Any luck on this web site renting your timeshare?

I have had my timeshare listed on this web site for several months, not one inquiry yet. Has anyone had any success on here? I hope I did not throw anymore money away using this site.

randyl81 wrote:

I have had my timeshare listed on this web site for several months, not one inquiry yet. Has anyone had any success on here? I hope I did not throw anymore money away using this site.

Many people just aren't traveling in this economy .... renting or selling depends on the supply and demand of the resort/week owned .... also you need to price your week lower than other weeks in the same timeframe. Redweek is one of the most, if not the most, popular timeshare ad sites on the internet.

jayjay wrote:

randyl81 wrote:

I have had my timeshare listed on this web site for several months, not one inquiry yet. Has anyone had any success on here? I hope I did not throw anymore money away using this site.

Many people just aren't traveling in this economy .... renting or selling depends on the supply and demand of the resort/week owned .... also you need to price your week lower than other weeks in the same timeframe. Redweek is one of the most, if not the most, popular timeshare ad sites on the internet.

I have rented my week every year I have listed it on here. It does seem like people are waiting longer to decide to travel so they are booking closer to the week I own. Last year I did not rent my May week until February. Hang in there & be willing to lower your price if needed.

I have rented our timeshares -3- several times with RedWeek over the past 3 years. We have had a couple of rentals posted with no activity. One of them was banked for exchange. Although I am happy with rental area of Redweek, I do not think I will use exchange service again. We have a week in Nassau Bahamas and US rentals seem higher point value. Seems like trades should be more equitable. Also, the exchange service reminds me of RCI, which is why I sold some timeshares that I used to exchange only as exchanges became impossible and costly. Patty

I am considering posting our timeshare for rental for 2010. I saw where it was said to rent our unit lower than advertised. How much lower should one go and is it possible to find out what units in Hawaii are being rented for. I own on Kauai. I have not reserved a week. Should I do this before posting or leave it open until I get a response? Thanks for whatever help you can offer.

leahs38 wrote:

I am considering posting our timeshare for rental for 2010. I saw where it was said to rent our unit lower than advertised. How much lower should one go and is it possible to find out what units in Hawaii are being rented for. I own on Kauai. I have not reserved a week. Should I do this before posting or leave it open until I get a response? Thanks for whatever help you can offer.

I would rent lower than others listed in your timeframe at your resort .... how much lower is up to you.

You can do it either way .... reserve a popular week or wait for the renter to name the week they want .... you have to remember that in this economy many people are not vacationing at all .... you have to take that into consideration.

And, many people aren't flying.

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

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 can go through an escrow company that will hold all monies until after you return from your vacation .... Redweek recommends American Title, but there are others out there if you want to check them out.

If you prefer not to go through an escrow company, my recommendation would be to talk to the owner to get a feel about them and definitely use a rental agreement signed by both the owner and you. You can 'search forrums' to find a rental agreement.

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.

Ken, really great advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to share important information.

Judy

Thank you. That's another good option. I didn't realize the money was held until the transaction was completed. That's definitely secure. I don't know why people would be opposed to that especially if the renter agrees to pay the cost.

judith276 wrote:

Thank you. That's another good option. I didn't realize the money was held until the transaction was completed. That's definitely secure. I don't know why people would be opposed to that especially if the renter agrees to pay the cost.

In most instances, the money is not held by the owner until the transaction is complete .... however, that's the case when using an escrow service.

It certainly sounds like the escrow is the way to go to security to the renter, but it's a shame it cost so much.

judith276 wrote:

It certainly sounds like the escrow is the way to go to security to the renter, but it's a shame it cost so much.

As Ken stated the escrow is a safe way to go but many owners like myself would never agree to it!

I have one of our two Lake Tahoe unit for rent for Labor Day Week this year. If rented we will probably be renting at a different resort from another owner for a second vacation so rental money will be used. Only reason to rent is we have both units in even years and will already be up for our July 4th week.

Many owners have this same kind of plan and others just paying maintenence fee and taxes just need the money. So you can see if you rented now from a owner like myself I would have to wait until mid Sept to see my money and it would be no use to me for my vacation.

Someone with a week earlier in the year might do it because they would still have most of the year for their vacations.

Hope this helps! PHIL

judith276 wrote:

It certainly sounds like the escrow is the way to go to security to the renter, but it's a shame it cost so much.

Yes, it does cost to use an escrow service, but if I were planning to buy airfaire to Hawaii (or some other exotic location) then I wouldn't hesitate to use escrow for a timeshare rental ... better to be safe than sorry.

I have not had much success renting on this website. However I love the ease of use and the price is right. We rent our Westin timeshares on VRBO with ease. On this website you get the bargain hunters that may insult you by offering half of what you are asking, if and when you get an inquiry. I have left a recommendation that Redweek should not charge renters a membership fee, instead raise the renters fee by 5.00 dollars. ( which they have already done recently) There are too many other rental sites where the renters pay no fee to the website!

Today is Jan 21, 2001 & I have 2 weeks for April 3 (Easter week) in Key West...am I too late to try rentingvia Red Week?

I have rented my units at the Pueblo Bonito Sunset with no problem. I do not use escrow either. I call the resort put the week in the renters name, have the resort email the reservation week in the renters name to the renter, as proof, the renters then send me the money and I'm done. I rent well out before the week used and therefore I can cancel the renters reservation if they do not pay. I have not had any problems yet. I do not however try to make a killing on my units, just fair prices.

nancyf212 wrote:

Today is Jan 21, 2001 & I have 2 weeks for April 3 (Easter week) in Key West...am I too late to try rentingvia Red Week?

No, it's not too late ..... many people don't book their vacations far in adevance like timeshare owners.