Original Message:
Rental procedure recommendations... (by KC):
judith276 wrote:How about those that are renting the listed timeshares? What should the protocol be to ensure the renter is not being scammed? For example, I'm looking at renting a Hawaii timeshare this month, but how can I ensure everything is legit? What's the best way to pay for the unit and what are my guarantees? I would hate to get to Hawaii and learn that I don't have a place to stay. Having been burned by timeshare companies (especially those that pretend to sell your unit) makes me a little nervous about putting out a large sum of money for a rental by someone I don't know. Your advice is appreciated. Judy
Judy:
You are wise and prudent to ask these questions and to proceed cautiously, particularly in view of the exorbitant costs of even getting to Hawaii in the first place.
In my opinion, an important first step is to require the prospective "landlord" to provide you with some form of proof of actual ownership. This can be a faxed copy of a maintenance fee bill, for example, or a copy of a letter from the resort confirming reservation of a specific "floating" week. Or, it can be as simple as your contacting the resort directly in order to confirm a "match" between the name of the owner of record and the name of your would-be landlord. However, this will FIRST require that YOU obtain the name of the landlord YOURSELF. While the resort will CONFIRM a owner name and address which a caller already has in hand for confirmation, a resort (for obvious privacy protection resons) will never actually PROVIDE or RELEASE any name or address that you don't have firmly in hand already when you call.
One thing you don't mention, but still need to be wary of, is someone attempting to rent out a week which they don't even own in the first place, but have instead merely acquired for one-time use via an "exchange" with RCI or II. Such weeks acquired from either one of these two companies via "exchange" can NEVER be rented out for profit and can result in the "renter" being turned away and the "improper landlord" losing his/her membership in the exchange company. By then, your money is already gone and you have no lodging ---the worst possible (but completely avoidable) scenario. The steps mentioned previously will readily and easily reveal if this is a "attempted improper rental of an exchange" situation.
After that, a formal rental agreement can be (and should be) executed between owner and renter, clearly and specifically identifying unit, week, cost, payment terms, cancellation policy, check-in and check-out dates and times. Samples of such rental agreements can easily be found all over the Internet (TUG alone has three seperate examples).
Before you get too excited about using an "escrow service", first be aware of two things: 1. Some owners adamantly REFUSE to have anything to do with "escrow services", for the simple reason that they won't actually see their funds from the escrow service until several weeks AFTER the rental is already completed. Some owners find this to be unacceptable, as is their right and their prerogative as the owner. 2. Using any escrow service will cost you a minimum of $125, in addition to the actual rental amount, IF the owner is even amenable at all to the idea in the first place.
I also suggest that you NOT be too impressed with any rental ads indicating "PayPal verified". PayPal provides guarantee of prompt receipt of the funds by the "verified" (advertising) party, but that's all. PayPal provides no guarantee or protection of ANY kind to the renter in any "non-tangibles" transaction (... and all rentals are indeed non-tangibles transactions).
Finally, a week or so (or more) before you travel, be absolutely certain to call the resort directly and confirm for yourself that the reservation is indeed in your name. If there was a slip-up of any kind at the resort end, you certainly want to discover and resolve it LONG before heading to the airport to travel.
I hope some of the above is of use and help to you. Good luck.