Do I understand DVC rental correctly?

[Jsharp13]

So I have decided that I must MUST stay at the Polynesian in my lifetime. I must.
I want to try to rent DVC for this stay for cost reasons. I would use one of the main rental companies vs. getting points from an owner.

Am I thinking about this or planning correctly?

Timing: Are reservations open 11 months or 7 months ahead for someone who would rent? Is this like dining reservations where I should be hopping online at exactly T minus 7 months or something like this?

Request vs. confirmed reservations: as I've been looking over availability, I see confirmed reservations that come and go and span about a year. Should I be looking for those, or should I put a request in someplace and hope that it gets filled? What if a company cannot fill my request? Do I just lose that request or do they hold me on some sort of wait list in case something comes through?

Poly: Is Standard view / Deluxe Studio that one that I should look for? Or is that rare? I ask this because when I was considering AKL using DVC, you immediately gravitate to those value studios for that low price, only to find out that there are only a handful available. So, I guess I'm asking about room availability. When I check the touringplans room finder, it seems like there are many standard view studios; a smaller number of lake view. Do these go lightening fast?

Thanks for getting my pointed in the right direction to fulfill my dream.

 

[Rpo0921]

So I have decided that I must MUST stay at the Polynesian in my lifetime. I must.
I want to try to rent DVC for this stay for cost reasons. I would use one of the main rental companies vs. getting points from an owner.

Am I thinking about this or planning correctly?

Timing: Are reservations open 11 months or 7 months ahead for someone who would rent? Is this like dining reservations where I should be hopping online at exactly T minus 7 months or something like this?

Request vs. confirmed reservations: as I've been looking over availability, I see confirmed reservations that come and go and span about a year. Should I be looking for those, or should I put a request in someplace and hope that it gets filled? What if a company cannot fill my request? Do I just lose that request or do they hold me on some sort of wait list in case something comes through?

Poly: Is Standard view / Deluxe Studio that one that I should look for? Or is that rare? I ask this because when I was considering AKL using DVC, you immediately gravitate to those value studios for that low price, only to find out that there are only a handful available. So, I guess I'm asking about room availability. When I check the touringplans room finder, it seems like there are many standard view studios; a smaller number of lake view. Do these go lightening fast?

Thanks for getting my pointed in the right direction to fulfill my dream.

11 months in advance for an owner at Poly, 7 months for every other owner. If you really want to stay at Poly I’d look for a poly owner before 7 months. You can make a plan with an owner/website and they’ll book when it opens.

Do you want flexibility or to make your own vacation? I confirmed reservations is something an owner already booked for those dates and generally aren’t flexible. A request is you submit when you’d like to go and hoping an owner can fill it.

There are 3 views at poly, standard, lake, and bungalow. There are the most standard rooms so if you just want to be at Poly that’s probably the easiest to get. The lake rooms are more expensive and can be blocked by the bungalows on the lower levels.

 

[patty57]

I can answer some of your questions. If an owner has Poly points, they can book for you at 11 months. An owner who has points at one of the other DVC resorts, can book for you at seven months. You can look at confirmed reservations and see if one matches up with what you want. I have always rented from owners privately, either here on the DIS, or other sites. If you decide to do that, you can line up an owner around a year ahead, and they can book for you right at 11 months.
I don't know anything about the number of rooms with certain views at the Poly, because I don't stay there. I also don't know the ins and outs of how the brokers work as far as if they don't get you the reservation that you want, because I've never used them.

 

[RoseGold]

Poly Lake view is a rare category and actually very difficult to book, even with Poly points. There are just so few rooms.

Poly regular is much easier and can be booked with non-Poly points at not-peak times. We have no idea if you are traveling at peak times, and DVC peak isn't the same a general Disney peak.

I've rented from private owners, they'll look it up for you on the boards. If you're not comfortable with that, the rental agencies all have their own policies. After the way they behaved during Covid, there isn't one I would recommend.

 

[eandt]

So I have decided that I must MUST stay at the Polynesian in my lifetime. I must.
I want to try to rent DVC for this stay for cost reasons. I would use one of the main rental companies vs. getting points from an owner.

Am I thinking about this or planning correctly?

Timing: Are reservations open 11 months or 7 months ahead for someone who would rent? Is this like dining reservations where I should be hopping online at exactly T minus 7 months or something like this?

Request vs. confirmed reservations: as I've been looking over availability, I see confirmed reservations that come and go and span about a year. Should I be looking for those, or should I put a request in someplace and hope that it gets filled? What if a company cannot fill my request? Do I just lose that request or do they hold me on some sort of wait list in case something comes through?

