Blog
Renting Out Your DVC Points: How Much Owners Actually Earn
DVC ownership comes with a built-in safety valve: if you can't use your points in a given year, you can rent them to someone else. Renting out DVC points is legal, common, and — depending on your resort's dues — can fully offset your annual maintenance fees. Here's what owners actually earn, how the process works, and when it makes sense.
Renting Out DVC Points: Quick Answer
DVC owners typically earn $16–$19/pt renting through a licensed broker, or $18–$22/pt in private transactions. After subtracting annual dues ($8–$15/pt depending on resort), net income ranges from roughly $1–$11/pt. For a 150-point contract at a low-dues resort (e.g., Grand Floridian at $8.31/pt), that's up to $1,600 net per year. At a high-dues resort (Vero Beach at $14.89/pt), renting barely covers your costs.
What Does It Mean to Rent Out Your DVC Points?
As a DVC member, you receive a fixed allotment of points each year. Those points can be used to book Disney resort rooms — but they can also be rented to non-members. You book a reservation in the non-member's name using your points, and they pay you for the use of those points.
Disney permits members to rent their points. There is no official prohibition — the member agreement does not ban the practice, and Disney's own DVC Marketplace facilitates some rental transactions. What Disney does restrict is large-scale commercial rental operations; personal-level renting (a few rentals per year from your own contract) is widely accepted.
How Much Can You Earn Renting Out DVC Points?
Rental rates depend on whether you use a broker or find a renter privately:
| Channel | Owner Earns | Renter Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed broker | $16–$19/pt | $20–$23/pt (broker keeps the spread) |
| Private (forums, Facebook groups) | $18–$22/pt | $18–$22/pt (no middleman) |
What You Keep After Dues: Resort-by-Resort Math
Your actual profit from renting depends heavily on your resort's annual dues. Here's what a 150-point rental looks like at a range of resorts, assuming broker rates:
| Resort | Dues/pt | Income at $17/pt | Net (150 pts) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Floridian | $8.31 | $2,550 | +$1,303 |
| Saratoga Springs | $9.19 | $2,550 | +$1,170 |
| Animal Kingdom Villas | $10.16 | $2,550 | +$1,026 |
| Aulani | $10.96 | $2,550 | +$906 |
| Hilton Head | $12.86 | $2,550 | +$621 |
| Vero Beach | $14.89 | $2,550 | +$318 |
Income calculated at $17/pt broker rate for all 150 points. Net = income minus annual dues. Private rentals at $20/pt would add roughly $450 to each row.
Step-by-Step: How to Rent Out Your DVC Points
Decide how many points to rent and which use year
Check your DVC account. Can you bank remaining points to next year instead? If banking is past the deadline, renting is your best option to recover value. Make sure you're not renting borrowed points — borrowed points belong to next year and renting them creates a zero-point hole you'll fill poorly.
Choose a channel: broker or private
Licensed brokers (DVC Rental Store, David's Vacation Club Rentals, DVCRequest) handle matching, escrow, and documentation — you earn less but do almost no work. Private channels (DISboards, Facebook DVC groups) pay more but require you to vet renters, draft your own agreement, and manage all communication.
List available points or accept a specific request
With a broker, you can either (a) accept a specific reservation request the broker sends you, or (b) list your points generally and let the broker match them. With private rentals, post in a forum with your home resort, use year, available point count, and expiration — renters will come to you.
Make the reservation using your DVC account
Once you have a confirmed renter and payment (in escrow for a broker, upfront for private), book the reservation through your DVC account with the renter's name as the lead guest. Give the renter the Disney confirmation number so they can verify the booking directly on Disney's website.
Receive payment and keep communication open
With a broker, funds are released to you after the renter checks in. Privately, most owners collect payment in two installments: 50% upfront at booking, 50% 30–60 days before arrival. Keep the renter updated if Disney makes any changes to the reservation — you remain the account holder until check-in.
When Renting Out Your Points Makes Sense
Renting isn't always the right move — it depends on your situation:
- You can't travel this year — If you have a life event, illness, or financial change that prevents a Disney trip, renting recovers most of your dues cost instead of losing the points entirely.
- You're past the banking deadline— Once the 8-month banking window closes, unbanked points expire at year's end. Renting is the last option to extract any value. See our banking and borrowing guide for deadline details.
- You have excess points from banking— If you banked last year's points and now have more than you need, renting the surplus avoids losing them at year-end.
- You want to offset your annual dues— For lower-dues resorts, renting all your points in one year can cover 100%+ of your maintenance fees, effectively giving you a “free” dues year.
