Report Abuse

Simple. Call the resort directly to verify that [b]your[/b] name is now on that reservation in the [b]resort[/b] files; a mere email message from the advertiser means NOTHING. Whenever I rent out a week that I own, I openly encourage the tenant-to-be to call the resort directly for their peace of mind to verify that their name is now on the reservation. If you have been told (by nothing more than a email message from the advertiser) that the reservation has now been placed in your name but the resort cannot confirm that claim to you, that's a bright red flag and a real problem. FWIW, I believe that (unlike sites like Craigslist where the ads are free and the people are anonymous) RedWeek has [b]very[/b] little "scammer" activity, if any. It costs money to place RedWeek ads and it takes a credit card to pay for doing so. Scammers never want to spend any money to work their game --- and they most certainly don't ever want to be easily identified (and traced, if necessary) by the paper trail always left behind by credit card use. The primary risk I see on any site (including RedWeek) is people trying to rent out weeks that they don't actually even own in the first place, but have instead obtained as an "exchange" from either RCI or II. Both of those exchange companies specifically prohibit the renting of "exchanges" and violation can mean membership termination for the would-be landlord (as well as an innocent would-be tenant potentially being turned away at check-in), if caught. I don't know why anyone posting a RedWeek rental ad which involves multi-hundreds of dollars wouldn't just pony up the extra $14.99 to get their ad "RedWeek Verified" to give prospective renters some advance peace of mind. It's their personal choice and prerogative, of course, but it's just "Penny wise and pound foolish", in my personal opinion.