Poly: Is Standard view / Deluxe Studio that one that I should look for? Or is that rare? I ask this because when I was considering AKL using DVC, you immediately gravitate to those value studios for that low price, only to find out that there are only a handful available. So, I guess I'm asking about room availability. When I check the touringplans room finder, it seems like there are many standard view studios; a smaller number of lake view. Do these go lightening fast?

Thanks for getting my pointed in the right direction to fulfill my dream.

I don’t know what cancellation policies are with the rental comps it’s but if you are locked in on dates I would consider a private owner. We rented twice from an owner from here (poly stays both times) and had a wonderful experience … be careful though once you have stayed DVC it may not be long until you are buying your own contract!

 

[lorie13]

Poly currently only has Studios and the Bungalows. When Poly 2 opens there will be 1 and 2 Bedrooms. There are 288 Standards View Studios and 72 Lake Views Studios.
If you are going to use a rental broker and you are booking closer to 11 months out from your vacation, I would just put in a request for the dates you want. Brokers need to have owners who are willing to rent their points, so the only issue would be if they have a Poly owners with points valid at your requested time working through them.

 

[Sandisw]

Thank you for keeping the post general and not posting any specific dates you want. As already mentioned, you need an owner at the resort you want to stay at to book 7 to 11 months in advance, all other owners can book 7 months or less.

There are more SV rooms than LV rooms and if you try to book with a non home resort owner, the LV will be harder. The confirmed reservations can be a good deal if you find one that matches your dates or is at least dates that work for you.

If you have specific dates in mind, then it is better to just put in a request for that.

 

[SL6827]

Will the new tower have studios as well?

 

[Sandisw]

Will the new tower have studios as well?

Based on the drawings that have been found, yes.

 

[Genie+]

Poly is fantastic! There are so many great things about it.

Poly DVC has 380 studios. Basically it is the 3 buildings closest to TTC, and only one side of one building is Lakeview. The rest are Standard view, so a 5 to 1 ratio between standard and lakeview. Sometimes lakeview fills first, but standard often fills first. Our second stay didn’t have standard availability, so we splurged on the jump in points and it was lovely watching fireworks from the balcony and waking up to full-on view of MK and the lagoon every morning.

Availability can be harder in the lower point seasons like Sept, early Dec, May, etc. Imho the best months to visit WDW/Poly resort are Oct/Nov and Mar/Apr. Higher points but availability often better and wonderful weather. Warm enough to swim but not blazing like June-Sept, or too chilly Dec/Jan. The pleasant weather elevates the park visits too.

Any month or view at Poly is a good time. I’m just pointing out that higher point costs have advantages - helps me feel better if Lakeview or Oct are the only options left for our schedule lol. I’d not say the same about all DVC options.

Renting - Generally you’re going to pay a higher price per point booking in the 7-11 month window. Poly typically has decent availability between 6-7 months, just not dependable. Flexible dates are a huge advantage. Needing very specific dates could make less than 7 month booking harder.

We watched Poly availability hoping to book at under 7 months but in that final 2 weeks all the Poly standard was gone and lakeview quickly filling, so we decided to pay the extra cost to buy Poly points for home advantage and booked asap. Our trip was in December which is generally harder. Could be easier depending on the month you wish.

Whether to book at 11 or 7 months will depend on which week you’d like and how much flexibility you have.

Broker vs personal rental - I prefer renting here on the boards. The price is better (usually save hundreds over brokers) and often I can find better terms (like owners who allow one change provided points are still valid and availability can be found). Facebook I cannot recommend because I’m unfamiliar. Here on Disboards I’m very confident renting since I can look at their history, and it’s very hard to scam here without quickly throwing red flags because this community is very savvy. Plus sometimes brokers don’t have inventory of points so customers have to wait for more to come in, which is stressful when worried about your dates filling before they find an owner to match your request. On here you know the owner has points and usually the whole transaction takes hours, not days.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

I've rented hard to get rooms through a rental company. I put in the request prior to the 11 month window so I could grab the first owner with matching points. The match on the last reservation, Beach Club for March 2020, came through just before the 7 month window opened. With the nightmare that was Covid, plus all the price increases for cash rooms and renting points, I went ahead and purchased a small resale contract last year.

We are staying at the Poly this summer for the first time on our OKW points. Rooms were available long past the 7 month window. I think it depends on when you are going and how long you want to stay.

If you do a bit of research and feel comfortable I think booking with a disboard owner instead of a broker is a very good plan.