- You're testing DVC before selling— If you're considering selling your contract, renting out points for a year while you evaluate the decision keeps cash flowing without committing to a sale.
Rules and Restrictions on Renting DVC Points
Disney allows members to rent points, but with limits:
- Personal-level renting is allowed. Renting your own annual allotment — a few reservations per year — is within the member agreement.
- Commercial-scale renting can trigger action. Disney has been known to close accounts of members who operate high-volume rental businesses using multiple contracts. The threshold is unclear, but most casual owners have no issues.
- You keep the reservation in your account.You cannot transfer points to the renter's account. The booking lives in your DVC membership until the stay.
- No renting waitlisted reservations. Waitlist reservations that convert must be for your own personal use — renting them out violates the member agreement.
- Renters don't get member benefits. The guest staying in the room cannot attend Moonlight Magic, access member lounges, or use member-exclusive discounts. Only the member (you) could access those if present.
Tax Considerations for DVC Point Rentals
Rental income from DVC points is generally taxable in the United States. The IRS treats it as ordinary income, not capital gains. A few things to know:
- Income from point rentals should be reported on your tax return (Schedule E or Schedule C depending on the scale of activity).
- Annual dues paid on the rented points may be deductible as a rental expense — consult a tax professional to confirm for your situation.
- Brokers do not issue 1099s below certain thresholds (currently $600), but the income is still technically reportable regardless.
- Private rentals have no automatic reporting — that's on you to track and declare.
Which Resorts Are Best for Renting Out Points?
Demand from renters isn't equal across all resorts. These tend to attract the most rental interest, making your points easier to place:
- Aulani (Hawaii) — High renter demand because cash rates are $600–$1,200+/night. Your DVC points at $10.96/pt dues leave a healthy margin if you rent at private rates.
- Polynesian — Monorail access to Magic Kingdom makes this a top renter request. Low dues ($8.33/pt) maximize your net income.
- Beach Club Villas — Walk to Epcot, access to the Stormalong Bay pool. High renter interest for summer and festival weekends.
- Grand Floridian — Flagship resort, monorail access, prestige factor. Low dues ($8.31/pt) make it the best net-income resort for owners who can secure a booking to rent.
- Saratoga Springs — The most liquid resort for rentals due to large inventory. Easy to get reservations at 7 months that renters will pay for; dues of $9.19/pt leave a solid margin.
High-dues resorts (Vero Beach at $14.89/pt, Hilton Head at $12.86/pt) are the hardest to profit from. After broker fees, you often net less than $3/pt — barely worth the administrative effort compared to simply banking the points if you still can.
Renting Out Points vs. Selling Your Contract
If you're consistently not using your points and renting every year, it might be worth comparing the long-term math against simply selling your contract and recapturing the principal.
- Renting makes sense if you expect to use the points yourself in future years, if the rental income meaningfully offsets dues, or if you want to keep the option to return to Disney travel.
- Selling makes senseif you haven't used DVC in 2+ years and don't see that changing, if dues stress your budget, or if you could put the resale proceeds to better use.
See our guide to selling DVC resale for what your contract is currently worth and how the selling process works. And for the full picture on DVC ownership costs, use the DVC Genie calculator to model your break-even against renting or selling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I rent out my DVC points every year?
Yes — there is no rule limiting how many years you can rent, as long as you're operating at a personal rather than commercial scale. Some owners rent every year when life prevents a Disney trip; the key is not setting up what Disney views as a rental business (e.g., dozens of contracts rented systematically for profit as a primary income source).
What happens if the renter cancels after I've made the booking?
With a broker, the cancellation policy is in the rental agreement — the broker typically keeps enough of the renter's payment to compensate you. Privately, your contract with the renter governs this. In either case, once a reservation is made, you can modify dates (subject to availability) or cancel to free up the points — though cancelling close to arrival may leave you with insufficient time to use them before your banking deadline.
Can I rent out transferred points?
No. Points received via a DVC point transfer cannot be banked or rented — they must be used by the receiving member for their own reservation. Renting transferred points violates the member agreement.
Can I rent out add-on contract points separately?
Yes. Points from add-on contracts can be rented just like points from your primary contract, subject to the same rules. If your add-on has a different home resort and use year, make sure you track which points are which — dues and banking deadlines differ per contract.
Is it better to rent through a broker or privately?
Brokers earn $3–$6/pt less but handle all the logistics (matching, escrow, agreements, renter vetting). Privately, you keep more income but take on all the work and risk. For occasional rentals, brokers are usually worth the fee. If you rent regularly and are comfortable with the legal/escrow aspects, building a private renter list can significantly boost your net income over time.