Renting DVC Points for a Group Trip

We’ve rented Disney Vacation Club points three times now: at the Grand Floridian, at Beach Club Villas, and at Disney’s Riviera Resort. All three went through David’s Vacation Club Rentals, and every one of those stays cost us a lot less than Disney charges for the same villa.

I’ve rented DVC points both ways, too: once by picking my own dates, and once by grabbing a reservation somebody else had already booked. Both went smoothly. But I’m not going to pretend the no-refunds part didn’t stress me out a little, because it did. A lot.

So here’s how renting DVC points works for a group of adults, and what I’d tell a friend before they hand over the money. If you’re still deciding between a villa and a handful of hotel rooms, start with our guide to planning a Disney World group trip for adults. Also, this post isn’t sponsored or full of affiliate links, etc. This is just our own experiences and reviews!

How Renting DVC Points Works

Disney Vacation Club is, at its core, a timeshare. There. I said it. It feels magical, and it leans hard on the Disney nostalgia, but it works a lot like the timeshare your great-aunt Ruthie has at a resort in the Ozarks.

That doesn’t make it bad, though! DVC is so popular that Disney keeps building more of it.

Here’s how it works. DVC members buy points, and every year they use those points to book villas at the DVC resorts. They pay dues on those points whether they use them or not, so plenty of members rent out the points they can’t use instead of letting them go to waste.

That means every DVC villa can be booked two different ways:

• With points. This is what renting gets you, and it’s the cheaper way.
• As a regular Disney reservation, paid in cash. Same villa, a lot more money. In the Grand Floridian example below, Disney’s price was about 45% higher.

When you rent points, the owner uses their points to book the villa, and the reservation goes in your name. You pay a set price per point, which usually comes out to a lot less than Disney charges for the exact same villa.

You can rent straight from an owner, or you can go through a rental company that matches you with one and handles the booking. We use David’s Vacation Club Rentals at dvcrequest.com. You’ll pay a little more per point than some owners charge on their own, but somebody else does all the legwork, and for me, that extra peace of mind is worth it.

Once you’re booked, you’re a Disney resort guest like anyone else. You get Disney transportation, free parking at the parks, Early Theme Park Entry, and Extended Evening Hours on the nights they run for deluxe and DVC guests. What you don’t get are DVC member perks, like the member lounges and member discounts.

Two Ways to Rent: Your Dates or Theirs

There are two kinds of rentals, and I’ve done both.

Pick Your Own Dates (a Request)

This is what most people mean by renting points. You pick the resort, the room, and your dates, and the rental company goes looking for an owner with enough points.

At David’s, you put down a $105 deposit when you submit the request, and you get it back if they can’t find a match. You’ll usually hear back within a day or two. Once your reservation is secured, the rest is due within 24 hours, so have the money ready before you hit submit.

I booked mine about nine months out. If your group needs a big villa at a popular resort, I’d start early rather than hope.

Grab a Confirmed Reservation (Preconfirmed)

These are villas an owner already booked and can’t use, so the dates, resort, and room are locked. If they happen to match your trip, they can be a great deal. David’s lists them starting at around $20 a point.

My preconfirmed one was inside eight weeks of the trip. I still stalk that list, just in case a really good one pops up for dates I can make work.

For a group, preconfirmed rentals are harder. You need a villa that fits your headcount on dates that work for everyone’s schedule. If your group is flexible, keep an eye on them anyway.

Where We’ve Rented Points

Three resorts, three pretty different trips. Here’s what each one was like as a renter, and who I’d send there.

Grand Floridian Villas: The Big Group Trip

This was the six-of-us trip: a two-bedroom villa for five nights. For a group our size, it’s the one I’d look at first, because a two-bedroom there sleeps up to nine and you’re right on the monorail.

It’s fancy. It’s gorgeous. It’s a great spot for a resort getaway (and not just a Disney vacation).

We split the cost evenly, six ways, and that made a Grand Floridian villa a realistic line in the budget instead of a daydream. Who slept where (and who got the good bed) is in our post on how many adults fit in a Disney room.

Beach Club Villas: The EPCOT Trip

Beach Club Villas is where I’d stay when EPCOT is the whole point of the trip. You can walk to EPCOT’s back entrance, the International Gateway, which drops you into World Showcase between France and the UK.

That walk is a gift on a drinking day. Walking home beats standing in a bus line at 9 p.m., every single time. (If that’s your plan, here’s how we drink around the world at EPCOT.)

You also get Stormalong Bay, the sand-bottom pool Beach Club shares with the Yacht Club. Just know Beach Club Villas sits in David’s top price tier, so it costs the most per point of the three, and it is popular and can sometimes be hard to snag.

Riviera Resort: The Skyliner Trip

Riviera is DVC through and through, and it has its own Skyliner station right at the resort. EPCOT’s International Gateway is one gondola ride away, and Hollywood Studios is one transfer away, so you can skip the buses for two parks.

It’s a great fit for a group of adults, too. There’s a pool bar, Bar Riva, for the resort days, and Topolino’s Terrace up on the roof for a nice dinner with a view.

And it’s in David’s Regular tier year-round, $24 a point, so it costs less per point than Beach Club Villas or the Grand Floridian booked far out.

