The Walt Disney Company recently began cracking down on a popular money-saving strategy among guests: Disney Vacation Club (DVC) point rentals. The practice, which has long been touted as a way for guests to save money while staying at luxurious Disney Resort hotels, is now facing stricter enforcement.
Disney Vacation Club is a timeshare rental program where members purchase a timeshare and are allotted a certain number of points each year. These points can be used to book select Deluxe Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort hotels, Adventures by Disney vacations, and other Disney destinations such as Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, and Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.
In recent years, DVC members who cannot use their points have turned to renting them out to non-DVC guests. This practice has created an entire third-party rental industry, connecting people seeking to stay at Disney’s Deluxe Resort hotels with DVC members with unused points. For non-DVC holders, it’s a way to access luxury accommodations at a more affordable price. For DVC members, it provides a way to make money off their unused points.
However, Disney is now cracking down on this practice. This week, Disney Vacation Club updated its terms and conditions, marking a significant shift in how members can use their points. The new guidelines, effective June 1, 2025, include the following statement:
You agree that any reservations made under your membership are solely for personal use and not for commercial purposes, as required by governing documents for each DVC Resort, including but not limited to the Declaration of Condominium and Membership Agreement. DVCM reserves the right to interpret personal use and determine if reservations are booked for personal or commercial purposes in its sole discretion. Personal use may include enjoying the benefits of a DVC Membership with family or allowing use of any reserved Vacation Home to friends and family on occasion. Additionally, personal use means that the member does not regularly or frequently rent/sell reservations booked using their membership.
If any provision or provisions of these Terms and Conditions shall be held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such provision shall be enforced to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law and the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not be affected thereby.
To enforce this policy, members are now required to check a box confirming that their reservation is for “personal use” when booking. For reservations made over the phone, Disney cast members will ask DVC members whether their reservation is for themselves, family, friends, or a rental guest.
While the policy still allows for occasional reservations for family and friends, it also clearly states that members are not allowed to “regularly or frequently rent/sell reservations booked using their membership.” While Disney hasn’t specified an exact ratio or frequency for what constitutes “occasional,” this move represents a significant effort to curb the widespread renting of DVC points.
This crackdown on point rentals comes after years of complaints from DVC members about the lack of availability at popular Disney Resort hotels due to the rise of third-party point rental companies. Last year, Shannon Sakaske, Vice President of Member Experiences & Club Management, acknowledged the issue, stating that while Disney was not targeting members who occasionally rented their points, the company knew of a subset of owners who frequently rented out their points.
“They own a lot of points and it’s a frequent occurrence,” Sakaske said. “We are actively figuring out ways to go after that, and stop that to the best of our ability. Hopefully this is not a conversation we will be having in future years. We’re going to go after that and try to remedy it as best we can.”
Though Disney Vacation Club has implemented these new guidelines, they have not yet announced any legal action or specific enforcement mechanisms for the policy. It remains to be seen how strictly these new rules will be enforced.
Should Disney restrict DVC members from renting points? Share your opinion with Disney Fanatic in the comments!
“Though Disney Vacation Club has implemented these new guidelines, they have NOT YET announced any legal action or specific enforcement mechanisms for the policy. IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN how strictly these new rules will be enforced.” It’s all just meaningless then. Nothing will happen until there is enforcement. I used to be a DVC member. I sold my timeshares because I could never get the dates I wanted when in the beginning, I was able to do so. They need to get rid of these third party sites that sell and rent points. They are why I stopped my membership.
Not a DVC member; way out of my price range. But while occasional renting of points may not be a bad thing, it’s clear that the third party booking sites have created a similar problem as STRs in neighborhoods.
Is there a percentage of the DVC community who buy properties/ points solely for renting? I would think that it wouldn’t be profitable, but I have no idea what the average monthly and yearly costs are. For investors who hoover up huge swaths of residential communities and rent the properties for a few nights, it’s very profitable.
I’d be interested to hear from DVC owners what their take is on this question. I agree: if you drop a substantial sum on the purchase of the property and points, you should be the one getting priority for reservations.
We were a DVC member but Sold, we are Florida residents and the discount is nothing now so we buy DVC points for our stay but our visits will get less when this happens