Renting DVC Points, Step by Step: Confirmed Reservation vs. Custom Request

Quick Answer: Renting Disney Vacation Club points comes down to one choice: pay after a room is booked, or pay before it exists. A confirmed reservation is already booked with Disney, so you can check the details and the Disney confirmation number before your final payment. A custom request flips the order: at David's Vacation Club Rentals you put down a $105 deposit before the search even starts, and the room only gets booked if a match turns up.

Every DVC rental ends in the same place: a Disney resort reservation, booked with a member's points, that you link to your own My Disney Experience account.

What differs is the order you get there in, and specifically whether the reservation exists before or after your money leaves. Almost all the risk lives in that timing, so it's worth knowing both routes before you send a four- or five-figure payment. Still deciding whether to rent at all? Start with our DVC Rent vs Rack calculator.

Our take: go with a confirmed reservation whenever one fits your dates. A Disney trip already has a lot of moving parts, and knowing exactly which villa you have, before you pay, is worth a lot.

Confirmed reservation: the room comes first

A confirmed reservation is a stay a member has already booked with Disney: fixed dates, a named resort, a room type and a real confirmation number, all set before it's listed. David's Vacation Club Rentals has a page of confirmed reservations, where owners post existing stays to rent as-is. You shop what's there.

The steps are short. Find a listing that fits, ask for the Disney confirmation number and the details attached to it, then pay and link the stay to your own account. David's says that page has last-minute availability and "occasionally reduced pricing," though when we checked, its listings ran $22 to $29 a point, the same as its regular price tiers.

Custom request: your wish list comes first

Here you name the dates, resort and room size you want, and the broker goes looking. At David's, a $105 deposit starts the search and is refunded if no room can be secured. If one is, the rest of the price is due within 24 hours, the owner books it in your name, and you get the Disney confirmation number to link.

Timing matters. Seven to 11 months out, owners get exclusive access to their home resort, when availability is at its best. That's also when David's charges the most: $29 a point at Beach Club, Polynesian and the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, and $26 at its Premium resorts, which drop to $24 inside seven months.

Why the order matters

With a confirmed reservation you can check the room exists before your final payment. With a custom request you commit money before the thing you're buying exists. That's the kind of opening scammers look for, which is why WDW News Today's guide steers renters toward established brokers over individual members.

A fake listing can claim to be confirmed too, so that advice applies on both paths. But a real confirmed listing gives you something to check, while a custom request asks you to trust that a room will follow the deposit. Who you're dealing with matters even more there.

The check itself works the same either way. Disney asks members to encourage guests traveling on their points to set up their own My Disney Experience page to claim the reservation, and a stay booked "over the phone or with a travel professional" gets linked by logging in to your MyDisney account. If the number won't link, treat the reservation as unproven.

One more layer. Disney allows members to rent points "on occasion," but since March 31, 2026, its commercial use policy has listed what can get a member flagged, including more than 20 reservations in 12 months that the member mostly doesn't use. Penalties can last up to 24 months and include canceling that member's future reservations, which could include yours. Know who holds the points, on either path.

Before you pay in full

• Check that the Disney confirmation number matches the resort, room type and dates you're buying, not a promise that they'll match later.
• Link it to your own MyDisney account. On a confirmed listing, do it before the final payment. On a custom request, do it the day the number arrives.
• Make sure the guest name is changed to yours.
• Favor a broker you can look up over an individual you can't vet.
• Get cancellation terms in writing. At David's, any change counts as a cancellation, and it pays travel credit, not cash.

Pressure to pay in full before any of this is a red flag, whichever path you're on.

Which path should you pick?

Prices, deposit and no-match terms are from David's Vacation Club Rentals' FAQ and its Confirmed Reservations page; other brokers set their own. Last Checked: September 29, 2026.

Start with confirmed listings if your dates bend or your trip is only a few months out. You skip the wait, you can check everything first, and by David's account prices there are occasionally reduced.

Put in a custom request if you need one specific week (a marathon weekend, a holiday, one particular villa) and you're seven to 11 months out, when there's the most to find. Just go in knowing you're holding a deposit against a room that may not appear. Before paying either way, run through our rental scam checks.

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