What Renting DVC Points Costs

Every villa costs a set number of points per night, and that number changes by season, room size, view, and day of the week. The price per point depends on the resort and how far out you book.

David’s has four price tiers right now:

So a Grand Floridian villa costs $26 a point if you lock it in 7 to 11 months ahead, and $24 a point inside 7 months. The trade-off is choice. The closer you get, the less there is left to rent.

The Math on a Grand Floridian Villa

I don’t remember exactly what we paid for ours, so I priced a sample stay instead. This is an example, NOT our receipt: a two-bedroom resort view villa at the Grand Floridian for five nights, checking in Sunday, October 18, 2026, and out Friday, October 23.

That’s roughly $3,300 back in the group’s pocket for the exact same villa. Six people can do a LOT with $550 each.

Weekends cost more points, too. At the Grand Floridian in October, a two-bedroom takes 61 points a night Sunday through Thursday and 69 points on Friday and Saturday. Shift two nights off the weekend and you save 16 points, which is $384 at $24 a point.

To price your own trip, plug your dates into the cost calculator on David’s site. It shows the points and the total for every resort and room at once, which makes comparing villas a lot easier.

Villa vs. Separate Hotel Rooms

Of course, most groups aren’t choosing between renting a villa and paying Disney for one. They’re choosing between a villa and a couple of hotel rooms. Here’s the same six adults, on the same five nights, booked a few different ways:

So renting the villa beats two deluxe hotel rooms at the same resort, and you get a kitchen, a living room, and a washer on top of it. It does NOT beat two moderate rooms. At three to a room, somebody at French Quarter is sharing a bed, but you’d spend about half as much.

If the budget is the whole point, book the moderate rooms. If you want the villa experience for a lot less than Disney charges, renting points is the least expensive way to get it.

The Part That Stressed Me Out: No Refunds

I’m used to regular Disney hotel reservations, where you can usually change or cancel without losing much. Renting points doesn’t work like that, and handing over a big payment I couldn’t get back made me a little nervous.

It all worked out just fine! But you should know the rules going in. These are David’s rules; other rental companies and private owners set their own:

• You can’t change the dates, the resort, the room, or the view once it’s booked.
• You can’t change the lead guest, the person the reservation is booked under.
• At David’s, if you cancel, you get a travel credit toward a future rental, not cash. More than 120 days out, that’s the full amount minus the $105 deposit. It drops to 75%, then 50%, then 25%, and inside 15 days you get nothing.
• The rental company doesn’t sell trip insurance, so if you want it, you’ll buy it separately.

For a group, the lead guest rule is the big one. Put the reservation under the person who is 100% going, no matter what. Not the friend who’s “pretty sure” she can get off work.

So collect everyone’s share BEFORE you submit the request, not after. A promise in the group chat is not the same thing as money in hand.

And agree up front on what happens if someone drops out. The simplest rule: your share is still your share unless you find someone to take your spot. How we split the money on our trip is in our Disney World group trip guide.

If you’d feel better with insurance, price it before you book. Read what it covers, too, because “my friend backed out” usually isn’t one of the reasons it pays out.

What’s Different From a Regular Disney Room

Your villa is the same villa a DVC member or a cash guest gets. A few things work differently, though:

• Housekeeping is lighter. For stays of 4 to 8 nights, you get trash and towel service on day 4, not daily cleaning. A group of six adults goes through towels fast, so use the washer and dryer.
• The Disney Dining Plan has to be added through the owner, at least 30 days before check-in.
• Park tickets aren’t included. Buy them separately and link them in My Disney Experience.
• Link the reservation in the My Disney Experience app as soon as you get your confirmation number, and make sure the lead guest’s name and email match the app exactly.

The upside is the villa itself. Our two-bedroom at the Grand Floridian had a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, and a living room big enough for six people to get ready and hang out at night. You don’t get that in a standard hotel room.

Renting Straight From an Owner

You can skip the rental company and rent directly from a DVC owner. You’ll find owners on the DISboards DVC rental board and in DVC rental groups on Facebook. It’s often cheaper per point, and some owners are happy to negotiate.

The trade-off is that you’re trusting a stranger with a big payment. If you go this way, get a written contract, ask for references, and don’t pay in full until you’ve seen a Disney confirmation number in your name.

For a group trip with six people’s money on the line, I’d rather pay a little more and let a company handle it. That’s a personal call, though.

What I Do Now: Book Disney First, Then Watch

Here’s what I like to do now, especially when the trip is still a ways off. Book a regular Disney reservation you can cancel, and then keep watching for a rental.

If a preconfirmed villa pops up for your dates, or you can rent a nicer villa for around the same price as your Disney room, you switch and cancel the original. If nothing turns up, you still have a room. Just check Disney’s cancellation rules for your reservation before you cancel it.

Is Renting DVC Points Worth It for Your Group?

For us, yes, and I’d do it again at any of the three. Renting points is how we’ve stayed at resorts that would have blown the budget as a regular Disney booking.

I’d book with Disney instead if anyone in the group is still unsure, if you need the flexibility to change dates, or if a couple of hotel rooms is all your group needs.

Renting DVC points isn’t complicated once you’ve done it one time. Run the numbers and collect the money. Then go stock that full kitchen.