same villa and nights, tax included, from MouseSavers’ rate tables, and shows the difference. Right now the median listing is 34% below it. Disney sometimes discounts, so the real saving can be smaller. The details are in How we calculate.

Cancelling and paying

Brokers’ terms differ more than their prices. Sales at DVC Shop are final. Some take the full price when you book, others a deposit first. The broker comparison has each one’s schedule.

Before you book

• The dates. A confirmed reservation is for the nights listed. Ask the broker before assuming they can change.
• The villa and how many it sleeps. A studio sleeps 2 to 5, depending on the resort and type. Each resort’s page lists its room types.
• The cancellation terms. Whether you’d get broker credit or nothing back, and until when.
• When the money is due. All at once, or a deposit and then the balance.
• Disney’s price for the same stay. Every listing on the board shows it, so you can see what you’re saving.

What ResortMath covers

Confirmed reservations at the Walt Disney World DVC resorts, from 1 broker, each checked every 30 minutes. DVC resorts outside Walt Disney World aren’t on the board yet. ResortMath never takes payment or holds a reservation: you book directly with the broker.