 

[Genie+]

I've rented hard to get rooms through a rental company. I put in the request prior to the 11 month window so I could grab the first owner with matching points. The match on the last reservation, Beach Club for March 2020, came through just before the 7 month window opened. With the nightmare that was Covid, plus all the price increases for cash rooms and renting points, I went ahead and purchased a small resale contract last year.

We are staying at the Poly this summer for the first time on our OKW points. Rooms were available long past the 7 month window. I think it depends on when you are going and how long you want to stay.

If you do a bit of research and feel comfortable I think booking with a disboard owner instead of a broker is a very good plan.

Hope you have a wonderful stay! Poly is so cool.

Looking through availability before i was surprised how much is still open over July and some of August, since Sept and alot of Oct did not. Good point about length of stay. Shorter stays usually have more options.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Hope you have a wonderful stay! Poly is so cool.

Looking through availability before i was surprised how much is still open over July and some of August, since Sept and alot of Oct did not. Good point about length of stay. Shorter stays usually have more options.

I was thrilled with the availability at the Poly! My friends we travel with failed to listen to my advice on when to buy their contract and they didn't close until nearly 6 months out from our trip. They were still able to grab bwv 1 bed, bc 1 bed, and poly lake view studio.

I can't wait for my birthday lunch at Kona and a swim in that pool. Eeeeeeee!

 

[luvthatmouseinohio]

I’ve rented several times from owners on these boards and never had a problem. The great thing is that owners can get the reservation right at the 11 month mark and there’s no waiting game like there is with the rental companies.

I’m actually renting points to stay at the Poly for the first time in October. I reached out to an owner on here BEFORE the 11 month window was even open and she walked the reservation to get me the exact dates I wanted.

Yes, of course you need to be careful with renting directly with an owner. But in my experience most are very reputable and want to help you have a great vacation. They love repeat customers

 

[Best Aunt]

Request vs. confirmed reservations: as I've been looking over availability, I see confirmed reservations that come and go and span about a year. Should I be looking for those, or should I put a request in someplace and hope that it gets filled?

For a confirmed reservation: the Owner already booked it, and is now looking for someone to take it off their hands. One agency makes it clear how much you would be paying per point for a confirmed reservation. Another agency seems to randomly markup confirmed reservations over what the agency pays the Owner. You can look at a points chart, figure out how many points the confirmed reservation would require, and do the math to see how much per point it would be. This website has points charts, but make sure you are looking at the correct year: https://dvcnews.com/wdw-resorts/polynesian/pvb-points-charts

What if a company cannot fill my request? Do I just lose that request or do they hold me on some sort of wait list in case something comes through?

At the 11 month mark, the agency might not have an Owner who has enough Poly points to cover your resie. You should ask the agency how long they will keep you on a waiting list. Each agency might have a different rule.

 

[Jsharp13]

Wow, this is such great information. I really appreciate all of the tips and am reading through everything to learn more.

Many asked about dates / flexibility. At this point, I have a dream of 2025 but just not sure when that could be. It might be a lower season with some friends (late January early Feb). Or, I'd like to try to take my son when he finishes school, which would be starting the weekend before Memorial Day at the earliest. That is the week I am going this year so I want to see what that time of year is like for us.

I feel like I'm pretty buyer savvy but buying from these boards still has me uncertain. I think I'll try to learn more about that in the coming months to see if that is a good idea for me. Thank you all!!!

 

[Robber Baron]

So I have decided that I must MUST stay at the Polynesian in my lifetime. I must.
I want to try to rent DVC for this stay for cost reasons. I would use one of the main rental companies vs. getting points from an owner.

Am I thinking about this or planning correctly?

Timing: Are reservations open 11 months or 7 months ahead for someone who would rent? Is this like dining reservations where I should be hopping online at exactly T minus 7 months or something like this?

Request vs. confirmed reservations: as I've been looking over availability, I see confirmed reservations that come and go and span about a year. Should I be looking for those, or should I put a request in someplace and hope that it gets filled? What if a company cannot fill my request? Do I just lose that request or do they hold me on some sort of wait list in case something comes through?

Poly: Is Standard view / Deluxe Studio that one that I should look for? Or is that rare? I ask this because when I was considering AKL using DVC, you immediately gravitate to those value studios for that low price, only to find out that there are only a handful available. So, I guess I'm asking about room availability. When I check the touringplans room finder, it seems like there are many standard view studios; a smaller number of lake view. Do these go lightening fast?

Thanks for getting my pointed in the right direction to fulfill my dream.

When we first started renting points we would always rent from a private owner directly.

Since we can pretty much vacation whenever we want we have gravitated to a site that has a huge selection of confirmed reservations.

Cost wise this may be a little higher than the direct route, but, I like the set up and don't have to go through the back and forth of checking availability and such.